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Days 1-3: Cusco

Flew into Lima at night on day one and had a really early flight out the next day so we just slept in the airport. Flew to Cusco early on day 2 and spent 2 days there.

Plaza de Armas – main square.
Cusco Museum
Craft Market
Cusco public market – amazing. Fresh smoothies, went back there multiple times.

If we couldn’t walk where we were going, we took combis, which are shared taxis. We mostly just walked around at the beginning though to acclimate to the altitude and had a relaxed couple of days. Stayed at El Balcon – really nice.

Days 4-6: Lares Trek

Lares Hot Springs
Lares Valley
Pachacutec Pass

We booked this through Llamapath, they were fantastic. We decided to do this instead of hiking to Machu Picchu. Started at the Lares Hot Springs and went through the small villages in the Lares Valley. The guides set up the tents, made all the food, carried all the stuff. We hiked up to Pachacutec Pass and the trek back down was really neat – went from mountaintops, to rainforest, to valley. On the third day we headed out of the valley and took a bus to Aguas Calientes where we stayed overnight.

Day 7

Machu Picchu
Sun Gate

Took bus up, didn’t have a guide and explored on our own.

Day 8

On the way out of Aguas Calientes we took the more expensive train, which we thought was worth it. It has the glass panels on the roof so you can get the fantastic views of the mountains. Stayed at The Green House in Huaran.

Day 9

Went back to Cusco to fly to Huaraz, stayed at Albergue Churup, which was one of the best hostels ever. Had lunch at Café Andino, which is a tourist travel spot – you meet other travelers and play games, great food too and close to a laundromat. We would eat and make plans while our laundry was being done.

We explored the area on foot. Hiked up the mountainside and took a combi down. The combi actually ran out of gas on the way down but since we were going downhill we coasted back down! The public market is pretty sketchy here.

Day 10

Huascaran National Park
Los Lagos LLagunaco
Camped at Cebollapampa Campground

Hiked around the lake, took combi up to the campground. We had rented gear in Huaraz and took it with us in the combi. Camped because the hike the next day gets really crowded and we wanted to get an early start.

Day 11

Laguna 69 Trek

3 miles and 2,000 elevation gain to get to a stunningly blue lake surrounded by glaciated peaks. The hardest hike I’ve ever done and worth all the effort. Machu Picchu was incredible but this was my favorite part.

Combi back to Huaraz and spent the night.

Day 12

Flew back to Lima

Museo Larco – pottery museum. Worth going to, nice collection of erotic pottery!

Day 13

Bike tour of the city. Much better way to see the city.

Day 14

Flew back home

I would have skipped Lima if I could do this over. It was during the gray season so that didn’t help. The hikes and the small towns that we went to were way more interesting. The guided trek out of Cusco was well worth it, not something we could have done on our own as it wasn’t a known path. Great trip!
Year traveled: 2013

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Peru - Machu Picchu and Huascaran National Park

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Peru - Machu Picchu and Huascaran National Park

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