Poster of Exploring Barranco in Lima Peru

Exploring Barranco: Peru’s Bohemian Art District

Peru is best known for Machu Picchu, its Incan citadel which sits among the new Seven Wonders of the World. However, there’s a lot more to see and do in this diverse and vibrant South American nation. Barranco is one of forty-three districts which make up the capital city and province of Lima, bordered to the north by the upscale district of Miraflores and to the west by the Pacific Ocean. Barranco is one of the smallest districts in Lima with a population of under 40,000 people, but what attracts tourists to this cool neighbourhood is its thriving street art scene. Known as the SoHo of Lima, Barranco is one of Peru’s hippest neighborhoods with its colorful murals, quaint bars and coffeeshops, beautiful museums and charming old mansions and summerhouses.  Here’s how my visit to Barranco, Peru’s coolest bohemian art district, went.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle12 Comments
Drink with straw and lime

What I Ate & Drank in Peru for One Week

I didn’t imagine I’d be completing my Peru series in 2024! I visited Peru in May 2022 for one day shy of a week, and it’s still one of the best experiences I’ve had in my entire life. I still think about this trip often. Oh, to be carefree in the streets of Cusco or Aguas Calientes or Machu Picchu once more, to explore new cities on foot, to marvel at the architectural genius which allows ancient, colonial and modern buildings to coexist in harmony and to enjoy the rich cultural tapestry of the Peruvian people! Peru has one of the longest histories of civilization of any country, tracing its heritage back to the 10th millennium BCE. Modern Peruvian cuisine beautifully marries indigenous food with Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, North and West African immigrant influences. With that said, let’s delve into what I ate and drank in Peru.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle27 Comments
Mountains and flowers

How to Prevent & Treat Altitude Sickness

Millions of people travel to high altitudes annually, especially in the Himalayas, Alps, Andes and North American Rocky Mountains. Traveling to a higher altitude without gradually acclimatizing often results in altitude sickness, and is most prevalent at 8,000 feet (2500m) or higher above sea level. My first experience with altitude sickness was on vacation to one of the world’s seven wonders, Machu Picchu. Getting to Machu Picchu requires transiting through Cusco, the old capital of the Incan empire, which is located at 11,200 feet (3400m) above sea level. Most persons arrive in Cusco by flight which gives the body zero time to acclimate naturally. This post covers what is altitude sickness, how to prevent it and natural + medical remedies to treat the condition.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle21 Comments
Girl looking at llama

9 Ways Peru Reminded Me of Jamaica

My favourite thing about traveling to a new country is being able compare their culture to my own. I’d done this for Trinidad in 2020, and now I’m doing the same for Peru. This time, I decided to compile a list of nine ways in which Peru reminded me of Jamaica (and five differences). This lighthearted post is written from my own observations after a week in Peru, so I hope not to offend anyone. Despite the negative features this post may highlight, I must say that I truly enjoyed my time in Peru and I appreciated the genuine warmth, curiosity and love that the Peruvian people expressed for Jamaica.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle19 Comments
Poster of Elle's Travel Guide to Machu Picchu

Elle’s Guide to Machu Picchu

In 2000, a Swiss foundation launched a campaign to determine the New Seven Wonders of the World. The original list was compiled in 200 AD, but only one of the seven ancient wonders still exists. More than 100 million votes were cast and the final results were announced in 2007. It’s impossible to please everyone, but there weren’t many naysayers about the choice of Machu Picchu as one of the world’s New Seven Wonders. Machu Picchu is one of the few intact pre-Colombian ruins left in the world. This Incan citadel was built in the 1400s on a 2,430m (7,970ft) mountain ridge in the Urubamba Province of Peru, 80km northwest of Cusco. The Incas had no written language so modern archaeologists can only surmise the importance of the houses, terraces and temples left behind. The city was left uninhabited for centuries following the Spanish Conquest, and only rediscovered by American archaeologist Hiram Bingham in 1911. In this post, I’ll share my Machu Picchu adventure + travel tips. Read my previous post if you’d like to know what this trip costed.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle22 Comments
Poster of 2022 Peru Travel Itinerary with Costs

My 5 Day Perú Itinerary & Costs

I’ve been asked several questions about my trip to Perú, and I thought a blog post would be the best way to answer those questions properly. Perú has been on my bucket list for years and this trip lived up to my expectations and then some. This trip allowed me to accomplish three things from my 30 before 30 bucket list which I posted in the heights of the pandemic. My 5-day trip to Perú was supposed to be 6 days, but a strike by the Jamaican air traffic controllers robbed me a day of my trip and I’m still a bit salty. Anyway, here’s what I did during my short trip and what things costed. Next South American stop: the Galapagos Islands, I hope!

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle20 Comments
Historic church

Exploring Cusco, Perú

Cusco (also, Cuzco) is a city located on the southeastern end of Perú near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes Mountains. This colourful and vibrant city is the former capital of the Incan empire and proudly preserves traces of its Incan ancestors. These ruins seamlessly exist alongside Spanish colonial and modern-day buildings. Cusco is the seventh most populous city in Peru with a population of about 428,000 inhabitants, and is located at 3,400m (11,200 feet) above sea level. This city hosts nearly 2 million tourists each year because it is the gateway to Machu Picchu, the 15th-century Incan citadel which is listed as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. However, Cusco deserves more recognition than a transit town as Cusco is recognized as the Archaeological Capital of the Americas. Here’s how I spent a day in Cusco, what to expect and how to plan trips around the city.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle26 Comments