Peru

• INTRO PERU

• IMPRESSIONS OF PERU

• THE TRAVEL IN PERU

• PHOTOS OF PERU

• TIPS FOR PERU (Machu Picchu)

• PRINTABLE FORMAT

INTRO PERU

Kind of travel:
Me and my girlfriend Elisa in an independent travel

When:
15th- 26th Aug 2011 (only Peru)

Do I need a visa:
no, just the passport to get a small anonimous black stamp

How many km:
1700 km (only Peru)

How I moved:
we moved mainly on buses, generally with a good standard, in particular the semi-bed ones for the night travels (1st class!). Crashes are common and Ormeno and Cruz Del Sur company are the safest. We also took a 4 seat plane to fly over Nazca lines (90€ for 30min), and the Machu Picchu train from Ollantaytambo to Aguacaliente. We hitchhiked in the Sacred Valley but most of the small transport were by minibuses.

Freezing or baking:
Generally temperatures have been perfect, In Arequipa it was warm (27C), in Cuzco colder (23C) and in Machu Picchu 12-20C: The only pain as per the temperature as been in freezing night buses although a blanket is always provided

Where I slept:
It's plenty of low budget and medium budget places ranging from 20€ to 40€ for a double. Even popping up in the late evening in Aguacaliente you'll find your cheap room

What I liked:
Salinas in Sacred Valley have been the highlight of the trip followed then by the flight over Nazca lines and the candle lit night visit of the Monastery Santa Catalina in Arequipa.

What I disliked:
sometimes you miss the authenticity given the huge tourist flow and the super-organized tour in Colca Canyon hasn't been my thing.
The last but not the least I hated the troubleful online booking for Machu Picchu entry tickets and the train ones

How much daily:
Peru' is not as cheap as Bolivia but you can make with 40€/day + Machu Picchu tickets (40€ pp) +train tickets (50€ one way) + Nazca line 90€+ Colca Canyon tour (40€). Hence more than the daily budget are the highlight costs to raise the bar. Restaurants in towns (ie Arequipa) are costy, and often the dinner will be more expensive then the accommodation

Dangers/ hassles:
Lima is dodgey, and avoid landing directly at 3,600m in Cuzco since altitude sickness is very common (strong headache for few days)

What you do need:
to book the Machu Picchu entry tickets on line in advance especially in high season (August), having motion sickness pills for bus trips and Nazca flight

I'll shot hard as it came to me: Peru' has some world wonders, however if you are backpacking in Bolivia before Peru, be ready to have the latter shadowed by the former; to minimize it, invert your itinerary.
The point is that Peru' from the backpacking standpoint cannot stand the comparison with Bolivia, since you cannot help to feel in a touristic prearranged channel. We wanted to visit the condor in the Colca Canyon booking a 2days tour; everything was perfectly arranged, but we really felt as in the Peruvian session in Disneyland (scheduled stops to pee, to take picture of a precise point indicated by the guide, to by the souvenir, traditional Peruvian dances during the dinner,...).
At the end Peru' should be proud of being able to exploit the touristic potential but you know, backpackers want something more.
Our experience with Machu Picchu hasn't been remarkable as well: we were there at 7.30am and still we had to queue and waiting to enter the single houses.I know we were there in the high season but when you are there to enjoy the charm of the desolate village hidden among the mountains, the awareness doesn't smooth the disappointment.
Having said it, a travel in Peru is a must: we never regretted a single moment we were there, and flying over the Nazca lines by a vibrating 2 seat plane has been a great fun!

Alby

TRAVEL IN PERU

We entered Peru' from the border point near Copacabana on a bus direct to Puno, where we immediately changed to Arequipa (6h), where we stayed at Hotel Solar (29€ double).
Arequipa will surprise you, since it mixes modern and stylish shops/pubs/ restaurants with original Colonial architecture, but if you are expecting a real Peruvian town you will enjoy more Cuzco. Anyway what might be worth the trip is the charming Monastery of Santa Catalina in particular if visited in the evening when the dark ghostly rooms and the cobblestone streets are lit by candles (it's open till 21.00).
Beside don't miss the Museum Sanctuary where the body of Juanita, a girl sacrificed by Incas, is perfectly conserved.
In Arequipa we booked a 2 days tour (15 people on a minibus, 25€ all included, spending overnight in Chivay) to visit the Canyon of Colca and in particular the Santa Cruz viewpoint, where you can easily enjoy the 2m wing span condors gliding over. No complain on the organization of the tour, but definitely such organized stuffs (traditional dance at the restaurant during the dinner) make me feel in a sheep flock and aren't my things; hence I wouldn't recommend to a backpacker.
A night bus took us to Cuzco (8h, 41€ semibed seat), being the best town I visited in term of Peruvian vibe.
We immediately went to the train station to buy the ticket Ollantaytambo- Machu Picchu (50€ one way pp!!!!), while as concerns the Machu Picchu entry ticket we had already bought on line but don't forget to check in on the website http://www.machupicchu.gob.pe
Trying to buy the train tickets and the Machu Picchu entry tickets has been the most annoying thing of the whole trip: theoretically you could do on line but the site never works.
The following day we jumped on a minibus to Ollantaytambo to visit the highlights of the Sacred Valley. (read travel tips for details)
At first the site of Morray (the concentric Inca circles); 1.5h from Cuzco we got dropped off at the crossroad where we got a taxi (there are just waiting there) to cover the missing 8km. Don't expect too much but for sure it's something particular and it's worth if you are on the way, while unmissable are the Salinas. It's 40min by minibus from the Morray crossroad, and still you have to walk for 30min steeply uphill, but the endless number of terraces of salt and water areamazing. Salinas are still operative and you can buy the salt they got evaporating the water.
Once back to the main road we hitch hiked to Ollantaytambo (30min) waiting less than 10min for a lift. The city it's a convenient place to take the train to Machu Picchu (there are far more trains from here than from Cuzco) but as concern the Inca site I wasn't impressed that much, so I'd not recommend unless you have spare time waiting for the train.
In 3h the 7pm train took us to Agua Caliente, where we stayed in one of the endless cheap guesthouses. It's amazing how many hotels, restaurants ranging from the low end to very high end have been built in such small town perched in the hearth of Ande.The day after we took the 20min bus to Machu Picchu (read travel tips for details): the site and in particular the location is impressive but in high season (August) being crowdy like Milan underground the day before Christmas, personally it hasn't been my thing, that's why after 1 hour I turned back walking down to Aguacaliente (45min).
Just to leave the crowd I followed the railway tracks upstream and after 2km I got to the Botanic garden with a nice waterfall; nothing amazing but at least I was alone.
From Agucaliente we took the train at 1.00pm to Ollantaytambo where by minibus in 2h we were in Cuzco, ready for the night bus to Nazca. Expect a loooong trip, not only for the 13h along a mountany road, but also for the coldness being all the way at 4.000m.
In Nazca from the bus station we jumped on a taxi and at 10.30am we were in the airport. Here it didn't take that long to have two seats on a small plane (90€) for a 30 min flight over this mysterious lines whose complete designs, mainly recalling animals, can be seen only from a high altitude. There are around 12 designs, some are clear as perfectly drawn on the earth, others more hardly identifiable, but in general it's something so unique that I'd recommend unless you are an easy-puking person when it comes to motion sickness (read travel tips for details)
In Nazca downtown at the Hotel Oro Veijo (35€ double) we recovered from the night trip enjoying the swimming pool.
The day after in 3h by minibus we were in Ica where in 10min taxi we reached the oasis of Huacachina.
It's a Sahara-like place, where a small lake skirted by palms, restaurants and hotels is surrouned by high sandy dunes where people sandboard with buggies playing the role of the ski-lift.I climbed the highest dune (sweaty job), and the view of the Ande mountain westward and the huge desert southward is stunning.
The same day from Ica in 2h we were in Pisco where by taxi we reached Paracas exactly on the seashore in front of the 'Galagapos of Peru', the Ballestas Island. Right at Hostal Santa Maria (28€ double) where we were staying we booked the tour ticket for the following day and at 9.00am we were already on a speed boat well packed with other 30 tourists (tour: 11€ pp). Islands are a Natural Reserve and nobody is allowed to step there, however even from the boat, the scene of thousands birds covering every square centimeter, the seals and also penguins is more than worth.
From Pisco to Lima it's an easy 3.5h by bus, and we happily skipped the dodgey capital reaching the airport for our flight to New York.

Alby