Picturesque Peru: Photo Essay
With its grand vista and stunning characters, Peru is a dream destination for photographers. Not just that; the Andes brings hikers from all around the world, high-quality alpaca products lure fashion enthusiasts, and still mysterious Inca heritage fascinates archeologists. Peru has many faces.
I spent four weeks in Peru in June, traveling from Lima to Cusco, and visiting Machu Picchu twice. Besides Machu Picchu, I didn’t know much about Peru and I intentionally left it that way. I wanted to find the serendipity factors. As wanted, I was pleasantly surprised.
The Scenery
Starting from a small village near Cusco, I walked 4 days to Machu Picchu via Salkantay Pass. The vista was truly exquisite. It was the highest I’ve ever been, and Salkantay Mountain was the tallest mountain I’ve ever seen up close (besides when the train went by Denali in Alaska). The experience was challenging but it was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.
Peru is surprisingly diverse. From coastal town to desert to the highlands in the Andes, there’s no shortage of scenery here.
The People and Culture
Andean people especially wear the traditional clothes daily, and culture is pretty well preserved. Some parts of Peru have developed a great tourism market using their unique culture, like Taquile Island in Lake Titicaca. It’s not always easy to photography people, but with a bit of time investment, you can get descent chances. The outfit is just fascinating!
The Incas
Inca ruins are what make Peru special. Machu Picchu is the center of the archeological discovery in Peru, but there are numerous sites around the country that show Inca’s culture and genius civil engineering skills. It’s amazing how we don’t know more about the Incas when we know a lot more about what happened in Egypt 4,000 years ago.
