In Sarnath, Buddha preached his first sermon to his followers. Right after he attained Nirvana under a Bodhi Tree in Bodh Gaya, he traveled to Sarnath to preach. That sermon he gave became the central belief of Buddhism: The Four Noble Truths and the Eight-fold Path.
Today, Sarnath is synonymous to Siddhartha Gautama Buddha. There’s a humongous stupa in the place where he used to sit and preach. This stupa is the most preserved in the area and it towers over the land where temples once stood.
The surrounding area still carries the ruins of the Buddhist Temples of ancient yore.
By Alain – Full Story at Keep Calm and Wander
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I was surprised by what I was reading on my Kindle. “Set in a picturesque valley some 2,800 meters above sea level, Ecuador’s lofty capital sits just 25km south of the equator. Its historic Old Town is a splendid maze of cobbled streets, colonial architecture and churches, dazzling attributes which helped it become UNESCO’s first World Heritage Site (along with Krakow) in 1978.”, marveled the author in the Independent article about Ecuador I was reading while enjoying my very first cup of scrumptious Ecuadorian hot cocoa.
The article made Quito seem like a gem of a city, a town so beautiful that it would sweep me off my feet. The problem was, I just didn’t feel it. I had spent three days in Ecuador’s capital, my first stop on my trip through the country, which is usually enough time to make me fall for a place. But Quito and I, we just didn’t connect.
I was a bit wary of visiting Quito, after hearing stories of robberies, people throwing feces from church towers to distract you so that they can take your belongings, and Quito being a bit sketchy all around.]]> 
The statue of Eros at Piccadilly Circus in London has been a rendezvous for lovers, friends, drug dealers and paramours for a very long time. But make no mistake, Piccadilly’s famous lights has been existing for more than a century. It is London’s version of New York Times – or the other way around. Piccadilly is also a shopping paradise for luxury shoppers.
This is the statue of Eros, the Greek God of Love by Alfred Gilbert.
Piccadilly leads to many roads. Soho London and the famous landmarks of Westminster can be conveniently reached from here on foot.
There are landmarks and monuments that you see a picture of and you just think: ‘Wow! This place looks amazing! I want to go there one day.‘ I feel that way every time I see a picture of the pyramids in Egypt, the Taj Mahal, the rice terraces in Bali, but also lesser known places like the ‘Swing at the end of the World‘ (where I made it to last month). And Las Lajas. You might not have heard of Las Lajas, but maybe you’ve seen a picture?
The first time I saw a photo of it was many years ago, before I even started my round-the-world trip in 2010. When my partner and I decided to make our way south from Mexico all the way to Argentina, I put Las Lajas on the itinerary. I didn’t even know where exactly it was, I only knew that it was in Colombia.
And then we stopped our travels south in Panama, made a detour to Europe instead of continuing on to Colombia (back then, we needed a change of scenery after nine months in Latin America).
When we returned to Latin America a couple of years later, we started in Argentina and wanted to work our way up to Colombia. We only ever made it to Peru (and then this happened). It was like I wasn’t supposed to see Las Lajas.
But last year, I finally made it to Colombia. I was finally going to visit Las Lajas! When I mapped out my trip, however, I saw where Las Lajas was located: all the way in the south of Colombia, close to the Ecuadorian border. I’d only make it there if I was going to Ecuador, which was something I’d contemplated, but eventually I ran out of time to visit both countries. Was I ever going to see Las Lajas?
In our travels from coast to coast we usually contact and visit the LGBT Centers in each city where we stop. Last week we were in Denver, Colorado and toured the Denver LGBT Center. In all of our travels it is one of the finest in the country.
Gay Peru is a destination which is sure to captivate you in many ways, from foodie paradise Lima to the Inca heartland around Cusco.
Although Peru has traditionally been quite a conservative country, it is slowly waking up to take its place in the pink limelight as politicians grow more and more bold in supporting LGBT favourable legislation.
This is our 2 weeks gay friendly travel itinerary to Peru after spending a few months visiting the main sites as a gay couple.
OUR 2 WEEKS PERU GAY FRIENDLY TRAVEL ITINERARY
We suggest starting in Lima as this is the transport hub in and out of the country. The itinerary then takes you through the Sacred Valley, which is a few thousand feet lower than Cusco, to acclimatise. After that, we take you to Cusco, the former capital of the Inca Empire, which is also the base to start treks to Machu Picchu. For the final stop on our itinerary to Peru, we suggest relaxing for a few days in Lake Titicaca, before returning to Lima.
Let’s start with where I am right now: in Mexico! I started the month in Ecuador, assuming that’s where I would also end it, but as so often, my plans changed completely (throwback to March of last year when I started the month in Colombia and ended in Mexico, too – also completely unexpectedly.)
Three countries, and twelve different beds. I thought this would be a slow travel month with a week in each place, but once I made the decision to leave Ecuador early, I sped up my travels to still see all the places I wanted to visit.
So how did I end up in Mexico?
After my trip to the Galápagos Islands, I spent a few days in Guayaquil followed by a week on Ecuador’s coast. I noticed that while I didn’t have a terrible time, I also didn’t love anywhere I’d been so far in Ecuador – with the exception of the Galápagos Islands. Quito was meh, Guayaquil was nothing special, and the beaches were only okay (I know, I am spoiled!). I had planned to spend all of March in Ecuador before flying to Central America in early April to meet up with one of my favorite people in the world for another epic road trip together. But did I really need to spend all of March in Ecuador? I started to look into alternatives while starting to plan our Costa Rica road trip. And nothing came together the way I had hoped.
Flights to Costa Rica were outrageously expensive – both from the States and from South America. I was unsure if I should head south to Peru or north to Colombia. I wondered if we should even travel to Costa Rica given the challenging travel planning, also considering it’d be during Semana Santa, Easter Week, which happens to be one of the busiest travel weeks in Latin America.
The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu is one of the most famous treks in the world. We did it in early January 2017, during the rainy season. Whilst we loved our experience a great deal, we think you should avoid doing the Inca Trail in January, or at least carefully consider the risks.
The weather in Peru’s Sacred Valley has two seasons: wet and dry. Wet season is between October to April and the dry season from May to September. February is considered the worst month with very angry storms, heavy downpour and mudslides, so this is the one month the government closes the Inca Trail to carry out maintenance works. Some tour companies also refuse to go in late January because it becomes too dangerous.
The heavy rain makes the steps slippery and therefore unsafe. In addition, the views are extremely limited because of the thick clouds. Had we known how bad it gets, we would have rescheduled our plans to another time of year.
Why the Inca Trail?
Let’s get something straight. We’re not saying don’t do it. This is an incredible experience and we strongly recommend trekking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. As well as being one of the most famous treks in the world, this 44km (27 miles) trail was initially part of a highly advanced network of around 40,000 trails built by the Incas to connect the distant corners of their kingdom.
This particular trail is the most popular because it had religious and ceremonial importance. It was part of the Incas’ route of pilgrimage to Machu Picchu and included rituals to honour the mountains. In addition, the views of snow capped mountain peaks, cloud forests and various Inca ruins you pass along the way is what makes this trek so rewarding, and of course, world famous.
The Ganges River in Varanasi is everything to the Hindus who live in the city. They consider it holy but they don’t treat it like one. It’s murky and polluted. For a visitor like me, I see the flowing river crying for help. Strolling along the banks, I saw a lot of things that’s not normal in many ways. I guess, it’s just the foreign eyes in me, eh?
There were things that crept me out. But,one particular incident was when I saw a dead body wrapped in a cloth floating in the river. The boat man pointed this to me and I was mortified! Why? Because few meters from us were people bathing and swimming like it’s the most natural thing to do in the world.
Ok, well, it’s a very natural thing to do for them, at least, right? I talked to my fellow travellers at the hostel – and they, too, have seen a floating body or two. One guy told us that he saw a dog devouring a human hand. “I could never unsee that in my lifetime,” he said.