Cusco, Peru

My first real stop after leaving Bolivia and arriving in Peru was Cusco which I mostly saw as the base for visiting Machu Picchu. And I was going to do just that, and more than once. My friend Maťo and I booked the five night Salkantay trek together a few months ago, and we were meeting up here. And once our trek was done, I was also meeting Nathan in Cusco.

As I mentioned in my last post, my journey from Copacabana involved multiple long bus rides. Whilst the night bus I took was genuinely excellent, I still got very little to no sleep, which I ended up compensating for by falling asleep on the reception sofa in the very early morning. By the time Maťo arrived at the hotel a few hours later, I was curled up in a ball, wrapped in both a blanket and my puffy jacket, and basically unresponsive. I didn’t even wake up. Once we were able to go to our room, we both just crashed for multiple hours. We only properly said hi and started chatting later that day.

We planned to take two days in Cusco to acclimatise to the altitude – Cusco itself is at 3400m and the trek we were about to do peaked at slightly above 4600m above sea level. Two days gave us enough time to wander around the city, try a few nice restaurants and visit the Cusco market.

Oh, and I coincidentally bumped into Tian (my Uyuni friend) again in the vegan restaurant in the Cusco market! The backpacking world can be so big and so small at the same time.

Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu, Peru

When it finally came to leaving Cusco and starting the trek we were both buzzing. The beginning included a drive on progressively worse and worse roads, and Maťo’s slightly terrified reactions made me realize how much I got used to narrow dirt roads on the edge of cliffs in the last few weeks (thanks Bolivia). We didn’t actually get to hike that day (apart from a short walk to our accomodation needed due to a recent landslide… of which we’d see so, so many during the next few days).

We stayed in glass cabañas, which was a fancy way of saying a cold shack with a glass roof, where you still need a sleeping bag. However, we had a beautiful view of a snowy mountain, and the area was full of daisies, so I really couldn’t complain. We were also pleasantly surprised by a very nice dinner and later on breakfast. This turned out to be an ongoing theme, and the food on this trek was excellent the whole time.

After our first night, the day of hiking started bright and early. The first day was meant to be the longest, as it included hiking to Humantay Lake, and then through the Salkantay pass, adding up to about 22 km. It was also the hardest, because the Salkantay pass is the highest part at the altitude of 4600 meters.

I’ve never seriously hiked at altitude before, and I have to say it’s a lot harder than at sea level. The air was quite thin, and I constantly felt out of breath. Slow and steady was the only way to go. However, Humantay Lake was beautiful! Seeing it instantly reminded me why I’m doing this, and made me feel it’s absolutely worth it. We’ve also had some beautiful views of the Salkantay mountain and its surroundings along the way.

Unfortunately, towards the end of the grueling ascent to the Salkantay pass, the weather turned for the worse. It felt like we’re in the clouds, with not much to see around us apart from the sign that informed us we have made it. Feeling both proud and tired, we still had three hours of descent in front of us before getting to our camp. Surprisingly, these last hours of descent were possibly the hardest part of the trek. The motivation was somewhat gone now that we’ve reached the pass, and there was not much to look at either apart from the thick fog surrounding us. I think we all just wanted to have dinner and go to sleep.

The next day mostly consisted of descent. We covered about 18 km, and by the end of the day I was glad I let my friend talk me into renting hiking poles, as I was really feeling my knees (I feel like I shouldn’t be saying these words in my thirties…) and could tell it would have been a lot worse without them. The scenery has changed dramatically from mostly rocks and bits of grass to more of a forest and jungle, and lush vegetation in the valley. This was a very welcome change and made the hiking a lot more interesting. We spent the night at a hobbit house (still in sleeping bags), but the greatest pleasure was having the first hot shower since we began!

Day three was a mix of ascent and descent. We walked breezy 12 km, had an incredibly tasty lunch and a coffee tour at a local farm including harvesting, processing, roasting, grinding and finally drinking it, and tasting a few coffee flavored liqueurs.

Towards the late afternoon we arrived at a beautiful, sunny meadow, next to a group of llamas, and most importantly we saw our first sight of Machu Picchu in the far distance from here. It was also the first time we had a phone signal since the start of the trek, and there was something very charming about everyone sitting or lying in the grass and calling their friends and family to say everything was going well. We spent another night in a tent, with a campsite view of Machu Picchu.

Day four was the last hiking day! The walk was about 15 km, and brought us to the town of Aguas Calientes (aka Machu Picchu Pueblo). A large part of it was walking alongside the railway and wasn’t particularly scenic, but the prospect of arriving at a real hotel, sleeping in a real bed (without a sleeping bag for the first time!) and having yet another hot shower was extremely appealing. Also, clean laundry. Maťo was very proactive and went to a laundromat, which meant clean clothes for both of us the next day. It’s hard to explain just how satisfying that was.

The ultimate day of our trekking adventure consisted of finally seeing Machu Picchu. We had Circuit 3 tickets for 6am, which meant being in the first group entering. And boy, was it worth it!

Seeing the Huayna Picchu mountain covered in clouds slowly reveal itself, whilst the entire place was completely empty was magical! I wouldn’t describe myself as a spiritual person, however it did feel very special to be able to experience this historical monument in such a beautiful, unspoiled way. I often feel a bit of nervousness about whether something I’ve been looking forward to is really going to be worth it, but I can easily say Machu Picchu was. The sacred Inca town was very impressive, and so was its location and incredible surroundings.

After all this, we got a train back to Cusco, and Maťo and I said our goodbyes again over a cheap dinner. We both loved the entire journey, and it filled me with pride and joy that we both managed to experience something on our respective bucket lists together.

Cusco, Peru

Once I was back to Cusco, I had exactly one day before I was meant to meet up with Nathan. I decided not to waste it, and booked an extremely early morning hike to Rainbow Mountain (which I knew we wouldn’t be able to do together due to lack of time and altitude acclimatization). I was very excited about it despite my tiredness and exhaustion.

I woke up at 3:30 am and patiently waited for a van to pick me up… and it never came. I was gutted! It turned out they simply forgot about me. Given my determination to make the best out of this day, I’ve managed to get in touch with the tour office and get them to book me onto a Sacred Valley tour which was leaving later that morning instead. It included multiple stops, most notably Maras salt mines, Moray with its circular Inca terraces resembling amphitheaters, and the ruins in Pisac and Ollantaytambo. This was certainly a very fast paced whistle stop tour, you could spend a lot more time at each of these places, but I thought it was still worth it.

The next day I finally met up with Nathan again. He arrived pretty tired with an epic jet lag, so we planned to spend the next few days just taking it easy. However, he was also mildly ill, which got progressively worse over time. All this proved to be a pretty awful combo, making for a really rough start of his journey.

After a few days, we hesitantly took a train to Aguas Calientes (this was already pre-booked), because we were planning to visit Machu Picchu together. I couldn’t let him come to Cusco and not see it!

Aguas Clalientes, Peru

Once we arrived at Aguas Calientes it became clear that Nathan was definitely not better enough yet, so we decided to take a few more days to just do nothing. And this time I really mean nothing – Aguas Calientes really isn’t a place where you can do anything else, apart from visiting Machu Picchu. As Nathan got somewhat better, I caught at least part of his illness, which really made me feel both horrible and even more sorry about how he’s been feeling.

Several more days passed, and we finally decided to start queueing for the Machu Picchu tickets (we failed to buy them sufficiently ahead of time online – luckily so because we wouldn’t have been able to go earlier anyway). This involved getting there at four in the morning and standing on the pavement for over three hours, just to be able to queue again later in the afternoon… it’s an insane system, and I can only describe it as a frustrating and anxiety inducing experience.

Luckily, after all that we did actually get the tickets we wanted, i.e. Circuit 2. This included a different and arguably more complete route than the one I’ve already done, most notably the Upper Terraces which I haven’t seen before.

Visiting Machu Picchu for the second time was still incredible, and it was exciting to see different areas of it. I convinced Nathan that the 6 am slot was worth it, so we were able to enjoy some amazing views together, and take some nice pictures without the hoards of people. And most importantly we timed it well, and we both felt well enough (albeit a bit tired) to actually be able to enjoy it together.

Later that day we also visited a butterfly museum, a small but educational place with various conservation efforts in place.

Frankly, by the end of our visit to Aguas Calientes we both couldn’t wait to get out of there. We stayed way longer here than we ever intended.

We took a train and a bus back to Cusco, and then a subsequent flight to Arequipa the next day.

Arequipa, Peru

Our next stop, Arequipa, was thankfully very different! The centre felt a lot more laid back, but full of good coffee places and restaurants. We spent a day just relaxing and enjoying some excellent gelato.

On day two we went wild water rafting in the Rio Chilli for two hours. I obviously loved this. Given Nathan is not super keen on water, I was very proud of him for doing this, and happy he didn’t hate it, and even (mostly) enjoyed it.

Colca Canyon, Peru

After spending two days in Arequipa, we decided to visit the famous Colca Canyon. We signed up for a fairly relaxed two day tour, which ended up being really great.

At the start we visited something called the stone forest – imagine the strangest rock formations. We also went through a national park with loads and loads of llamas, but even more importantly loads of vicuñas. This was the first time I managed to see them up close, which I was very excited about. They look super cute, and I could easily watch them for hours (although unfortunately we didn’t do that).

We spent the evening soaking ourselves in natural hot pools before dinner, which was just the perfect way to end the day before heading to a nice hotel.

Day two included an early wake up (most things here do… Nathan is somewhat begrudgingly learning that). Colca Valley is mostly famous for being a good place to watch the majestic Andean Condors, some of the largest birds in the world. It turns out that the reason this is a good place to spot them is because during the early morning hours they fly from the bottom of the valley to the top due to certain thermal conditions.

Watching the valley at first felt like we were there to just stare at a bunch of rocks. This wasn’t too upsetting, because the scenery itself was quite impressive too. However, after some time, someone finally whispered “look over there!” with excitement, but also restraint so as not to spook the birds. And indeed, we spotted a brief silhouette of a very large creature below us. I felt tense all of a sudden, it was almost like trying to spot some kind of monster in a horror movie, but instead of terror I was filled with exhilaration. Over time we managed to see quite a few of them flying nearby. Their wingspan reaches over three meters, and they looked very imposing. They rarely flap their wings, and instead mostly effortlessly glide through the air, looking almost as if they didn’t even belong to this world. As we were watching this incredible spectacle, one of them landed not too far from us. Later on another one flew very closely directly above us, a rare and very impressive sight. We left the tour feeling very lucky that day.

Arequipa, Peru

After returning to Arequipa, we visited the Santa Catalina Monastery. Without doing much research, I expected a small-ish museum, but was instead pleasantly surprised by something akin to an entire village, or even a small town. The streets were very picturesque, and I wish we could spend more time wandering around the place before closing time.

For our final day in Arequipa, we decided to split up – whilst Nathan did a cooking class, I went for a more adventurous activity and decided to finally try out proper outdoor rock climbing for the first time. I’ve been climbing and bouldering on and off for a long time, but never quite made it outdoors, so this was very exciting. I ended up in a small group of three girls climbing three routes (5A, 5B and 5C on the French scale), and even learning some lead climbing basics. The entire day was super fun, and it definitely made me think I want to do this a lot more in the future.

From Arequipa, we made our way up north – Huaraz.

Huaraz, Peru

We flew here, thinking this would be the easier and more restful route than the alternative of many hours of multiple buses. However, due to Lima airport (our layover) being a total mess at night, we arrived at Huaraz with only 4 hours of sleep. The first day was therefore mostly spent sleeping and having a fancy dinner.

Huaraz is located between the mountain ranges Cordillera Blanca, Negra and Huayhuash. It’s famous for its incredible hiking, and I can say with certainty this is in no way exaggerated. The mountains contain a myriad of lakes, many of which look absolutely photoshopped, except they’re definitely real and stunningly beautiful. The trails are surrounded by wildflowers. The snowy peaks and glaciers add the final cherry on top.

We acclimatized by visiting Laguna Wilcacocha on the second day. I hiked Laguna Churup on day three whilst Nathan took a day off. This was a very fun hike, as it included some ropes and scrambling. We took a tour to Laguna Parón the day after – whilst this didn’t include much hiking, Parón looks simply magical when the rays of sunshine touch the water, and it was absolutely worth the long car ride there. The grand finale was the hike we did together to Laguna 69, reaching an altitude of over 4600 meters above sea level – roughly the same as I did at the Salkantay pass! It was hard for all the same reasons as Salkantay, i.e. mostly lack of oxygen. We did manage to beat the crowds there, and that made it all worth it.

Leaving Huaraz was hard, there were so many more excellent, breathtaking hikes to do! One could easily spend three or four weeks here, and many people do. One of my fellow travelers described it as “better than Patagonia” and whilst I can’t make this comparison myself, I can definitely attest to it being incredible, and I hope to come back one day.

We’ve decided to spend our last few days in Peru in Paracas followed by Lima.

Paracas, Peru

There were two main draws to Paracas for me. Firstly, Islas Ballestas, often described as “poor man’s Galápagos”. We visited Ballestras on a two hour boat tour. We were greeted by an unbelievable number and variety of birds here, such as Peruvian Pelicans. The highlights however included seeing the Humboldt Penguins and Sea Lions. An unexpected positive was the existence of Candelabro de Paracas, which looks very similar to the famous Nazca lines. We’ve decided to skip going to Nazca due to insufficient time, but now I have less FOMO.

In addition to Islas Ballestas, the second draw was that Paracas is one of the places recommended for diving in Peru. I really wanted to get in some practice dives before visiting the true Galápagos. Unfortunately, I was the only person interested during these specific dates, and the price for a private tour to Islas Blancas was somewhat extortionate, which greatly diminished my chances of seeing more Sea Lions or Penguins.

I ended up doing a single dive in a national reserve in La Mina. This was a very shallow dive, the visibility was low and the marine life there was by no means impressive. I was also anxious about this dive because the water here is colder than anywhere else I’ve been diving before (and I felt too cold in the Red Sea before). Whilst a 7mm wetsuit layered over a 3mm wetsuit combined with hood, boots and gloves all made me feel like a Michelin man, they definitely kept me warm enough, so that was a relief. Overall, I did get to practice and built up a bit more confidence again after realizing I haven’t done this for about four years (i.e. too damn long!), so I’d class this as a success.

Finally, Nathan and I also rented a scooter for half a day and spent it driving around the Paracas National Reserve. This was a fun way to explore and see the scenery, beaches and wildlife.

Paracas is pretty small, and it definitely feels like even two days in here is slightly too much time. It also feels a bit bizarre to be here off season, and seeing all the empty sea side hotels and restaurants.

Luckily, all of this meant I had a bit of spare time, and could catch up on writing this blog. The next morning we took a bus back to Lima.

Lima, Peru

With only one full day of time here, we spent most of it walking around the coast of Miraflores and Barranco, two of the more upscale and tourist friendly neighborhoods. A pleasant surprise was visiting Park Kennedy, which was full of cats.

Our main focus in Lima was dining at Central, named the best restaurant in the world in 2023. This was truly an incredible experience, with many regional tastes and flavors, and I’m very grateful we had a chance to eat here and enjoy the true culinary marvels of Peru.

Lima was our last stop in Peru, and we headed to Quito after.

San Pedro de Atacama & Atacama Desert, Chile

I got to San Pedro by flying from Santiago to Calama. Whilst waiting for my transfer between Calama and San Pedro, I’ve made friends with Tian. We quickly realized that our itineraries align perfectly for the following five or six days, and we spent them together.

Atacama is the world’s driest non-polar desert. And it turns out there’s loads to do in it! San Pedro is not much of a town in itself. The main street, Caracoles, is full of tour operators, money exchanges and other various tourist related businesses. It’s so dry around there that I tasted the dust every time a car passed me by.

When I planned to spend 2 days in San Pedro and see the main highlights around there, I failed to account for altitude in San Pedro (2400m) and the places I wanted to visit (4300m). I was quickly informed that my plan was too ambitious, and I should take a day to simply rest – which turned out to be a very wise piece of advice. I was gutted to miss Piedras Rojas though.

Tian and I ended up renting bikes on day one (i.e. our rest day), and cycling to Valle de la Luna. Apart from a few steep but luckily not very big hills, it was a really nice way to explore the area. Valley of the Moon is frequently described as an otherworldly looking place, and I could certainly see why.

As we entered the valley we were quickly dwarfed by the impressive rock formations. There are also large salt deposits, which make the red and yellow sands shimmer in the sunlight. But the main thing reminding you that you’re definitely still on Earth is the gorgeous backdrop of the Andes and its snowy peaks. I could not get enough of the contrasting view.

On day two we took a tour to Geyser Del Taito. This included an awfully early wake up, and a freezing cold journey to our destination which we were trying to reach before sunrise. El Teito is the third largest geyser field in the world. Our reward was seeing many bubbling pools of water, and the geothermal formations spraying water around like miniature volcanoes. Incredibly tall steam columns surrounded the whole area when we arrived. As the sun rose and the first rays of light fell onto us, the steam disappeared almost immediately!

The temperature difference before and after sunrise was apparent extremely fast, and I finally understood why we needed to be there early. On the way back we stopped at a few scenic places, and saw a few flamingos and vicuñas. I love watching wildlife!

After two days in San Pedro, we both took a 3 day tour to Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia.

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

Crossing the border between Chile and Bolivia and entering the protected Eduardo Avaroa Reserve was an interesting experience, which involved lots of waiting around, some very poorly implemented electronic systems, and some more waiting around. But it was all worth it!

The first day was marked by seeing some beautiful lagunas – Laguna Blanca and Laguna Azul. It also included a stop in Termas de Polques, naturally hot pools with a beautiful view of the Salar.

However, the main highlight was definitely visiting Laguna Colorada, the home to thousands and thousands of flamingos. I loved watching these beautiful creatures, and could have easily spent the whole day just doing so.

Day two was the least interesting one of the tour, and mostly felt like constant driving, interrupted only by desert scenery and llamas. However, we ended up sleeping in a salt hotel, which I thought was pretty cool.

In the evening, we were told about yet another early wake up on the next day. With a few grumbles, I went to sleep early again. Little did I know I was about to see the most mesmerizing sunrise of my life!

We finally hit the seemingly endless salt flat which gets flooded by water every rainy season. This creates a surreal mirror effect. If anything ever comes close to perfection it’s a moment of stillness in Salar de Uyuni, when the wind quiets down, and everything seems just like the most delicate painting, enveloping you in its beauty.

I was incredibly lucky to see this as it’s already the start of the dry season. I didn’t think I’d mind missing out on it (the hexagonal shapes in dry seasons seemed interesting too), but it’s honestly more impressive in person than on the photos – and I mean even the good ones not taken by me.

After this magical experience, I spent a night in the town of Uyuni as I was trying to avoid a late night bus. In the morning I was heading to Potosí.

Potosí, Bolivia

The city of Potosí was really just a single night pit stop for me. I wish I could have done it more justice! The first impression was that it’s incredibly hectic and chaotic. Even getting a taxi took me and one more fellow traveler some serious effort and waiting – this never happens!

One cannot mention Potosí without mentioning Cerro Rico, dubbed as “the mountain that eats men”. Cerro Rico is a mine that made Potosí bigger than Paris or London back in its glory, and its silver (and a lot of injustice and suffering) bankrolled the entire Spanish empire. Over time the easily accessible rich deposits of silver have been depleted, and whilst it’s still used for some silver mining, it now also focuses on tin and zinc.

I was in two minds about this tour, as there’s really no other way to call it than poverty tourism. At best, it’s a grey area. The mine is not sanitized for tourists at all, which quickly became apparent when signing the disclaimer acknowledging all the risks I was taking.

I felt many things during this visit. It was very powerful and raw to see the harsh working conditions, and the young age of some of the miners. It was educational to hear from our guide and speak to the few miners who didn’t mind our presence. It was surprisingly exhausting to constantly walk bent over and trying not to bang our heads on something. It was somewhat anxiety-inducing to be crawling through spaces barely large enough for us to fit in, realizing that if anything at all happens, we’ll be buried alive (a third of the group aborted the tour due to this). And it was sad to learn about this place’s past, but also the present.

After a day in the Potosí mine the next morning I took another bus to Sucre.

Sucre, Bolivia

Ahhh… Sucre. How does one not fall in love with The White City.

Sucre felt very different from the rest of Bolivia I encountered. It was a lot more relaxed and easy going (the traffic was still very busy, but a little less), it offered the perfect wind down after 3 days in a car and a visit to the mine. There were many great cafes and restaurants. It felt full of international visitors, lots of whom came here to learn Spanish. I’d almost describe it as European. There were also many museums, I especially enjoyed the Museum of Indigenous Art with its incredible textiles from Jalq’a and Tarabuco cultures.

Apart from relaxing, my main activities included a hiking tour to the Maragua Crater. We got to walk along an old Inca Path, see the beautiful formations in the crater itself (the colors, and shapes of everything here were stunning), and be amazed at Niñu Mayu, the preserved dinosaur footprints.

And because there’s no such thing as seeing too many dinosaur footprints, I also went to Parque Cretácico, with a massive cliff called Cal Orck’o covered by over 5000 prints. They were only discovered in 1994 due to the construction of a cement factory. It felt genuinely humbling to think of their age, and knowing that now that they’ve been uncovered their existence is probably about as fleeting as ours due to deterioration by the elements.

I spent four nights in Sucre, and afterwards moved on to La Paz.

La Paz, Bolivia

Yet another pit stop! Unfortunately, I’ve had to rush through Bolivia due to already having booked my Machu Picchu hike, and La Paz was another victim of this.

La Paz feels a lot more authentic than Sucre (maybe it just absorbed the tourists less noticeably), with its hustle and bustle, roads full of mini buses and taxis and various markets. It also seemed there’s loads of things to do around here, and I really loved my hostel! Leaving after just a day was hard, and there were multiple things I wanted to do and couldn’t (Death Road, Valle de las Animas, …)

I spent my day visiting the Witch Market, which I’d describe as nice but overhyped. I followed this by sheltering from rain in a lovely vegan restaurant called La Vida, and subsequently visited the Coca Museum. I finished my day by riding around on Mi Teleférico, the cable car (used as a regular means of transport by the locals) which goes all the way across the city and offers incredible views of La Paz and the mountains it’s nestled in.

My next stop was Copacabana. And no, not the beach in Brazil. The Bolivian town on the beautiful Lake Titicaca.

Copacabana, Bolivia

When I said Sucre was relaxed, Copacabana definitely beat it. Mostly because it feels very small, and there’s basically just one thing going on – the deep blue lake. I spent two laid back days around it. I visited the Floating Islands first, where I sat on one of the floating platforms soaking in all the sun. Whilst most of my trip has been quite sunny, the evenings and nights are still very cold, and I’ve been making good use of my puffy jacket.

The main highlight of my stay was the visit to Isla del Sol. I decided to take a morning ferry to the north of the island, and hike towards the southern port to take a ferry back in the evening. The island has no roads on it, and looks very charming even from afar. The trail I took was well maintained and only had a few people on it. I was rewarded by incredible views of the lake and farming terraces. I also visited some beautiful Inca ruins. Such a lovely day!

However, today is my last day here, and I’ve got two very long bus journeys to look forward to (Copacabana – Puno and Puno – Cusco). Crossing the borders is never too much fun (although usually an experience), and I should arrive in Cusco at 5am the next day. I bet no one envies me this one. But Machu Picchu awaits!

Prologue

In 2016 I packed a big backpack (too big, if anything) and took a one way flight to Bangkok. I spent about 6 months traveling around Southeast Asia, and I’ve had the most amazing time. It was challenging, eye opening, magical, sometimes lonely or stressful, but never boring. I was enamored. Travel didn’t have to be glamorous, but there was so much to see and so much to do! And it was all at my fingertips. 

Since then I always knew I had to go backpacking again. A lot of fellow travelers I met in Asia raved about Latin America. Before I even finished my first big trip, the idea of the second one was already born. 

Nine years later, and I’m finally doing it! 

Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona was my first stop – but I wasn’t alone. You see, Barcelona was also my and Nathan’s goodbye trip – we flew here together, and spent 3 wonderful days seeing this amazing city for the first time together. We were both in love with it – the ingenious and unique architecture of Gaudi, beautiful streets of the Gothic Quarter, lively Las Rambla, and of course, the crown jewel of it all, Sagrada Familia.

The only minor problem was I was feeling slightly ill and even fever-y. I powered through with paracetamol, and by the third day figured I was all fine again.  

On Monday night we said our goodbyes at the airport. Nathan flew back to London, and I flew onwards to start the solo portion of my trip. 

Santiago, Chile

Santiago was only meant to be a pit stop for me. The truth is I wanted to head to Easter Island as quickly as possible, but did not want to take the risk of flying on the same day, just in case of any delays. 

Since I was already there, I decided to make the most of it, and signed up for a walking tour. It was a great way to get a bit of local context, and learn about the city, the country and the culture. It helped ground the rest of my experience in Chile. 

And the next morning I was off to Rapa Nui. 

Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Chile

The flight to Rapa Nui from Santiago takes about 5 hours. It’s hard to describe just how much this place is in the middle of nowhere – seeing the little bit of green land from the plane was quite exhilarating! At times I kept thinking to myself it should not be possible for it to exist. But it does. And it’s utterly wonderful! 

I’ve spent about a week here. Whilst this is a lot of time for an island that you can drive around in an hour, I figured this might be the only time in my life I make it all the way here, to this tiny, remote Polynesian island, so I may as well make the most of it. And I’m really glad I did that. 

It turns out my illness wasn’t over. The first few days I’ve been on and off struggling with fever, muscle aches, not sleeping at night, and getting increasingly concerned about the possibility I might need to seek medical attention at one of the most remote places I know. 

Luckily, I slowly started to feel better, just in time to enjoy the two days of tours I’ve booked around the island. Most people who know anything about Easter Island know the statues, known as moai. As a tourist you can only visit most of them with a guide, therefore guided tours are very common around the island. 

I’ve particularly enjoyed visiting the quarry, Rano Raraku. This is where the moai were created. It was incredible to see the various stages of carving, and a lot of the “heads” just scattered around (the reason why people often believe the moai are just heads is that in the quarry a lot of the statues ended up buried over time, and only the heads are visible – they do in fact all have bodies). Many of the moai on the island are toppled over, and in various stages of deteriorating. Some of the most impressive (and restored) sites were Ahu Tongariki, Ahu Tahai and Ahu Nau Nau at the Anakena beach. One can only imagine how ominous and awe inspiring it must have felt to see the moai when the island was first discovered. Their solemn faces standing silent vigil over the island. And oh, so mysterious! 

Apart from the moai, the island is also worth seeing simply because it’s beautiful. With a population of about 8000 people, it does feel like a large village. Everywhere you walk you hear a friendly “Iorana”. Roosters wake you up in the morning. At this time of year, Rapa Nui is very lush and green, and everything is in bloom. The temperature is about 25 degrees in the day, and 18 degrees in the night – just cool enough to sleep. Not to mention it’s incredibly safe, which as a solo female traveler I have a big appreciation for.

I spent one of my last days accidentally cycling close to 50km on a truly terrible bike. I had multiple regrets that day, such as not properly looking at the distances, not starting earlier in the day and not paying more for a bike that doesn’t feel like it’s attacking me constantly. Rapa Nui was more hilly than I had hoped. Whilst this adventure took a lot longer than I planned and basically meant that I never got a chance to relax on the beach I was headed to (I had to turn back before it got dark), it was still a really nice way of seeing the island. 

Last, but not least – turtles! There are many turtles at the beach in the town. Just watching them from the shore, I counted seven or eight of them. Given I’ve been feeling ill, I’ve very reluctantly passed on the opportunity to go scuba diving, as the timing didn’t work out well (this hurt – Rapa Nui has so many endemic species I wanted to see). However, I couldn’t help myself, and did spend one day snorkeling with the turtles. I obviously ended up burning my back… but luckily not too badly. Worth it! 

After about a week in Rapa Nui, it was time to go back to mainland Chile. It felt like just the right amount of time too. 

Santiago, Chile

I spent two more days in Santiago. I was staying in Barrio Italia, which is one of the safer, and also more lively neighborhoods, and I very much enjoyed it. Loved the street art! I spent my first day mostly walking around San Cristobal Hill, whilst on the second I decided to visit a few museums.

The Museum of Memory and Human Rights was a history museum mostly focused on Pinochet’s dictatorship and the atrocities committed during this (still very recent) time. Honestly, whilst it was interesting and educational, it was also pretty rough going and utterly heartbreaking. 

Later that day, I’ve visited Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art, which definitely lifted my mood. It showcased a beautiful collection of various arts, such as textiles and statues from various regions of Latin America. 

Coincidentally, during these two days I’ve also met up with one of my friends and ex-colleagues Ed and his partner Becky, as their three week sabbatical perfectly overlapped with my trip for a few days in here. It was great to see some familiar faces and have a Pisco Sour together. 

Two days later, I was catching another flight, with San Pedro de Atacama as my ultimate destination. And I’ll cover that in the next post!