My journey to Latin America had a very unexpected beginning, I lost my favorite gold earrings in the Mexico City airport during our layover which was unfortunate. It was a long, tiring day after the Bain firm visit and 14 hours of travel. Angelina and I decided to the pre-trip together as we were both flying out after the Bain and company tour. We had an amazing time together that augmented our bond as well. We met many amazing people on the way, for example, a helpful Indian couple based in the US. They were kind enough to help us drop off our big suitcase at our homestay. Our homestay hosts were very warm to us in this new city as well. We then ate some great Mexican food and dessert and went back to Lima airport to catch the flight to Cusco.
Next was day 2 in Peru and day 1 at the magnificent Cusco. We started off the day with our flight getting delayed thrice due to harsh weather conditions. But to be honest it was completely worth it because Cusco is absolutely breathtaking.
When we landed it was very cold and felt exactly like how I felt when I landed in Canada so that's deja vu for you. I met a girl named Carla who started talking to me thanks to her undying love for Bollywood-Hindi music, then I asked her about Cusco and she helped us get a cab as it is easy for non-Spanish speakers to get overcharged. We reached our hostel, checked in our bags and got ourselves an amazing massage after our long journey.
Day 3 was one of the best days of my life so far! We woke up at 5:30 am and left at 6:30 am for a tour which we booked the previous day. Here, I would also like to mention that I had researched a lot about the places I wanted to visit and spoke to people in the city to get more perspective. First, we reached Maras and Moray, which was captivating. We learned about the importance of agriculture in Peru, about potato flowers and the Inca society.
The power of thermodynamics and mechanical fluids used in the architecture of Maras fascinated me. Wealso got to witness a Peruvian show us how to naturally dye clothes. We later visited my favorite place thus far, the Salineras, and it was absolutely gorgeous. It was basically wells filled with three different types of salts which are brown, sea and grape salt and later filled with water naturally. The different shades were phenomenal to look at also a heaven for the photographer. We later ate lunch at Urubamba and then went to Ollyantambo followed by Pisaq which was magnificent. We learned about the previous royal life of Peru and enjoyed the views of these places. We also visited other small cities and went to a silver shop to learn about the art behind silver jewelry in Peru.
It was the morning of day 4, and the wait to visit the great wonder of the world, Machu Picchu, was over! We got up at 3 am in the morning boarded the bus at 4, which took us to Ollyantambo at 6:30, then we took the Inca Rail train which was a very comfortable experience and took us to the base of Machu Picchu at 8:30. We then bought our tickets to Machu Picchu and the round trip bus tickets to get to the top. We also hired a tour guide to help us learn more about this magnificent beauty. We went to the various viewpoints; the postcard point, the houses where Peruvians stayed, the place where the king and his family lived and dined, the place where local people stored food using salt, stored water in tanks, etc. We climbed to many places and enjoyed the incomparable view. We then took the bus back to reach Aguas Calientes and ate some food. Later, went to the hot springs and explored the city and then took our train back to Ollyantambo to board a bus back to Cusco. We were tired, satisfied yet completely awestruck.
On day 5, we woke up later than usual and went around the town of Cusco, witnessed a theatrical show by locals and ate tried the local fresh produce. We also shopped at the local San Pedro Market, bought some alpaca wool sweaters, gifts for friends and family at home.
The people also wanted to take many pictures with us and I also took pictures with Alpacas. They were absolutely adorable.
On day 6, we started off our day by leaving our hostel at 3 am to go to the Rainbow Mountains. Cusco is definitely a land of mountains, but most of the viewpoints were similar with a lot of greenery and agriculture valleys. But Rainbow Mountain was so colorful. It was 5036 m above sea level. We were freezing despite me wearing two sweaters and a jacket but the view from the top was exceptional. While we were hiking down, it was very slippery but fortunately, we reached the base before it started drizzling. We noticed that only one range of the mountains was covered with snow thanks to the high altitude. It was very cold and beautiful and reminded me of Canada.
Day 7 was our last day in Cusco before we had to catch our flight back to Lima to go to our Spanish school and later pursue my internship at Scotiabank. I am very excited to start Spanish school, I did not take the Spanish course at Ivey as I already knew 3 languages but I can definitely say that traveling in Peru has helped me learn a little or pokito as the Spanish say it and I hope to strengthen it at school. On our last day, we went to Puka Pukara, Qenco, Saqsaywaman, Tipón and Pikillaqta. This was a city tour and we learned more about these ruins, its cultural heritage, the Pachamama god and the Inca life. I also got to carry a baby alpaca which was heartwarming. Alpacas are very calm and kind animals.
By the end of my first week in Peru, I was mesmerized by its beauty. The people are hard working, and every single place I was at was beautiful enough to take a picture.I definitely recommend a local city tour to experience Cusco's brilliant culture completely. I'm so grateful to have gotten the opportunity to visit so many places and I'm excited to go to Lima thanks to Ivey Global Lab. As an international student, I learned a lot when I moved from India to Canada but I would definitely say that I experienced higher levels of cultural shock in Peru, it was a tiring yet exquisite pre-trip. I cannot wait to see what's in store during the rest of our stay in Peru.