South America – Chile and Peru

CHILE
Michelle and I landed in Santiago on the 29th January 2025. A five hour flight took us from Perth to Sydney. An overnight at the Ibis near the airport and then a 13hour Qantas flight to Santiago where we were fed it seemed like every hour or so. We got to Santiago in the late morning and went to our hotel the “Novapark” situated in a convenient side of the old town close to the hill of Santa Lucia which when we climbed gave us a sweeping panorama of that part of the city and the coastal range. I had stayed there 5years before covid struck and I had to leave from Punta Arenas in the south of Chile very quickly to Santiago on the 21st March 2020 and then Gay and I took the last Qantas commercial flight out of the country the next morning.
There are supposedly 17 million inhabitants of Santiago but over the last few years it has swelled by 3 million with illegals from other parts of Latin America, Haiti and other south American countries. The result is that all the upmarket and fashion label shops looking for more security have moved to the east in the newer part of the city over the hill of San Cristobal. It has left the old part looking very sad indeed. So many illegals have to scratch a living by offering small trinkets and souvenirs all along the streets. One plus that after 5years most of the graffiti covering every wall in the old part of the city had been removed after the fiery demonstrations against the government and police in 2019/20.
A 3hour free walking tour took us to the expanse of the Plaza de Armas and the main points of interest of the old city surrounded by magnificent baroque buildings and their balconies or mashrabiyas of carved wood. Our guide gave us an objective view of the politics in the country at the time of Allende and Pinochet. There is a statue of Salvador Allende in the Plaza.
We unfortunately could not visit the central market which I had very much enjoyed 5years before as our guide told us that it was just too dangerous for any group or individual and that desperate people would tear the bag from your shoulder. That having said we didn’t feel threatened in any way even walking at night and we sampled a nice restaurants, Chipe Libre in the Lastarria district of Santiago.
We of course had to try the Chilean national drink of Pisco sour which is unlike any other spirit made from grapes but very enjoyable with Lemon juice, sugar syrup and beaten egg white on top.
We had two full days in Santiago so on the second day we ventured by funicular up to the Metropolitan park and hill of San Cristobal which features a large statue of the Virgin Mary and a Catholic church and where we could view the stunning Andes in the distance. Michelle took the cable car over the hill to the eastern part of the city and I walked the winding kilometres down the hill and met her there. I’m not a fan of cable cars. Beautiful and unusual sculptures in the park by the river greeted us. We were a bit tired by then so we ventured to a large mall where after a delicious meal in the foodhall we decamped to the top floor cinema to see a film in English. That what we asked for but got a French film with Spanish subtitles. It was a bit of a black comedy with a twist at the end and quite a simple film so we stayed for the duration.
I found the vegetarian restaurant “El Huerto” that Gay and I had found 5years previously and enjoyed immensely but unfortunately it turned out to be an underwhelming experience this time. We took an Uber back to our hotel and readied ourselves for our flight the next day.

PERU
The 1st of February saw us fly three and a half hours to the spectacular looking Pacific city of Lima, one of the driest capitals on earth which was just as well as it is perched on enormous cliffs of soil. Peru is the third largest country in South America and contains vast contrasts of topography from the south to the north and from the east to the west of the country. I had booked us to take the full “Peru Hop” bus route from Lima to follow a semi circular trip from there via Paracas, Huacachina, Nazca, Arequipa and Puno to the Cusco and the starting point for us to the Unesco site of Macchu Pichu. It would give us an insight into various cities and sites on the way to Cusco.
The Peru Hop service started by 2 Irishmen was an ideal way to see this part of the country and each bus has a guide who can book any tours along the way and who organises pick ups and drop off in each of their stops for each passenger. Some cities or towns cannot accommodate the large well appointed buses so we were transferred to smaller vehicles to take us to our accommodation. It was an excellent service all round.
I had decided on an old hotel “The Boulevard” in Lima where we could be collected by our Peru hop bus two days later.
The day after we arrived we joined a free walking tour, different from all other walking tours I had taken. We first met at a park which turned out to be a home exclusively for cats. Little houses for the cats and food bowls were dotted around the well kept park. Cats were lazing everywhere and were unconcerned with dogs on leashes.
Our group and guide then caught a bus to a plaza which had only been opened up recently for tourists. There was a squad of Police in the park ready for a planned demonstration.
We were shown points of interest around the city streets and came upon a very large parade of colourfully clad people in their costumes from all the provinces of Peru. The parade was to showcase the peoples of the various regions in a continuous procession with numerous bands very loudly showcasing their talents. The main Plaza da Armas (there’s one in every city) was bursting with spectators,a few groups from overseas and many South American tourists.
Our walking tour ended nearby a much poorer shanty looking village on a nearby hill. Our guide had recommended the “Contado” restaurant for lunch. We could not get there as the police had blocked off the entire square.
I asked a special forces policeman how to get there and he said “Follow me”. He tried to ask the various other police to open a barrier but to no avail. They were not going to open them for a minute.
This kindly policeman called Apolo led us all around the square and pushed himself and us through the parade some of which was not blocked by barriers. A very kind act.
We ate a “Causa Langostina” which is a round potato bun filled with lobster in a delicious sauce. This we paired with a Pisco Sour, the national drink also of Peru. By the time we finished,the continuing parade and a religious parade which was also taking place made us wind our way around the plaza and back to our hotel.
By the evening we were too tired to walk any great distance so chose a Japanese/Peruvian restaurant which was heaving with locals and apart from the Sushi which looked appealing the food was inedible so we left it and went back to our hotel.
We were picked up by our “Peru Hop” bus the following morning about 530am.

The highway between Lima and Paracas was in good repair but the landscape was quite fractured with dry hills and pockets of housing, a lot of which didn’t seem complete apart from a few good looking estates on hilltops. We stopped after three and a half hours
in Paracas before continuing our bus trip so we opted for an exhilarating trip by boat to the Ballestas islands covered in guano with colonies of sea lions, penguins and many pelicans,guanay and guanera birds. After the boat trip a sumptuous lunch with Peruvian specialities on a rooftop followed before we headed for our next stop for the night three hours away.

Huacachina is a tiny dessert oasis dwarfed by the largest sand dunes on one side of the city of Ica. Some tourists were scaling the high soft sand dunes but we opted for an extremely exhilarating dune buggy ride up and over the huge sand dunes which cover many kilometres. Michelle tried her hand at sandboarding and then we were taken a couple of kilometres further along the dunes to see the spectacular sunset. A Pisco wine tour the next day in Ica showed us the method they used to produce the spirit followed by a tasting of several piscos infused with different herbs or fruits. We had a delicious Ceviche meal there and departed that afternoon for Nazca.
We stopped at a point along the highway to scale a tower to view a couple of the Nazca lines. To view most of the lines involves a plane trip which we didn’t take.
There is much speculation about the origins and purpose of the unusual geoglyphs made in the soil in southern Peru. They ascribe from religious meanings to extra terrestrial ones.

Arequipa
We continued, spending the night on the bus and arriving in the lovely city of Arequipa at 530am the next morning with a view from the breakfast rooftop area of the Misti volcano in the distance. Arequipa is a charming city with beautiful baroque buildings made from the light volcanic stone and many with balconies.
After a short rest and walk around the Plaza de Armas and surrounds we visited the impressive and very large Santa Catalina cloistered convent, more like a town of 20,000sq metres which still housed about 15nuns and one novice.
In Spanish times it was used by some 200nuns and some rich widows who wanted to shut themselves away from the world with some of their possessions. The Spanish elite sent their daughters there for an education until they were approximately 14 and then returned to their families. The nuns still lead a cloistered life within the convent but baked bread in large pizza like ovens and it is sold in town to maintain life in the convent.
We visited the San Camilo market and sampled some fruit called Pacay that we had never seen before but which were delicious. We saw the most amazing array and quantities of potatoes. Peru is famous for its potatoes and its numerous varieties.
Our food tour to four restaurants with Viator was cancelled the previous day so we treated ourselves to a delicious meal at the “ZigZag” restaurant opposite the Plaza San Francisco in Arequipa’s historical centre. The iron staircase in the restaurant was designed by the French architect Gustave Eiffel.

From Arequipa to Puno we passed through a vast area of grasslands and national parks dotted with alpacas, guanacos and llamas. Stopping at a simple roadside cafe on Lake Saracocha we bought some “Coca” Tea which is apparently good to guard against altitude sickness. We were told that you need a minimum of 20leaves steeped in water to make a difference. The shop and roadside stalls were selling all items made from Alpaca wool. The hotels in Puno and then in Cusco had big baskets of Coca leaves on hand.

Puno and Lake Titicaca
Onward and upward the following morning at 6am for the seven hour bus ride on to the highest point on our trip – Puno,3827meters above sea level situated on the western side of Lake Titicaca.
We made a brief stop at a cafe on the way in Juliaca for some empanadas. A lot of Puno city is nestled against hills which makes the streets very narrow and somewhat claustrophobic. We luckily stayed in the “Hacienda Plaza de Armas” on the main square where we had a view across the plaza. Puno is a folkloric capital with many festivals, one of which took place while we were there but unfortunately the many performers and band members were wet through after torrential rain. Beautiful floral displays were also ruined but nothing seemed to dampen the performers spirits and they continued with the festivities.
The previous day we had booked a three hour tour of Lake Titicaca (the largest navigable lake in the world which is divided by Peru and Bolivia). We were collected from the hotel and taken to the small harbour where a ferry took us 5kms over some of the lake to the Uros floating islands made of water resistant Tortora roots and reeds.It was a somewhat strange sensation stepping onto a spongy platform of reeds which need to be replenished every fortnight.
A few families live on each island and there is even a restaurant and a very basic toilet facility on a separate island. We were taken over to this island by the very novel traditional boat also made from fine pieces of reed. The families live a very basic life and only go to the mainland for supplies. They make a living from transporting tourists from island to island and by selling a few small homemade souvenirs. Close by we found a very good Cevicheria restaurant “Mareas” and we were served up an enormous fried seafood dish which was delicious but as it was just too much food we took the rest and gave to someone on the street who appreciated it.
The altitude had affected a couple of people in our hotel and one lady was hooked up to oxygen in the foyer. I opted for Diamox anti altitude sickness tablets and had been taking the prescribed dosage for a couple of days. It meant no alcohol, coffee or spicy food which was a bit of a shame but I wanted to get to Machu Picchu without any problems. Michelle had heard that garlic also helped so that is what she ate and the Coca tea. I drank “Chicha Morada” a purple coloured bland drink made from the purple corn found in Peru.
Our last night in Peru we decided to try a “Chifa” restaurant which was a chain of Chinese/Peruvian restaurants started by the thousands of Chinese workers who were brought to Peru in the 1920’s. They are now all run by Peruvians now but are definitely Chinese in flavour.
Our last Peru Hop overnight bus trip departed about 2130 and we arrived in Cusco on the 8th February 2025 at 5am the next morning. The Peru Hop bus drivers were very skilled and the night drives were not always easy with rain on our last trip.

Cusco
Cusco in the Peruvian Andes was once the Inca capital until it was taken by the Spanish in the 16th Century. The Spanish colonial architecture dominated the city and the old part of town is beautiful and very easy to navigate. Nearly half of the city was destroyed by an earthquake in 1950 but has been rebuilt and some of the Inca walls were not damaged.
I had been recommended the “Ninos hotel” in the old part of town which was very eclectic with numerous hand painted walls around the hotel and in the rooms. The staff were very friendly and helpful.
We made our way up the hill to the Peru Hop office where they gave us Hopster T-shirts and a discount card for the restaurants in town. We availed ourselves of that at the “Catedral” restaurant.
Our middle aged Peruvian guide had a wealth of information for us about the city and the history of the Incas and the Spanish conquistadors who either obliterated the Inca population who did not want to convert to Catholicism and encouraged the more prominent Incas to marry Spaniards.
A taxi took us up the steep hill to “Saqsaywaman” the old historical capital and the Inca citadel just on the northern outskirts of Cusco where we had a panoramic view of the city and could explore the old Inca ruins where a few Alpacas were grazing. We walked back down to the town where I went to see the Cusco cathedral an iconic monument made up of three interconnected churches.
Michelle and I were still coughing from our bouts of influenza so we met up at the Mercado Central de San Pedro where there were a myriad of juice stalls near the entrance and we picked two who served us up delicious juices with ginger and this we followed with a large chicken soup at the the Chicken Soup section of the market.

Machu Pichu
The following morning we made our way to the well organised office of the Inca Rail leaving our main luggage at the Ninos hotel. It is only allowed to take a maximum of 8kilos on the train. We had booked the inclusive trip to get us to Machu Picchu and have a guide there for 2pm, our starting time. I had booked the Machu Picchu tickets well in advance as the Peruvian government have reduced the numbers visiting the citadel. Our guide told us that Machu Picchu is sinking very slowly with all the traffic over its area. After checking our documentation we were taken by bus about an hour and a half away to Ollantaytambo station to continue on to Aqua Calientes, the starting point for Machu Picchu. It is known as the Bimodal system. During the rainy season the train does not go direct from Cusco. We stopped along the way to view the Sacred Valley from above.
There are a few shops and cafes at Ollantaytambo so we had a coffee before departing on the hour and a half train trip through the lush mountains to Aqua Calientes. On arrival we were met my hotel staff who took our bags up the hill to the Taypikala hotel where we were to stay the night.
We were collected and shown where the Consettur bus would depart to take us the 30minutes up the mountains to Machu Picchu. I was very excited to finally be going to to a site I had heard about in my teens and missed out seeing 5years before.
Our guide met us and we had tickets for Circuit 1 – Panoramic which allowed us to explore the first sector of Machu Picchu around it’s highest point where we could admire the entire site. Our young guide Alexandra was very friendly and very knowledgeable. She told us the history of the discovery of the site in the early 1900’s by Hiram Bingham with the guidance of local indigenous farmers. We were to go back the following morning and wondered if we needed a guide again to explain how the citadel worked. She said that there was no need and gave us a full run down of the structures that we could see from above.
The following morning we had a bit of rain while we waited for the bus with many others to the Citadel but by the time we arrived for 7am to take the Classic route-circuit 2, the rain had stopped and there were few clouds.
It was a surreal feeling entering through the Sun Gate to explore the
ancient Citadel and the various the buildings and architecture of the Inca site.
I had taken walking poles and we wore boots but it was not a difficult site to explore on foot. On ascent the first day of the site the we paused to breathe easier but the altitude was thank goodness not a problem. There is also a much larger Inca site called “Chocquequirao” but it is only accessible by a four day hike through the mountains.
We left Aqua Calientes the following morning for the 3hour trip back to Cusco to where we were returning. The next day, the 12th February we took a 10minute taxi to the airport in Cusco for our hour’s flight to Puerto Maldonado where we were to start our “Rainforest Expeditions” trip booked through “Peru North” to the Tambopata Research Centre or TRC on the Tambopata river,the start of the Amazon basin.
We stayed the night at a basic Eco-lodge with good food and friendly staff which was only 10mins from the town of Puerto Maldonado, the starting point for all the rainforest expeditions in that part of Peru. We even saw a group of Howzatin birds in the trees around their lake.
In the morning I took a taxi into town to have a look around and get a good coffee. I didn’t find one but found a cute T-shirt for Maurice and chatted to a few people. My Spanish had come on. My Italian and my Spanish Duolingo helped a lot. There are about 27companies in P.M all doing rainforest expeditions but we didn’t see many other groups.

The Rainforest
We arrived at the “Rainforest Expeditions” met our guide at noon and with six women from Lima with their guide we set off for our very bumpy bus ride of an hour and a half to the river departure point and then our two and a half hour boat ride into the National Park to the Centre with a stop at the Malinowski check point along the river where we were registered. The owner of the TRC Edoardo Nikander happened to be with us for the trip as he was going to spend a few months there.
He was a wildlife photographer who happened on the Macaw birds that amass most mornings to supplement their diet with the salty mineral licks along the steep river bank. He founded the Macaw project in 1989 and the Research Centre has expanded to further study and focus on conservation and breeding programs of the Macaws. Spider, Howler,Capuchin monkeys,moths and other species are studied as well. For three days we were immersed in the centre with interesting talks by the research groups, walks through the jungle with our guide while staying at the very opulent Eco lodge with excellent open air accommodation and delicious fresh food and novel cocktails. We were taken by boat at 430am to the “Macaw lick” to see the birds coming and going to lick the minerals. Dino managed to capture many birds with his powerful telescope and take pictures with our phone cameras through the telescope. Over the years they have also developed long man made nesting pods which protect the Macaws from their predators, the Olingos.
At the check point we happened on a group of Howler monkeys who were crawling into a large hole to eat the salty minerals found there which aid their health. They were playful and running up and down branches and hanging there with their prehensile tails.
The Tambopata National reserve covers 274,000 hectares. The river is very wide but the channels of water change constantly with other rivers flowing into it so the boatmen have to be very skilled to frequently change course to slightly higher water levels and avoid the flotsam mainly trees and fallen branches in the shallow river.
Our guide, the extremely knowledgeable and personable Dino was on the lookout constantly for wildlife. He spoke French, Spanish and English and his favourite pastime was walking through the jungle and sitting enjoying the solitude.
We spotted the cute looking Capybaras and Orinoco geese along the riverbank on our way. Illegal gold miners along the river are apparently ignored by the police who are very close by. Some of the small boats coming from the national park sometimes contain wild animals caught and sold elsewhere.
On one walk through the jungle we stopped to see the enormous fig trees and Sabre trees which spread over many meters and a Sabre tree which can grow up to 65metres high. We saw a group of spider monkeys on the way to the centres new 30metre high canopy tower where we could see various macaws and other birds coming and going to the tops of the trees. The macaws like to sit at the highest points of the trees. We heard the howler monkeys roaring kilometers away. They sounded like trains more than monkeys with their unique howls. We could see rain coming but could not get back fast enough so the torrential rain soaked Michelle who had not got her rain jacket and even four of us with rain ponchos got thoroughly wet. It rained all night which was lovely to listen to but it was gone by the morning.
The centre caters so well for its’tourists by supplying them with all sizes of gum boots which came very much in handy when we were traipsing through mud. We were only allowed to venture into the jungle with our guide who Michelle and I had to ourselves which was sensible.
One of the nights I joined a research scientist studying moths. A large white sheet was hung with a light to attract the moths. I didn’t realise that there were so many species of various size moths and I was invited to catch some of the moths in a jar which are later examined to see if any new species has been found. If one of the ones you have collected is a new species you get to name it. I was later sent a report of what we collected but no new species was collected by me. We saw more capybaras and caimans in and on the river.Michelle spotted a deer on the river bank and I spotted one outside our elevated room. There were no anacondas or Boa constrictors in the river as they prefer black and deeper water in lakes and no large fish again as the river is too shallow. The Tambopata river was constantly flowing. There are Jaguars, Tapirs and Armadillos and snakes to be found there in the jungle but they were not in evidence when we were there.
We also learnt of the difficult cultivation of Brazil nuts. The large and long lived trees take 12years to fruit and snakes inhabit the trees waiting for the pods to crack to eat the fruit. The pods are heavy, some weighing up to 2kgs with anything from 12-30 nuts.
Our 3day/2nt trip into the jungle seemed a lot longer with so many activities and so much knowledge gained from Dino.
Overall we were very lucky with the weather in Peru. It was pleasant weather in most places even though it was the rainy season and we only got drenched once in the rainforest which was of course more humid.
We thoroughly enjoyed our enormously diverse trip through Peru with its friendly people and amazing destinations in the one country.
Meals were plentiful and very reasonably priced and we could use our Australian credit cards in most restaurants and shops. I would recommend a similar trip to any intrepid travellers who have a sense of adventure and urge to see and experience such a wonderful country.
Photos to follow on a separate post.