Thursday 19 September 2013

1000 Km of Hitchhiking and Couchsurfing

Máncora is probably the most famous beach town on the Peruvian coast. Warm, clear water, a tropical climate with daily sunshine, and light yellow fine sand beaches make it the perfect retreat for people who are depressed due to the grey skies of Lima. The only problem: Máncora is located more than 1,200 km north of the Peruvian capital.



The monkeys decided to divide the journey into six segments so that they could see the most interesting archeological sites on the way...

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Friday 13 September 2013

5000 Years of the “New” World


When people think of Peru, the images to appear in their minds are of the Incas and their ruined city Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu is listed as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World and is the main tourist attraction of Peru. Most tourists visiting Peru see no other archaeological site in the country, although there are many others worth visiting. "Oh, more Inca ruins?" - you might wonder. Sure, but the Incas are only the tip of the iceberg! Many other civilizations settled in Peru: some as old as the Inca Empire, others thousands of years older.


"How old are the Incas then?" - you might ask. The Inca civilization arose at the beginning of the 13th century, but Tawantinsuyu (the Inca Empire) was not founded before 1438. When the Spanish conquistadores arrived at the beginning of the 16th century the Incas hadn't yet been ruling for a single century. By 1572 the last Inca stronghold had been conquered and an empire, that once stretched from southern Colombia to the northern parts of Chile and Argentina was no more.


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Thursday 12 September 2013

Lima Limón 2013




Recently we have written a post about Couchsurfing Camps. What are these camps? These camps are multiple day events with a festival like character, organized mainly for the members of hospitality exchange networks. You can read about Couchsurfing Camps happening in Europe here:

A Brief Guide to Couchsurfing Camps.


Before coming to South America the Travelling Monkeys had already been dreaming about organising a big Couchsurfing Camp in Peru. Moreover, they found out that their friend Zuli, a native Peruvian living in Vienna was about to travel to Lima at the same time like them. Therefore, they decided to organize such an event together in the Peruvian capital.



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Tuesday 3 September 2013

Paracas: Romance at the Sea

BimbinoBambinaBoats





The Poor Man's Galapagos

Most people dream of visiting the Islas Galápagos when travelling to the west coast of South America. The majority of these people, however, never reach that goal. Instead they end up taking a trip to Peru's Islas Ballestas, another marine fauna sanctuary and a place that few people have heard of before travelling to South America.


The reason for this is simple:
While the Galápagos are located nearly 1.000km west of continental Ecuador, the Ballestas are only a stone's throw away from Paracas, a little town in the Ica region on the Peruvian coast. Reaching the Galápagos is really expensive, but it is rather cheap to get to the Ballestas. That's why they are often called the “poor man's Galápagos”.


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