Why Everyone Needs To Visit Peru

We have officially declared Peru as the most underrated country in the world. Why do more people not go here?

Incredible food, lovely locals, amazing scenery and – maybe most importantly – pisco sours.

It’s everything you could ever want. Granted, we only had time to visit two cities – the centre of the Incan empire, Cusco; and the nation’s capital, Lima. But that was enough to decide everyone needs to visit Peru at least once.

Cusco

After a long and arduous night bus journey from Copacabana in Bolivia, we arrived in this picturesque city, weary-eyed and in need of caffeine.

Luckily, Cusco had our backs – coffee beans and cacao beans are grown in this region, which meant we just happened to stumble upon a coffee and chocolate festival with loads of free samples. If that doesn’t perk you up after a night bus, nothing will.

Stay

We stayed in a delightful little hostel called Pisko & Soul, right in the heart of the historical San Blas neighbourhood. While all of Cusco is stunning, this particular area was exceptionally beautiful.

Eat

We drank so much fresh fruit juice in Cusco our blood sugar was likely through the roof. But with so much amazing fresh produce around, it would really be rude not to. Inside the San Pedro Markets is a juice ‘aisle’ with loads of ladies selling juice from their little own stalls, with their name at the top of their stall – we went to Juice By Andrea.

Then there is also a breakfast ‘aisle’ with ladies cooking eggs, fruit salads etc. And lunch section, where we went several times for a massive two course lunch of soup, chicken, rice and vegetables for $2.

Ceviche – we know, Cusco is not on the coast so we really should have been patient and waited until Lima before we ate ceviche. But we got a hot tip that there was a little ceviche stall in the San Blas Markets (another amazing food market) so we went. And it was damn good.

Do

The chocolate museum. The Peruvians have a museum dedicated the art of cacao farming and chocolate production. Not only is it very interesting (particularly the parts where they show you the worlds biggest cacao growing regions versus biggest chocolate consuming regions) they also give you a ridiculous amount of free chocolate samples. Not bad considering the tour costs zero pesos.

San Pedro markets. Even if you’re not there to drink juice or eat super affordable meals, this place is still worth a wander. Loads of local crafts and arts, as well as all the quinoa, maca powder, mint tea and cacao you could ever want. It’s a food paradise.

Jungle tour. Damo ventured out to the jungle near Puerto Maldonado with a couple of English lads. After a harrowing 10 hour bus ride (the driver insisted on having a foot on the break and accelerator at all times) the solid ground of Puerto Maldonado was a relief. After much safer boat ride down the Rio Madre De Dios, we arrived at a jungle paradise – hammocks, pool, a huge common area and unreal food.

The next four days were comprised of a number of activities: monkey spotting, cayman hunting, a knee deep mud walk to Lago Sandoval, tarantulas, a night walk, zip lining, canopy walking, KAYAKING and a 4am trip to watch parrots eating a clay wall to clean their little tummies.

Whilst it was an amazing experience, we discovered you can’t see a whole lot in the dense jungle. Fun – but probably better to do it properly in Brazil.

Yoga. While Damo was off looking for reptiles in the jungle, Kirsty stayed in Cusco and threw herself in to yoga for four days. There are a surprisingly large number of yoga places in Cusco, but The Healing House in San Blas was exceptional. Lovely teachers and sometimes they even make you a fruit smoothie ready for when you come out of class! (We know, more fruit smoothies…)

St. Patrick’s Day. Although not that cultural, there did happen to be an Irish pub in Cusco. Where some lads we met in Bolivia happened to be staying. Where there happened to be a St Patrick’s Day party, which they happened to invite us to. Which happened to have a beer pong tournament, which Damo happened to absolutely dominate.

Lima

We hadn’t heard great things about Lima. “It’s just another big South American city, nothing special” is what we commonly heard.

However what we also heard was Lima is home to a little neighbourhood called Barranco (just south of the popular tourist neighbourhood of Miraflores.) So instead of just going to Lima to catch a connecting flight elsewhere, we booked a hostel in Barranco for a few nights – and it rocked our socks off

Stay

Barranco has good food, good vibes, epic street art and lovely coastal running routes. And it has none of the hectic atmosphere its neighboring areas of Miraflores and downtown Lima have. In fact, we did go to central Lima for one day to explore the markets, and found ourselves craving to be back in our little oasis of Barranco.

Eat

We need to talk about the ceviche in this country.

We also need to talk about the fact that we are now religious, because there is a god, and he is curing seafood at a restaurant called Canita Ranita in Lima.

We both unanimously decided that this ceviche – which was topped with lime, avocado and grilled octopus – was the best meal we’ve had in the past three and a bit months.

Another thing we need to talk about is Chifa. This is the word given to the Peruvian-Asian fusion cuisine that you can find all over Lima.

Fun fact: back in the day when many people immigrated from China, Vietnam to South America, they brought with them their own traditional cuisine which they then blended with the local Peruvian fare – and thus ‘Chifa’ was born.

Anyway, it’s delicious.

Do

Walking tour – the award for best walking tour so far goes to these guys, Barranco Free Walking Tour. They have spent a long time cultivating relationships with locals in the ‘slums’ of Lima (in an area called Chorillos) and take you there. We saw everything from a family who breed fighting roosters, a man who is the last producer of hand made fishing boats in Lima, and a private art collection made up of paintings by current prisoners – including members of the Shining Path movement and former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori. Oh, and we also had a jam session with locals.

Runs. After about a month of being at altitude and not being able to do any high intensity exercise, we were like kids in a candy store when we arrived in Lima.

Beautiful paths running along the coast + being at sea level = very happy Greeks.

The path from Barranco to Miraflores is beautiful, and we took advantage of it every day.

El Gato Tulipan. Located in the heart of Barranco, this is an art gallery / artesenal shop / cafe / rooftop bar. Very cool.

Mercado De Surquillo #1. This epic produce has everything you need to cook anything – which was fabulous seeing as our hostel had the most well-equipped guest kitchen we had ever come across. We bought so much fresh produce to cook with, tea, snacks to eat on the fly and (more) fresh juices.

Sunsets. While we are very aware that living in Perth makes us spoilt for sunsets, we do have to acknowledge the beautiful sunsets in Lima. Perfect for an evening wine and beer, which cost around $10 for both.