For the Love of Volkswagen Beetles

Peruvian's love their VW Beetles. What fine taste they have. I've always had a fondness for the old bugs.

The Sacred Valley

Oh hey blogosphere! We had such nice weather in Minnesota that finding the time to keep the blog fresh went to the wayside. Yeah, that's what it was... the weather. And now here we are in a cute boutique hotel in Chicago with Europe on the brain. Two more days until we see something completely fresh and new again. Holy wow, this year is going to be hard to beat.

Our last couple of weeks in South America were two of the best and we want to make sure we have photos documented on our blog. Below are some of our favorite photos from the Sacred Valley in Peru.

Pisac Market

Women from nearby villages gather to buy, barter, and trade their fruits, vegetables and handicrafts to locals and tourists alike at the Pisac Market located in Peru's Sacred Valley. The variety of colors, textures, and focus on buying, selling and creating make the Pisac Market a photographers dream. And the hats, I loved all of the hats! I could have stayed from morning until night documenting all of the beauty and bustle happening around me.

Huaraz

Our original plan was to do a multi-day trek somewhere around Cuzco in the Sacred Valley but after researching prices we decided it just wasn't in our budget. Luckily we found many inexpensive trekking options in the Andes near the city of Huaraz northeast of Lima that included a guide, chef, and donkey porter.

We decided on a four day, three night trek on the famous Santa Cruz trail located in the Cordillera Blanca mountain range, the second highest mountain range in the world. Quoted from National Geographic's World's Best Hikes "While the Himalaya get all the attention when it comes to high-altitude trekking, Peru's Cordillera Blanca offers the solitude of big mountains with far less of the hassle of the premier routes in Asia. It's also a less-crowded alternative to the hordes headed to Machu Picchu on the Inca Trail. The mountains take precedence here."

After a four-hour bone rattling bus ride that saw very little pavement we started the trek at 12,500 feet and hiked through a beautiful valley to our first camping spot surrounded by snowcapped mountains.

The second day took us up and over the continental divide at 15,600 feet! The air was thin and the views incredible. The trail fell steeply down towards a turquoise glacial lake and into another valley.

Our second night we slept below two famous peaks. On one side, Mount Artesonraju, the mountain on the paramount pictures logo, and on the other side, Mount Alpamayo, credited as the most beautiful mountain in the world. Really the only way to improve on the scenery would have been if a brilliant rainbow appeared. Oh wait, one did. And it was a double rainbow too.

The rest of the hike continued through the valley before finally ending in a small town. Our last night we were rewarded with a soak in some natural hot springs that eased our tired muscles. D's camera is still trying to recover from being overworked.

Beaches of Peru

It's easy to get used to the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean in Northern Peru. Our first stop was the city of Mancora where the drinks were cheap and the music didn't stop until three in the morning. Being that the average age at our hostel was 22 we decided to move to the rustic cabanas next door complete with a homemade bar on the sand and people more our age and style where we could sink our feet into the sand and listen to the sounds of the crashing waves.

Our first hostel... five years ago maybe?

Our better hostel:

We spent our days basking in the sun, body surfing in the waves, and filling our bellies with fresh ceviche. Life is good on the beach.

Our second beach town stop was Huanchaco - a Peruvian vacation spot. Kind of neat to be immersed in another cultures vacation destination. We went to some pre-Incan ruins close by but are still not sure if they were real or completely remade. Either way they were interesting to look at.