peru 2026

condors at the view point mirador cruz del condor

 at 3,800m in the colca canyon

inca trail dance 💕

as often at journeys, lets share my notes made during our 21-day trip with the djoser travel agency + pictures made mostly by my fellow travellers from our two whatsapp-photos-groups 🤓

peru, PE is a huge country with almost 1.3m km2 (20th-largest in the world and 3rd in south america), has 35m inhabitants + density of approx 26 people per km2

population: 60% mestizos = descendants of mixed european and indigenous ancestry, 26% indigenous people (mostly inca descandants and aymara in the andes + maybe 50 smaller groups in the amazonas lowlands), 6% of european origin, 3.5% african origin, 1.2% asian origin (mostly chinese + japanese, like the just few days ago elected right wing president ms. fujimori)

languages spanish, quechua (incas), aymara + english in tourist destinations

3 major areas: the coast, the andes highlands with highest peak huascaran 6,768m + the tiny populated amazonas region (60% of the land and 12% of the population)

capital lima: 11m inhabitants, in 1535 demonstratively built by spanish conqueror francisco pizzaro on the ruins of destroyed inca city, few unesco heritage buildings in the city center. btw, due to big waves it was quite difficult to swim in the pacific ocean there => probably more suitable for surfers 😉

independance from spain 1821 (argentina's san martin) + 1824 (venezuela's simon bolivar)

money: peruvian sol, 1 EUR = 4 SOL when changed at the bank / office / official dealers in the streets. 1 EUR = 3.85 SOL is the official exchange rate and your credit card rate when booked in SOL. 1 EUR = 3.45 SOL when by mistake chosen currency conversion at the ATM, 1 EUR = 3.65 SOL if the credit card invoice was booked in EUR => its up to you and your luck in the moment of payment 😀

after in lima for the 1st time, i could again swim on two days in the pacific ocean in paracas, close to pisco. this city is famous for pisco sour or maracuja sour, the cocktail made with some local grapes booz. yes, due to el nino has the water 22°C temperature which is +5°C above average and much much warmer then i would expect

panamericana, the longest road / higway in the world. unfortunately often surrounded by tons of mostly plastic waste + shredded car tires

my daugher + me played a strategy cards game similar to monopoly and on top had to solve logical brain twisters taken from one out of her 3 fat mathematics books during our often much to looooong bus trips. wanna try out 3 of them?

#1 we have 100 tigers + 1 sheep. if a tiger eats the sheep, it will metamorphose into a sheep itself. if the tiger knows, it will survive, it will eat the sheep => WILL THE SHEEP SURVIVE? a hint? start small with 1 sheep and only one, two and three tigers 🐅 and scale up later => easy!

#2 we have 12 equal looking balls, one of them is heavier or lighter than the others and we have an old fashioned scale with 2 cups. you can weight these balls 3x and have to say, which one is different + whether it is heavier or lighter than the others => really difficult! i just could say which ball is different, but not whether heavier than the other 11. to fully solve it i would need a) more time b) the sample solution c) both 👀

#3 we have 100 men in a circle and the #1 has a knife. he kills the #2, so the #3 takes the knife and kills the #4. then #5 takes the knife and kills the #6 ...  which number solely survives after few rounds of this strange men's game? => easy!

ugly desert between the pacific ocean and the andes. btw, due to a sand storm, we had to cancel the 1st day of our sightseeing tour at the paracas peninsula

paracas - swimming in the hot pacific ocean, boat tour into an ocean NP wih sea lions and many many birds (pelicans, cormorans, humbold pinguins, inca seagulls, gannets (tölpel), red head condors, ...). it is a region where it almost never rains, maybe just every few years. why? it is due to the cold humbold stream from the antarctica in the ocean, the high andes mountains which block the rain from amazonas region and some winds (el nino?)

nazca / nasca lines starting 800 years B.C. in the desert earth. maria reiche museum (she was a german scientist from dresden and has discovered + protected the lines for decades). ancient up to 2,000 years old nasca graves with mumies, ancient water conduits (wasserleitungen) with small fish inside. the nasca culture was the successor of the paracas culture

nasca is in the ica province. the major source of income here are mining (Cu, Fe, Au, Ag), tourism (nasca city only?) and agriculture as at some places it rains 2-3 months in a year, but only 1-2 hours per week (really?)

the people in peru are generally smaller, thus the beds are often too short (1.80m) and the pissoirs too low 😀

now we're finally going to leave the coastal area, my dears 🍀

arequipa, 2,335m, the 1.5m inhabitants large unesco heritage city with beautiful palaces + churches + restaurants. great rafting adventure at the chili river. nice post office experience when a local guy helped me to find the office even if it was just partially on his way. due to some minor holiday it was closed, but the security guard out there opened the door anyway + dropped my 2 already franked cards into the post box => s.th. like that would not be possible in germany, would it?

interoceanica, the road between pacific + atlantic oceans is part of the new chinese silk road through peru, bolivia and brasil. there is also an one line railroad with almost no rail traffic next to it. maybe even more trucks than at the panamericana... pampa with dry + yellow grass lands often above 4,000m high with some cactus 🌵 + bushes + very few trees and many lamas + alpacas + vicunas + guanacos = the 4 camelios 🦙 south americas, where the last two, vicunas + guanacos, are (still) wild. quite many lagunes with water birds like ducks, flamingos, black ibis, seagulls and also few rivers/creeks with or without water. some agriculture (lamas, alpacas, cattle, sheep, quinoa, corn, oats + other grains and many different local potatoes types, vegetables, ...). btw, the same waste beside the road like at panamericana => any significant  improvement would be a question of culture + education, isnt it? 😏

the colca canyon which is double as deep as the grand canyon in arizona (usa) with condors 🦅 + eagles, falcons + nice short hiking tour + thermal springs bath + ice cold nights with frozen water puddles (pfützen) in the morning in our hotel at about 3,600m

the ugly city of puno (3,830m) at the huge lake titicaca (3,812m above sea level). the swimming yellow reed grass homes of the indigenous uros culture, 1 night at the amantani island with 4,000 inhabitants in the homes of quechua speaking culture and by huuuge luck on that day with local communities celebration with music + dance + beer + fire. the 2nd day visit on the smaller taquile island with 2,000 inhabitants. here i was swimming in the titicaca lake for 3 or 4 minutes 😍. we have'd a hiking tour on both islands. the 300m hight meters covering sunset hiking tour to the pre-inca time pachatata (father earth) temple at 4,150m at the amantani island was more than difficult. there was the pachamama (mother earth) temple at the a little bit higher twin peak as well, my dears. btw, both islands are to 100% terrace fields agriculture land, there is no forest or any waste land left today. they have few passion fruit + pine trees, bushes, flowers and eukalyptus trees (imported from australia) growing on mostly bald mountains

inca trail - inka trail - our 4 days and 42km long hiking adventure at the eastern, rainy + green side of the andes 🌴. well,  that means many many many steps on stone stairs + coca tea + coca leaves + many beautiful inca ruins with all their terraces, walls + remainings of buildings down the road. our highest point here was the dead woman's pass at 4,215m. we've been a group of 11 tourists (besides my daughter & me there was a group of 7 funny and dance-crazy spanish people from barcelona at my daughter's age and 2 german guys 10 years younger than me) + 2 young peruvian guides + 1 cook + 13 porters. well, the porters have'd the lowest pay and at the same time the hardest job carrying all the tents + food + kitchen + some luggage for our fellow travellers who new in advance that there exist such a possibility. it is sooooo sad that our society does not value hard work + fairness, but rather appreciates some special skills or special positions/roles, which of course change over centuries 😇. there were no soccer players and rock stars in the inca culture, isnt it? as a grop, we've spent wonderful 4 days in the beautiful andes mountains

machu picchu - the holy city of the incas in the jungle at 2,400m - unesco heritage, built by inca king pachakuteq around 1450 in geographically extremely difficult place. for the western world discovered by the american hiram bingham in 1911. even before it was visited (and all treasures looted) by local people, by the german albert giesecke, by one cusco native peruvian explorer who (besides others before him) left a graffiti on some walls what bingham found and deleted before making a picture😁 ... anyway, the picture was found/published few years before 1911, so bingham accepted not to be the 1st 'modern times' guy out there, especially because that cusco guy accidentally died in the river below the city and was no longer a competitor. what does it mean? mr. bingham and his team of scientists + archeologists found just some ceramics, (mumies?), stones, but no gold and silver except one golden forearm bracer besides the paths leading to/from the holy site which most likely lost some local or foreign looters

the unesco heritage city of cusco 3,399m, built on previous inca city - churches, churches, churches and stone paved squares

anything else? it is dark at 6 p.m., many tuk tuk taxis in the cities, many by earthquakes destroyed buildings, few quite easy to hike 6,000+ m high mountains, the highest point of our journey was the 4,910m high pass and viewpoint 'mirador de volcanos' in the colca canyon, tropical fruits + juices at the markets and restaurants, coca leaves all over the country, you can eat ceviche (sour made raw fish) + guinea pigs + alpacas, when you think you have to, traditional clothed people in the highlands + also the most souvenir sellers, quipus rope scripture of the incas, sooooo much bureaucracy (you need your passport to enter the macchu picchu site, you need it again when travelling by domestic railroad --> they've controlled 3 times (!!!) i.e. in front of the rail station + in the line for the trains + when entering the train. many of my mining investments, mostly canadian + american companies have operations in peru (Cu, Au, Ag, ), ... but i also own few shares aka ADRs of the huge peruvian 'compania de mines buenaventura', which is one of the biggest silver producers worldwide, as they are listed at NYSE.

is peru a beautiful country? not really, if you asked me. all the way from lima to cusco there were mostly grey & brown lands + dusty deserts, ugly cities with overwhelming number of not finished / painted houses (due to poverty or the frequent earthquakes?), dry + boring pampa yellow grasslands surrounded by naked mountains, plastic waste almost everywhere. of course, there are also beautiful spots like the city of arequipa, colca canyon, lake titicaca, inca trail, machu picchu, but there were too many long & boring bus transfers between these hot spots, you know?

enjoy pictures made mostly by my kind fellow co-travellers taken out of our 2 whatsapp-photo-groups. #picturesarenicerthantherealworld, arent they? 😂

map of our round trip + lima

city of cusco

inca site at the hill above cusco ~ look at the earthquake stable 

stone lizard example. the tail continues around the left corner

cusco

cusco

me, a little bit ill => teeth + ears + common cold

inca trail - comina inka => 42 km, 4 days, 4,000m high => stairs, stairs, stairs 😇

some inca site ruins

this is how the old real inca trail looked like, if you asked me. 

not the 'highway' built by archeologists at some other places😆

one of the few really steep parts of the inca trail

all of us, our spanish-dutch-german-group 💖

inca trail = stairs + stairs +stairs 🙈

one of our base camps UP the road ... 

inca ruins

one of our porters, thx 🙏

the nicest camp site at the whole trail ~ we didnt stop but moved to the 

next one, so we could pass the following steepest stairs down at daylight

inca site ruins

some orchids, if you asked me

finally jungle ~ we're at the east side of the andes (amazonas)

the only approx 500 years old machu picchu inca site / inca city

some strange tourists' ritual? 😂

the famous inka site machupicchu, unesco heritage ...

the famous view at the inca city machu picchu, unesco heritage

machu picchu BEFORE western discovery and robbery

perurail - once in a lifetime horror? 

inca ruins

who's on the top? it was probably the highest point (5,050 - 5,100m) 

of the other groups' hike to rainbow mountain & red valley

the red vallye ~ valle rojo, the andes close to cusco

the rainbow mountain, the andes close to cusco

some tourists posing at the rainbow mountain?

mirador lagunillas 4,413m, close to puno

lake titicaca, 3,812m, taquile island

is that really me?

lake titicaca, amantani island

pacha tata pre-inca site at amantani island at 4,100m

lake titicaca, amantani island

some (dry) island / peninsula at lake titicaca

the uros indigenious culture

lake titicaca in puno

our local travel guide olga (titicaca)

condor (heaven) + puma (earth) + snake (underground)

city of puno

city of puno, lake titicaca

an old church close to the inca site raqchi

inca site raqchi

the cactus drink

our local travel guide victor (colca canyon)

the colca canyon

mr. rabbit

mr. condor

condor family

colca river + thermal springs in the colca canyon

domestic lamas. the alpacas have hairy faces😉

(wild) vicuna

city of arequipa + the (misti?) volcano💓

gold? peru was 2025 the #9 among the gold producers (china the #1) 

mr. colibri

one of the nicer hotels at our stay. was it in pisco?

the panamericana road

nasca, unesco cultural heritage

2,000 years old graves in nasca 

the oasis huacachina

our nice hotel direct at the lake

few of us at the sand dunes slightly before sunset

me @ the oasis huacachina

beach in paracas

paracas

some birds' reserve in the the pacific ocean

see lions

old city center of lima, unesco heritage

the ford T inside the old hotel (simon bolivar?) in lima

the beach in lima

there is no metro in lima => the fast 'express' bus line

wanna even more pictures? you are welcome, here we go😀