Peru trip - Puerto Maldonado + Lima (part 3)

This is part 3 of our Peru travelogue. 

Part 1 - Peru 2026 - a perfect itinerary

Part 2 - Peru trip - Cusco

Part 3 - Peru trip - Puerto Maldonado + Lima 

Day 6 - Puerto Maldonado - Tambopata (JunglePro Lodge)

We had booked JunglePro's 3 nights Tambopata tour of Amazon rainforest. As part of this, they provide airport pickup/drop, lodging inside rainforest and various rainforest activities. Amazon rainforest is huge and it borders almost all latin American countries, a small part of it is in Peru. In Peru, there are two places to see the rainforest - Iquitos and Puerto Maldonado. We chose this because of easier connectivity. 

We landed in Maldonado in the morning and were escorted to the JunglePro Lodge's base station. We had some time before another group had to come so we went to Plaza de Armas of Puerto Maldonado (where else). There we had our brunch - all local street food.  One of the famous street food breakfast in Peru is potato+eggs - two boiled potatoes + two boiled eggs with some mint/mustard sauce. It is healthy and tasty. We also had empanadas. The veg options are few but they are ok. We also had flan :)

We had a group of 4 other girls from Guam - an American colony near Taiwan. Our guide was a rainforest localite who learnt English. His name was Freddy and he was amazing - lot of jungle knowledge and stories. 

Our day 1 was a 3 hr boat ride on the Tambopata river to get to the jungle lodge. Along the way, we saw largest rodents on earth - capybaras. We also saw turtle, reptiles etc.  JunglePro's lodge is very well built - reminded me of the JungleLodges in Karnataka. They take care of food, stay, wooden based cottages with mosquito protection. 

At night, we had our first activity - Jungle nightwalk. Freedy led us into the dark forest. Forest is alive, lot of sounds at night. We had to wear gumboots - the trail was sludgy, and applied some mosquito repellants. Freddy carried a special UV torch - animals like scorpions can not be seen with naked eye but they light up under UV light. We saw tarantulas, large spiders, spider-webs, large ants, and many other animals. 

One of the best part of the JunglePro lodge were its meals. We had the best meal here of the entire trip. They would feed us breakfast, lunch dinner. Lunch or dinner had rice and dal - black masoor dal is a staple there. Having dal-chawal in peru was heavenly and it was well made. Since we had shared that we are vegetarians, they would make special dishses for us - sometimes mushrooms, sometimes sauted vegetables They had different salads, potatoes, tofu etc. After a long activity, we would have food and sleep peacefully. The food, stay, nature really reminded me of River Tern

They also had a bar counter where you had to pay for drinks. Interestingly, the payment was to be in cash only and that too in dollars. I have rarely seen a country accepting dollars instead of their own currency as cash. 

There was no cellphone reception, but they had wifi, so Whatsapp calling was possible. 

Day 7 - Macaws eating clay 

Day 7 began at 3 am. We had to leave the lodge at 330, travel up the river for 3 hrs to reach a clay hill. There, in the morning, colorful Macaws come to lick clay. Clay is natural detox. Macaws lick clay to neutralize acids and other minerals that is their in their wild diet.  

For the 330 am boat ride, the lodge guys gave us blankets. Thankfully, we had our jackets. When the cool breeze hit our faces, we slept. It is amazing how the boat guy navigated the river current. The river is not clean, so navigating the debris without daylight was a challenge. But these folks are pro now. 

Macaws are magestic birds - so much color, beautiful wingspan.  To just see them, it was splendid. The guide taught us to use telescope+phone camera to click highly zoomed in photos and videos. We saw parrots, owl, and even a sloth

The breakfast was organized next to the river only. They had boiled eggs, pancakes, banana chips, coffee, fruits etc. The boat-ride back was peaceful. 

In the evening, we went to visit a nearby lake (40 mins by boat) . Here, we saw rain - it was heavy. We first time realized that why is it called a rainforest :) 

Day 8 - Day hike and tower

We did a 4 hrs day hike to walk to a nearby lake. Anacondas live there appratently but we couldn't spot any. The walk on the way was refreshing - through the jungle and we saw many cool things. Before leaving, the guide cut out a termite nest and by the time we got back, we saw the nest has been fixed. We saw a trail of red-ants travelling with us for about half a km, on the trail to get some specific substance from a tree. We saw Peru monkeys, old huge trees with giant trunks. My cool photo is of this monkey eating banana here - 

JunglePro had constructed a 50-floor high watch tower near the lodge. In the evening, we went to climb there and see sunset. 

Day 9 - Tambopata - Puerto Maldonado - Lima

Day 9 was just traveling back from the lodge to Lima. We took boat from lodge to reach Puerto Maldoando, then a bus to reach airport, then a flight to reach Lima and then a Uber to reach our Airbnb. We had booked an Airbnb at Miraflores and it was centrally located. 

Our Airbnb was a 1BHK and a good kitchen with washing machine. It was spacious and well maintained. Rating is 3.5/5 . 

Our Airbnb was close to the Kennedy Park which is famous for having cats live there. Somehow, they have created an environment for the cats to happily exist there. The civil/municipal workers take care of feeding and cleaning them. (Some) Cats are friendly and they let to pet you 

Day 10 - Lima downtown

Lima is not a safe city. Only Miraflores and Barranco neighborhoods are considered safe for tourists. But, the downtown Lima, its Plaza de Armas, is at the centre. How to go there ? We ended up booking a walking tour and it took us there. Interestingly, the guide took us via public bus which was also a good experience. Lima, like any over-populated city is battling traffic problems. But, they have dedicated bus lanes, so buses do go faster. But, their bus stops have high demand. While coming back, we saw long queues of people waiting to get on. But, overall, bus management and cleanliness was good. 

At the historic centre, the guide took us to various churches - couple from inside and others outside, old Spanish houses, gave restaurant recommendations, and overall shared the history of Peru. He also cautioned on what was safe to walk and what is not. The tour was informative, weather good. So, overall a great experience. 

Once the tour was over, we had ice-cream near the Plaza. We took the guide on his recommendations and visited two restaurants - one which served traditional pisco sour, and second one in Chinatown. We did our own walking tour, aimlessly exploring the city. At one place, we saw dentist equipments, machines, drills, etc being sold like wholesale goods, and folks at the side-walk asking random people to get their root canals done, at 50% discount :). We saw couple of girls selling artisinal breads from a food truck . Walking without any aim was real fun. 

It is not fun when everything is going good. Some adventure has to be there. We were exhausted after walking the whole day, We took an Uber to reach back to our Airbnb, only to realize that we do not have the right keys, Turned out that at the icecream shop, I had used their restroom and returned the Airbnb keys instead of the restroom key (which had hombres on its keychain) . We quickly took the uber back to the cafe, did the traffic thing again. Fortunately, they had the key. We got the swap done, and finally, went back to airbnb, battling the traffic again. 

At Lima, we have been cooking breakfast and some meals. Near to where we were staying, we had Vivanda, a upscale grocery store. We bought water and veggies there. 

Day 11 - Museums

Day 11 was our Larco museum day. Larco museum hosts historic artifacts - both from Spanish time and before. It is rated very high and rightly so - very well maintained with a rich colletion of artifacts. It covers thousands of years on what happened to Peru, old settlers, their pottery, textiles etc. Very neatly explained with audio-guide as well. 

One thing that I remember very well is that Spanish folks looted a lot of gold from the Incans. The Incan royalty had the habit of weating gold-plated breast-plates, armors, crowns etc. So, Spaniards looted them all and took it back. Only to realize that it was only gold colored and didn't include actual gold. It is funny and sad at the same time. 

The museum was blasting AC and I was not wearing any jacket because the outside weather was warmer. So, upon reaching home, I had a little temperature and we decided to call it a day. We had plans to visit Barranco that day but we dropped it. My temperature reached 101+ later and I took Dolo and slept it off.

In the evening, we stepped out to taste good hot chocolate. The cafe next door had jigsaw puzzle setup. So, Kanishka and  I solved the puzzle and drank hot chocolate.

Mira Flores also has lot of Casinos and we were living walking distance from them. But, in this trip, I could not visit even a single one. 

Day 12 -  Sick in foreign land. 

This was the last day of our trip. Tomorrow was the flight back. Our plan was to eat at Astrid Y Gaston. We had made lunch reservation. Lima is well known for having 3 restaurants in top 50 restaurants in the world . We wanted to try one even though most of the dishes are non vegetarian. But, they did have some veg options. 

My fever persisted through the night. In the morning, it was not coming down. Since we had just returned from Puerto Maldonado, a thought came - could it be Dengue? There were a lot of mosquitoes in the rainforest. Earlier I was dismissive and then thought that so what if it is dengue. But, then a google search showed that flights during Dengue can be life threatening. Kanishka was also having similar symptoms, with fever.

So, we finally decided to get the blood work done. In a foreign land, visiting hospital, this was a first. The first two nearby diagnostic centres we went, the communication was hard, we used Google-Translate. But they said that it would give reports in 2 days. We didn't had the time. Kanishka then took us to British American Hospital. They were super helpful and took me to emergency. 

A doctor consultation in Lima is 350 Soles (~INR 10.5K) and emergency visit consult is around 600 soles. Healthcare is crazily expensive there. We took the emergency option to get 2 hr bloodwork done. The doctor was nice and the hospital very cooperative. Both Kanishka and I had tests done and got our reports negative. Huge relief. But, I was feeling low energy, so we bought electrolytes and kept on sipping that. Thankfully, Kanishka was able to claim insurance and we got 80% of our expense back. Phew!

Evening was peaceful. We just went out for dinner at a Japanese place, had ramen and then had churros for dessert. 

Day 13 - Travel back

Recovering back, there was some energy. So, we finally did the boardwalk in the morning. It was nice and walking felt good.  Boardwalk had the famous kiss statue there. We walked back to the Airbnb. We ended up visiting the Kennedy cats park for the third time :).

Flight back was ok. Watched a lot of movies. Diners card was very useful - we used lounge access in almost all departure lounges in Peru. They were small, crowded but good food, and free water :) 

Our return was very long - Lime - Amsterdam - Delhi and then to Bangalore. We could not check in to our Delhi - BLR flight, I think it was sold out, so we had to take premium economy. 

The reverse jet-lag and body recovery took another week. The fever indeed took almost 1.5 days from our trip. But no one can plan for these things.  It did leave with an interesting experience. 

Overall, a great trip - new country, new experiences, new memories. We may not go back to Peru - lots of things to see in the world, but it is a worthwhile experience to go there. Machu Picchu alone makes up for it. Rainforest is a bonus. But, it is a developing country with crime - not much motivation to re-visit it. But, worth every dime to experience it once.  

Peru trip - Cusco

This is part 2 of our Peru travelogue

Part 1 - Peru 2026 - a perfect itinerary

Part 2 - Peru trip - Cusco

Part 3 - Peru trip - Puerto Maldonado + Lima 

Day 0 - Flight 

BLR -> Paris -> Lima -> Cusco

We took the bold decision to directly go to Cusco, that is to not spend a night in Lima. We kept a gap of 4 hrs between landing at Lima and then flying to Cusco. We had to collect our luggage and re-check-in for the domestic flight. But, our flight departed late from BLR, landed late in Paris, the next flight from Paris was delayed and then we landed an hr late in Lima. But, thankfully, we were on time. As they say, fortune favors the brave... or in our country - this was a masterstroke of planning. 

At Lima airport, we got the first taste of lack of veg food options... if the airport had so few options, then what would happen. We landed at Cusco at 10 pm and the hotel had booked us a taxi for pickup. It was cold but manageable. 

Our stay was at Amaru Colonial Cusco, one of the rare original Spanish architecture based hotels. The entrance is via a small one-vehicle wide cobbled road with no space to park, but once you are inside, it was awesome. Overall, our hotel would be 4/5 for decor and 3.5 overall. 

Day 1 - Cusco

Kanishka found an excellent city tour. It covered - 

Plaza de Armas - Q'enco  - Saqsaywaman - Puka Pukara - Tambomachay - Coricancha 

The starting point was walkable from our hotel.  At the Plaza, some kids were practicing for the festival, we saw the dance and roamed around there. It is a pretty cool hangout places with fancy cafes and activities going on. 

We hopped on a bus to cover these places. Most of the places are ruins of Incas. Usecase of some are known but others, it is a guesswork. For example - Puka Pukara was a market, it sat at the intersection of the Incan trail and a detour to get to Cusco. Now, it is all ruins. 

My favorite of the mix was Saqsaywaman - this was built as the meeting place for the Cusco leaders to welcome guests. It has three layers (floors) of zig-zag well structured stones. Some of the stones are huge and they are not local. They were dragged from 12-15 kms away. Dragging those stones with human hands plus some ropes, would have been an engineering feat at that point. 

Our guide also shared a glimpse of local challenges. The rates at Plaza De Armas are 2-3x of rates at other places. There is a lot of corruption in Peru. The trust on govt. is low. Many of these sounded familiar to us. 

We were tired by the end, so we decided to skip Coricancha and instead headed for lunch. Our lunch was at Vida Vegan Bistro Cusco . I had my first taste of Vegan Pisco sour ( a national drink which typically contains egg). We had burger and pasta and paid 20 soles (INR 600) for two bottles of water. First lesson that water in restaurants are not free.  Post lunch, we went to hotel and crashed.

We stepped out in the evening and again visited the Plaza.  Our dinner was at this Chia Vegan restaurant. The food was amazing. Peru is known for its variety of potatoes and we had one here. 

Day 2 - Cusco to Ollantaytambo via Sacred Valley tour.

We checked out post breakfast and dragged our suitcases on the cobbled street to meet the tour-van. Our night stay was at Ollantaytambo. Kanishka did the clever booking - Sacred valley tours includes Ollantaytambo, so she found one who can give us the tour and also drop us there. That made things simpler

Sacred Valley tour started with a local textile shop Textile quechua . Cusco is known for making winterwear using LLama wool. At this shop, they showed the process of how the wool is made from the llama fur. Pretty good exerperience. They also were selling stuff, the quality seemed good but so did the prices, so, we didn't buy anything. 

Our next stop was Chinchero. Another Incan ruin with a beautiful step farming setup. It was burnt down to prevent the Spanish inquisition here. Next stop was Maras Moray - a circular terrace farming place. Our guide told story that it was like a farming laboratory for Incans. After returning back, I got curious and did more research. The farming laboratory theory is now called bogus. But to sell a narrative, it is pretty cool. The sights here were also great.  Maras Moray was peaceful, green, serene. 

Our next top were the Maras salt mines. We also stopped before at a salt shop and bought expensive salt :) Salt mines are unique, cool, and crowded. But, worth a visit. We had authentic buffet lunch after this. The buffet had few good veg options and flan for dessert. We were sorted. 

Upong reaching Ollantaytambo, we skipped the Ollantaytamo ruins from the Sacred valley tour. We wanted to do so at our own pace. We checked into the Airbnb, which was right next to the Plaza de Armas of Ollantaytambo. Our airbnb had kitchen, so we headed out to buy water and veggies :) 

At the local market, we saw a 7 gallon water being sold from 12 Soles to 30 Soles. Kanishka did her best to bargain but they were better. Veggies were fresh, juicy and delicious - this is an hilly area, so veggies are grown locally. The market was also like a local basement kind of market but still okay-ish clean. Not as clean as Japan ones :) but a lot better than Bangalore. 

At midnight we celebrated Kanishka's birthday. We bought a local brownie but got looted. The brownie was very small and it was for 15 soles. The Ollantaytambo market was a good walk, not much crowds in the evening, well lit and weather was also good. 

Day 3 - Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu is worth the hype! 

It is hyper commercialized. The trains to reach there are expensive but they are luxurious. There is no road access.  Machu Pichu allows only 4500 visitors per day. One has to select which routes to pick for sightseeing, and the route #2 - where you can walk among the ruins get sold out the fastest. Then you have to book the trains, the bus from train station to entry point, a guide for local sight seeing etc. Kanishka did all the planning here and we booked the Panoramic route which in my opinion is the best one :) 

Machu Pichu was never finished. It was not a functional city, it was still under construction. It was abandoned when Spanish folks came. Spainiards never reached here, so it was under moss and ruins until it was rediscovered by a adventurer geologist. It is one of the new Seven wonders of the world. 

The train journey is very scenic. We follow the Urubamba river nestled in the mountains. It is like a Vista dome train. The attendants are multi-talented. The attendants does the job of ticket-checker, serving food-drinks, and in the onward journey, we had a mini traditional ritual that was performed by the attendants only. On the way back, Kanishka booked the other train company - Peru Rail and they are also getting into apparel. So, their attendants did a whole fashion show ramp walk. The number of things expected by attendants is just amazing. 

Machu Picchu was surreal. Our guide was an expert in taking Insta-worthy photos and made us pose. But once the photo-shoot was done, we got time to sit and admire the wonder. It is amazing. Between the mountains, so quite, peaceful. You get to see the whole thing only in the Panoramic route and I think it is the best one. If you are inside, you do not get to see the big picture, the expanse of it. Only in Panoramic, the beauty comes alive. 

The station town is called Aguas Calientes. After Machu Picchu, we walked the streets and had lunch at Iskcon themed vegan restaurant by the name of Govinda. The whole town is pricey.  We had some quinoa khichdi and it was yum! We walked through the markets, bought our souvenir magnets here. 

We had dinner at a train-bogey themed restaurant next to the station only. The food was awesome. We walked back to Airbnb. This was the highlight of the trip - best day. 

Day 4 - Ollantaytambo

Day 4 was meant to be chill day.  We had carried Theplas from home. Breakfast was boiled eggs, Thepla, yogurt and salad. I think our meals during travel are way more healthier than at home :) 

The market outside the ruins was interesting, After the walk, we ended up buying sweaters and caps. Kanishka demonstrated her bargaining skills - I could not believe that we got 60% discount. 

We did a leisurely walk to the Ollantaytambo ruins and explored it. Beyond the ruins, there were some spots even higher and we had to walk there. We took an easy stroll to climb and reach there - it was sunny but not super hot. 

The Ollantaytambo ruins are special - it was a living  city, fully functional one. When the Spaniards came, they attacked the city but a 19 year old warrior was able to defeat them. This is the reason they never reached Machu Picchu, they turned back there. All Incan ruins have certain things as common - a Sun temple for example. Incan worshipped the Sun god and June 24st, they celebrate the Inti Raymi,  a festival dedicated to Sun god. It is difficult to understand how people lived during those times but the space is huge and structure is solid. 

Post the ruin visit, we had lunch at the Plaza and had the worst Burrito ever. And at the cost of 50 soles, it was a loot. We visited our favorite local grocery store, bought bread, butter and stuff and then had a nice salad + bread as dinner. We also used this day to do laundry :) 

During the evening stroll, we tried local street food. One such drink was Emoliente - a herbal drink made of roasted barley, lemon, sugar and herbs. It is served hot and it was awesome! Our Airbnb had kitchen, heater and hot water. It was next to plaza. It was one of those Inca ancestral home, next to the cobbled streets. I would rate it 4/5 for the experience. 

Day 5 - Back to Cusco

We took a cab from Ollantaytambo to Cusco. It was a 3 hr ride. Our driver knew english. He was from the  jungle but spoke english fluently, On the way, we say these purple colored drinks sold in bottle and we asked him what it is. It was Chicha Morada , made of fermented corn. We bought it and it was awesome! 

Our one night stay at Cusco was at hotel Hacienda . This was far from the Plaza. The hotel was ok - basic, functional. It was next to the Pedro market, so that is where we started. 

Pedro market is the local grocery+food+chocolate market there. It has vendor stalls selling all kinds of things. One such thing is roasted guinea pigs :) We tried some cakes, some random items, empinada and finally found a vegan restaurant there - Vegan Pinto and had one of the best ROI (taste over money) meals. We were full but the meal was yum! 

After this, we went to see the Coricancha museum - it used to be an Incan temple taken over by Spanish clergy and it was then their sacred place. We didn't had a guide so we didn't enjoy it much. The one thing that I remember is reading about the history and it is here we learnt that Incans used to believe in sacrifices - they sacrificed kids too, sometimes burying them alive in ground. So, Incans were also superstitious and had places to offer sacrifices and many such weird rituals. 

Post Coricancha, we went back to the plaza. This was a parade day there - a local festical where they shift the statues of some renowned old priests from one church to another. It was festive atmosphere there. 

We had bought a group-pass to get access to multiple-sites. Kanishka figured out that it included a local cultural performance. It was fun. The music is really like the traditional one - lot of flute. It is a govt. run institution, so things are still how they were in 70s :) But we enjoyed it. 

Dinner was a walk to a pizza place - fresh oven baked pizza was good. By this time, we were using Uber, so we took the uber back to hotel. 

Next day, we took the flight to Puerto Maldonado

Peru trip 2026 - A perfect itinerary

Peru trip - 6th June to 21st June 2026.

This is part 1 of our Peru travelogue. 

Part 1 - Peru 2026 - a perfect itinerary

Part 2 - Peru trip - Cusco

Part 3 - Peru trip - Puerto Maldonado + Lima 

Why visit Peru?

Machu Picchu. Famous with very nice photos enough to pique an interest. First visit to South America. Peru is a four letter word country :) A new country, culture, language, world. A developing country - so always fascinating to see how other developing nations are doing the same things like we have done. 

Peru Plan

Kanishka did most of the planning this time. At a high level, the idea was to spend - 

Cusco - 5 days

Puerto Maldonado - 4 days

Lima - 4 days. 

Cusco is the base to visit Machu Picchu. It was also the headquarter of the Incans which ruled over five countries (Peru, Bolivia, Equador, Chile, Argentina) about five hundred years ago. Kanishka figured out that there is a part of Peru that overlaps with Amazon rain forest. There were two options - Iquitos or Puerto Maldonado. I think it was flight connectivity that led us to pick PEM. Lima being the capital - we decided to have sometime there to explore museums etc. 

Our original plan was to do Peru in Dec-end but I pulled a back muscle. So, we shifted the entire trip to June during Kanishka and my birthday week. 

What stood out in Peru - 

• Language and lack of vegetarian options - At the Lima airport, on day 1, we tried to get some vegetarian food. Now, typically, at capital-city airports, by now I expect folks in the hospitality industry to be able to speak English. But, it was not the case here. Staff were all Spanish, the menu options were all Spanish and there were not too many veg options. 
• This kind of thing made sense in Japan where most of the tourists are domestic. But here in Lima, this was surprising. I will later learn that this is largely because the number of Spanish knowing tourists is very high. We saw a lot of toursis from Brazil, Spain and US. Many folks from US know Spanish as their 2nd or 3rd language. 
• In Lima, Cusco and other places, we found a lot of veg/vegan options but at the airport, it was a struggle. 
• Crime and democracy in Peru - As you start to research more about the country, more so, beyond the tourism angle, you get to know different things. In this case, we learnt that Peru has had 10 presidents in last 10 years. Their government instability/corruption is well known. Not only that, in Lima there are only limited localities where tourists can stay - Miraflores and Barranco being the most common. In these two areas, there are upscale malls, good parks, shooping and food options and are (relatively) crime-free but there are many parts of Lima which are No-no for tourists. 
• Interestingly, the day we landed, the next day there were elections. At the airport I saw a TGIF and I thought I will try their famous local cocktail - Pisco Sour. But TGIF said that due to elections, they are not selling alcohol. This instantly reminded me of India :) 
• Cusco and Puerto Maldonado were all safe and we even walked at night in Cusco and it was all good. 
• Toilet Paper - It took me a while to accept this but in Peru, either there are no toilet paper in toilets or even if there are toilet paper, you are not allowed to flush them. It has got to do with their plumbing - their pipes are not large enough or something. You take the paper tissue from outside, wipe your ass and throw this in the trash can. Good news is that all rest-rooms had trash cans. 
• Now, this is bizarre to me that why they have not fixed this so far. Or if plumbing is an issue, then why not have water jets like we have in India. 
• Even at international airports, the restrooms had this issue. Typically, one would expect that airports will be taken care of correctly. 
• Mangoes at Peru - we were delighted to see mangoes in Peru. But interestingly, June is their winter and their summer are in Nov/December when the tree bear fruits. Peru being in Southern hemisphere, the weather patterns are opposite ours. 
• Spanish language - It was interesting to see that Spanish was the most spoken language, even in jungles and remote places. Their native language - Quechua is lesser spoken than Spanish. Our guide and driver were from jungle (in Peru instead of saying that we are from village, to talk about their remoteness, they would say that they are from jungle) and their first language was Spanish. 
• Even buildings - at Lima, most of the Spanish constructed buildings are now the parliament and key houses. 
• I didn't see any hostility to the Spanish conquest even in museums or walking tours. 
• Plaza de Armas - Every town / city in Peru had a plaza located right at the centre of the place. Plaza de armas actually means place to store weapons. But today, Plaza de Armas means a nice open space with posh restaurants or shopping outlets at its circumference. The open space is used for cultural programs and a great hangout place. We saw this in Cusco, Puerto Maldonado, in Lima. Liked the concept of plaza in general. 

Mussoorie 2024 - An Ideal itinerary

 

Mussoorie - 3 day itinerary (28-30 Apr)

At a time when rest of India, particularly Bangalore was dealing with dealing with ~40 deg weather, we were using room heaters in Mussoorie. It was truly a hill station experience in summers. 

Day 0 - Land in Dehradun

Dehradun is like Bangalore - a concrete jungle with lots and lots of restaurants and malls. Kanishka landed at around 330 pm. I was already in Dehradun back from my Surya top trek  . I had alerady packed a quick lunch from Chetan Swadisht Kachori. It was amazing - one of the food recommendations that does not disappoint. 

Next, we went to Buddha statue and Stupa. It is written that all your 'paap' will go away if you visit the Stupa. So, there you go, we are now again in net-zero. Stupa paintings were wonderful. Good place to visit. It started a heavy downpour while we were there. We could not visit the Mindrolling monastery which was just next to us. Our next stop was a quick stop at Ellora's Melting moments bakery - a very highly rated bakery in Dehradun which is now 60+ years old. We packed a few sandwiches for our trek tomorrow. Our dinner was at Orchard restaurant and on the way, we got to witness a BLR nostalgic traffic jam. Food was ok at Orchard but we were tired and full from the Pudis. They had a live band which played Local Train and Lucky Ali, so it was good. 

Day 1 - Benog Tibba hike, Landour

We hired a trek guide from Easy Prime Holidays to take us for a day hike to Benog Tibba (tibba means top) It was a ~7.5KM round trip hike. It was awesome, I loved it. The trail is very clean, easy to walk. Goes through a nice forest cover first and then opens to a ledge walk. Benog Tibba - from the top, you get to see Mussoorie and other mountains. There was no one else, so it was very peaceful to walk. Our guide also delighted us with local stories. We started from Dehradun at 7 am and reached the starting point at around 830 am. The weather was also good - not too sunny, not too hot either. All in all, a perfect day hike. 

From Benog Tibba, we visited the famous touristy spot of Company garden. It was past 1:30, so we were hungry. The local chana chat was yummy. COmpany garden is decent, small garden park, but it attracts lot of crowds. It is maintained well. Our lunch was a typical Garhwal food at Hill-e-ishq in Mussoorie, near to Landour. The food was good - a particluar delight is the saag from stinging nettle leaves . Rotis were made of bajra and we also got Pahadi Rajma, Stinging nettle kebabs, all was good. Place could use better hygiene though - it was very dusty.

Our car dropped us at our airbnb homestay which was right next to CharDukaan. It was a steep walk down but there was a guide to help us. Our homestay was a 1BHK so it had a kitchen too. In the evening, we walked to the famous Landour Bakehouse  where we had coffee and orange marmalade cake. We also packed some salad items, eggs and break for our breakfast the next day. 

Day 2 - Landour walk, Mall road

We did yet another walking tour in Landour on day 2 - Landour Infinity walk, again with Easy Prime travels. Landour Infinity walk is almost on a plain surface and covers the famous lal tibba, Bakehouse. Landour is a corner of Mussorie and is famous for being Ruskin Bond's place. It was also an old English settlement which has not been commercialized much. So, it is pretty good to walk. Our guide regaled with the history of Landour, who has houses there, took us to bakehouse (again), churches etc. This walking tour was a really good idea.

After the walk, we decided to have something at CharDukaan :) - Kanishka had ginger lemon tea and I had Chilli cheese sandwich. The walk started at 8 and ended at 11. We had salad and boiled eggs for lunch. Our plan in 2nd half was to walk down to Mall road (2.3 km walk to Picture Palace) and then do some shopping and do a food walk on the Mall road. 

The walk to Mall road is all downhill, so it makes sense to walk down and take a cab back. Transportation in Mussoorie is incredibly expensive. There is no Ola/Uber and you should call 3-4 vendors and negotitate the best price. People are good though. The drive from Mall road to our homestay, we heard rate of INR 800/INR1000 but eventually found a person that took only INR 500. 

Mall road runs from Picture Palace at one end to Library Chowk at the other. We walked from one end to another (almost till Library Chowk) and then turned back. Along the way, we did some shopping from Kashmiri sellers. In terms of food, we had - 

- Delhi style Suji golgappas - A food walk without golgappas is not possible. 

- Corn roasted on coal - It was a very sweet corn

- Jalebi with Rabdi at Kulhad Rabdi wala- a local delight 

- Amritsari Chole Kulche, street food vendor. The chole kulche were so good that I got it packed for next day breakfast. We had only Kulcha to taste it there so that we can save appetite. 

- Wood-fired pizza and beer at the Tavern  - Their pizza was decent. They had pizza named after interesting folks such as Tom Alter, we had the Bill Aitkens pizza and this is the first time I heard his name. Pretty amazin guy

We were pretty tired after the walk and the food, so we took the cab back. 

Day 3 - Museums and George Everest

We checked out from our Airbnb and our tonight's stay was at Everest base camp. Along the way, we stopped at the Soham Himalayan Centre - a private, family run museum that displays local arts. Run by a couple, the husband is a sculpturist and wife a painter. Their crafts depict local traditions. They also have a good collection of coins, stamps, manuscripts, old photos. A really good place to visit and know about the history. We got a local tour from them. 

After Soham, we headed to Everest Base Camp. This was a luxury stay, even though it was in a tent. Little at the outskirts but still a lovely one. After checking in, we decided to check out the George Everest cartography museum and hike up the George Everest mountain. 

George Everest was the surveyor general of India, responsible to map out the Indian terrain. It is the museum of cartography and a very well managed museum. One of the best museums that I have seen in India. We got to know that the Everest mountain is actually named after George Everest because it was under him that the right height of mountain was identified. Even though it was done by a guy called Sikandar who did the actual work. We also learn about other folks who played a key role in understanding the terrain, one example to know that how both Tsangpo and Brahmputra is the same river. Overall, I would highly recommend this place. 

After the museum, we hiked up to the George Everest hill. Pretty easy 1Km hike up. It is known for good views of sunrise and sunset. We were nearing the sunset time and had really good views from there. After coming down, we had maggi at a local shop :)

At dinner., we played Jaipur board game and had good. Night time temperature was ~5 deg. 

Next day was just drive down from Mussoorie to Dehradun, a brief stop at Ellora again to pack some goodies. When we landed in BLR, at around 8pm, BLR was nearing 37 degrees and it felt so hot. If I had known this, I may have stayed there for two more days :) 

Surya Top - Himalayan Trek

Surya Top Trek by India Hikes 

20 Apr - 26 Apr.

One of the new year resolutions, that I made in Jan, was to do an Himalayan trek this year. I joined a running group, all with this aim. I am so pleased to have finally done it now. 

A month before the trek, back in March, I saw that most of the well known treks on India Hikes were already booked. I was contemplating a private trek group, called couple of places but none materialized. IndiaHikes had a requirement to do 5K in 35 mins for a moderate trek and I had not reached the milestone. On a Sunday evening, I called them and told that I have reached 5K in 40/39 mins consistently. Can I sign up? They said yes. In a matter of next 2 hrs, I had booked a trek, flight hotels and planned a Mussorie trip with Kanishka after that. 

Surya Top was pretty. It had a ridge walk, meadow walk and a summit climb - you do not get all three in a trek. It was moderate but on the easier side. Most importantly, it was labelled 'crowd-free'. It is a new-ish trail close to Dayara Bugayal which is very popular. Trekking has become popular and few of the well known trails are now getting crowded. When you to go to Himalayas, you do want to spend time alone.  So, crowd-free is an important consideration. The top altitude is ~13K feet only which is not that high but if I want to get back to Himalayan trekking, this seemed a really good choice. 

I loved Surya Top trail. There are so many good things that I have to say. Foremost, I loved the fact that I have done a Himalayan trek, 5 years after the last one and a decade after the previous one with India Hikes. Second, the summit, even though it is at 13K feet only, it is reasonably steep and takes an effort to get on top. I didn't give up and pushed myself to get there, so that was also a strong sense of accomplishment. The trail itself is beautiful. It has stony-trails, forest walks, ridge tops, steep ascends and descend, valley stops, Rhododendron and Cherry blossom trees - a lot of variations, beautiful sceneries and devoid of any plastics, a very clean trail. Also, after an hr of trekking, for the next five days, we didn't see a single soul, outside of our group. To be in India and not see another person, just be there in the wild is almost impossible these days. The views from the ridge are incredibly beautiful. IndiaHikes has only uplevelled its operational side and it was so good to be doing this again with them. The food, camps, tent etc were managed well. And to top it off, we saw snow - two days of snowfall, a small blizzard, and a Spring trek suddenly became a winter trek. Walking on snow, with white ground all around you is amazing. So, is the cold weather that comes and it becomes a different experience altogether. 

In trekking, you choose to live in discomfort, in order to enjoy. 

At the beginning of the trek, Sayantan who was our trek lead, asked us why are we here? If you wanted to enjoy your vacation, you could have gone to Goa, stayed at a resort etc but instead you are here, going to live in cramped tents, walking daily, sweating, carrying loads etc. He told us that you have chosen to live in discomfort, in order to enjoy. He asked why? And he also gave options - (1) To enjoy nature. (2) To spend time with yourself/discover yourself (3) Make new friends (4) Live minimally. He went round the room and along with introductions, you were expected to share why you are here by choosing one of the options. I, ofcourse chose, to spend time with yourself.  

Day 0 - Travel from BLR to Dehradun

I booked a connecting flight via Delhi. Delhi airport has street food shop, so I had Golgappas. Reached Dehradun at around 2 pm. The airport taxi was charging us a bomb. I met another passenger/stranger and we shared a cab and split the fare. It is interesting on how you make friends/acquaintances during travel. My stay was at a place called Cocoon which had a very nice lawn, online pics were very appealing. But the lawn doubles down as a wedding venue in the night and there was a Mehdi ceremony in the night. They blared loud music but I was too tired, so I slept soundly, though after some challenge. In the evening, I tool a long walk and had Samosa at this Motashow sweet shop and it was pretty good. Dinner was at Pind Balluchi. 

Day 1 - Travel from Dehradun to Raithal.

Met with fellow trekkers at 630 am and boarded a Tempo for Raithal. A journey of 6-7 hrs. It was good to see a 16 year old trekker, just finished his 10th boards, came solo - a break before he starts his JEE prep. I was impressed :) . The drive was comfortable. We stopped at a Rawat restaurant at Rautu ki beli and I had tandoori Parathas - loved it. Lunch was also homely. At Raithal, IndiaHikes as created its permanent basecamp with Swiss tents for staying, overlooking the Gangotri range. It was awesome. First glimpse to see how IndiaHikes has grown so well. Felt proud and happy for them. 

In the evening, we did our intros, met our trek leads, Sayantan as the primary lead, along with Alok and Yashbir ji - both locals.  IndiaHikes also gave us a thermal inner lines to use inside the sleeping bags since they are clean. Along with an eco-bag to carry garbage from trails. My backpack was heavy so I decided to skip the eco-bag. Abhout 40% of trekkers decided to offload their luggage to mules. I was tempted but decided to carry. 

Day 2 - Drive to Barsu and hike to Pichkiya

Barsu was about 75 mins drive from Raithal, at a similar altitude. We started walking at around 10 am. It was sunny. Today was all ascend. Initial trail was stony but after an hr, we entered the tree cover. Forest was beautiful. Dense, green and clean. We made several stops while going up. At a stop, Sayantan played a game, each person shares their name and their hobby. Next person repeats this for everyone who came before him. Good ice breaker game. 

While my backpack was heavy, I did not feel any pain on my shoulders while carrying it. It has a very nice cushion, even when empty, the backpack weighs couple of kgs. So, I was comfortable. Today was the day of packed lunch, we had roti, cabbage sabji and two slices of bread sandwich. 

Pichkiya is a good campsite - has water supply, flat ground and a good view of Yamnotri range. Weather was good through out. No need for any jackets yet. 

Our welcome drink upon reaching campsite was Aam Panna. It was tasty. Evening snacks was Chana-Alu chat. While there was hot water too, I decided to drink natural normal water to acclimatize myself. 

Day 3 - Pichkiya (10264 ft) to Utron (~11K)

Surya Top typically also covers Dayara Burgyal, in some parts, but that part is now steeped in snow. So, we were taking a different route. Day 2 was a short walk - ~3.3Km but it became ~4Km, since the usual Utron site had some issue. We walked extra 0.6Km to get to upper Utron (forgot exact name). This camp-site had views to Surya top, our summit climb for next day. Day 2's trail was all forest trail. We saw Cherry blossom trees, Rhodendron trees. The mountain views were really good. There was no other soul in sight. We are in the wilderness now. 

Our campsite had georgeous views. We reached, had lunch and decided to relax inside the tent. Inside tent, we could hear rain coming down, only to later realize that it was snow. In just a matter of 2 hrs, everything around us was all covered in white. Our trek transformed from a Spring trek to a Winter trek. It became cold. All of us were surprised, shocked. It continued to snow till late in the evening. Our next day Summit climb was in question now. Sayantan said that we will decide in the morning, 4-5-6 am - 4 am wake up, hot water, 5 am breakfast and 6 am we leave for summit climb, provided the weather is well. If we can not leave by 8 am, the summit is a no-go. 

I have been to previous bad weather scenarios, so this was not new. 4-5 hrs of snowfall had made people realize that if this continues, it will be trouble. So, there were not many questions. 

Since we could not do much, I lied down in my tent and spent time chatting with my tent-mate who is a startup founder too. Many stories to share :) 

I had a really bad sleep in the night. It was cold and I messed up my sleeping bag arrangement. So, in the night, I was constantly tossing and turning. But I did sleep, but it was broken up many times. 

Day 4 - Utron to Surya Top (12900 feet) and then to Pichkiya (11679 feet)

Morning was clear. Infact, it didn't snow at all during the night. So, we were on for the summit. We left sharply at 6am. It was a steep ascent in the beginning followed by gradual ascends and flats. You could see Surya Top all along the way and it didn't look too far :) This was also a day of a lot of ridge walk, it was beautiful. There were mountains all 360 degree around us, all covered in snow now. The walk was amazing. 

Summit climb was tough. The last km gradient is steep. It takes effort, lot of breaks, heavy breathing to get there. Snow had made the climb slightly slippery too, so we had to be careful. There is a point where there was an option to leave your luggage and only carry a small day pack with water and Ponchos. I decided to carry my full pack. The challenge with Surya top is that as you are climbing, you will see a peak but it is not the eventual peak. The local peak hides the bigger peak. This happens atleast three times. You would push yourself that you have reached only to realize that it is not the top. So, the mind games go on. I took short breaks but was able to reach the summit at 9:53 am. The earliest person came at 9:35 am and I was somewhere in the middle. Not bad I would say :) 

The climb down was interesting too. We left the top at 10:30 am and around 10:45am it started to snow. Soft round balls of snow. We pulled out our Ponchos and slowly climbed down. Round snow touches the Poncho and falls down, it does not leave any wet water mark, pretty interesting phenomenon. 

Siyari is a beautiful valley right at the footsteps of Surya-Top. We reached at around 12:30. But it was all white and snowing. Snow stopped after couple of hrs, enough for us to pitch tents and have lunch. But it snowed the whole evening. 

They had given us trail mix to carry this day. It contained horse-grams, peanuts, and those white golis that you get outside temples :) . Day 4 night was also very cold. It snowed all through the night. Our tents and gear were of good quality. My sleeping bag setup was ok, so inside the tent, it was not very cold, but still, I had many breaks in my sleep. 

Day 5 - Siyari to BarsuKaDera

We climbed from the Siyari valley to join back the ridge walk. From now onwards, we were going to retrace the same trail back to Barsu. There was some talk to go directly to Pichkiya, lower altititude will lead to less cold nights. But, along the way, at BarsuKaDera, it was so beautiful that we decided to camp there only. The walk down was easy. Sun came out well. We walked for about 4.5Kms today. Snow also started to melt down

At night, we played multiple rounds of Mafia and it was fun.

Day 6 - BarsuKaDera to Barsu and then bus to Raithal

Just plain descent :) We started at 7 am. This was our last day with the mules and staff, so we introduced them, said our thanks and gave some tip. The kitchen staff too, in their enthu, made Chole Pudi for breakfast, at 10,000 feet level :) 

After reaching down, I had an omlette at the local Tapri. Raithal basecamp of IndiaHikes has no shower facility, but someone asked around and told that there is a homestay, about 10 mins walk who is ok for us to take showers. I did that. Costed INR 200 :) Went to a local temple and there was some folk dance happening. Since, it was only women and children, I didnt stand there for long. Had maggi at another tapri. Trek was done and now time to pamper. 

As I got down, I got network for the first time and saw that Rubrik is going public today. Felt happy about it. At 630, I joined the remote call and saw the proceeding for 30 mins. It was fun but not as much as folks who were there in office. I logged off and went back to mountains

Day 7 - Drive back to Dehradun

Nothing much to report. Dehradun was hot, very hot :) I ended up going to cinema (watched Ghostbusters flick) just to avoid the heat. I stayed at Lemarq on EC road, an okay-ish hotel. 

I liked his phrasing - yes, we choose to live in discomfort during a trek. But what you gain is to just be with nature, in a lifestyle on how our ancestors, lived (I know not exactly but still better than the city life) - in between these giant mountains, trees, streams, meadows. Walking, climbing, is a physical challenge but I get to know more about my breathing in these days than ever. Carrying your own backpack, each item is evaluated on why is it needed and there is a trade-off. I discarded two items to reduce my weight and they were a big mistake. I didn't carry a Sun-cap since I sweat a lot, but I got badly sunburnt as a result. Big mistake. I also didn't carry any goggles thinking I can manage without them. But it snowed a lot and after 5-6 hrs in snow, I could feel a difference when Sun rays reflected from the white. Fortunately, clouds game and it didn't hurt much after that. Back to the discomfort, it is difficult to describe the joy but it is there, an inner peace kind of thing, a sense of accomplishment too. At the summit, after the gruelling climb, I got teary-eyed, the same feeling that you get after running an long HM. It is a feeling that makes one go there again and again.