Peru: From the Jungle to the Sky

Peru is a country of extremes, from the depths of the Amazon to the dizzying heights of the Andes. The first stop? The jungle.

Deep in the Tambopata Reserve, the rainforest never slept. Every step brought new sounds the calls of howler monkeys, the hum of cicadas, the distant roar of a jaguar (okay that’s ai over exaggerating). We watched giant river otters slice through the water, macaws burst into the sky in flashes of red and blue and a tarantula the size of my hand very kingly lit up by the torch of our guide as we were sailing past it in our kayak at night. The joys.

From the jungle, we flew to Cusco, where the air is thinner but the history runs deep. Wandering the streets, you can still see the Inca stonework, impossibly precise, surviving centuries of earthquakes while Spanish churches crumble above them. Of course, no visit is complete without Machu Picchu. (So we didn’t go) and went to Ollyamtabu instead. The mist rolled over the huge step like ruins as we arrived at sunrise, turning the ancient town into something almost mythical. It’s a place that doesn’t feel real, no matter how many times you see it in pictures (with the giants).

The last stop was the strangest, the Nazca Lines. Flying over them in a tiny plane, it’s impossible not to wonder: Who made these? Massive geometric patterns, a hummingbird, a monkey, a spider, all carved into the desert with such precision that they can only be seen from the sky. The theories range from ancient civilizations to aliens - and judging by one of the photos I took in Peru - I’m going with the cave aliens!