Hey @heiditravels , I recently got back from a 9 month trip in South America if you have any questions! I spent 3 months in Peru and I absolutely loved it. I just stumbled across Steemit so will be interesting to follow your journey on here =)
If you want to do some of the best hiking in the world make sure you go to Huaraz. I spent 2 months hiking around there and it's one of my favourite places in the world! Laguna 69, the Santa Cruz trek and Huayhuash were among my favourite treks.
Hey @adrevel, I'm in the Barranco district of Lima right now, going to head to Huayacan on Tuesday morning to visit the Light and Leadership initiative, then flying into Cusco and Machu Picchu for about a week. After that it's all up in the air. Are Huaraz, Laguna 69 or Santa Cruz anywhere near Cusco? Any advice is very much appreciated!! Thank you :)
@heiditravels I was exclusively in the North of Peru. Huaraz is about 7 hours north of Lima by bus so it's like 30 hours away from Cusco. It's so far by bus which is why I never made it to Cusco.
I have a friend that did some treks around Cusco which seemed really interesting to me. You can trek to Choquequirao where there are some remote Incan ruins. There is also the Ausungate trek that looked amazing in his photos, as well as Rainbow Mountain which you can do as part of the Ausungate trek or I believe there are tours that do day trips there.
If you are interested in exploring some plant medicines like Ayahuasca or San Pedro I heard the small town of Pisac outside of Cusco is a popular spot for people who don't want to go to the jungle.
Since I didn't travel in the south I can't speak from experience but friends of mine recommended Arequipa and the desert oasis of Huacachina in Ica.