I’ve been working corporate for about 2 and a half years . I got “lucky” as my job starts new employees with 15 vacation days. Most new hires only start with 10 days. I don’t understand how this is even enough time to relax. These 15 days are the only days I can use to travel and see the world. My main goal in life is to travel for an unspecified amount of time whenever I decide I want to. BUT like most college graduates, I have a 30K student loan that forced me into the corporate world. Until that gets paid off I will make the best of of things and use my PTO days wisely. Who says you cant travel if you work corporate!! Because of this most of my trips get planned around holidays so I can make 15 days last.
Peru has always been on my bucket list because of its culture, food, travel sights and of course Machu Picchu which is one of the seven wonders of the world. I highly recommend traveling to Peru, this beautiful country has a ton to see and it’s really budget friendly. Starting from having all kinds of climate ( Desert, Forest, Coast, Glaciers) This post is mainly to show how it is possible to travel on a budget with limited vacation days and see everything you want to see. To maximize my days I flew on Thursday night ( went to work around 6:30 am, was on a plane by 6pm).
This was the most exhausting trip I have done, but every new destination was worth getting up at 4 am worth it.
The total amount of vacation days used for this trip were 6 days. I went on memorial day weekend so I could use this holiday instead of PTO. Yes 10 days is Peru is definitely not enough time to see everything!! but it’s enough to see the main sights.
Itinerary:
Day 1 – Landed in Lima ( Peru’s capital city) around midnight. Exhausted from the full day of work and 5 hours flight, went straight to the hostel to sleep.
Day 2- Explored Lima
Didn’t have a plan of what I wanted to see. The only goal I had for Lima was to eat ceviche and lots of it. Peru is known for having once of the best ceviche in South America
Main attractions in Lima:
- Plaza de Armas
- Miraflores Boardwalk
- Monestary of San Fransico
That same night took my first night bus to Ica. Huacachina was the final destination. It is about a 20 min taxi drive from Ica city.
Day 3- Night bus to Ica
Arrived to Ica around 6 am. Took the first taxi that we found to Huacachina. Huacachina is an Oasis, the most popular activities to do here are sand surfing and riding boogies. Off course I had to try both and it was awesome!!! sand surfing is hard and I definitely ate a ton of sand but it was worth it. Stayed at the Bananas Adventure hostel, they offered us a free tour with our booking. Huacachina was one of the best places I visited in Peru. It’s a complete Desert. Sand anywhere you look, makes you feel so small!! If you go to Peru make sure to make a stop at this place you wont regret it!! There isn’t much to do here other than sand surfing so one day is enough time to see everything.
Day 4- Colca Canyon
Took another night bus to Arequipa. I recommend taking motion sickness medicine as the bus moves a lot during the night. Arrived around 6am in Arequipa. Dropped the bags off at the hostel, grabbed some breakfast and immediately started searching for a tour to Colca Canyon.
Colca Canyon is one of the deepest Canyons in the world. Because of the time constraints, we ended up choosing a one day tour to the Canyon. If you are from any of the Andean countries ( Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia) make sure you tell the tour company as there is discounted tickets.
Keep in mind most of the tours that leave from Arequipa to Colca Canyon leave very early in the morning. Our tour guide picked us up around 4 am. It was about a two to three hour drive to the Canyon. Try to go to sleep early the night before as it is very difficult to nap on the way to the Canyon.
The tour that we booked included a visit to some of the small villages on the way to the Canyon, Condor watching, lunch and a visit to the hot springs in the area. We got lucky on our tour as we saw a lot of Condors from up close. Condors are HUGE. Lunch was buffet style, good food mainly typical Peruvian. Ending the day at the hot springs was a great way to end the tour!!!
On a side note, there is a lot of women dressed in native clothing with baby goats for tourist to take pictures with. Yes this is a tourist trap BUT the baby goats are adorable why not take a great picture, pet a baby goat and help someone all at once. It worth it. I wanted to take that goat with, it was adorable!
