Travelogue Peru, Bolivia, Chile

These travel lovers went to South America with UYUNI Travels for 3.5 weeks! They traveled through Peru, Bolivia and Chile. Find their own travelogue below.

“Our journey through Peru, Bolivia and Northern Chile was a very varied experience with a lot of history, culture, spectacular landscapes, flora and fauna. Between all impressions and relocations, there was time to rest in great hotels, usually very atmospheric and welcoming. The entire organization was virtually flawless, with hosts or expert guides who were waiting for us without fail at every new place and for excursions, with good information and punctual transportation. The trip as a whole was beautiful and wonderfully organized by UYUNI Travels.”

Peru
Starting the trip in Lima was a good idea. It is a lively city on the sea, partly modern, but also with beautiful historic districts and interesting museums where you can learn a lot about Peru’s art and history. It makes a journey through the rest of the country more appealing. In itself there is not much to experience in the small coastal town of Paracas, but a boat trip from there to the Ballestas Islands is an amazing experience. You see many lazy sea lions lying on the rocks, while other islands are largely covered by pelicans and penguins. The beautiful and impressive Machu Picchu – which we visited with a private guide who is well and friendly about her job – is of course an absolute highlight. The journey by “panorama train” to nearby Aguas Calientes certainly contributes to that, because on the way there you have a wide view of the beautiful landscape. So beautiful that we would like to return the same trip again and we did. The drink and the snack on board were fine. Back at the same hotel in Cusco on December 6, my birthday, I got three staff members at my door to sing with a big smile to me and a cake with a burning candle. Very thoughtful! The colonial cities of Arequipa and Cusco are definitely worth a few days’ stay; cultural heritage, museums, beautiful squares, bars and eateries. Arequipa is a charming and cozy city, largely colonial. Beautiful Santa Catalina monastery, as big as a village. Nice restaurants. Our very attractive hotel in Arequipa, Casona Solar, was beautifully housed in (part of) an old building. Nicely decorated high rooms with chandeliers and the like. You could sit on the forecourt, behind the entrance door, and in the tiled garden. Nice and helpful staff, great breakfast. Hotel Munaywasi in Cusco was hardly inferior. The Peruvians, who live largely from tourism, have understood that it pays to receive their guests well. This is evidenced by hospitality in the hotels, punctual taxi drivers, but also public transport and expert guides. The Peruvian cuisine is worth it!

The trip through the Sacred Valley with stops in Pisac and Ollantaytambo was very fascinating. We had a wonderful lunch in a nice place. After many impressions and many traveling hours, it was wonderful to relax in Hacienda del Valle, a hotel in the fertile Sacred Valley where many remains of ancient cultures can be visited. The Hacienda is a charming low-rise complex situated in a beautiful, terraced garden. Nice to spot hummingbirds and other beautiful birds.

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Bolivia

In Bolivia, the first encounter with La Paz was simply astonishing. What a busy, chaotic and tired city. Yet all this makes a stay in La Paz – a day or so, not too long – a true experience. Three days in the Amazon jungle is the other extreme and also an experience in itself. After five hours of sailing you disappear into another world. Green, hot, humid, always animal sounds around you while you sleep under a mosquito net in your own cabin. The Chalalan lodge is located on a tributary of the Amazon; a nice and beautiful place to be for three days. It is an ecologically responsible and small-scale project of the local community in Rurrenabaque wherever the very involved guides, cook and manager come from. You mainly see different types of monkeys, beautiful birds and impressive vegetation about which the guide knows a lot. Another trip is a trip across the salt flats of Uyuni and through the adjoining desert area. A cactus island in the midst of salt, volcanoes, bubbling mud pools, spouting geysers, malevolent rock formations, here and there a desert animal and especially the vastness of everything, are special. Unfortunately, the many Land Cruisers with tourists driving around do something about that, but there is enough room to follow their own trail between the highlights and experience the endless emptiness. In the hostels, located in nothing, you spend the night with many again, under simple circumstances, but without abandoning. Quite cosy. It is an unique experience of bathing in the early morning in a hot spring of 42 degrees with an outside temperature around freezing point. In terms of temperature you seem to be able to experience everything on this trip, from a wet snow shower (!) To almost too hot to climb.

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Chili
Atacama, in the north of Chile, is warm and dry as you would expect from a desert. And here again spectacular landscapes like the Moon Valley and Death Valley. Yet again very different from the Bolivian desert. Hotel Don Tomas in San Pedro – the place is an oasis in the desert, green and lively – was a wonderful resort to recover from all impressions, with tranquility, excellent rooms in a garden with a swimming pool and an excellent kitchen. In Santiago you can see that Chile is a modern country. It is buzzing there. It is very busy in shops, cafés and restaurants, which is accompanied by a great deal of atmosphere, also on the street, in squares and in parks. In one of the green suburbs you can spend a peaceful night after an exciting day.

The journey as a whole was beautiful and wonderfully organized by Uyuni Travels!

Herman (65) and Hetty (63) de Knijf

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