Trip Planning and Events Before Departure

Now that our Peru trip is over I figured I would write some of my experiences down to help me remember the trip better and to help out on the next one. This all started some time in February as we were driving towards Grouse Mountain to do the Grind. Sophie suddenly came out with the idea of going on a trip together. I agreed immediately and I don't know if it was I who said it first or her but we were both thinking of South America. I love mountains and the thought of seeing the Andes has always appealed to me. I had even taken Spanish at University as I knew somehow at some point I will be visiting S. America.

Peru was the first choice. Since both Sophie and I love hiking, we thought we would hike the Inca trail to Machu Picchu. We checked out a bunch of books from the library (emptied their shelves). We started reading about all we can do in Peru. The idea to hike the Inca trail became less and less exciting as we read about it. The trail was supposed to be so popular that the Peruvian government only allows 500 people on the trail at a time (with the guides and porters this becomes 1000). We could already see it: a long line of people as far as the eye can see. Sounded horrible. We also looked up some guiding companies and the prices seemed outrageously high. The Inca trail was dropped from our list of things to do. We were planning on just taking the train to Machu Picchu and do some treks somewhere else.

As we were reading we found out about many other trekking possibilities. The Cordillera Blanca and Huayahuash seemed to be filled with great hikes around unbelievable scenery. As we read more and spoke with people who have been to S. America, we started to get interested about Bolivia as well. It seemed everyone was putting Bolivia at the top of the list of places to visit. So we finally settled on a plan and got our plane tickets. We were going to fly to La Paz in Bolivia, do some treks in the Cordillera Real, hike and camp on Isla Del Sol on Lake Titicaca and then head into Peru to Cusco and Machu Picchu by bus and train.

Two days after we got our tickets, demonstrations rose in Bolivia regarding the nationalization of the natural gas resources. The president offered to resign, was denied to do so by the senate and things seemed to calm down again. The travel advisory for Bolivia was eventually lifted. Plans for our trip were proceeding well. We went to a travel clinic and got our many shots. Other than me passing out during the night after I got the shots and Sophie developing a small skin reaction because of some shots we got later, we were fine…

Two weeks before departure and the demonstrations in Bolivia start up again and escalate to an extreme. La Paz is under siege. Airport is closed. Israeli tourists are getting flown out of the city by military planes while others are stuck there. Border crossings into Peru are blockaded. Total chaos. Seemed a little too severe so we cancelled our trip to Bolivia and had less than two weeks to prepare a new one to just Peru. We got new plane tickets after a couple of stressful days trying to resolve the cancellation with the insurance company and the travel agent. We essentially chose new travel destinations during one night of reading guide books. Two days after we got our tickets and cancelled the other trip, things settled in Bolivia and seemed calmer than ever…

The new plan was to fly into Lima and spend a day there (in case of any problems with the plane being late, or who knew what else…we had no interest in Lima as everyone told us it's to be avoided). The next day, we had an internal flight booked to Cusco. Plan was to take the train to Machu Picchu, visit the various sites around Cusco and maybe do a hike or two if it's possible. After that we were going to go to Puno, visit the Islands on Lake Titicaca and then head to Arequipa. In Arequipa we wanted to climb El Misti (5800m) and then do a trek to the Colca Canyon before flying back to Lima and coming home after three and one half weeks of Peru.

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