I have been very busy with my work in Easy-Web lately, and havent really had the time to post on this blog. Havent really felt inspired to write that much the last couple of weeks, but I hope to start blogging some more in the upcoming time. Hopefully I can keep a steady flow and write at least one post per week. I have been working on optimizing some SEO (Search Engine Optimizing) of my blog lately, and I can already see that it really helped. I think I will properly write a few posts about SEO and different aspects of what I’m trying to do on my blog to help the search engines find me.

In this post I will pretty much limit it to show you some of my photos from Lima (Miraflores Peru). I havent been taking alot of pictures yet, so I will hopefully upload a lot more photos from Lima later. The building I live in right now has 21 floors, where the top floor is a roof top terrace. From the roof you get an amazing view over all of Lima, as this building is one of the highest buildings in Lima. I go up there from time to time, as I love the view, and it feels like a “small sanctuary” when living in the big city. So one evening I went up there right before the sunset, and this is where these photos are from. Enjoy!

Another must-see for many people when travelling in Peru, and South America in general, is the amazing Nazca Lines. Basically it is figures created in the desert around Nazca, which can only be seen from the air. It is estimated that the lines are created around 200 BC to 700 AD by the Nazca culture. This is the main attraction of Nazca, and often the only reason to go there.

The best option to see the Nazca lines is to fly over them with a plane. This is pretty expensive though, and takes between 20 and 35 minutes, depending on which plane you choose. The price varies from $50-$90 dollars, and an airport tax of s/20 soles. You can arrange a trip the same day as you arrive, so most people either leave the same day or just spend one night in Nazca. I expected it to be harder to arrange, so I got a hostel before arranging my trips over the lines, and had to spend a night there – which I regret. I would recommend just going there in one day, do the lines and maybe go see the mummies near Nazca [link], and then leave the same day. Nazca is not really worth staying in, and the town has nothing special to offer.

The flight over the Nazca lines is an amazing thing, and really makes you wonder why they made those figures. I went with a plane for about 35 minutes with 3 other people. If you suffer from motion sickness, you should try to take some motion sickness medicine before, as the plane goes around and tip a lot to the sides to give a good view of the lines. Most people don’t seem to have problems with it though, but there are always plastic bags in the plane if you get sick.

If you don’t like to fly, it is possible to catch a bus going north (buses to Ica go this way) and stop at the watch-tower, where you can see 3 of the figures; the Tree, the Hands and the Lizard, which is cut in half by the road. I did not went there though, and will definitely recommend flying over the lines instead, as it is an experience in itself flying in one of the small planes.

Tips for visiting Nazca

• Go to the airport to buy the tickets for the lines; if you can, gather 3-4 people as this will reduce the waiting time. (if you go there alone, you have to wait until there are at least 2-3 other people going on the tour)
• Don’t spend more than a day in Nazca – you it is possible to see everything Nazca has to offer in just a half day.
• Go visit the mummies in Nazca [link] while you’re there, but don’t pay more than 20 soles for a ride and a guide out there.

The most famous thing in Peru is definitely the Machu Picchu ruins near the city of Cusco. Basically it is one of the biggest and most well-preserved Inca ruins in the world, and is a must-see if you travel through Peru. The Peruvian government is currently limiting the amount of people who can go to the ruins, and will properly be more and more restrictive about the ruins, so go see them while you can.

There is different ways to go there, and one of the very popular ways for travelers is doing the Inca Trail, a 4-day trekking route that takes you through amazing scenery, beautiful spots and gets you to the Machu Picchu in the morning, when there is a lot less tourists on the site. But since this is such a big tourist attraction, it is also very expensive. If you do the Inca trail, you have to be prepared to pay at least $250-350 (US dollars). Some people book ahead, other just arrange it as they get there – I honestly don’t know what to recommend, because I heard of people paying around $360 by arranging it before going to Cusco, while I met people in Cusco paying as little as $200 by just arranging it when they got to Cusco. Of course you have to be a bit more flexible on the days of the trek if you arrange it in Cusco, and expect to spend a couple of days in Cusco before going on the trek.

I did not do the Inca trail myself, because I felt it was a bit too much for my budget paying $250-350 for trekking, so instead I just went to Machu Picchu in one day. There is a train with Perurail going there from Cusco, and you can get to Machu Picchu and back to Cusco with the train in just one day. The train is kind of pricy though, and a one-way ticket to Machu Picchu (not including the bus ticket from the town of Machu Picchu to the actual ruins) costs about $41 US dollars. I would recommend going to the town of Ollantaytambo the day before visiting the ruins (maximum 10 soles, about $3 US dollars with a shared cab or collectivo), and then taking the train from Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu and go back that way. It’s a good money-saver, and you can get to Machu Picchu earlier in the morning if you spend a night in Ollantaytambo.

Even though Machu Picchu is very touristic, it is absolutely worth doing. While you are there, make sure you make the walk up to Wayna Picchu, where there is some more ruins and the most amazing view over Machu Picchu and the mountains around. When you finally get to the top (after about a million steps on the stairs leading there) you literally feel like sitting in the clouds on top of the mountain – and the view of Machu Picchu could not get better. You have to go up there before one o’clock in the afternoon and preferable a bit earlier, since they only let 100 people go up there every day.

Tips for going to Machu Picchu

• Go spend a night in Ollantaytambo and spend a night there before going to Machu Picchu, and make sure you go back via Ollantaytambo too – the buses from there are faster than the train and way cheaper.
• Try to get there as early in the morning as you can, as there are less tourists and easier to get to Wayna Picchu.
• Make sure you go all the way to the top of Wayna Picchu, the view is absolute worth the struggle getting up the steep stairs.
• If you go on the Inca trail, make sure you stay a few days in Cusco before to arrange your trip and talk to different companies. This can both get you a cheaper and better trip, though it might be hard during the high season.

I arrived to Cusco Monday morning, and met with Jude whom I studied Spanish with, in Sucre. We decided to take another week of Spanish lessons in Cusco since we felt we needed to get some more lessons about the verbs in the past. We left Sucre with the same level of Spanish, so it made perfect sense to find a school together.

We spent the first week doing absolutely nothing, other than finding the school and arranging to start at Monday. I had a really bad week in Cusco – started by having problems with my stomach, and using most of the Monday in bed. Then at Wednesday night we went out drinking, and got the worst hangover in a long time at Thursday – so that day where pretty much just spent by pitying ourselves. Finally we came to the weekend, and I ended up lying in bed most of the weekend with a fever. I’m usually never sick at home, but this is the 2nd time I’ve got a cold in 2 months.

The second week pretty much just went with going to school and relaxing a bit in Cusco. We went to a place called Protectoyu Peru, with an awesome teacher called Yuliana. It doesn’t have a lot of student or big facilities, but it is a very nice small place with cheap prices and great teachers. I can recommend this place if you are a couple of people looking for a place to study, but if you are travelling alone, I’d recommend you to find a bigger school, where you meet some more students. We really learned a lot this week, and I feel it was great for my Spanish with another week of school.

I don’t like Cusco that much as a place to live and study though. It has a big nightlife scene, but most of it is Gringos coming to Cusco for the Machu Picchu and other tourist sites. It is kind of a mix between a big city like La Paz and a small city like Sucre. If studying for longer period of time, I’d rather recommend one of these cities. If your more into the big city life go to La Paz, but if you don’t mind the quit state of mind in Sucre, where the decent clubs only open Thursday to Saturday, go study there instead. Bolivia is both cheaper, and does not have as many gringos as Cusco.

Another thing you should do while in Cusco, is walk up to the Cristo Blanco, the big Jesus-statue on the top of the east-side hill. You can take the stairs up there from the end of Av Tullumayo. Alternatively you can also take a taxi or one of the special “buses”, but it is quite expensive, and takes over an hour. The stairs will get you up there in about 20 minutes, in a much less touristic path. It is absolutely a visit worth, as the view of Cusco from up there is absolutely amazing.

You can find more photos from Cusco here.