Hiking the Rainbow Mountain in Peru – Keep Calm and Wander

Hiking Rainbow Mountain in Peru - Keep Calm and Wander

Hiking the Rainbow Mountain in Peru (outside Cusco) has been on my list since I saw the photos in National Geographic Magazine. I told myself that if ever I’ll be in Peru, there are two things I’d like to do/see: Visit Machu Picchu and Hike Rainbow Mountain. I conquered these two in July 2022!

For clarity, the locals call Rainbow Mountain by two names: Montaña de Siete Colores and Montaña Vinikunka. This is definitely, the second most incredible hike I’ve ever done in my life!

Where is the Rainbow Mountain in Peru?

The Rainbow Mountain is in the Peruvian Andes, about a 3-4 hour drive outside Cusco. The mountain gets its name from its colorful stripes, which are caused by mineral deposits in the rocks. The colors are incredibly vibrant after rain and in good weather.

Full Story at Keep Calm and Wander

Peru Gay Travel Resources

Walking Tour of Gay Lima – Keep Calm and Wander

Walking Tour of Gay Lima - Keep Calm and Wander

Take a Walking Tour of Gay Lima and See The Sights

This walking tour in Lima will last 2-3 hours, depending on your pace. That’s what we did. Though there are a few “free” walking tours in the historic district, we opted to do it ourselves because we had the whole day to explore the area and didn’t want to rush. We wanted to take it slowly, on our own terms.

Lima is a bustling city and the world’s second driest capital, next to Cairo. Most often, Lima is where most tourists/visitors land on their way to fulfill a bucket list – Machu Picchu! Staying for three days in Lima is ideal – enough to explore the historic district, Barranco, and Miraflores neighborhoods. And maybe, a day tour to Huacachina and Paracas.

On our first day in gay Lima, we started at 9 o’clock in the morning. On our way to Plaza San Martin, we encountered locals in their costumes. We didn’t really know what was going on, but I think they shot a promotional video for the upcoming Independence Day or something.

By Alain – Full Story at Keep Calm and Wander

Lima Gay Travel Resources

Take a Lima Walking Tour – Keep Calm and Wander

Take a Lima Walking Tour - Keep Calm and Wander

Take a Lima Walking Tour on Your Own

This Lima walking tour will last 2-3 hours, depending on your pace. That’s what we did. Though there are a few “free” walking tours in the historical district, we opted to do it ourselves because we had the whole day to explore the area and we didn’t want to rush. We wanted to take it slowly, on our own terms.

Lima is a bustling city and the world’s second driest capital, next to Cairo. Most often, Lima is where most tourists/visitors land on their way to fulfill a bucket list – Machu Picchu! Staying for three days here is ideal – enough to explore the historic district, Barranco, and Miraflores neighborhoods. And maybe, a day tour to Huacachina and Paracas.

On our first day in town, we started at 9 o’clock in the morning. On our way to Plaza San Martin, we encountered locals in their costumes. We didn’t really know what was going on but I think they shot a promotional video for the upcoming Independence Day or something.

By Alain – Full Story at Keep Calm and Wander

Lima Gay Travel Resources

Getting to Machu Picchu by Train – Keep Calm and Wander

Machu Picchu by Train - Keep Calm and Wander

Getting to Machu Picchu By Train

How to visit Machu Picchu? If you are planning to visit this amazing landmark this year or in the future, and you don’t know where to start, you’re in the right place! I’ll try to explain it briefly as possible, so I won’t waste your time reading this post.

Two ways to visit Machu Picchu by train: Go with a guided tour (stress-free) or do it your own (stress-filled way but more adventurous!).

We did this because we only had a short time in Cusco and joining a small-group tour is stress-free. If only Cusco had reliable transport and made it easy for non-Spanish speaking to move around from one place to another, we would have taken this more adventurous way. So, we opted for a two-day Sacred Valley and tour.

Full Story at Keep Calm and Wander

Peru Gay Travel Resources

Gay Arequipa – The Nomadic Boys

Gay Arequipa - The Nomadic Boys

We came to Arequipa as the base for our trek to the Colca Canyon, one of the deepest canyons in the world. We ended up staying a week because we fell in love with the cutesy old town and the chilled vibe of the “White City”.

On that note, the ‘White City’ nickname has nothing to do with coca(!) play or Miami-style White Parties…it is simply because the city is almost completely built out of “sillar” – a white volcanic stone.

Put simply, this is a place to come to be WOWed by nature over and above everything else. Travel + Leisure Magazine even named it as the #2 on its annual list of the top 50 best places to travel to. Whilst there is a small gay scene to explore (more on this below), we suggest saving up your partying groove in gay Lima.

In this guide to gay Arequipa, we set out the best hotels to check out, along with the queer-friendly spaces, events, our favourite places to eat and best things to do.

Is Gay Arequipa safe?

Overall we found the city to be safe for gay travelers. Tourism is a major source of income for the local economy, so businesses are used to dealing with foreigners and are accustomed to dealing with LGBTQ travelers.

That being said, remember Peru is still very conservative with a strong affinity to the Catholic Church. We took this on board and were careful not to flaunt our love in people’s faces. At the same time, we never felt unsafe anywhere in gay Arequipa. In the worst-case scenario, people just asked us if we’re brothers. All the hotels we stayed at were gay friendly and welcomed us – no one batted an eyelid that two men wanted to share a double bed.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Arequipa Gay Travel Resources

Gay Cusco – The Nomadic Boys

Gay Cusco - The Nomadic Boys

“Stefan look: rainbow flags are everywhere…it must be Cusco Pride right?”

Seby wasn’t wrong. One of the first things you notice when walking the streets of Cusco are all the rainbow-like flags flying proudly all across the city. But to our disappointment, it has nothing to do with the LGBTQ community. This is the Inca flag, similar to our Pride rainbow flag, but with an extra blue stripe added. Unless you’re in Cusco in late-June, that’s the extent of any gay Pride you’re going to see happening here…

Cusco was once the historic capital of the Inca Empire. Today it is Peru’s #1 tourist destination, receiving almost 4 million annual visitors who mainly come to visit Machu Picchu. We’ve been to Cusco, loved it so much, we visited a second time a decade later, doing the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu on both occasions and also exploring the stunning Sacred Valley surrounding the city.

We’re not gonna lie – Cusco is not a party destination, not by a long stretch! It’s a small city, a very beautiful one, but one where you come for the rich cultural heritage and impressive landscapes over anything else. Whilst there is a small gay scene here, we suggest you get all the partying out of your system over in the big coastal capital city, Lima before heading over. Cusco is instead a rewarding cultural journey into Peru’s historic Inca civilisation, one that we loved and would happily return to in a heartbeat!

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Peru Gay Travel Resources

Gay Lima – The Nomadic Boys

Gay Lima - The Nomadic Boys

Lima – famous for its ceviche, Paddington Bear and the birth city of a very handsome chef (have you seen THAT video of Franco Noriega cooking in his boxers?!)…
The “City of Kings” is the transport hub and capital city of Peru – also rated by many as THE foodie capital of South America. And we can’t agree more! Lima is a melting pot of culinary creativity with a handful of world-famous top 50 restaurants including Central, Maido and Astrid y Gastón. Even venturing into a local market is a top foodie highlight in Lima such as the Festival Gastronomia every Sunday in the Plaza Municipal in Barranco.

Lima is also a pretty sweet base for gay travellers. There are around 9 million people living here. That’s statistically almost 1 million gay boys waiting to have a few Pisco sours with you. The gay scene of Lima is certainly exciting. On weekends, the gay bars and clubs are buzzing with local Peruvian gays (and their fans!) getting their groove on to the latest Latino beats.

We’ve been several times to Lima as part of our big trip around Latin America and loved it. It’s an inexpensive city to base yourself and also an important transport hub in South America. Most gay travellers to Peru will enter the country from Lima and spend a few days here.

We’ve put together this detailed gay guide to Lima from our firsthand experience with practical safety tips for LGBTQ travellers, the best gay hotels to stay, top gay bars, club, events, and more.

Full Story at The Nomadic Boys

Gay Peru Travel Resources

Amazon Gay Traveling – The Nomadic Boys

Seby took one look at the dark green colour of the Amazon River, turned to Stefan and declared:

“I am NOT swimming in there Stefan. I will NOT become piranha fish food!”

Stefan got his way in the end and managed to persuade Seb to jump in, to the joy of the staff on board the Anakonda cruise who found our bickering (and Seb’s irrational fears) highly amusing.

Irrational fears? Contrary to popular belief, swimming in the Amazon River can be quite safe. Our guides knew the spots where tourists like us could swim safely and conquer their Piranha-phobia. Piranhas are not aggressive or territorial, but more like scavengers. They will not go anywhere near you.

Despite this, Sebastien lasted a whole 7 seconds in the Amazon River before he jumped straight back into our boat…

Piranha-phobias aside, there are many options for gay travellers to explore the Amazon jungle in South America, whether as part of a gay group tour, on a luxurious cruise along the Amazon river or staying in a jungle lodge. This is our guide summarising each of these based on our first-hand experience travelling in Ecuador and Peru as a gay couple.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Ecuador Gay Travel Resources

Peru Gay Travel Resources

Hiking the Inca Trail – The Nomadic Boys

Hiking the Inca Trail - The Nomadic Boys

We made it! A magical memory from our Nomadic Boys journey we will share forever. This was what was going through our minds, whilst sat atop Wayna Picchu mountain, peering down at the Inca world wonder beneath us.

After an intense 4 days trek along the acclaimed Inca Trail through the Sacred Valley in the Peruvian Andes, we finally reached the climax point.

Read more

Gay Amazonia – New Now Next

Gay Amazonia

Walking through the streets of Iquitos amid the heat, smog, and buzzing moto-carriages, it’s hard to imagine there’d be a community of queens in the city. Iquitos lacks the quaint appeal of more popular gay hotspots: It’s dirty, rumbling, and while it has an estimated population of more than half a million people, remains accessible only by plane or boat.

Lodged in the Peruvian Amazon of the Loreto region, Iquitos feels more like an exile than a gay destination. But according to British writer Dilwyn Jenkins, who wrote The Rough Guide to Peru, the first travel guide dedicated entirely to the country, Iquitos’ queer scene is unusually active, for a Peruvian jungle town. Looking around, there is no sign of a gay scene. Presumably, it must be hidden away from the plain sight of curious gringos.

There’s little evidence of queer culture in the city’s history either, with one exception. Iquitos rose to prominence in the 1870s, following a rubber boom. It was a prosperous time for the rubber barons, but far less so for the trappers who were local tribesmen and mixed Indigenous-Spanish descents working, in essence, as slaves. Roger David Casement was tasked with investigating the ill-treatment of the Putumayo Indians in 1910 and 1911. Though successful on many levels, Casement was later hanged for political reasons and his diaries were leaked, which exposed him as a promiscuous homosexual.

By Mike Miksche – Full Story at New Now Next

Peru Gay Travel Resources