Lima and Cusco: Where Six Strangers Became a Group
Peru had been sitting at the top of my bucket list for years. I wanted something completely different from the beach trips and city breaks I usually take, an adventure that would challenge me and leave me with memories I'd still be telling years later. It delivered that from the very first night.
We landed in Lima and went straight in search of our first proper Peruvian meal, ending up at a restaurant called El Bodegón. The food was excellent, but the real story of that evening wasn't on the plate. It was watching a group of strangers turn into friends over one dinner. We laughed, swapped stories, and by the time the bill came, it already felt like we'd known each other far longer than a few hours.
From there we flew to Cusco, which sits at around 3,400 metres above sea level and lets you know it immediately. A few flights of stairs left half of us breathless. The locals had a fix for that: coca tea, and it became part of our daily routine while our bodies caught up with the altitude. That evening we had dinner at Limbus Restobar, on a rooftop overlooking the whole city, and watching the sun disappear behind the mountains while the lights of Cusco slowly switched on below was the kind of view that gets everyone to put their phones down, just for a second, to actually look at it.
Machu Picchu and Rainbow Mountain: The Wonder and the Altitude
One of the biggest reasons I chose Peru was the chance to see Machu Picchu, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It's one of those places you've seen in photos a thousand times, but nothing, absolutely nothing, prepares you for the moment you see it with your own eyes. Standing there, surrounded by towering green mountains and ancient Inca ruins, I was completely speechless. The view was breathtaking. For a few moments, time seemed to stand still. What struck me the most wasn't just its beauty, but the overwhelming feeling of how small I was compared to such an extraordinary masterpiece that has stood the test of time. It's impossible to fully describe the emotions you feel in that moment; you simply have to experience it yourself.
The next morning, we left early for Ollantaytambo, where our journey toward one of the world's greatest wonders truly began. From there we continued to Aguas Calientes, the small mountain town that serves as the gateway to Machu Picchu. I absolutely fell in love with this little town. It was vibrant, colourful, full of charming cafés, and lined with souvenir markets that made me want to buy absolutely everything, and I'm really not exaggerating. Then came the moment we'd all been waiting for, Machu Picchu. No photo, video, or documentary can prepare you for seeing it with your own eyes. Standing there, surrounded by mist-covered mountains and centuries of history, I realised just how small we are compared to something so extraordinary. It wasn't only beautiful, it was humbling. Surprisingly, once we arrived, I barely noticed the altitude anymore. The only thing I could think about was how hungry I was after all the excitement. During our guided tour, we also spotted alpacas peacefully wandering around the site, making the experience even more magical.
The following day brought us to the famous Rainbow Mountain, and let's just say, the altitude definitely won that round. A lot of us weren't feeling our best, so instead of hiking all the way up, several of us chose to ride the mountain bikes instead, which turned out to be one of the best decisions we made. Meanwhile, one of our friends bravely completed the hike but definitely paid the price afterward. Once we reached the summit, though, every bit of discomfort disappeared. The colourful mountains looked unreal, the sun came out at exactly the right moment, and we managed to capture some incredible photos and videos. While waiting for the hikers to return, we ended up chatting with a lovely couple who had us laughing the entire time. At one point, Lanre, Ovie, and I started feeling the effects of the altitude again. Luckily, we had what Ovie jokingly called Compound V (if you know, you know). Let's just say morale improved very quickly after that.
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Ica and Huacachina: The Desert That Stole the Show
After a four-hour coach ride south to Ica, we were met by one of the friendliest locals of the whole trip, who somehow fit six travellers, six 23kg suitcases, six 10kg bags, and all our backpacks into the tiniest van I've ever seen. It was total chaos and completely hilarious, and he ended up being our driver for the next two days, taking us to Paracas for a boat tour past sea lions and Humboldt penguins along the Pacific coast.
If one afternoon captures this whole trip though, it's Huacachina, a desert oasis ringed by towering golden dunes. We climbed into a dune buggy with no real idea what to expect, and within seconds we were flying almost vertically up dunes and dropping down the other side, all of us screaming and laughing with sand flying everywhere. Then came sandboarding. I was nervous right up until I actually started sliding, and after that it was pure joy the whole way down. As the afternoon turned to evening, the dunes shifted through orange, amber, and soft pink as the sun went down, like someone had painted the whole landscape by hand. It's the one experience I wish I'd stretched longer. I'd have loved to stay the night, watch the stars come out over the dunes, and see the sunrise the next morning before we moved on. It's the perfect excuse to go back one day.
The Real Souvenir Was the People
Before the trip, I assumed the unforgettable parts would be the landmarks: Machu Picchu, Rainbow Mountain, Huacachina. What actually flipped my expectations was the group itself. There were only six of us, and I only knew two people going in. My roommate, a complete stranger before day one, ended up becoming one of my closest friends, and we still keep in touch even though we now live in different countries. I also became the group's accidental translator, since I was the only Spanish speaker on the trip. By the end, everyone had one phrase down perfectly: "¿La cuenta, por favor?", the bill, please, and hearing it proudly repeated at every restaurant never stopped being funny.
If I had to pick 60 seconds to relive forever, it would be watching Lanre confidently negotiate a souvenir price using nothing but hand gestures and hopeful sound effects, only to land on the exact price the shop owner had asked for in the first place and walk away thinking he'd won. Or it would be Ovie, in Paracas, telling me he didn't need my help buying perfume, walking up to the shopkeeper, getting a reply in rapid Spanish, and turning back to me two seconds later asking what on earth the man had just said.
On the food, every restaurant we visited served proper Peruvian cooking rather than adjusting for tourists. Arroz con Chancho a la Antigua, slow-cooked pork with rice simmered in vegetables and spices, was the first thing I ate in the country and it set a high bar immediately, but nothing beat Lomo Saltado, strips of beef stir-fried with onions, tomatoes, soy sauce, and vinegar, served with rice and crispy fries. One evening at Hotel Las Dunas in Ica, a few of us took a cocktail-making class and learned to build a Pisco Sour from scratch, then went straight to Huacachina for dune buggies and sandboarding, which in hindsight was an ambitious sequence of events. Somehow we survived and got one more story out of it.
If a friend were on the fence about this exact trip, my answer is simple. Book it. Peru gives you a little bit of everything: one day you're standing in front of one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the next you're flying across sand dunes or spotting wildlife off the coast, and every day feels nothing like the one before. But what actually made it unforgettable was the people I shared it with, most of whom I'd never met before day one. Stop overthinking it, book the trip, and let Peru surprise you.
