By Kansas we most definitely mean the warmth of Central America, but you follow.
There is lots of text to follow, but we promise that there are tons of pretty pictures to break it up!
Wednesday of last week was our final day in Nicaragua, which surprised us greatly as 6 months travelling has absolutely flown by. We had a nice Valentines Day dinner with a good friend (we aren’t big into V-Day so we like to spread the love around), and then were off and on our way bright and early the following morning to Peru!
We planned our travel day to be the easiest (ie. least transfers/border crossings) and cheapest day possible. We figured out due to the awesome help of Google Flights (they are essentially doing what SkyScanner and Kayak are doing) that flying out of San José, Costa Rica was about $400 USD cheaper than flying from Managua, Nicaragua and also could find a direct flight (whereas Managua you had at least 2 connections). Leaving from San Juan we took a shuttle to the San Jose airport, which was actually on time, something that NEVER happens in Nicaragua. It was a very long, but seamless, travel day taking us about 15 hours door to door.
Landing in Lima was an odd feeling for us. We have been living in and visiting towns and cities of no more than 50 or 100 thousand people and all of a sudden we were smack dab in the middle of an 11 million person, a very spread out city. We lucked out with where we stayed, Barranco district, as we were close to a beautiful district in Lima called Miraflores, but not paying Miraflores prices to stay there.
As a side note to this, AirBnB has been INCREDIBLE so far in Peru, and we are staying in awesome places for a fraction of the price we would pay at even hostels.
Continuing on with Miraflores, it has a boardwalk area that stretches the coast and is immensely beautiful. We saw so many people out for a walks on the nice sunny afternoon. Although we are not naïve that all of Lima is similar to these few beautiful areas, it was an amazing spot to visit and see.
In Miraflores we found a ceviche place that made us think we had died and gone to heaven, and heaven is called La Mar. Although it was a bit on the expensive end (what it would cost for a decent dinner at the KEG at home) it was beyond incredible. The flavours were tantalizing and the fish itself was so fresh and melt in your mouth that we are still salivating over it.
After our brief stint in Lima, we decided to fly to Cusco, as we found flights for only slightly more expensive than the 24-hour bus ride over the Andes so we jumped on the opportunity. Within minutes of stepping off the plane we were both hit with headaches and felt pretty foggy (the classic presentation of altitude sickness) and definitely took advantage of the free coca leaves that were at the arrivals in the airport.
As another side note here, most places (outdoor adventure stores) or touristy locations offer free coca tea or leaves to help the millions of unprepared tourists that likely come through Cusco in a year.
But coca leaves/tea does wonders and has us feeling pretty good on the altitude front currently. For the last 2 days we have been putting some miles on our hiking shoes and collecting the last bit of gear/acclimatizing for the Salkantay Trek that we are about to undertake in a few days to Machu Picchu. It is rainy season in Peru and a little bit chilly but we are getting ourselves prepared for what is supposed to be one of the most beautiful treks in the Andes. And if it gets too rainy, the way down will be more like a waterslide than a trek but we are okay with it.
Tons more photos and updates to come after the trek!
Love always,
AL + Ian