A Lady in London

Throughout my recent trip to Peru, I took a lot of video footage. Here is the final product, from the Peruvian Amazon to Cuzco and the Sacred Valley, from Machu Picchu to the floating islands on Lake Titicaca. Enjoy!

Not many people like Lima. When I told my friends that I was traveling to Peru, they all advised me to skip the capital. From what they said, Lima sounded like a dangerous place with nothing to do and see. But I’ve heard the same thing about other cities, and I’ve never found it to be true. I had a feeling that Lima would impress me. And it did.

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The drive from Lake Titicaca to La Paz, Bolivia is one of the most adventurous I’ve ever experienced. Leaving the town of Copacabana, the road winds through thick green hills and along sapphire waters until it reaches a point where there should be a bridge. But there isn’t. There is only a wide stretch of water with no way to get across. So what did I do?

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It was cold in Bolivia. As my bus wound its way around Lake Titicaca, rain spat at the windows and wind whipped across the roof. Gone was my sunny day on the floating islands in Peru. I was entering a new country en route to the famous Isla del Sol, and I was beginning to think that that when the Incas named the Island of the Sun they were playing a cruel joke on the world.

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I wasn’t feeling well when I arrived in Puno. Food poisoning rendered me useless when I got off the plane in Juliaca, which was the nearest airport to the Peruvian city on Lake Titicaca. But I was in Puno for one reason, and not even illness could stop me from seeing what I traveled all the way there to see: the fabled floating islands.

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After two lovely days in Machu Picchu, it was time to head back to Cuzco. But when my train arrived at Ollantaytambo station in the heart of the Sacred Valley of the Incas, I still had one thing left to do: meet one of the town’s most important organizations.

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Most visitors to Machu Picchu don’t see much beyond the famous Inca site. But the town itself has some hidden gems, and after an excellent day of exploring the ruins of Machu Picchu, I set out to discover what else the small Peruvian town had to offer.

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I know exactly how long I’ve wanted to travel to Machu Picchu. One of my childhood Spanish teachers was from Peru, and in addition to teaching us his country’s language, he awed us with stories about its culture. When I was in 6th grade, he showed us a video about the Inca Empire that inspired me to travel to the famous ruins in Peru someday. That day came on Saturday.

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Cuzco isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Most people that travel in Peru use the city as a quick stopover point on their way to Machu Picchu. Admittedly, I may have been one of those people. But when I arrived in the former capital of the Inca empire, I discovered that there is much more to Cuzco than I ever imagined.

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I’ve been spending a lot of time in the jungle lately. Last month I traveled to Brunei, where I explored the rainforests of Borneo. This month it’s South America, where I just started a trip to Peru with a visit to Puerto Maldonado in the famous Amazon region.

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2011 has been a big year of travel for me. While I didn’t set any specific goals for the year like my 2008 goal to visit 25 countries or my 2010 goal to visit 10 new countries, I did start my 90 under 30 Travel Project. I also managed to make it to quite a few places. Here is the recap.

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