Sand boarding in the desert, climbing Machu Picchu and recuperating in Cusco

The very majestic, yet somewhat neglected, Huacachina oasis outside of Ica.

Next up was the bustling city of Ica and the tourist attraction of the Huacachina oasis, situated between giant sand dunes a short drive from Ica. Getting to Ica from Pucusana was quite easy. We hopped on a local minibus that took us to the main road leading south, where we were dropped us off at the start of a slip road (which was the official bus stop, apparently). Five minutes later, the Soyuz bus came along that was on its way to Ica, so we clambered on and strapped ourselves in for the next four hours. The journey cost us a mere 12 Peruvian Soles each (about 2 pounds 30).

When we arrived in what was probably the busiest part of Ica, a collection of noises filled the air, From taxi drivers shouting locations at you trying to get you to go somewhere other than your actual destination, to street music, car horns and even fruit sellers shouting something in Spanish from megaphones strapped to their carts. Where did you say the hotel was again, Lisa?

We spent two nights in Ica, which gave us enough time to visit the Huacachina oasis just a 30 minute taxi ride away out in the desert. Huacachina was probably once very pretty, but that's not to say it doesn’t maintain a certain level of charm to this day. I mean, it's still worth a visit mainly for the sand boarding and dune buggy rides that draw in the tourists. We paid 50 Soles each (about 10 pounds) for a two hour ride across the desert with the sand boarding a part of this cost, so it really is dirt cheap.

It turns out that catching a taxi ride to the oasis, and back again, was much more flexible than going on an organised tour. In fact our taxi driver sold us the dune buggy ride, which is completely legit, it’s just that some drivers work with some of the hotels and restaurants to flog you extra stuff. We ended up saving us a few Soles doing it this way rather than through a tour organiser - in fact the taxi driver spoke better English that the tour guide at our hotel, which was funny.

Setting off at 4pm is recommend because they’ll include a sunset photo opportunity across the giant dunes, which is quite special. We skidded back down to the oasis at around 6pm, after a thrilling couple of hours, and found ourselves some dinner in one of the many restaurants. Catching a taxi back to Ica was pretty straightforward, but being later in the day the prices go up by a couple of Soles more.

The next morning we were to endure a long bus journey from Ica to Cusco, totalling 17 hours, winding through mountains and weaving alongside cliff edges. Feeling sleep deprived and slightly nauseous from the altitude climb, we made it to Cusco in one piece. Not a moment later after getting off the coach did we find ourselves a ride to the town of Ollantaytambo, a halfway point between Cusco and Machu Picchu.

Ollantaytambo is tucked up in the middle of nowhere, and serves as a touristic pit stop for those going to Machu Picchu. There are Incan Ruins in this small town, which you’re allowed to climb, but being so worn out from the coach rides (19 hours travelling in total) we hit the sack straight after dinner.

There’s a train that symbolises how touristy this destination has become. Over 2,000 people visit Machu Picchu every day and many have likely ridden this train at some point. This also means the train isn’t cheap, at $55 each for a two hour ride, it’s unlike anything else in Peru in terms of price. The train terminates at a small mountain town called Aguas Calientes... which is yet another tourist trap.

We stayed at probably the cheapest, grimiest hostel there, but fortunately our early start the next morning meant we didn't have to spend much time there. At 7am, we headed straight for the bus up to Machu Picchu (there is the option to walk up but we chose to leave that for the way down because of the many steps you have to take).

Here are some pictures from our time up at Machu Picchu. It’s a pretty special place, apparently occupied by important people in the Incan community in its heyday, such as astronomers, scientists, political people and god knows who.

We hiked up the mountain just behind the ruins, called Huayna Picchu, which offered rather smashing views of the surrounding Andes landscape.

We made it back to Cusco for four nights where we repaired our sore muscles and tried not to walk too much. Cusco, although very touristy, is one of the more pleasant cities we’ve been to in Peru. It has great shopping, lots of places to eat out, and lots of culture and history.

This was the view looking out from our hostel at breakfast time... 

... although the breakfast was not much to shout about.

We left Cusco two days before 'Peru -Day' on the 28th July, but we saw the practice parades 

One of the Basilicas at the main square

We went on a free walking tour which ended with a musical demo by a local luthier.

And we thought we had left the stairs behind us at Machu Picchu...

Guinea pig anybody?

The shape and material of the hats Peruvian women wear show the village they are from. 

We saw many of them dressed in traditional clothes and carrying baby llamas around Cusco, tourists could take a picture with them and the llamas for a small fee.

Feeling lazy in Lima

The flight from New York to Lima was a long one, with a five hour layover in Fort Lauderdale. We left NYC at 10am and arrived in Lima, Peru, just before 10pm. Fortunately for us our English-speaking Airbnb host met us at arrivals in Lima’s Jorge Chavez airport to drive us 45 minutes through the city to the Surco district (he charged us 20USD for his services, which was a scratch on what a taxi driver would charge).

Arriving into any place at night is very surreal, and not knowing what it all looks like is a bit disconcerting. This is also a place where English, for many, isn’t a familiar language. Translating what Spanish we could hear from people and getting the key words mastered was priority numero uno for us. We had a few words at hand to spew at anyone who deserved them, but it was going to take us a bit of time and patience deciphering what people were trying to tell us.

The city of Lima, like any city, has its good and bad areas. Fortunately for us Surco was among one of the safer districts, along with neighbouring Miraflores and Baranco. Apparently the area of San Victoria is one of the worst areas, and not a place you want to find yourself strolling around after the daylight hours.

Sad as it was, coming from an American summer, just as it was starting to get nice and hot down the east coast, we didn’t see the sun once during our stay in Lima… many sad faces... I suppose that’s what we get for coming to Peru in the winter! But, we had a look around the place and used our time well to plan the forthcoming weeks for Machu Picchu and Ica.

We had five nights in the Surco district, and it was relatively uneventful. When we weren’t pre-occupied with being lazy and staying at our accommodation (after being on the move for the previous two months across the States, we were looking forward to some serious downtime).


Getting around Lima and Peru in general is actually very easy, with buses and coaches being very accessible - we just had to find them... I plan on writing a separate post about getting around Peru and South America, with bus names and prices, as it can be a bit of a mystery.

Up to this point, Peru has reminded us a lot of Nepal and our travels through Asia; although I have to say the roads are better and the conditions of the coaches are just nicer, which is a good thing when you’re in a country where it can take anywhere between 4 and 24 hours to travel to your next destination.

This appetising meal for one our first attempts at dining out. It is actually cow intestines... unfortunately for us we didn't know what we ordered. This is the problem when you are in a country where few people speak English and you can't translate the menu. Oh, it was horrible, by the way.

There are some interesting things to see in Lima, although it's not the prettiest place in the world. The pictures below were taken in a water park, where light and water meet in an artistic display. There were quite a few different fountains, but I've tried to pick the most interesting ones,

After our first two weeks being fairly uneventful, the thought of being back in Europe with a bit of luxury, and those home comforts, had been getting stronger and stronger. With Machu Picchu and then Bolivia to look forward to though, we knew things were going to get more interesting in the coming weeks.

We got a coach down to a place called Pucusana, know for its small port area, which was very pleasant. We stayed at the top of a hill in a hostel for nine nights... yes, nine nights. This gave us plenty of time to contemplate our future lives back in England, and watch plenty of movies on the laptop.

The lined up these poor innocent children on the streets for sacrifice to their god... only kidding, they were practising how to march (for hours on end surprisingly) for the Peruvian Independence day.

It was time to say goodbye, adios, and muchas gracias to our host for a comfortable stay. Our next stop was a place called Ica, where there's an oasis and the promise of sandboarding and drinking more pisco sours.

Washington DC to New York

This was our final leg of our American road trip. We were to return the car in Washington DC, having clocked 9,800 miles in 54 days. We have driven through 30 states, visited 7 national parks and didn't go through Texas (which is impressive considering how big it is).

I think the most interesting fact is that we only ended up paying for 4 out of the 54 nights while we had the rental car. To give you an idea on our budget, cheap accommodation in the States costs around 60-70 bucks per night, which was our daily allowance... if were to make it through South America and back to Europe with any money left over we had to be frugal. Here's how we managed to travel on a budget...

Travelling on a 'budget’ through America is just about possible. We planned our route while we were in Hawaii so we could make arrangements with various people for accommodation. The flights in and out of the States, and the car rental, were the our biggest expenditure, but we still found a good deal on those, too.

For starters, we rented our car through a German website called Billiger-Mietwagen, paying European prices. It doesn’t require a German credit card either as we used my UK one. Instead of paying the higher prices listed on the American websites we got our rental for a decent price with insurance as part of it. The one-way fee for driving it from Bellingham Washington to Washington DC was a big one though. 

Overall we paid on average £25 per day for the car, which isn’t bad considering that it was a brand new Chevy Cruze with 15k (miles) on the clock. Fuel prices in America are also cheap compared to UK, about 4 times cheaper in fact. We paid on average just £20 for a full tank!

For accommodation we were fortunate enough to have a handful of American friends who kindly put us up for the duration of our visit. Reconnecting with them was the best thing about it all. We also relied a lot on Couch Surfing, a completely free website for travellers seeking a couple of night’s kip somewhere. You don’t pay your host any money, just as a guest it’s a nice gesture to take them out for dinner, help with cleaning or cooking or bring a bottle of wine with you. Overall we had 33 nights couch surfing, which made up the majority of our accommodation. 

On top of that, we travelled with a tent, bought ourselves a warm sleeping bag (warmer than the one we had in New Zealand) and some basic camping gear. Camping is usually an option wherever you go, and we always headed straight for the free sites because it was so much more accessible with a car. 

We used this website Freecampsites.net to scout for the free ones, but it also gives you the paid campsites as well, which have more than just a toilet/hole in the ground.

For our final few weeks, we met up with Kayla and Patrick in DC and they showed us around and accommodated us for five nights. They were in the middle of moving out actually, but somehow they still made time for us. Lisa, Kayla and I travelled to New York, found a good deal on an Airbnb in the Bronx, and then we caught our flight out to Peru five days later.

Here are some of the highlights from our stay in Washington DC and New York.

We couldn't go to America and not experience an American sport. Unfortunately my preferences were not an option (basketball or ice hockey) as the seasons were coming to an end, so we were treated to a baseball game, which wasn't as dull as everyone makes it out to be.

We had some pretty good seats which probably makes a lot of difference to your baseball experience.

Patrick, Kayla and us in the stands getting ready to catch the ball.

We went on a monuments tour around The Mall. DC treated us to good summer weather, so we soaked up what sun we could... this area below is between the Lincoln memorial and the Washington Monument. It's quite shallow in there, not that I went in mind you.

I managed to get a half-decent pic of the White House, unfortunately it wasn't open invite so this will have to do.

You can't go to Washington DC and not pay a visit to Ben's Chili Bowl. Some really good burgers and fries.

On our way round some of the museums to look at the Declaration of Independence there were 3D carvings along this wall.

The first plane to make it up in the air!

In the Air and Space Museum, a must-see, it really is an excellent one.

I meet an old friend, a freelance for the magazine I used to work for!

Martin Luther King Jr, looking all thoughtful

In New York we holed ourselves up in the Bronx area until it was time to catch our flight to South America. The time we had in New York allowed us to look around Central Park and make across to Staten Island. In fact, instead of paying premium tourist prices for the boat over to Liberty Island, there is a free ferry that commutes from Staten Island and back to Manhattan throughout the day (the orange one below) and it goes right past it!

Catch one of these free ferries to get some good photos of Lady Liberty.

Next stop, Peru. We flew out of NYC on the 1st July (unfortunately missing Independence Day celebrations) but this marked the start of our last two months travelling. What we weren't prepared for however was that South America was now in its winter, which meant our summer clothes didn't do us many favours... how's your Spanish, Lisa... Hola?