Peru: Five Days, One Unforgettable Journey Through the Andes

Some trips give you beautiful photographs.

Others leave you with stories, friendships, perspective—and a feeling that stays with you long after you come home.

Peru was that kind of journey for me.

I went with friends for a five-day hiking adventure through the Andes, following the Salkantay route toward Machu Picchu. I knew it would be physically challenging. I knew the scenery would be spectacular.

What I didn’t fully expect was how much I would fall in love with everything around the trek—the culture, the people, the food, the history, the incredible diversity of the land, and the beautiful simplicity of life we encountered along the way.

The Long Way to Machu Picchu

There are easier ways to reach Machu Picchu.

We chose to walk.

And I’m so glad we did.

Our journey took us through some of the most dramatically different landscapes I have experienced on one adventure—from the brilliant waters of Humantay Lake and the imposing Salkantay Mountain to the high Salkantay Pass, followed by cloud forests, lush vegetation and warmer jungle landscapes.

One day you are bundled up beneath enormous snow-covered mountains.

Soon afterward, you are walking among tropical plants and coffee-growing country.

And eventually, after days of putting one foot in front of another, Machu Picchu appears.

There is something incredibly special about reaching an iconic destination after having worked for it.

You don’t simply arrive.

You earn the moment.

Five Days That Tested More Than Our Legs

Multi-day hiking has a wonderful way of stripping life down to its basics.

Wake up.
Eat.
Pack.
Walk.
Look around.
Breathe.
Keep going.
Eat again.
Laugh with your friends.
Sleep.
Repeat.

There are no overflowing calendars or endless notifications demanding your attention. Your priorities become wonderfully simple: Can I keep moving? Is everyone okay? When is our next meal? And just how beautiful is that mountain in front of us?

Of course, there were tired legs and moments when the trail felt very long.

But there was also laughter.

Lots of it.

There is something about tackling a difficult experience with friends that makes friendships even richer. You encourage each other when someone is struggling. You celebrate the little victories. You laugh at things that probably wouldn’t be funny anywhere else.

And years later, those become the stories you remember.

Peru Is So Much More Than Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu deserves every bit of its fame.

But one of my biggest takeaways from this trip is this:

Please don’t go to Peru only to see Machu Picchu.

Experience Peru.

Spend time in Cusco. Learn about the history and traditions that shaped this extraordinary part of the world. Taste the food. Notice the ingredients and resources that come from this incredibly diverse land. Walk through communities. Talk to people. Look beyond the famous photograph.

Some of my most meaningful impressions came from meeting people whose lives felt very different from mine, yet whose warmth needed absolutely no translation.

There was humility.

Resourcefulness.

Pride in their culture and land.

And a generosity of spirit that reminded me once again that sometimes the places where life appears simplest can teach us the most.

The Landscape Keeps Reinventing Itself

For someone who loves mountains, Peru is almost impossible not to fall in love with.

The scale of the Andes makes you feel wonderfully small.

Glacial peaks rise above you. Valleys seem to stretch forever. Waterfalls appear along the trail. Vegetation changes as you descend. The air, temperature and landscape seem to transform before your eyes.

On the Salkantay route, we experienced Humantay Lake, crossed the high Salkantay Pass, descended through cloud forest, continued into the lush jungle, passed through the Llactapata area and finally reached Machu Picchu.

It felt less like hiking through one destination and more like walking through several different worlds.

Then Comes Machu Picchu

And finally, there it was.

Machu Picchu.

After days on the trail, seeing it carried a completely different meaning.

Of course I had seen the photographs.

We all have.

But photographs can’t recreate the feeling of standing there.

The mountains surrounding the ancient city. The scale of the landscape. The engineering and history. The realization that generations lived and built here centuries before us.

And perhaps because our journey had been long, the moment felt even more emotional.

Sometimes taking the harder route makes the destination more meaningful.

Do You Have to Hike for Five Days to Experience Peru?

Absolutely not.

And this is important.

If a challenging multi-day trek isn’t for you, go to Peru anyway.

Go for its history.

Go for its culture.

Go for its food.

Go for its extraordinary natural landscapes.

Go because you want to understand a corner of the world different from your own.

And go for the people.

But if you love hiking, adventure and the idea of earning your first glimpse of Machu Picchu one step at a time, consider the Salkantay route.

Train for it.

Respect the altitude.

Prepare properly.

And then give yourself permission to be challenged.

Why I Keep Choosing Adventures Like This

As I get older, I find myself increasingly interested in experiences that make me feel more alive, rather than simply more comfortable.

I want to keep asking my body to do difficult things.

I want to remain curious.

I want to experience cultures beyond my own.

I want to stand in places that remind me how enormous the world is.

And I want to collect memories with people I care about.

For me, that is part of wellbeing too.

Fitness isn’t only what happens during a workout.

Sometimes fitness is what allows you to say yes when an opportunity like this comes along.

Yes, I can climb that mountain.

Yes, I can carry my backpack another mile.

Yes, I can wake up tomorrow and do it again.

And yes, I can still choose adventure.

Put Peru on Your List 🇵🇪

If Peru has been sitting somewhere on your someday list, perhaps this is your sign to move it higher.

You don’t have to experience it exactly as we did.

Create your own Peru.

Make it cultural. Make it culinary. Make it luxurious. Make it adventurous.

Or lace up your hiking boots, gather a few good friends and take the long way through the Andes.

Because sometimes the most memorable part of reaching an extraordinary destination isn’t the destination at all.

It’s everything—and everyone—you encounter along the way.

Planning Peru and curious about the route we followed?

Comment “ITINERARY” on my Peru reel and I’ll share our trip itinerary with you. 🇵🇪🥾

And if you’ve already been to Peru, I’d love to know: What part of Peru stayed with you long after you came home?