"see everything" route and budget for an independent trip to Peru. The route and budget of my trip to Peru - a guide for those planning a trip. A fruitful debut idea.
So, at the beginning of the trip my expenses were:
1. Ticket Moscow-Madrid-Lima-Madrid-Moscow = 51667 RUR(expensive, because we had to buy it earlier, but we decided to fly almost at the last moment. And it was better to fly in May - there were tickets for 38,000 rubles. But it didn’t work out in May)
2. Insurance for a month = 780 rub.
5. Yellow fever and hepatitis vaccinations = 1500 rub.(You didn’t have to get vaccinated, it’s not necessary. I went for “yellow fever” because I was going to the jungle, and they gave me “hepatitis” for company, “since you came”)))
24 days trip
Route: Lima - Trujillo - Lima - Cusco - Sacred Valley of the Incas - Machu Picchu - Manu National Park - Cusco - Lima - Pisco - Paracas - Ica - Lima
Day 1
We flew to Lima, walked around, were horrified and, instead of evening, decided to go to Trujillo in the afternoon. 8 hours by bus and we are in Trujillo. We decided to stop for the night not in the city itself, but in the fishing village of Huanchaco, 14 km from the city. We took a taxi to Huanchaco, found a hotel, and got to the shower and beds.
Budget:
Bus to Trujillo - 75
Taxi - 15
Hotel - 20 per person per night
Day 2
We took a taxi for the whole day and went to see Chan Chan, the Temple of the Moon, the Temple of the Sun and other ruins of the Moche culture.
Budget:
Taxi 80
Entrance fee to the Temple of the Moon - 11
Entrance ticket to Chan-Chan, museum at the complex, etc. - 11
Day 3
There are presidential elections in the country, so almost everything is closed. We spent the whole day fooling around and relaxing on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, watching crazy surfers.
Day 4
In the morning we took a taxi to Trujillo. We went to the amazing Moche Ceramics Museum, and then took a taxi to the El Brujo architectural complex. In the evening we took the bus and went to Lima.
Budget:
Taxi - 10
Entrance to the ceramics museum - 7
Taxi to El Brujo - 70 per person
Entrance to the architectural complex - 11
Bus to Lima - 65
Day 5
Early in the morning we arrived at the bus station in Lima, took a taxi and went to the airport. We flew to Cusco, checked into a hotel - hot duuuush!!! In the cold nights of Cusco, the heating in the hotel turned out to be an invaluable thing!
Budget:
Taxi - 35
Ticket to Cusco - 100 USD
Taxi - 25
Hotel - 20 USD per person per night
Day 6
We ate pills for altitude sickness, came to our senses and, trying not to move too much, walked around Cusco.
Day 7
We woke up cheerful and full of energy. We planned all the main excursions (Machu Picchu and Manu National Park) and went for a walk around the city, museums, markets and surrounding areas.
Day 8
The whole day took a trip to the Sacred Valley of the Incas: Pisac, Ollantaitambo, Chinchero
Budget:
Excursion - 30
Tourist ticket - 130
Day 9
In the morning we arrived in Ollantaitambo and took the train to Aguas Calientes. We found a hotel, checked in and spent the rest of the day walking around the city.
Budget:
Entire excursion to Machu Picchu, including travel, entrance fees and hotel accommodation - 240 USD
Day 10
We got up in the middle of the night to catch the first bus to Machu Picchu and get a stamp for a ticket allowing us to climb Wayna Picchu. We spent the whole day walking around Machu Picchu, and in the evening we took the train to Ollantaitambo, where a bus to Cusco was waiting for us.
Day 11
We walked around the city all day, bought souvenirs at the market, tried all sorts of fruit cocktails prepared in unsanitary conditions :) (everyone is alive!)
Day 12
We went to see the terraces for experimental farming of Moray and the salt baths of Maras. Non-lazy people get there by bike:) But we are lazy and preferred the bus;)
Budget:
Excursion - 30
Day 14
After breakfast we went to our next overnight stop. First we got to the port of Atalaya, and from there we sailed further on rafts. Our things should have been waiting for us where we sailed. We arrived, loaded our things into the boat and sailed to the lodge. We rested and went for a night walk in the jungle. Until it got dark, we saw monkeys, and then, in the light of lanterns, all sorts of spiders and caiman! It turned out that yesterday there was not complete delight - because today it was complete!!!
Day 22
After breakfast we went to Oasis and hung out there all day! It's very cool there!
Budget:
Taxi to Oasis - 5
Taxi back - 7
Sandboarding rental - 5 per hour
Day 23
We took a taxi and went on a tour of the factories producing Pisco and wine. After the tasting, we suddenly (;)) decided to go to the observation deck on the Panamericana Highway, from which several Nazca lines can be seen. 2 hours one way and 2 hours back - that's all!
Budget:
Taxi - 25 per person
Bus to Nazca - 11
Bus back - 10
Entrance ticket to the observation deck - 2
Day 24
In the morning we took the bus back to Lima, took a taxi and went to the Larco Museum. From the museum to the airport and home.
Budget:
Bus to Lima - 30
Taxi to the museum - 15
Entrance fee to the museum - 30
Taxi to the airport - 25
Luggage storage - 108
Total: without food and souvenirs (both of which are very cheap in the country), I spent 42,800 rubles.
The capital of Peru is always the starting point of any route. Most flights from Europe arrive in the evening, so we will stop in Lima for the night.
Budget:
Hotel in Lima in Miraflores, for example Pucclana Lodge: approximately $32 (book: http://www.pucllanalodge.com/en/rooms-rates)
Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, Lima was considered the most beautiful city in colonial America, for which it received the nickname “City of Kings.” Around the main square of the city sprang up beautiful houses with baroque facades, where the Spanish nobility lived, life was in full swing and trade flourished. It was in Lima that the oldest university on the continent, the University of San Marcos, was founded in 1551. Some of the past splendor can still be seen in the central areas of Lima, although many buildings were completely destroyed by the terrible earthquake of 1746, in which almost a tenth of the city's population died.
Lima is a city with a very rich history! Before the arrival of the conquistadors, civilizations rose and fell in these places for thousands of years. It is amazing that traces of their life can be seen among modern urban architecture - right in the center of Lima, the ruins of ancient temples and buildings have been preserved.
A sightseeing tour will allow you to get to know the city in just half a day, visiting its main attractions.
The tour will begin with a stop at Park of Love in Miraflores, with panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean. The park is decorated with the sculpture “The Kiss” by Victor Delfin, and the walls, a la Gaudi, are covered with phrases from love poems of Peruvian poets. On the way to the historical center, you will pass through the Miraflores quarter, past the Huaca Pucllana pyramid - the ceremonial center of Lima culture and cross the San Isidro quarter - the financial heart of the city. Here you will see the pyramid of Huaca Huayallamarca - an ancient pre-Inca sanctuary (on Sundays and holidays, instead of the Cathedral (closed for tourist visits), Huaca Huayallamarca is visited). Stop at the central square, surrounded by the Government Palace, the Municipality, the Archbishop's Palace and Cathedral, where the conquistador and founder of Lima Francisco Pizarro is buried. Then you will walk to Monastery of St. Dominic, along the narrow corridors of which Saint Martin of Porres and Saint Rose of Lima walked in the 17th century - their ashes now rest there. The duration of the excursion is 3-3.5 hours.
And in the afternoon, immediately after the excursion, you can board the bus andgo south to Nazca. The journey from Lima will take 7.5 hours.
Budget:
Transfer to Nazca by buses from the best company in Peru, Cruz del Sur: approximately $40 (you can buy a ticket here: http://www.cruzdelsur.com.pe/)
3* hotel in Nazca, for example Hotel Nazca Lines: approximately $31 (book: https://www.booking.com/hotel/pe/nazca-lines.ru.html)
In the morning we will be picked up at the hotel and taken to the Nazca airport for a flight over . Small 5-seater planes fly over the Lines. Before approaching each of the geoglyphs, the pilot warns which figure is about to appear in the field of view, and then tilts the plane to the right and left so that everyone can see the Lines and take good pictures. The flight lasts 30-35 minutes.
The area where the Nazca Lines are located covers 500 km2 and is located in the desert, where it rains only half an hour a year. It is this fact that has allowed geoglyphs to survive to this day.
These drawings were first described in 1548, but for many years no one paid serious attention to them. Perhaps this was due to the fact that you can only get a good look at them from a height, and they began to fly airplanes over the desert much later. In the early 1940s, during the construction of the Pan-American Highway, an American professor invited to study coastal hydrology regularly flew small planes over the valleys. It was he who drew attention to the strange lines forming huge drawings. The sight that unfolded shocked and amazed him. Professor Kosok and other scientists have devoted many years to studying these lines. They were able to discover a connection between the location of the lines and the sun on the days of the summer and winter solstices, as well as indications of the moon, planets and bright constellations. It seemed that the Nazca civilization had built a giant observatory here.
The technique for creating geoglyphs was very simple: the top darkened layer was cut off from the soil and folded here, along the resulting light strip, creating a roller of a darker color framing the lines. Over time, the color of the lines has darkened and become less contrasting, but we can still see the drawings left by the Nazca civilization.
At the end of the flight, transfer to the hotel.
After lunch, you can have lunch and walk around the city, and in the afternoon take the Cruz del Sur bus to . Travel time: 9 hours.
The route was planned this way for a reason: the fact is that the location of Arequipa and the Canyon allows you to gently adapt to the altitude, so that you can then rise higher in Puno and Cusco and not suffer from altitude sickness.
Buses in Peru are very comfortable, the seats recline almost to a horizontal position, each passenger is given a pillow and a blanket, so you can get some rest.
Budget:
Transfer to Arequipa by Cruz del Sur bus: $40 (you can buy a ticket here: http://www.cruzdelsur.com.pe/)
Arequipa is a beautiful colonial city located in a valley surrounded by volcanoes. Here you should definitely visit the Santa Catalina Monastery and the Andean Treasures Museum, where the mummy of Juanita, found in the ice of one of the surrounding volcanoes, is kept.
Budget:
3* hotel in Arequipa, for example Posada Nueva Espana: $27 (hotel website: http://www.booking.com/hotel/pe/posada-nueva-espana.html)
In the morning we will be picked up from the hotel and we will go to . The road to the canyon is amazingly picturesque! We will drive through the valley of volcanoes, rise to a high altitude - almost 5000 meters above sea level, see vicuñas in the reserve, fields where alpacas and llamas graze. At the hotel in the canyon you will have the opportunity to relax a little, and then go with a guide to walk along the canyon, see the terraces, pegs (storage holes in the rocks) and the ruins of ancient civilizations and enjoy stunning views of the canyon. And the walk will end in thermal springs: a hot bath after a long walk is an incredible pleasure!
Early in the morning we will be picked up from the hotel and driven through the canyon to a place where it is good to watch the flight of condors. This is a magnificent sight! Although it’s hard to say what amazes the imagination more: the huge soaring condors or the stunning views of the canyon! After lunch in the village of Chivay, we will drive to Puno along a road with stunning scenery. The Andes are always breathtaking!
Observation deckPatampampa(4900 meters above sea level) is the highest point of the entire route. From here you can see many volcanoes: Ampato, Sabancaya, Hualca Hualca and Mismi (where the great Amazon originates).
First we will visit floating islands of Uros. Uros is a community of more than 40 islands. These are quite ancient settlements; the ancestors of the Uros Indians lived in these places back in the pre-Inca era. The islands are built from reeds, which grow here in abundance. The dwellings of local residents, boats and much more were built from the same reed. It is also used as firewood and even eaten. The tour will take about 1.5 hours. Additionally, you can book a reed boat ride.
Next stop: Taquile Island. A long narrow rocky island (about 6 km long, 1 km wide) with slopes on which there are terraces for farming during the Inca Empire. The Quechua Indians live here and have an interesting tradition: the men of the island skillfully knit hats. The design and color of the cap convey information about a person’s family and social status.
Return to Puno around 17.30.
Night in Puno.
Budget:
Hotel in Puno, for example San Antonio Suites: $21 (hotel website: http://www.sanantoniosuitespuno.com)
IN You could go to Cusco at night, but during the day it’s better, because the road from Puno to Puno is very beautiful and there is something to see there. It’s even called “The Road of the Sun” - not by chance! Tourist buses stop at the most interesting places and at observation points with magnificent views.
One of the stops along the way: the ruins of Raqchi - an Incan religious and administrative center. The walls of the temple of the god Viracocha, the living quarters of the priests and warehouses have been preserved here.
In the church San Pedro de Andahuaylillas offers Peruvian luxury.This small-looking church was built in the 16th century on a site sacred to the Incas - rituals and ceremonies were held here. Inside the church is striking in its wealth. It is often called the Sistine Chapel of the Andes: beautiful frescoes by local artist Luis de Riaño, a ceiling covered with fine gold leaf, a carved baroque altar - the real treasures of the Church of San Pedro de Andahuayllas.
In the morning we take a bus up a winding road with breathtaking views of the Urubamba River canyon (about 20 minutes on the road) and find ourselves at the entrance to the “lost city of the Incas” -Machu Picchu.If you leave early enough, you can watch the sunrise at Machu Picchu!
The city existed for just over 100 years - until 1532, when the Spanish colonialists invaded the territory of the Empire. At this time, the inhabitants of Machu Picchu mysteriously disappeared. According to one version, this happened because Machu Picchu depended on the capital, Cusco, for food, and when the Spanish conquerors arrived and food supplies stopped, hunger gradually forced the residents to leave the city. According to another, 5,000 residents belonging to the common classes went to fight against the Spaniards, and 3,000 nobles went to the legendary Vilcabamba and took their treasures with them.
The guided tour will take 2 hours, then we will have time for an independent walk through the most interesting places.
If you wish, you can climb the mountain Huayna Picchu(Wayna Picchu / Huaynapicchu), which offers amazing views of Machu Picchu.
Supplement for entrance ticket to Mount Huayna Picchu - 16USD. The number of tickets is limited.
In the afternoon, return by bus to the village and travel by train to Poroy station, and from there by car to Cusco.
Night in Cusco.
Budget:
Hotel in Cusco, for example Golden Inca: $29 (hotel website: http://www.hotelgoldeninca.com/en )
Free day.
Today you can walk around, go to museums, climb to the statue of Christ, see the ruins of Sacsayhuaman and even ride through the mountains on horseback - such walks are offered near the ruins of Sacsayhuaman.*
* On this day you can fly to Lima and home if travel time is limited or you don’t want to fly into the jungle.
Budget Flight Cusco-Lima with LCPeru airline: approximately $113 (LCPeru airline website: http://www.lcperu.pe.en)
Total route budget for 11 days with excursions, transfers and hotels: $1298
Optional excursion to the Vinicunca Rainbow Mountains (additional charge: $90 per person, group excursion with English-speaking guide).
The most famous Rainbow Mountains are in China. But few people know that there are such mountains in Peru. Vinicunca is what they are called in the Quechua language, which literally means “rainbow-colored mountains.” The colored layers of these mountains were formed millions of years ago from red sandstone, which, under the influence of climatic conditions, groundwater and mineral impurities, turned yellow, green, white and other colors.
The tour starts around 3 am. Traveling south from Cusco through the South Valley will take 3 hours. We have a long climb to the Rainbow Mountains through fast streams, past shining glaciers, grazing alpacas and llamas. Alpacas and sheep graze on the slopes of the red mountains, and if you're lucky, you can see wild vicuñas.
The reward for the hard climb to 5,020 meters is the stunning colors of the Rainbow Mountains. We will have enough time to enjoy the views and take good photos!
Arrive in Cusco between 7 and 9 pm.
- HOW TO GET THERE - You can fly to Lima by different air carriers (from $830) from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, etc. It is better to take a ticket to Cusco on flights of a local company (from $130 round trip).
- TRANSFER IN LIMA -
- EXCURSIONS -
- TRANSPORTATION - Due to the enormous length and the usual natural obstacles, travel to Peru has never been easy at all. The railway connects only the most important cities and tourist routes, and it is also not the fastest way to travel. So, if you don’t have much time and your finances are in order, choose air travel ($60-130 one way in any direction).
- WEATHER - Peru stretches across almost the entire Southern Hemisphere, in June it is the beginning of winter on the ocean coast, so do not expect air temperatures above +21°C in the capital. In the mountains it is a little warmer and drier during the day, +21...+26°C during the day, but at night it is about 0°C. The jungle is the driest and hottest time with temperatures of +31...+40°C.
- WHERE TO GO - Lima, Colca, Cusco, Machu Picchu, Taquile Island, Puerto Maldonado, Tambopata, Titicaca, Arequipa.
- ACCOMMODATION AND FOOD - Accommodation in Lima is relatively inexpensive (host/suit/doub from $4/25/50), prices in Cusco are about the same. You can eat from $3-15.
- DURATION – 21 days
Instead of a preface
12/23/2004. It's winter outside, December. It's snowing, it's cold. The three-week trip to Peru in November is already a thing of the past and is now remembered almost like a flight to the moon. Lima, the lost city of the Incas Machu Picchu, cosmic Lake Titicaca, the Nazca Lines, the Pacific Ocean, the Amazon jungle. But it was, it was!
1. Fruitful opening idea
What is, comrades, a debut and what, brothers, is an idea? How can you just pick up and go to Peru? But it’s not as difficult as it seems at first. After traveling independently in Germany and then Spain, I wanted to organize a more serious project, for example, in Latin America. At first, the choice fell on Chile due to its exceptionally interesting natural reserves and diversity of climatic zones. However, after some analysis of a possible project, the thought came - Peru and only Peru. I'll try to explain. Firstly, Peru has been a visa-free country for entry for up to 90 days since November 2003. This was probably the deciding factor. After all, visa-free entry means complete independence from embassies and travel agencies. You buy a ticket, develop a route, book hotels - and off you go. All you need is a passport with 6 months validity from the date of return departure. Secondly, Peru is a diverse country in terms of geography. There are the Pacific coast (Costa) and the Andes (Sierra) and the Amazon jungle (Selva). Who doesn’t know, the great Amazon originates in Peru at the confluence of the Marañon and Ucayali rivers. Finally, Peru is home to a large number of very interesting places for a traveler, many of which are included in various atlases of modern wonders of the world. This is Lima on the high shore of the Pacific Ocean, and the Incan city of Machu Picchu, lost in the mountains, and the highest mountain lake in the world, Lake Titicaca with cosmic landscapes around, and the mysterious Nazca Lines. And who would refuse to see live penguins, sea lions and seals, and bird colonies on the Ballestos Islands in the Pacific Ocean? Drinking an ice-cold English gin and tonic in the thirty-degree heat of the Amazon jungle while listening to the screams of parrots, and catching a live piranha - this, of course, is a special additional event, only for gin lovers and their sympathizers.
So, the decision was made, we are going to Peru. On my own, without any “firms”, groups and “I was the first to sit in this seat on the bus”.
2. Preparation
Preparation is important because the preparation process is where most of the project is worked out. The further journey depends entirely on the quality of preparation. What questions does an independent traveler to Peru face? Yes, the same ones as in front of a person who is going to go “savage” to the south.
First, the traveler must work out the route - where, in fact, he is going to travel, why he is going. Initial information was taken from books and the Internet, in particular, from the stories of compatriots who had visited there earlier. Thanks to Vadim, Olga, Slonik and Muraveychik and our other guys who are not afraid to travel further than Sochi. Taken together, all the data made it possible to form the skeleton of the route. Initially, it was clear that a plane ticket would be expensive, so when planning the route, it was decided to look at the country in as much detail as reasonably possible. Flying overseas and then to the opposite coast of the continent for one week is economically unreasonable. When drawing up the route, we also tried to stick to tourist places, taking into account that the country is still foreign, and our Spanish language is not good. So, the route was drawn up. He envisioned a circular trip around southern Peru: Lima - Cusco (city of Machu Picchu) - Puno (Lake Titicaca) - Arequipa (second capital of Peru) - Nazca (Nazca Lines) - Paracas (arch. Ballestos) - Lima, and then a visit to northern Peru (towards the equator) to the Amazon to the rubber boom city of Iquitos, the Amazon jungle and return to Lima. In Lima - final day, and home!
Now, when to go? The most favorable season for traveling in Peru is from April to October, which is winter in the southern hemisphere. I must say that on the coast in Peru the weather is always smooth, 19-23 degrees with variable sunshine, quite strong, so it is always comfortable on the coast. But in the mountains and jungles, where many attractions are concentrated, the summer (November - March) is the rainy season, so tourists go there in winter. Our concept is trips at the turn of the season, when the flow of tourists is sharply reduced, the eye is spacious and relaxed, there are no problems with tickets, hotels are in low season and have reduced prices, there are no crowds in places of interest. Therefore, we chose November, right after the end of the high season in Peru; Well, and the weather, well, in November it’s spring in Peru, and the rainy season is just beginning to gather strength. During our stay from November 11 to 28, there were only two rains. In this sense, all kinds of servers with weather forecasts were very disappointing; they look at the world pessimistically.
Next, we had to decide how we would fly to Lima? You can fly to Latin America via Europe and North America. But! Flying across North America (Miami) involves the hassle and expense of obtaining an American visa. Therefore it was swept aside. What remained next was: KLM airline via Amsterdam with an overnight stay in Amsterdam, IBERIA via Madrid with an overnight stay in Madrid and Lufthansa (the best airline in the world!) via Frankfurt and Caracas (Venezuela) without any overnight stays (reasonable physical fitness required). I note that the first two options require paying for hotels for that same overnight stay there and back, paying for transit visas, which makes the flight more expensive, and the flight will take more time. Lufthansa had the cheapest offer of $1273-50(!) for a flight to Lima and back, without overnight stays, without visas (through airport transit zones), but! with an additional transfer in Caracas to Taca Airlines (Lufthansa partner) to Lima. Twenty hours and 50 minutes of travel - and you are in Lima. They didn’t even consult and chose Lufthansa. We never regretted it later. If anyone decides to do so, I recommend booking and purchasing tickets at the Lufthansa central office at 18/1 Olympic Avenue at the Renaissance Moscow Hotel, tel. 734-6400. Who wants to find out everything about international flights on their own - there is a wonderful server www.amadeus.net, where you can find all the details about existing flights, except for ticket prices, and the prices are already on the carriers’ pages, for example, www.lufthansa.ru or www .klm.com, or www.iberia.com. So it goes.
So, there is a route, when to go and how to get there is clear. A serious start has been made. Next, you need to work out the most pleasant details for an independent traveler - how many nights am I going to spend at each point of the route, and how will I, not bound by any obligations, move from city to city, and how much will these moves take away from me of my wonderful vacation time. The number of overnight stays was planned in such a way as to calmly explore everything and do justice to each place where we will be. In the evening, so that you can go have dinner and put your impressions to rest, and then the next morning, and maybe the next, set off on your further journey. Calmly, without running around, but also without wasting time. Thus, the number of overnight stays became clearer. You can, again, get acquainted with your place of stay in advance and find out why it is famous and interesting using the Internet, using, for example, www.yahoo.com or other search engines to find the necessary information. The key page for independent travel to Peru is, of course, www.andeantravelweb.com. Thanks to the organizers, this page has everything - from hotels to transport and maps and how to take care of your health in Peru. There you can find all the necessary information, including by city. So, taking into account our route, we ended up with seventeen nights and eighteen days for everything, including flights from Moscow to Lima and back.
When it becomes clear how many nights will be spent in each city, you need to decide on hotels - where to spend such wonderful traveler nights. After all, each of them can be compared in mood to the night from Friday to Saturday. We stayed at modest hotels (with the exception of two that were deliberately chosen to be expensive) ranging from $20 to $30 for a double room. For this amount we were offered clean, spacious, comfortable rooms, usually with wooden trim, perfect linen, a few mountain wool blankets, a TV and a hot shower as a must. We chose hotels where an American breakfast was included in the price. In some places, this amount included meeting us at the station and delivering us to the hotel. I believe that such a set is more than enough for a traveler. After European prices! A list of hotels with prices verified by travelers on the same page www.andeantravelweb.com for each city in Peru. All hotels have either a page or an email address. Taking advantage of this, we pre-booked most hotels via email about a month or so before our arrival. The procedure consisted of an exchange of letters in English. I wrote what we needed, they answered me - OKAY and how much it will cost. No advance payments were made, with the exception of payment for the tour to the Amazon, it was individual and purchased from a Peruvian travel agency via the Internet with payment by VISA card, but more on that later. The names of the hotels we have chosen will be given below, where cities are discussed.
Well, now all that remained was to choose how to move from place to place. For Peru, there is a wealth of choice - basically it is a bus, part of the route can be built by rail, and you also cannot do without flying by plane. Australians travel there for three months, but we had to do it in three weeks. All types of transport are well organized. Bus and train tickets can and should be bought at the station, absolutely without any problems, quickly and accurately. However, it is advisable to do this the day before, because the demand for bus transportation is high. I recommend the bus company Crus del Sur (Southern Cross). Large reliable company. There is no need to choose a railway company - there is only one - Perurail with a page of the same name containing schedules and prices for the traveler - www.perurail.com. Domestic flights also need to be booked in advance. How to do it? All airlines operating domestic flights to Peru have their own pages. Here you can find the schedule and ticket prices. A good option for booking air tickets is to contact the hotel where you are staying or are planning to stay. I emailed the hostess of the hotel in Lima where we were planning to stay to book domestic flights, saying that I would like to pay for them upon arrival. They told me OKAY, give me the passport numbers, the price is like this (the premium to the price was about 8 dollars per ticket), but please, when you arrive, pay in cash. Upon arrival, fancy tickets were waiting for us. The hotel is called Mami Panchita, and its owner's name is Monica. He is also listed on www.andeantravelweb.com. I recommend.
As a result, of the planned moves, most were by bus, one by rail, three domestic flights and, finally, water transport along Lake Titicaca and the Amazon.
Of course, the reader is already somewhat tired by this point from such a detailed description of the preparatory activities. Therefore, I briefly describe the remaining preparatory stages and move on to a description of the voyage.
Health. It is highly advisable to get vaccinated against yellow fever, because According to statistics, the country is unfavorable in this regard. The vaccination is simple - my sister gives an injection under the shoulder blade - chik and you are happy (just kidding). There are no consequences, you can drink alcohol the next day. An international certificate is issued. Price is about 150 rubles, address and telephone number of the clinic - Vaccination center for those traveling abroad - (Policlinic No. 13), st. Neglinnaya, no. 14, t. 921-9465. There is also malaria there, but there are no vaccinations against it. There are terribly poisonous pills - mefloquine, we did not take them. Malaria is spread by mosquitoes, so stock up on just enough repellent for your body and clothes. Most of them were brought back. It is better to use water for drinking and brushing teeth that is sold in abundance in bottles. Also be sure to take sunscreen with a factor of 15-20. The sun is very active everywhere, and frying occurs very quickly, since the tropics are nearby.
Equipment. Here, who is used to it, and what size suitcase/backpack he intends to take with him. For example, we deliberately limited ourselves to backpacks of a format that you can take with you on a plane. You also need a small flip-out backpack for a day hike. This is where you put your camera, sunscreen, water bottle, etc. The following things won't hurt much. The windbreaker jacket is water-repellent with a detachable fleece lining. These are available for sale at Sportmaster. Jeans light, dark. A cotton cowboy jacket with long sleeves is a must. T-shirts with long and short sleeves. Sun hat. Sunglasses. Sneakers/turbo boots that cover the ankle, breathable. Some light sandals/moccasins to replace. A mug, a boiler and tea bags definitely won’t hurt. In case of very early breakfasts in the room, oddly enough, such an abomination as “Galina Blanca - glug, glug” goes well. You can take several bags. Together with tea you can last until lunch.
Safety. There were no incidents or hints during the trip. Money and documents were deposited in the hotel safe, a day's supply and photocopies of passports were taken with them. Yawning is, of course, not recommended, nor is showing off expensive (expensive-looking) watches and jewelry. If it was not possible to return it, special attention was paid to the treasured wallet. When traveling on a long-distance bus, you should keep under control the items placed on the overhead luggage racks. When the backpack is placed on the ground, on the floor, it is a good idea to hook the strap to your leg. Take with you several copies of your passport (page spread with photo). It is also wise to place a scanned image of the page spread of your passport and air tickets in a mailbox accessible via the Internet. Just in case. It is useful to provide the airline (Lufthansa) with the telephone and fax number of your hotel in Lima.
Money. New Peruvian salts. They also take dollars. Three point three sols equal one dollar. There are no problems with exchange anywhere. The course is different. There are official street money changers, a little unusual for us (we were scared of speculators since childhood), but a completely working option, there are many exchange offices, called “casa de cambio”. There is no need to look for banks for exchange. Visa and MasterCard cards are accepted in many retail outlets and hotels.
Language. The vast majority are Spanish. In Lima, Cusco, Arequipa, in hotels, large retail outlets and tourist places they will speak English to you. It’s very good to learn a little Spanish, basic everyday words, numerals from one to ten. Otherwise, taxi drivers will have the wrong attitude. It would be a good idea to take a pocket-sized phrasebook with you and always have it with you.
Information Support. Most of the necessary information can be obtained at the hotel reception. This applies to prices for taxis, transport, maps of the nearest quarter and the entire city. You should definitely take a hotel business card, then it will be easier to return from the city. In addition, every hotel has internet - free or for a fee. Internet cafes are very common and cheap. You can also ask passers-by; people are very welcoming and friendly.
Tips. As in any country, about 10%. Taxi drivers are not entitled to it, just a negotiated amount or meter.
Well, the result of all the preparatory work was purchased Lufthansa Moscow-Lima-Moscow tickets, booked hotels and tickets for domestic flights, packed backpacks, and, of course, a team of three people, injected with vaccinations, ready for the start. The travel budget was also formed; it turned out to be 2,470 new US dollars per person for double occupancy. This amount included ALL air tickets, travel by rail and bus, accommodation in all hotels, all excursions and breakfasts. The travel plan by day with all prices was immortalized in an EXCEL table, printed and given to each travel participant (it is an integral part of this description and is attached at the end).
3. Flight
Once upon a time, on a business trip, I flew Lufthansa from Prague to Frankfurt. The flight went smoothly. I remember the gray leather seats on the plane, metal cutlery (fork and knife!), and the continuous supply of all kinds of drinks on a multi-level cart. Currently, nothing has changed, if only for the better. Leather chairs, metalware and a drinks cart were on hand. Order reigned everywhere this time too. It started in the office where we purchased tickets, continued in Frankfurt, where in clear Russian they explained to us how to get to the shuttle train for a transfer to a flight to Venezuela, and reached its peak already in Venezuela, where all passengers arriving on the Lufthansa flight were from Frankfurt, were met by specially trained people and taken to the flight of partner company Taca Airlines for the onward flight from Caracas to Lima. Connections between flights were short, no more than an hour, but thanks to good organization this was not difficult or inconvenient. True, we did not have checked luggage; we flew with special-sized backpacks that you can take with you on the plane. Moreover, it is the format that is important, not the weight. What else is good about Lufthansa? Well, for example, when purchasing tickets, you can immediately check in for all flights, including connecting ones (except for the flight from Sheremetyevo), and also order your favorite cuisine on board; we ordered seafood cuisine. Don't forget to register for Miles&More. After the Moscow-Lima-Moscow flight, you will probably earn a prize flight to Europe from Lufthansa.
In general, the flight was fun, but still a little exciting, the unknown lay ahead very far away. It was unknown how all my e-mails would work, whether they would be received, how we would explain ourselves, what the beginning of the program would be like, and other small questions squeaked like mosquitoes. Well, of course, we cheered as much as we could. In Frankfurt, we managed to grab some German beer at a bar, and while we were flying over the ocean, we fell to the cart with drinks as it passed by. Moreover, the flight attendant did not advertise the presence of alcoholic drinks such as whiskey, gin, vodka, but did not refuse to serve them. However, I had to clarify the dosage once, saying Russian size, please, after which everything went as it should. The flight attendant said "Oh!" During the next trip of the trolley, it was enough to say: “Please, do you remember?” In response, they were given 50-70 grams of the drink, tomato juice, salt, pepper and a glass of ice. At some point, the flight attendant gloomily announced that the vodka had run out, and there wasn’t even any in the back of the plane. I had to jump to whiskey, and then the flight attendant stopped slowing down near our row. Tired, probably. I would like to note that it is not customary to drink your own cognac or anything else on Lufthansa flights (as well as other Western companies known to me). Yes, that’s how long or how short, we flew for 10 hours and finally arrived in Caracas in the country of Venezuela. And then we transferred to another plane and four hours later we arrived in Lima, a wonderful city, the capital of Peru, the destination of our flight. A funny episode happened in Caracas. In the airport transit area we went to a bar to drink beer. The bartender said that please, there are no problems, you just need to show your passports and write an application. That's why he issued the forms. Since we wanted beer, we did all this, but we were surprised to ourselves. Beer, according to the statement, is even cooler than “only for union members.” On the way from Caracas to Lima, we were entertained by a German who understood Russian. I asked if he had any pets. He said yes, there are animals, his daughter has several horses. After that we began to feel shy. The next day we met him in Barranco, a fashionable area of Lima. He explored the city accompanied by a guide. We recognized each other and had small talk in Russian-English.
Going through customs and border control in Lima was a formality, no one really wanted to talk to us, and we quickly found ourselves in the greeting room. The only important point here is filling out the arrival card, which is stamped by the border guard with the date of entry, and which must be kept until leaving the country.
In the hall we were met by a calm-looking man with a sign with my name in his hands - a driver from the hotel we had booked. The email agreements worked successfully and (almost) never let us down.
We spent almost a day on the road, but, nevertheless, it was still the evening of the day on the morning of which we flew out of Moscow. This is because we were flying away from the sun! On the way back you will have to give this time, but it won’t be soon!
Having exchanged a little money, we, backpacks in hand, tumbled out of the airport building into the humid night of the streets of Lima.
4. Lima
After a short journey through the night in Lima, we found ourselves at a hotel located in a cozy quarter of the San Miguel district on the ocean. The hotel was called Mami Panchita. It was owned by a Dutchman and managed by his Peruvian wife Monica. We were received, explained what was what and quickly placed in cozy rooms, $25 per night. It was a wonderful little hotel with 10 rooms, in a house built in a colonial Spanish style with a courtyard. After settling into the hotel, we went out to the steep ocean shore and drank whiskey in honor of our arrival. In the middle of this ceremony, a policeman came up to us and told us to be careful here on the cliff.
And in the morning there was a wonderful hike around Lima. This day was included in our program for rest from a heavy flight and easy acclimatization in time, which had shifted by eight hours. There was sunshine, a wonderful mood and plenty of time ahead. The hike began in the central square. We got there by taxi for 10 soles ($3). There was a fountain in the center of the square, and a cathedral, and a changing of the guard, and a police car with a water cannon in the corner, and lines of taxis, and horse-drawn carriages, and shoe shiners, and schoolchildren going on an excursion - in general, a bright round dance of impressions about city on Friday morning.
After taking a short promenade along the streets around the center and having a snack at a cafe on the square with Creole soup, we went to the Inca Gold Museum. By taxi for 10 soles. Entrance to the museum cost almost 10 dollars per nose, but we decided to go. Gold products presented there are curious and funny and incomprehensible and historical. What struck me most were the skulls with “windows” cut into them and gold and silver plates inserted into them. Moreover, all this was done surgically during the lifetime of the “owner”. He was supposed to communicate with the gods in the sky through these plates (antennas??!!) It’s interesting, it’s worth a visit, but, to be honest, our Armory Chamber with the Diamond Fund seems more interesting. And if you put on the scales the gold storehouse of the Hermitage with the gold of the Scythians, then there is simply nothing to compare.
After the gold of the Incas, our path lay on the ocean shore, in the Miraflores region. By taxi, that's right, for 10 soles. The amount was magical and universal. It was taken from the reports of compatriots and “shot” without fail. True, having recognized us as “gringos”, the local cab drivers asked for more than twice as much, waved their hands and made scary faces when we said “dez”, but then happily drove us where we needed to go. I admit that 10 was a bit too much. In general, there are many taxis and it is not difficult to choose the car you like. The traffic is quite intense, from the ocean to the center the road takes 20 - 30 minutes. A reference point for a trip to Miraflores can be the Larco Mar shopping center. It is located in a beautiful location right on the ocean. There is almost nothing to buy there, but there are plenty of cafes and restaurants.
Miraflores is a wonderful area on the high coast of the Pacific Ocean. Beautiful houses, green streets, shops, hotels, palm trees, cars, people walking and evening lights. But the main thing, the most important and unique thing is a very beautiful view of the ocean. As far as the eye can see, the surface of the water is as smooth as a table, changing its hue when the sun sets. Observing this, you simply leave your mortal coil and are carried away by your thoughts somewhere into unknown distances. From leaden-gray tones, the surface of the sea gradually turns to pinkish, and then copper-gold, and finally, the sun sets behind the horizon and the bright coastal lights of the city appear. And it is no longer the ocean, but the embankment in lights with the sounds of music and the walking public that becomes the center of this universe. You need to observe all this from a cafe overlooking the sea, leisurely sipping “pisco sour” - a local cocktail of pisco, lime juice and crushed ice, shaken in a shaker.
This was my first acquaintance with Lima. And tomorrow the capital of the Inca Empire was waiting for us - the city of Cusco.
5. Cusco and Machu Picchu
You need to fly to Cusco from Lima by plane. There are many flights, and they go every hour. But there are also a lot of passengers, so you need to take care of tickets at least a day in advance. You can go to the airport and buy it at the ticket office, or you can order it at the reception at the hotel, and they will bring it to you with a small increase in price. I ordered by correspondence with the hotel owner, and the next day upon arrival we received tickets to Cusco and Iquitos and back, since we were also planning to go to the Amazon at the end of our trip. You should try to buy tickets for a morning flight, as later flights run the risk of being postponed or canceled due to the weather in Cusco. We left on a flight at 9:00 am. Airline Tans airlines. You must arrive at the airport for domestic flights 2 hours before departure, for international flights - 3 hours before departure. It is better to check the travel time to the airport at the hotel, but you need to budget at least 45 minutes. After checking in for your flight, you go to a special ticket office and pay an airport tax of $5 for a domestic flight and $25 for an international flight. You can also pay in soles, but it will be more expensive, since they will charge additional interest for converting into dollars. After payment, a Velcro strip is stuck on the ticket, which is “read” during boarding. At the airport everything is organized clearly and does not cause any hassle.
Cusco greeted us with bright sunny weather. The flight from Lima is one hour. At ten we were already there. The air was very clear. Altitude above sea level 3300 meters. The city is located in a basin of mountains, and the airport is located almost in the center of the city. We were met at the airport with a standard sign and taken by minibus to the “Hostal Amaru” hotel. The hotel was located slightly on a hill in the San Blas area, a 10-minute walk from the central square. There are many hotels in Cusco, very different, but this one was recommended by www.andeantravelweb.com. The room was cozy, clean, TV, hot shower, American breakfast and meeting at the airport. All for twenty dollars for two per night. The hotel immediately tried to unobtrusively sell us a set of excursions and tickets, but we didn’t buy anything and went into the city. First of all, we had to organize our trip to Machu Picchu. From the central square there is a street with a lot of travel agencies offering a variety of services. We went to the one that was recommended, again, by www.andeantravelweb.com. We were greeted by a very nice girl who spoke almost no English. And I speak Spanish. It was very funny - our conversation. But the goal was eventually achieved, we were able to explain ourselves. After an hour of negotiations and $150 per person, a two-day tour was purchased. It included for everyone: travel to Aguas Calientes and back to Cusco by bus and rail, two ascents from Aguas Calientes by bus to Machu Picchu and back, two entrance tickets to Machu Picchu, one overnight stay at a hotel in Aguas Calientes Calientes. Aguas Calientes is a very touristy village at the foot of Machu Picchu. To Machu Picchu from Aguas Calientes you need to take a separate bus along a mountain serpentine road. You can get to Aguas Calientes from Cusco either by train only, or by a combined route - first by bus to Ollantaymbo station, then transfer to the train to Aguas Calientes. We preferred the combined route because it was more scenic (the bus goes through mountain passes, while the train trudges along the valley) and was one hour shorter. The transplant does not cause any difficulties - everything is organized clearly. I note that just recently a two-day tour from Cusco to Machu Picchu cost about $90. But times are changing, and the price of the train has quadrupled from 15 to 60 dollars, which is reflected in the overall price. An overnight stay in Aguas Calientes is absolutely necessary, otherwise you will have to run around Machu Picchu and a lot of interesting things will remain behind the scenes. You will be pressed by the last bus from Machu Picchu down, and the return train to Cusco. So, a two-day tour to Machu Picchu was purchased. We still had to take care of train tickets to Lake Titicaca, but that was tomorrow, and today we warmed up well with beer and dined on fried trout and wine in a restaurant on the balcony above the central square. Dinner for three with wine and beer cost 100 soles.
The next morning began with a trip to the Huancho station, from which the train to Titicaca leaves. By taxi from the hotel for 3 soles. A train ticket in tourist class costs $15. There were also 90 in the “Inka class”. You need to arrive at the station around eight or nine o'clock. Purchasing tickets at the station ticket office took 15 minutes. (The hotel offered us the same for $25, so don’t hesitate to go to the station). There is one important point: the train to Titicaca (Puno) does not go every day, so if you want to go there from Cusco by train, then plan your trip using the train schedule www.perurail.com. The train leaves at eight in the morning from Cusco and travels ten hours to Puno with one short stop at the La Raya mountain pass at an altitude of 4,300 meters.
And the day continued, and we got ready to go to the market in the town of Pisak. The bus station to go to Pisac is located right next to the Huancho station. (We didn’t know this and took a taxi. Having deftly made a circle around the block and received three soles, the taxi driver drove us to almost the same point from where we left, just around the corner). A ticket to Pisac on a regular bus costs 4 soles. For a taxi there and back they ask for 80 soles with negotiability. Before you go, find out if it is a market day. The road was interesting and beautiful, the bus, like our PAZik, was crowded and quickly rolled along the mountain road. Someone was going to sell a rooster, someone to buy onions, etc. The market was a bright and colorful spectacle, but the focus on visiting tourists was noticeable. After walking through the rows and having a snack, we headed back. The target was the ancient fortress of Sacsayhuaman on the mountainous outskirts of Cusco. Since everyone was already tired, we took a taxi from Pisac to Sacsayhuaman for 20 soles. Actually, only ruins remained of the fortress, but what ruins! This is the same masonry of huge stone blocks that are fitted to each other so tightly that it is impossible to insert a knife blade. It's worth a look and offers breathtaking views of the valley and the city of Cusco itself. You can’t just go there; you’ll have to buy a ticket for at least $6, which includes visits to a number of less interesting attractions for big fans of archeology. I recommend walking down from the fortress to Cusco along the path. The road is picturesque, and it will contribute well to acclimatization to the altitude. By the way, you really feel the altitude - it’s a little difficult to breathe when walking vigorously, and at night sometimes you have to tell yourself - breathe. Coca leaf tea, in my opinion, is a legend for impressionable tourists. It helps with mountain sickness no more than a laxative. The day ended with an alpaca steak dinner with red wine.
The next day, early in the morning, we were picked up from the hotel by the same girl who did not speak English, handed us tickets for the train to Aguas Calientes, a package for the person who was supposed to meet us there, and drove us to the bus that went to Ollantaymbo, where we had to change trains to Aguas Calientes. The journey to Machu Picchu has begun. An hour and a half later we arrived at the railway station. There were quite a lot of people there, but boarding the train went smoothly, without any worries. Tourists in Peru are a particularly revered people, to the point that even their tickets are a different color. This is not discrimination against Peruvians, the train cars are the same for everyone, but simply an element of organizing services for tourists without failures and possible troubles. Everyone took their seats according to their tickets, packed their luggage and hit the road. The road was quite monotonous, it’s good that the first part of the journey was done by bus. We arrived at the scene 1.5 hours later, between 11 and 12 noon. We were greeted with a sign that was already familiar to us, checked into a hotel, and we handed the package to the girl who met us. By the way, I recommend the hotel "Gringo Bills". Conveniently located near the station and bus stop to Machu Picchu. The girl who met us 15 minutes later handed us all the necessary tickets for the buses and for entering the ruins. Note that a round-trip bus ticket costs $9, and entrance to the ruins costs $20. The last bus to Machu Picchu left at 12-15, so we quickly loaded up and headed to the main goal of our trip. The weather that day was sunny, the mountains were open, and when we reached our destination, we discovered a majestic ancient city surrounded by mountains and gorges. The walk and inspection took up all the time until the last bus leaving down at 16-00. The evening was traditionally given over to dinner at a restaurant near the railway station, although there are many of them on the main street.
And the morning greeted us with the loud noise of rain drumming on the roof. Intelligence showed that this does not interfere with the trip to Machu Picchu. After all, not everyone spends the night in Aguas Calientes, and therefore everything is arranged so that the rain does not interfere with tourists who have made a long journey. Buses stood in line in their place and waited for tourists. And to protect against the rain, they sold bright plastic poncho capes for 3 soles apiece. An overnight stay in Aguas Calientes is also good because you get to Machu Picchu early, before the train with the bulk of tourists arrives, and you have the opportunity to explore everything almost alone. The mountains that day were covered with ragged wisps of gray-white fog. The road to the mountains was muddy, and we were very glad that there were good buses going to the mountains, like Mercedes and the like. However, halfway through the journey, something in our bus burst after a strained whirring noise, and it stopped. A whisper passed through the cabin. The fact is that the road is very narrow, and two buses can pass each other only in special places; for this, all drivers are equipped with walkie-talkies. We were ordered to get off the bus. Five minutes later another bus arrived from above, probably called by radio. It took a long time to turn around on a narrow road, after which we moved into it and safely reached the top. I don’t know what happened to our broken bus, maybe they pushed it into the abyss. The second day in Machu Picchu was, thanks to the rain, more interesting than the first. The mountains were covered with clouds at eye level, which from time to time dissipated like a curtain, revealing the most bizarre pictures of mountains, gorges and an ancient city. We found the entrance to the Inca Trail and walked along it in patches of fog and rain. The views from it are breathtaking. You should definitely attend it; you won’t regret the time spent. The exit to it is located to the left of the route, on the upper terrace, to the right of the ritual stone. Please do not confuse it with the path to the Temple of the Moon, which begins at the two houses at the bottom of the ruins. This trail is also interesting and picturesque, but there are crowds and you will need more energy for it. Well, you can decide for yourself what Machu Picchu is, I can only say that it is very beautiful and very unusual. All we had to do was go down to Aguas Calientes and prepare to leave. Aguas Calientes means hot springs in Spanish. So we went to them. In order to reach them, you just need to walk up the main street of the village. In 10-15 minutes you will reach the point of sale of tickets and rental of swimming trunks, slippers and towels. If you are going to take a dip in hot water at the end of a hard day (and it’s worth it), I advise you to immediately fork out for a ticket. Because after inspection, if you like it, you will have to return again to this point for swimming trunks and a ticket. Tickets are not sold on site. The equipment is quite clean and tidy. The ticket and swimsuit cost 20 soles per nose. Like this. Well, after the hot springs, lunch is shown. After lunch, all that was left was to pick up things from the hotel, where they had been left in the storage room in the morning (since checkout was at 12:00) and go on the return train, which left at 17:00. The return trip by train and bus was routine; at six it got dark and we were dozing off. In the same order, in Ollantaymbo we took a bus to Cusco. We were met from the train and taken to the bus by a boy of about 12, apparently working part-time at a travel agency. He very responsibly took us to the right bus and made sure we got on. "Adios, senors!" - he shouted to us goodbye. Fatigue prevented me from responding adequately, which is a pity. Between 20 and 21 o'clock our bus docked in the central square of Cusco, and we went back to our hotel, from which we left the day before. The hike to Machu Picchu was completed, Lake Titicaca was waiting for us.
6. Puno and Titicaca
Let's go, gentlemen and ladies, to the mountains, higher - higher, to where Lake Titicaca lies at an altitude of 3800 meters above sea level. You must arrive at the station in advance, half an hour before the train departs. You present your ticket, enter the carriage, and take your seat. The seats are comfortable, but somehow small, like on a Japanese bus. After which you need to mentally prepare for the 10-hour journey. There is a table in front of you and two passengers opposite. Backpacks are placed on the shelves above. Of course, there is a toilet in the carriage. The road is most picturesque, the train goes through a mountain valley, gradually rising higher and higher until it reaches mountains covered with snow. Outside the window are villages, herds of llamas, their other lives. You can walk around the carriage, but you cannot move to other carriages; you will be politely directed to your seat. There are trailers there and 90 dollars per seat in the “Inka class”. Along the way they offer a buffet and drinks for $4 per cup of coffee, etc. Not for everybody. Once, some folk group was singing and dancing, consisting of a father and two daughters, who squealed joyfully to the music and pestered everyone with dancing. To do this, they put such a woolly rooster on your head. They gave it to me too, but I took it off and gave it back, and someone started dancing. Then dad had to pay for it - “whoever can.” There was one stop in a very beautiful place on the La Raya mountain pass, at an altitude of 4300 meters. There were mountains covered with snow all around, and at the station there was a small market where everyone could choose something to their liking. I chose two chicken pies, devoured them and waited. The pies were delicious, and nothing happened to me. A few hours after the pass we began to approach the lake. The valley went as smooth as a table to the horizon, and, thanks to the side setting sun, it resembled a Martian landscape. These views remain among my most vivid impressions of Titicaca. Everything was some kind of lemon color, and lead clouds hung on the horizon and lightning flashed. Finally, after more than 10 hours of travel, we arrived at the train station in the town of Puno on Lake Titicaca. The station was besieged by a crowd of Aboriginal people offering accommodation services. The police did not let them inside. I felt quite tired. Therefore, the Ferrocaril (railway) hotel we booked, a three-minute walk from the station, was an organizational success. We checked into a double room for $25 with all amenities and satellite TV, and immediately went to buy bus tickets to Arequipa for tomorrow. By taxi, to the bus station for four soles. Pedicabs are also common there and cost one sole per trip to any point in the city. But their units are too flimsy. We first asked the receptionist how long a trip around the lake might take and which company is best to go to Arequipa. The master spoke English and explained everything to us in great detail. We decided to leave by bus at three o'clock in the afternoon, by the Cruz del Sur company. The girl at the company's ticket office didn't understand a word of English... I had to strain myself and give birth - "por favor, necesso tres bijetos primero classe por Arequipa de la Mañana" (please, you need three first class tickets to Arequipa for tomorrow). When we left, I even said, “segundo piso, por favor,” which meant second floor, please. The girl cheered up and announced that the bus was single-decker. Then, word by word, we understood each other. Cost thirty soles per person. Yes! Always and everywhere when purchasing tickets, you must have your passport or a copy of it with you. They are strictly there with this, Colombia and Bolivia are next to each other. The girl was very surprised by what country we were from. The rest of the evening was devoted to the main street of the city and dinner. Beer, steaks and red Tacama (Peruvian wine) - I recommend.
On a bright and fresh morning, around 8:30, we went to the pier of the great lake to sail on it. As we approached, we were caught by a lively English-speaking Indian and almost forced into a separate boat for $75 a lap for a 3-hour walk on the lake. It was expensive, but we didn't have much time. In general, you could join a group of 15 people on such a boat for $5 per person, or look for $60 for an individual, but it’s time. The morning lake was fresh and majestic. The expanse stretched far, the sun was shining, it was very nice. Moreover, our trip involved visiting the reed islands of Uros in the bay of the lake closest to Puno. To visit the most beautiful and majestic part of the lake, you need to sail far and spend the night on the lake on an island. This will require a minimum of two nights stay in Puno. This was not part of our plans. Titicaca is the highest lake in the world - 3800 meters above sea level, and is also considered one of the energy centers of the Earth, the antipode of the same center located in Nepal. I read somewhere that a person who has been both there and there becomes a harmonious person. Somewhere here Thor Heyerdahl built his reed boat "Ra". Therefore, it was necessary to check in, it was curious, but I didn’t want to go deeper. Well, we looked at these floating islands, bought souvenirs made of reeds, dipped our hands in the sacred lake and returned to the pier in Puno. The sun is very hot there, so don't forget your glasses and hats. We returned to the hotel, took a shower, handed over our things to the receptionist, went into the city, had a snack, picked up our things and went to the bus station. They have funny cropped thujas in the form of llama figures, two human heights. And the city is very lively, there are a lot of young people who look like students, and there are also a lot of tourists. There was one detail at the station. If you had a ticket, before boarding the bus you had to go and pay the station fee - 2.5 soles. They won't let you on the bus without it. And then the road, the journey to Arequipa was 4.5 hours, our bus was a Volvo, it went smoothly, the air conditioning worked, it quickly got dark, and we dozed off. And in the cabin, by the way, there was a very interesting flight attendant who served us drinks and sandwiches, included in the ticket price. What can I say - “a poor Latin country”. And traveling is very pleasant. We began our descent from the mountains to the ocean, and the second capital of Peru, Arequipa, was waiting ahead of us.
7. White City of Arequipa
We arrived in Arequipa already in the dark and spent quite a lot of time at the bus station. We decided to immediately buy bus tickets to Nazca, so as not to have to go to the station specifically for this later. It takes 9-10 hours to get to Nazca from Arequipa, comfortable double-decker buses go there, there are many routes, but, as it turned out on the spot, there is one small “but”. The vast majority of flights are night flights. Buses leave at 9 pm and arrive in Nazca at 6 am. And we had plans to take a daytime bus to look around the surroundings from the window and not miss the exit to the Pacific Ocean on the Pan-American Highway. There was only one such flight. The bus left at 8 am and arrived in Nazca at 18-00. The company was our favorite - "Cruz del Sur". But this bus was not at all the royal class we dreamed of riding, and it took a whole hour longer. Well, why did we have to take tickets for what happened? Having taken our tickets and boarded a taxi, we headed to our hotel. This is where the first small setback in the program awaited us. At the reception we were told that they had never heard of our booking, and there were no vacancies at the moment. After which we were given the address of another hotel with the words “bueno”. That means it's also good. The taxi driver prudently did not leave. They don’t leave at all until they are convinced that that’s it, there’s definitely nothing to wait for. And we went to another hotel. The funny thing is that the same story repeated itself there! We were offered the address of a good hotel around the corner. But here my wife, even though she was tired, realized that before dragging herself there, she needed to call, and that it was best for the adviser himself to do this, i.e. receptionist He called, found out everything, and we were sure to go. More precisely, the taxi driver (who didn’t leave again) took us there and didn’t take any money! The name was "Hostal Latina". This time we were already accommodated, everything was OK, the room cost 20 dollars per night, the area of the city was calm, 15 minutes from the central square. We spent the rest of the evening, which was already about 10-11 o'clock, at a nearby pizzeria, where they baked charming little pizzas on thick boards, on which they served them. And as a reward for our efforts we had excellent homemade Chilean wine, priced at 11 soles (110 rubles) per liter. It’s not surprising, the border with Chile is just over 200 kilometers from Arequipa, several times closer than to Nazca, where we were planning to go.
The next day we went to explore the city. Arequipa is the second capital of Peru, as well as St. Petersburg in Russia and Barcelona in Spain. It is called the White City because there are a lot of houses and facades made of white stone, and also because the sun shines almost all days of the year. According to our program in Arequipa, we had just a day of rest planned. I wanted to wander around the city, go to cafes and shops, drink wine, look at people, and not be in a hurry. So, we went to explore the second capital of Peru. I recommend visiting the convent of Santa Catalina (St. Katya, in Russian). This is a small and beautiful piece of Spain in Peru with its own streets and gardens. We walked and wandered around the city for quite a long time, passed a lot of all sorts of small and larger streets, shops, squares and shops, the central square (Plaza de Armas - the same name in every city). Like in American cities, say, downtown. And then there's lunch. Roast guinea pigs were served. It’s delicious, for those who aren’t afraid, it’s better than fried chicken. The pig is called KUY and is specially bred for later consumption. We washed it down with Takama. I remember that they paid inexpensively. In the evening we went to our favorite pizzeria with Chilean wine to take stock.
The next day, early in the morning, we were already at the bus station, but here again a little trouble awaited us. The bus was delayed from 8-00 to 13-00. One of the station employees drew this on a piece of paper (and actually drew it) for us, who noticed that we were walking around looking around the bus. We couldn’t understand what the driver was explaining to us and hung around the bus like restless people until the employee himself came up to us. He explained to us that the bus was delayed due to a rockfall in the mountains, that the backpacks should be handed over to the company office and that we should arrive for the flight no earlier than 12:30. Such participation was pleasant and further strengthened the opinion of Peruvians as friendly and helpful people. But every cloud has a silver lining. We had another half day of time in Arequipa, and we went to the central square. There I was subjected to shoe shine. There are many shoe shiners in Peru, and they are quite annoying, but they do their job well. I agreed for one salt, but that was only the beginning of the show. This pepper pulled the laces out of my hiking boots and got started. A boy was closely watching his work, squatting next to him; I think it was a son and a father. Some dust brushes and rags, which he shook with a loud bang, and brushes, and jars of various polishes were used. While working, he kept praising my boots - how good they were! These need to be smeared with a special ointment! Can? Okay, apply a special one, I told him. The work went on for about ten minutes, then he deftly put the laces back in, laced them and said, “five salts,” so timidly, it was a special ointment. And he looks at me, clearly expecting a bargain. I give him ten soles and ask for change. He leaves me his belongings as collateral, rushes to change money, gives the change, after which he and the boy immediately fly away somewhere, until the “crazy millionaire” changes his mind.
And then we wandered into the market. What abundance there was! Everything was bursting with fruits and vegetables, meat and fish, cheeses, eggs, and herbs. And what olives and barrel-salted olives there were! And at the same time - cleanliness. Of course, we tried everything. And we bought ourselves some cheese, olives, and a giant sandwich with boiled pork, tomatoes and pickled onions. Having supplemented this simple meal with a bottle of red Takama, we headed back to our hotel; it was still a long way to the bus. There they kindly gave us one room for everyone (we had already checked out), opened the bottle and brought everything on a tray with glasses and our food to our room. Well, isn't this a service?
Then everything was ordinary - again the bus station, 10 hours of travel with stops, outside the window there was mostly a mountain desert, then fog came, there was a smell of dampness, and we drove out to the Pacific coast on the Pan-American Highway. The ocean shore was very deserted and rocky, the highway was quite narrow and went high above the sea. The ocean itself looked gray and inhospitable, with strong surf. At times the road went into tunnels. Sometimes there were oncoming trucks. It was interesting that regular buses are also used by the local population to transport goods. For example, one day a bus stopped near the mouth of a river, and several men loaded boxes of fresh fish into the luggage compartment. I think it was already served in restaurants in Lima in the evening. On a bus, and in any other transport, a list of passengers must be compiled. Write down your first name, last name, passport number, where you are going and where you are coming from. The list is given to the driver. The bus was checked several times by police squads. They were mainly interested in luggage.
At 23-00 we arrived safely in Nazca.
8. Nazca Desert
In Nazca (this is a small tourist town in the desert of the same name, located on the Pan-American Highway), we were met and driven 500 m to the Alegria Hotel, $22 for a double room. The next day we were scheduled to fly over the famous Nazca Lines in the morning. The hotel offered us the appropriate tickets for $40 per person (I don’t think you can find it cheaper). We bought these tickets and then made a number of unnecessary moves. Firstly, you paid another 5 dollars to fly over the “aqueducts” - don’t do that, it’s not even worth 5 dollars. Secondly, we purchased some kind of idiotic excursion to “ancient bones in the desert,” and even with an individual guide. Well, it’s not easy for anyone to contemplate a tuft of hair on a sun-dried skull. There is a lot of this out there in the desert. Not for everybody. The guide was a complete smug turkey, talking to us through his lip and endlessly making comments about the pronunciation of English. It was unclear who hired whom. In addition, he took us “to a friend” to a pot factory; in his understanding of the issue, we had to improve the financial situation of the “friend” there. I immediately remembered the Egyptian money scams: “papyrus institutes”, “gold factories”, “museums” of incense and other camel’s chair. I had to refuse him a tip. But I got ahead of myself. In Nazca - only flights, do not waste time and money on other offers. In addition, we booked bus tickets to Paracas for the next day through the hotel. The guys shamelessly threw 15 soles onto the ticket. At a price of 30, they sold them to us for 45, and even with reminders. The bus terminal of the Ormeno company is a stone's throw from the hotel. The bus to Lima goes once a day, double-decker, somewhere around 13-14 hours. You just need to ask where Ormeno is, go before the flights or immediately after them and calmly buy a ticket to Paracas on your own (or where you decide - to Ica, Pisco, Lima). As a last resort, you can get to the Pan-American Highway, along which Soyuz buses run every 20-30 minutes. They can be stopped simply by voting. There's always room. So here it is.
Well, flying is very interesting. The next day, in the morning, they gathered us in the hall, loaded us into a minibus and headed to the airfield. There are many airlines that fly. We flew with Alas Peruana, their website is www.nazcalinesperu.net. They brought us to a small waiting room - a souvenir shop - a cafe and gave us a short lecture on what was what. I didn’t even listen, because there is simply no reasonable explanation for the nature of these lines. These are huge drawings that are visible only from a bird's eye view, and to build them from the ground, you need to have special knowledge of planning. Who created them and why, what they meant at that time is a mystery. Then they introduced us to the pilot, a four-seater Cessna airplane, just for our team of three, and off we went. I was personally pleased with the leather seats and the general fact that the plane was American. The pilot made two turns over each figure so that passengers on each side could look and take photographs. What can I say - an attraction. We saw with our own eyes what we had seen long ago in the film “Memories of the Future” and perceived as unattainable distances. You begin to comprehend the impressions after landing. By the way, those who don’t want to fly have the opportunity to see some of the figures from observation towers called “mirador”, located on the Pan-American Highway towards Lima from Nazca. After the flights we managed to go on an uninteresting excursion (waste of time), have a snack, and it was time to move on. We were supposed to move towards Lima, on the ocean coast in the town of Paracas to the hotel of the same name, where we planned two days of relaxation with a visit to the marine reserve.
9. Paracas (Penguins are man's friends)
Paracas is a fishing village in the vicinity of the city of Pisco. Pisco is the birthplace of the famous Peruvian drink - pisco, which is now made in Chile too. The drink is made from grapes, strong, 40 degrees, slightly reminiscent of chacha, but better. It is drunk in its pure form, but rarely; mainly Peruvians and visitors consume a wonderful cocktail based on pisco - “pisco sour”. It consists of pisco, lime juice, crushed ice, and egg white. Everything is whipped together in a mixer and served in an ice glass with foam. The strength and taste of pisco sour depends significantly on the establishment where it is offered to you. Refreshing and works up the appetite wonderfully, comparable to gin with ice and tonic, I recommend it. The Ormeno bus from Nazca goes first to Paracas and then to Pisco. If you went with another company, you can get to Pisco, and then take a taxi to Paracas. It costs 30 soles.
The Paracas Hotel was interesting and luxurious. The room cost $98 per night, but it was in the budget and worth it. We deserve a couple of days of comfortable life. The owners of the hotel are Germans. The hotel was founded in 1945, apparently by those people who were uncomfortable staying in Europe. On the walls in the halls and bars are old photographs of when rich Europeans came to hunt sharks. Now respectable people are also stopping, but there were no Europeans in sight, mostly Latinos. But they are well-groomed, and the ladies with them are well-groomed. Not a bad painting salon (paintings are for sale). Polished bronze, wicker furniture, a saloon-style bar in Nautilus, unobtrusive music like "Strangers in the night", well-trained staff, friendly senoritas at the reception. Large territory, spacious and well-groomed paths, palm trees, swimming pools, and other exotic things. You can pay by card anywhere in the hotel, even at the beach bar. True, when we arrived, they were just starting to unpack and launch all this, since the season was just beginning, the time of year was early spring (November), the water was still cold. But the main thing, of course, is the Pacific Ocean. An illuminated pier jutting out into the sea with a bar with everything you need. We preferred Bloody Mary. From the pier, every morning there was an excursion on the hotel's boats to the Ballestos archipelago, about forty minutes by boat one way. We signed up for such an excursion and the next day after breakfast, at 8 o’clock in the morning we were at the pier. The boats were huge, each one took 15 - 20 people and rushed to the archipelago at full speed. A walk on the sea with the breeze is great in itself, but when we sailed to the islands, we forgot about everything. These were rocks with grottoes, in some places with flat tops, in others with ledges. The inhabitants were numerous colonies of various birds, of which I recognized only pelicans. Fur seals and sea lions sat and lay on the rocks. They lay in herds on the beaches and swam in grottoes, roaring. There were crabs sitting on the rocks at low tide. And finally, colonies of penguins were seen in several places. They behaved in a very businesslike manner, rushing somewhere at the sight of our boat, running into a heap, then scattering again. The captain took us around the islands and through all sorts of grottoes for about 40 minutes, but the time flew by instantly, since it was very interesting to observe this animal world. The cost of such an excursion from the hotel is $20 per person. If you go out into the village and look, you can find it cheaper.
The remaining time on the coast we led a plant-based lifestyle, plunged into the ocean from the pier (the beach was covered with strong-smelling algae and was not inviting), sunbathed, explored the village of Paracas, fashionable villas in the vicinity of our hotel, and visited fish restaurants on the shore a couple of times. Very good. So two days and two nights passed, and it was time to set off for Lima to undertake the final phase of our journey - a dash to the Amazon. On the day of departure, we took a taxi for thirty soles from Paracas to the Pan-American Highway, where the taxi driver picked up the bus. As I said, Soyuz buses travel along this highway at intervals of 20-30 minutes. We reached Lima in three hours and 20 soles per person. At the bus station in Lima we took another taxi and went to the airport for 20 soles. On the same day we had a flight to the city of Iquitos, the gateway to the great Amazon. We checked in, whiled away the time in the cafe, paid the fees and went to boarding. The company was "Lan Peru", the plane was a brand new A320, which, oddly enough, is different from Latin airlines. A non-stop flight (some with a landing), about an hour and a half, and we ended up in Iquitos, the capital of the Peruvian Amazon.
10. Iquitos and the Amazon
We planned a trip to the Amazon at the very end of the route and allocated 3 days for it. In order not to risk anything before flying home, and there was little time left for independence, it was decided to purchase a ready-made three-day tour through the travel company Explorama (e-mail: [email protected] website: http://www.explorama.com). It was required to pay for the tour in advance with a credit card, these are their conditions. I must say that the offer of tours to the Amazon is quite large. For every taste and budget. There are for the weekend, there are for three days, for four, for a week, cruises on the Amazon, etc. But the general trend is expensive. Our three-day, three-night tour cost $522 per person. 275 - the tour itself, 86 and 86 plane Lima - Iquitos, Iquitos - Lima, 75 - one night the day before in Iquitos. This is despite the fact that we bought the plane tickets ourselves, and that would have been even more expensive. You can skip the night in Iquitos and take a morning flight, but then it will be “from the ship to the ball.” But it was impossible to completely abandon the Amazon, being an hour (!) flight away.
Iquitos greeted us with stifling, humid heat. The thermometer, despite the late hour (about nine in the evening), was more than 30 degrees. A representative of the company "Explorama" (Explore Amazon) was waiting for us in the hall to take us to the hotel. The bus was an old American school bus, probably from the 60s, with a wooden body and no glass in the windows. However, this was better, as it allowed the breeze to cool the passengers a little. The bus lurched around the city, and we watched. Some shops, pedicabs, groups of people, and intersections floated by. On one street, in almost all the houses, on the balconies of the low second floor, there were senoritas, young and imposing, all of them in black underwear. At first I thought they were hot, so we went out for a walk, then I thought - why are they all wearing black? Well, then I figured it out. Finally we arrived at the hotel. It was cool and very civilized there. The hotel was large and comfortable, with fountains in the lobby and glass elevators in a multi-light, multi-story hall under a glass dome. The evening ended with a gin and tonic at a nearby bar. The bartender showed us ironwood bars, stuffed piranhas, and all sorts of other things, and took photographs as a farewell. All his walls were covered with photographs of clients. The sleep took place under the light noise of the air conditioner.
The next day we had to travel 50 miles down the Amazon to a jungle shelter on a tributary of the Yanamono.
Leaving the hotel in the morning, we realized that we were indeed 3 degrees latitude from the equator. Despite the early hour, the sun was blazing mercilessly and I wanted to dive back to the hotel. After exploring the Amazon embankment, we did just that. After some time, the guide, whose name was Segundo, picked us up and we went to the pier for our further journey. We left unnecessary backpacks in the office office, taking with us what we needed for at least 3 days. At the pier we boarded a large flat-bottomed boat with all our luggage. At the stern there were two Yamaha outboard motors of 120 hp each. every! After two hours of travel along the Amazon, we turned into a tributary of the Yanamono and found ourselves in a real jungle, and, after swimming for a kilometer, we landed at the Explorama Lodge. The shelter consisted of several houses made of bamboo, covered with reeds, raised on stilts, surrounded by green palm trees and other vegetation. There was also a dining house, a bar (!) on stilts, standing above the tributary, and a large covered terrace with hammocks for relaxation. The houses were separated by partitions into “rooms”. Each room had beds covered with mosquito nets, a bedside table, a mirror, a basin and a jug of water for washing, and a kerosene lamp. All the paths inside the village were under thatched roofs on posts in case of rain. Facilities such as a "toilet" and showers with conditionally cold water (since it was heated very well from the sun) were located next to each house and were arranged impeccably. There were bunches of bananas hanging here and there that you could pick and eat if you wanted. All this was decorated with flocks of healthy colorful parrots, who screamed loudly and jostled with each other and with visitors on the railing. The sun was scorching, the humidity was such that at first just a little walking led to a quick and strong soaking of the cowboy jacket and more. The harsh climate was a test for us; of course, it requires endurance and patience, so it is difficult to spend many days there. For example, a characteristic feature of local dwellings is the absence of glass in window openings and doors as such. What for? All the time 32 - 36C and above. If only there was a breeze. At the same time, the roofs are made to last, because the rainfalls are very heavy, and the houses are all on stilts to protect them from all sorts of snakes and other tarantulas.
Well-s-s-s! And the bar had ice (!), tonic, and simply incomparable ice-cold English gin. I haven’t seen anything like this since, either in stores or at the airport. He was a great help to us after walking through the jungle and being exhausted in the heat. The bartender wrote everything down in a notebook, and before leaving I paid for everything with a credit card. The food was delicious, three times a day, with plenty of fruit. You could drink tea and coffee whenever you wanted, on your own, and in each house on the terrace there were special containers with drinking water and a set of clean cups. In the evening, an employee passed by and lit kerosene lamps along the paths and in the houses. After this, the camp took on a very romantic look. In general, the organization of the shelter was 5+, considering that it was a jungle. The program was intense, every day we had walks through the jungle and a boat ride along the river and its tributaries. We saw: rubber trees, small, thimble-sized black and red frogs, from the warts of which the locals make the famous curare poison, we saw forest pigs - tapirs, countless parrots, a tarantula in its night hole, a hummingbird bird (it fluttered like a dragonfly under the roof bar, where her nest was suspended), river dolphins. Yes, yes, there are river dolphins in the Amazon... We saw them at dawn. The gray one looks like a normal dolphin and the pink one is an amazing look. He is two meters long, and his skin color is really pink, he looks like a man who has come out of the bathhouse, who takes a dip and lets out a satisfied “oof.” There was also a night walk along the tributary, when we saw sleeping birds, snakes and spiders in the light of a lantern. They were all sitting in the trees. But the real highlight, citizens, was piranha fishing. We sailed on a motorboat quite far from the camp, climbed the Napo tributary and went deeper into a real wet forest. Those. trees large and small, bushes and other vines grew straight from the water along which we floated, and converged with arches above our heads. The fact is that, according to the guide, piranhas are found only in the tributaries of the Amazon. Well, the guide brought us to the place, and we started fishing! They catch piranha on a tackle without a float, the line is thick, ends with a steel (!) leash and a decent hook. What are they using to catch them? That's right, raw meat! Fish are caught for meat! When it bites, you feel with your hand how this beast tugs. Here you need to hook, but don’t rush, because they are cunning, they strive to bite off the edges first, and only then they get excited and grab it properly. And their teeth, citizens, are just a razor, especially on the lower jaw. The lower jaw meets the upper jaw like a bulldog. Brrrr! I will say that everyone caught several fish, we caught a total of 15 in an hour. Most of all - our guide, he had what we needed. In general, it was his great merit that we saw so many interesting things. Segundo was born and raised on the banks of the Amazon, worked for a long time as a boat driver for this company, and then, communicating with tourists, learned to speak English and became a guide. He is 59 years old, married, has 6 (!) children. He knew the jungle and tributaries around like the back of his hand, which is why he was able to show us so much. We fried the caught fish for dinner, it turned out delicious.
Well, everything comes to an end, and our trip to the distant Amazon ended completely imperceptibly, and with it the end of our entire Peruvian project dawned. We were escorted to the Iquitos airport in a very organized manner, without any hiccups, said goodbye and were put on the plane. The plane was delayed, but this did not bother us at all, since we could not be late anywhere. There was another farewell day ahead in Lima.
Again there was a brand new A320, distribution of banana chips (how disgusting!), a glass of Johnnie Walker with ice and - hello, Lima! Late in the evening, we, already like old acquaintances, received the keys to the rooms in the small hotel "Mami Panchita".
11. Home
Yes, everything comes to an end. This is both sad and joyful. Dialectics. Thus the end of our journey through Peru drew near. Thousands of impressions were collected, thousands of kilometers were traveled, hundreds of photographs were taken, and so on and so forth. There was a farewell day left in Lima, it was necessary to bribe the missing souvenirs, shake out the backpacks for the long and long flight, and clean the “feathers”. And the most important thing, of course, was to say goodbye to Peru and Lima, to let go of my impressions a little, sit quietly on the ocean shore and dream about good things. We implemented all this with great pleasure. We walked around the cozy and beautiful district of Lima - Barranco, had lunch at a cafe for football lovers (and there are football fields in Peru even in the Nazca desert), made calls to friends, and then went to the ocean shore. My wife experimented with wading into the surf with her jeans wrapped up, and I even took a nap on the warm pebbles to the sound of the waves. And when it began to get dark, we admired the sunset, cheered ourselves up with pisco sour and walked along the elegant streets to the hotel. See you, Lima!
In the morning we were taken to the airport, three hours in advance, as expected for an international flight. We were collected and headed home. They checked us in for all flights at once, i.e. we received boarding passes for the flight Lima - Caracas, Caracas - Frankfurt, Frankfurt - Moscow. The flight was calm, the snow-capped Andes floated away under the wing, everything unknown was left behind. Caracas and Frankfurt were no longer surprising. Everything was in its place - cafes, duty-free shops, employees riding around Frankfurt airport on bicycles (it's big...) Lufthansa did not disappoint in any way this time either. We landed at Sheremetyevo-2 airport strictly on time, and after a short period of time we were at home. And it was great! Left behind are the roads and cities of another continent, the Andes and the Nazca Desert, Lake Titicaca, the Amazon and the Pacific Ocean.
The journey to Peru was over.
Super
Thank you, great story! I wanted to immediately get ready for Peru! I’m glad to see people like you, Andrey, who are able to throw themselves headlong into real adventures, rather than long and tediously describing the color of towels in Turkish hotels:)) My husband and I are also independent travelers, but so far only in our beloved Asia (India, Thailand, Nepal, Cambodia). Next year we were going to Ecuador, but your story nevertheless inclined us towards Peru (since we were in Nepal - we urgently need to go to Titicaca, we need to finally become a harmonious person!) That's it, I'm signing up for Spanish courses!
Question to the author
Andrey. As I understand it, domestic air tickets were purchased on the spot. Wasn’t it possible to boil them in advance and cheaper online? 2. Wouldn’t it be cheaper to go to Cusco from Lima by train or bus, why fly? And how much did the airplane tickets cost? In general, the author is a great guy. The report is one of the best on the site.
and one more question to the author
Andrey, in a week we are also flying to Peru, so the question is boring and practical. Many prices in guidebooks are indicated in dollars (for example, flights to Naxa or climbing the Inca Trail to MP). Does this mean that dollars are accepted, or are we still talking about salts? and further. Where is the best place to change money? In Lima and Cusco, or is the rate more or less the same everywhere? Maybe you remember the hor course at the airport in Lima? (I ask about this because, contrary to the usual rip-off practice of airports, the Delhi and Tashkent airports have the best rates (but this is only in the area before leaving the customs zone))
A couple of questions
And how much did such a grandiose journey cost you? Please write it down if it's not difficult. And thanks for the wonderful story!
About Peru
The budget is in the text in the Preparation section - $2470, details can be found at www.skitalets.ru in the Travel section
Nice to see a new story about Peru
We also traveled around Peru and Bolivia in January-February this year, for three weeks. The trip cost us $900 per person, not including airfare to Lima. And the Lima-Cusco air ticket cost us $80. The plane saves time; it is better to fly, of course, only an hour. It takes more than 20 hours to get there by bus; trains do not go there from Lima.
Olga
They accept dollars there, that is, all sorts of tours (flights over the lines, entrance to MP, etc.), and you can also pay for air tickets in dollars; in soles the same will cost at the normal rate. But in hotels the price in dollars can be calculated at an inflated rate. So it’s usually better to pay in salts there. At the airport in Lima the rate was slightly lower than in the city.
Boring story!
We were in Peru and Bolivia (with Yulia) in January-February. Andrey, the story as a whole is very detailed and true, but the boredom is terrible. It’s amazing how you can talk so tediously about such amazing exotics! There was some kind of protocol, fin. trip report. Moreover, an exalted and enthusiastic protocol. We’ll have to throw some weight in the ointment: You overpaid $50 for Machu Picchu because they sold you expensive tickets (and they didn’t become more expensive). Lufthansa is a dirty trick. Older, prim German flight attendants are much less friendly and helpful than young, charming Latin American flight attendants. The food at Lufthansa is disgusting. Latin American Taca, Tans and LAB are even better.
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Total travel budget including excursions, internal travel and hotels: $1,567
Go?
Preparing for the trip:
Visa
Russian citizens traveling for tourism purposes can stay in the country for up to 90 days without a visa. When entering the country, you must fill out a migration card and keep it throughout your trip; it will be collected upon departure.
International flight
There are no direct flights to Peru from Russia. The most convenient flight options are offered by Iberia, KLM, Air France - with one transfer in Madrid, Amsterdam or Paris, for which a transit visa is not required.
A more economical flight option can be found with Delta. But to transfer to the USA, a transit visa is required.
The most economical flight option is with two transfers through Europe and Venezuela.
You need to look for tickets to Lima - the international airport is located in the capital of Peru. From Lima you can then fly to other cities in the country.
Ticket prices start from approximately 44,000 rubles (with two transfers) to 60,000 rubles (with one transfer). The expensive flight is compensated by the fact that everything in the country itself is very inexpensive.
Vaccinations
If you are planning a trip to the jungle, you should be vaccinated against yellow fever in advance. No one will check it anywhere; this is an entirely voluntary matter for your safety.
Money
The currency of Peru is the Peruvian Nuevo Sol. Exchange rate against the dollar: 2.6-2.7 soles per dollar. You can bring dollars with you - there are many exchange offices everywhere. Or take some dollars and a bank card, and withdraw from ATMs in local currency on the spot.
Important: Never change currency from street money changers! Only in bank branches!
Safety
Peru is a very safe country today. Perhaps only in Lima outside the tourist areas you need to exercise caution and it is advisable to avoid walking at night. In other cities everything is calm and you can drive safely without fear of anything. Of course, you need to follow the usual precautions: do not leave things unattended, do not carry your wallet in a backpack behind your back - but nothing more.
Route
Day 1: We arrive in Lima. The capital of Peru is always the starting point of any route. If time is limited, it is not worth spending it on Lima; you can immediately go south, to Nazca. There are many bus routes in this direction; you can choose a convenient time. The journey from Lima will take 7.5 hours. Overnight in Nazca.
Budget:
Transfer to Nazca by buses from the best company in Peru, Cruz del Sur: approximately $30.
3* hotel in Nazca, for example Kunan Wasi Hotel: approximately $22
Day 2: In the morning we are going to fly over the Nazca Lines. Small 5-seater planes fly over the Lines. Before approaching each of the geoglyphs, the pilot warns which figure is about to appear in the field of view, and then tilts the plane to the right and left so that everyone can see the Lines and take good pictures. After a 30-35 minute flight, you can have lunch and walk around the city, and at 10 pm take the Cruz del Sur night bus to Arequipa.
The route was planned this way for a reason: the fact is that the location of Arequipa and the Canyon allows you to gently adapt to the altitude, so that you can then rise higher in Puno and Cusco and not suffer from altitude sickness.
Buses in Peru are very comfortable, the seats recline almost to a horizontal position, each passenger is given a pillow and a blanket, so you can easily sleep the entire trip, which will take 10 hours.
Day 9: You can see the sunrise at Machu Picchu! I know some people don't like popular tourist spots. But it’s not Machu Picchu’s fault that it is so beautiful and so many people come to look at this wonder of the world! You can climb higher, find a secluded corner and enjoy the beauty alone :) And you can also climb Mount Wayna Picchu - the same one that is visible in all the photographs of Machu Picchu right behind the ruins. The climb to Wayna Picchu is steep and difficult, but the view from there is crazy!
In the evening we return to Cusco.
Budget:
Day 10: You can relax, walk around Cusco, go to museums, climb to the statue of Christ, see the ruins of Sacsayhuaman and even ride through the mountains on horseback - such walks are offered near the ruins of Sacsayhuaman. And in the evening we need to get ready for the road, the Amazon jungle awaits us - Manu National Park!
Budget:
Hotel in Cusco, for example Golden Inca: $25
Days 11-14: We leave Cusco before dawn, since we have a rather long road ahead of us. It is a very interesting and unusual experience to drive from the Sierra (mountains) to Selva (jungle). Nature, plants, landscapes change right before your eyes. In the morning we were among rocks, eucalyptus trees and rare vegetation, and in the evening - in the humid hot tropics, where a bright red cock of the rock crows, where a mountain river rustles under the windows of the lodge, and giant butterflies and tiny hummingbirds flutter above the flowers!
After lunch we will reach the point where the road ends. Then you can only sail by boat. But first, we'll go down the river on rafts - it's a lot of fun! The bravest ones can even take a swim :)
After a long day and a delicious dinner, there is nothing better than sleeping to the sound of the river!
The following days merge into one long and incredibly beautiful day with walks through the jungle and lakes, cable car rides and piranha fishing, night forays into the forest and watching animals and birds. It’s very sad to leave here, you always want to stay longer!
Budget:
4-day excursion to the Amazon jungle - Manu National Park: $440
The price includes transportation, accommodation in lodges, meals, rafting, cable car rides, etc.
Overnight at a hotel in Cusco after returning from Manu: $25
Day 15: That's it, it's time to fly to Lima and home.
If you still have time, I would highly recommend driving along the coast to the north of Lima: to Trujillo and Chiclayo - see the sights of the Moche Road, go to the Cordillera Blanca to lagoons among glaciers and the giant flowers of Puya Raymondia, climb to the ancient city of the Chachapoyas civilization - Kuelap. I can talk about interesting places in Peru for a very long time :)
Budget:
Flight Cusco-Lima with Star Peru: approximately $100
Total: total budget for the trip including excursions, travel and hotels: $1,567
N.B.
- The route is designed taking into account the current schedule of bus and air flights.
- The tours included in this itinerary are in English or Spanish. Organizing excursions with Russian-speaking guides is possible, but the cost will vary.
- Hotel rates are per person based on double occupancy. Check-in dates are arbitrary; prices for specific dates may vary slightly.
- The calculation does not include meals other than those already included in the cost of hotel accommodation or excursions. When planning a route, I usually budget 20-25 dollars a day for food.
- The cost of admission to museums, national parks and other additional expenses is not included in the calculation.
- The cost of bus tickets and air travel from Cusco to Lima is indicated for arbitrary dates; the price for specific dates may vary slightly.