Peru
Adventures
Peru
“The Power of Peru"
The Power of Peru
“Lost and Found in Peru”
Peru shares many characteristics with the countries we’ve been traveling through over the first 11 months of our overland expedition from the US to Argentina. The drivers are crazy. The food is suspect. The majority of the population is poor. The roads are bad. And even in Lima, the water is undrinkable, at least for westerners. But there are many things that make Peru an amazing country to explore including the accessible indigenous communities throughout the country, the impressive archeological sites and last, but not least, the large number of world class outdoor adventure opportunities including mountain biking, mountaineering, river rafting and even surfing. These adventures make Peru one of our favorite countries in the world.
Northern Highlands
Instead of taking the more common overland route from Ecuador to the northern coast of Peru, we chose to take the road less traveled through the Northern Highlands of Peru from Vilcabamba, Ecuador to San Ignacio, Jaen, Leymebamba, Celendin and Cajamarca.
Lonely Planet guidebooks often glamorize remote regions in the world. But in the case of the Northern Highlands, they nailed it: “Vast tracts of unexplored jungle and mist-shrouded mountain ranges guard the secrets of the Northern Highlands like a suspicious custodian. Here, Andean peaks and a blanket of luxuriant forests stretch from the coast all the way to the deepest Amazonian jungles. Interspersed with the relics of Inca kings and the jungle-encrusted ruins of cloud-forest-dwelling warriors, connections to these outposts are just emerging from their infancy.”
The border crossing from southern Ecuador into the Northern Highlands of Peru was remote but straightforward. But pretty quickly, we learned that the roads in the Northern Highlands were anything but. For the first few days of driving, the dirt and paved roads were extremely narrow with huge drops into the canyons below. One wrong move would have resulted in certain death. As I drove, Leah looked out the window and told me how many inches we had between the edge of our tires and the edge of the cliff. “4 inches, 2 inches, 3 inches, 1 inch”. When big trucks approached us, we were forced to engage in a game of chicken, the loser of which had to back up on the single lane road until there was space to pull even closer to the edge of the cliff to let the other vehicle pass. Unfortunately, this was a game we typically lost. Since few tourists, never mind overlanders, travel to this region, there were no campgrounds and we often found ourselves camping in the middle of indigenous communities, including on at least a few soccer fields.
But despite this stress, overlanding through the Northern Highlands was more than worth it. The region includes numerous amazing waterfalls, including 2 of the 5 highest in the world. It’s also full of relatively unexplored ruins of the Chachapoyas or “Cloud Warriors” a mysterious and sophisticated pre Inca civilization whose royalty were mummified and placed in sarcophagi in inaccessible chullpas (ancient Andean funerary towers) carved out of the side of limestone cliffs which you can visit. The Northern Highlands also consists of hundreds of authentic indigenous communities full of traditions from colonial, pre colonial and even pre Incan times. Even the larger towns of Cajamarca and Celendin provided a fascinating glimpse into traditional Peruvian highland life. In a world where indigenous culture is disappearing, this was perhaps the greatest gift that the Northern Highlands offered to us.
Outdoor Adventures in the Andes
The Andes are the longest mountain range in the world, stretching through 7 countries from Venezuela to Argentina. And the Peruvian Andes are one of the best places in the world to pursue outdoor adventure opportunities including world class mountain biking, mountaineering, river rafting and trekking.
As we’ve learned over the last 30 years, it’s easy to plan a day of hiking or mountain biking. It’s a bit harder to plan multi day backcountry adventures in third world countries. Fortunately in Peru we met numerous mountain bikers and rafters who embraced us and invited us to go on adventures with them and their friends.
We will never forget a few of our outdoor adventures in Peru. The first adventure was cross country and enduro mountain biking in the Andahuaylillas and Sacred Valleys outside of Cusco. Enduro mountain biking consists of getting a ride to the top of a mountain (or riding up it) and then riding down singletrack trails. The trails in the Andahuaylillas and Sacred Valleys were steep and technical and the riders we rode with were the best in Peru. Some of the trails that Karl rode went straight through Inca ruins, like the famous Huchuy Qosqo trail.
Thanks to a new friend in Cusco, we also joined a group of Peruvians on a multi-day rafting trip through the White Canyon of the Apurimac River. Karl first ran the Apurimac River 25 years ago during one of the first commercial expeditions through the White Canyon. And we thought that the trip we were joining was also a commercial trip. But after an hour or two on the river we learned that it was a trip organized by some of the best kayakers and rafters in the world to celebrate the birthday of the owner of Apurimac Explorer, the only company that still runs trips down the river (the other concluded that it was too dangerous). On the one hand, this made the trip safer, since we knew we were in good hands. On the other hand, this made the trip more dangerous, since we ran many of the class 5 and even 5+ rapids that commercial trips refuse to let their clients run. One of the kayakers on our trip was Aniol Serrasolses, one of the top (and most extreme) kayakers in the world. Aniol told us that he would be able to rescue us within a few seconds if we ended up in the dangerous waters of the “Apu”, and after seeing him kayak through class 5 and 5+ rapids, we believed him. This trip will forever be one of the top 10 if not 5 adventures of our lifetime.
Cusco, The Sacred Valley, and Machu Picchu
No trip to Peru would be complete without visiting Machu Picchu and the fabulous Inca ruins in the Sacred Valley. Most people stay in Cusco and take tours to the ruins in the Sacred Valley. But we chose instead to stay in a campground in the Sacred Valley which enabled us to get to many of the ruins early in the morning before the tour buses arrived. Exploring Machu Picchu was also a highlight. Getting there involved an expensive train ride and a night in a town near the ruins. But after catching the first bus to the entrance of Machu Picchu at 6am, we were rewarded with an amazing view and hike through the amazing ruins.
Another adventure that we will never forget involved teaming up with a local couple from Cusco to deliver clothes and toys to impoverished herding communities living around the Ausangate Massif. The area is inhabited by Alpaca and llama herding communities. Their only income comes from selling Alpaca wool. Without some outside help the kids in these communities can literally starve to death in the winter. We combined this mission with first descents of long, single track mountain biking trails in the area.
Lost and Found in Peru
After almost 2 adventurous months in Peru we headed for Lake Titicaca and Bolivia.
Looking in our rear view mirror, we knew that our time in Peru would be one of the most unforgettable few months of our trip but that we had saved numerous additional adventures for a future trip in this or a future life.
Here are a few of Our Peru Favorite Adventures.
