Peru

overview / intro

After going through thousands of photos, hours of recordings, and tons of memories, we have some videos to share with you.

Videos:

• Learn about Peru - an overview (~3 minutes)
• Learn about Peru - along the coast (~3 minutes)
• Learn about Peru - mountains and jungles (~3 minutes)
• Our 3 day hiking trip through the Colca Canyon (~8 minutes)
• 1 Year in Peru - all our experiences (~25 minutes)

Links

MurkTravels Youtube - videos of my more current trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my past trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempt at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen

Looking Back

Another year of travels, with finishing up a year in Peru, and then heading back to the US.

2022:
Started the year off with trips in the north part of Peru. That included beach towns around Mancora, in the Piura and Tumbes departments. We also saw some historic archeological sites in Trujillo and Chiclayo, in the Lambayeque and La Libertad departments. And finally we went into the highland rainforest areas around Chachapoyas in the Cajamarca and Amazonas departments.

We also went south of Lima to check out the jungles around Puerto Maldonado, some historic sites, the Peruvian second city of Arequipa, a National Park and coastline, and saw some Nazca lines.

Then it was finally time to head back to the US. After visiting some family in Iowa, it was back to Colorado for hiking. And I ended up getting a job with Charter Spectrum here in Denver.

Now looking forward to good things in 2023 (including a new nephew).

Activities

Things that happened in 2022:

Big Travels

• beach time in Manora - January
• archeological sites outside of Lima - February
• Trujillo - March
• Chachapoyas - April
• Puerto Maldonado - May
• Arequipa - June

Challenges
Not so many physical challenges like ultra-runs this year, but more mental and emotional ones this year. We had a cancer battle (Pru), some viral infections (Ben), some surgeries, and some deaths in the family. The renters and rental company we had for the year we were gone, weren't the easiest to work with, but the house survived. And when we got back, we planted another 100+ flowers in the yard (I guess that was a physical challenge for the back). I tried to keep up with some young college kids in beach volleyball, that was a work out too.

Events & other activities

• quick visit to Ecuador - January
• relaxation with beach time south of Lima - February
• a quick trip to Lunahuana village south of Lima - April
• viewing the Nazca lines - September
• returning to Colorado - October
• Dali art exhibit in Denver - November
• continued with volleyball, biking, running, hiking, SUP, dog walks
• Prudence turned 5 in August (and she went through 5 chemo treatments without any side effects and still has high energy levels)
• starting a new job
• races: none
• concerts: none

previous year reviews:

• 2021
• 2020
• 2019
• 2018
• 2017

Links

MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Youtube - videos of my trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempt at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen

overview / intro

For the final trip in Peru, we headed a bit south of Lima and Ica. We saw the Paracas National Park and shoreline. We quickly saw some of it the first weekend we were in Peru, so it was a fitting end trip too.

This time however we took a boat ride to see the shoreline, some shipwrecks, and rock formations. There are some islands that are like mini versions of the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador. After the boat ride was a dune buggy adventure to see more of the park from the interior and Instagram worthy beaches and shorelines.

The next day we went to Nazca. There are some of the historic Nazca lines near a highway, so you can climb a watchtower and see them. The rest are quite a bit away from anything, so you need to have a helicopter ride. We opted out of that option this time.

Recommend:

• Paracas National Park
• the dune buggy experience
• a quick stop for the lines

Trip Map

Pictures

see more on Facebook Murk Travels albums

Welcome to Paracas, viewing a archeological site:

Paracas National Park from the water:

sea lions on rocks and ships:

shoreline and beach

Nazca lines, a tree (upside down) and a man

Links

MurkTravels Youtube - videos of my more current trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my past trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempt at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen

overview / intro

Our trip to Arequipa, the city and the department, included a 3 day hike of Colca Canyon. It's the 3rd deepest canyon in the world. Part of that trip included, a bus tour to a condor viewpoint above the canyon rim. Then we hiked the rest of that day down to the river bottom and stayed at a lodge. The next day we hiked along the river and some of the fields to another group of lodges with swimming pools. The third day was hiking out of the canyon, a stop at hot springs, and then a bus ride back to the city.
What incredible views - it reminded me of parts of Colorado.

Within the city, we visited the historic Santa Catalina Monastery. What a great tour, with art and history and views of the volcanoes in the backgrounds of the city. We also stopped by the homestead and museum of the founder of the city, a former mill and farmland, and several markets. The main plaza in the city center always had things going on, and we did several roof top sunset happy hours there.

This city is also the home of llama and alpaca wool clothing, so we did some shopping for that. There are also several delicious restaurants to try, including a favorite: Chicha by Gaston Acurio.

Recommend:

• Colca Canyon
• Condor viewing
• Santa Catalina monastery
• Plaza de Armas
• food & restaurants: Chicha, Zig Zag, Roma empanadas

Trip Map

Pictures - Colca Canyon

VIDEO: 3 Days Hiking Colca

Pictures - Arequipa

Arequipa Plaza & city

see more on Facebook Murk Travels albums

Links

MurkTravels Youtube - videos of my more current trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my past trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempt at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen

overview / intro

We headed to the wild jungle frontier town of Puerto Maldonado. It's in the least populated department called Madre de Dios. Many of the countries largest national parks and reserves are here, including Manu National Park, Amarakaeri reserve, and Tambopata Natural Reserve. There are several key research centers around these regions that study and learn about the jungle habitat, local flora and fauna, and part of the Amazon ecosystem.

We stayed a few nights at one of the research centers in Tambopata. It was several hours by bus, then several more hours by riverboat to get there, so definitely remote. We went on several hikes led by the local guides, saw all sorts of animals and creatures, took lots of pictures, and learned about the local nature.

After that, we headed to the city and surrounding areas. There we did zip lining, tree canopy walks, a jungle lagoon tour, river canoe trip, and a visit to Monkey island.

Recommend:

• jungle tour - Tambopata
• monkey island tour
• local street grilled food

Trip Map

Pictures

see more on Facebook Murk Travels albums

Links

MurkTravels Youtube - videos of my more current trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my past trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempt at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen

overview / intro

This was just a quick road trip to the southern part of the department of Lima. We stayed at the Santiago refuge Ecolodge.

We hiked along the river at several places, saw the local town and churches, some ancient pre-Inca ruins, and got a tree and garden tour at the Eco lodge. It was one of the few places that dogs were allowed, so Pru got to take a trip with us

trip map

Links

MurkTravels Youtube - videos of my more current trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my past trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempt at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen

overview / intro

In the north central part of Peru is an interesting area. It's part of the highlands, we were around 10,000 feet of elevation a lot of the time. But it's also part of the rainforest. The rivers here are part of the system that feeds into the Amazon rainforest and waterways eventually throughout all of Brazil. There are waterfalls, and deep canyons, and historic sites from pre-Inca times.

We based most of our travels from Chachapoyas, a large city in the Amazonas department of Peru. From there we hiked to several waterfalls, and saw rock carvings that are ancient sarcophagus, some of which haven't even been open yet and have mummified remains inside. We explored some caves that also include historic artifacts, and walked around the ancient fortress of Kuelap.

Unfortunately Kuelap was closed due to a recent rainstorm damaging one of the walls. It's set to be the next Machu Picchu site in Peru with lots of foundations that remain from rock walls and buildings.

Recommend:

• any of the hikes around the area
• Chachapoyas market and shopping / pedestrian street
• Kuelap site
• Sarcophagus of Karajia
• Gocta waterfalls

Trip Map

Pictures

see more on Facebook Murk Travels albums

PANO view of the first hotel eco lodge

taking a picture of the photographer taking a picture of Gocta waterfalls

one of the valleys and view of 2nd hotel by the river

Sonche canyon, just a 1600 foot drop to the bottom

Cave with ruins

hillside sarcophagus of Karajia

Kuelap fortress

Links

MurkTravels Youtube - videos of my more current trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my past trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempt at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen