warpus
In pork I trust
I'll know the details once we book our flight. Right now all we know is that we're going at some point in may.
Destination: Peru
- Thread starter warpus
- Start date
I'll know the details once we book our flight. Right now all we know is that we're going at some point in may.
warpus
In pork I trust
I've been doing some research. I made a map of places we'd like to go, in chronological order. Some of them are "must see", some of them.. "would be nice"
Here's the map.. The numbers you see are in chronological order of how we'd do the trip, or at least the rough plan so far.
Here's the map.. The numbers you see are in chronological order of how we'd do the trip, or at least the rough plan so far.
warpus
In pork I trust
1. Fly into Lima, spend 1-2 days there
2. Bus to Huaraz, acclimatize, do the Santa Cruz hike
3. Back in Lima for a couple days. Eat some food, beaches, sights, etc.
4. Fly to Cuzco. Check out Machu Picchu and the sacred valley.
Now here is where things will depend on how much time we have. I've marked 3 spots on the map we could go to (5,6, and 7), and we could probably do them in that order by taking buses.. eventually ending back in Lima.
5. Colca Canyon - twice as deep as the grand canyon! There's trails and lookout points here.
6. Nazca lines - can do a $120 35 min scenic flight here to see the big picture
7. Ica - sanddune surfing!
There's also Lake Titicaca, a bit further east, but maybe worth visiting? There wouldn't be time to do all 4, but it's an option. (on the map it's just east of the yellow marker - colca canyon)
The only other cool things in the country I'd consider seeing if they were closer are the tropical part (north east) and the nice beaches of the north.. but we'll see some really nice ones in Lima anyway. So it seems like all the "must see" things in the country are in the same general area.. sort of..
Here's a rough calendar I made just to have some dates in there.. even though they might very well change.. I left Nazca out, but as you can see we'll have a week left after arriving at the colca canyon.. so there should be enough time to see the Nazca lines too.. It all kind of depends on variables I can't control, so the last week in this plan can be pretty much viewed as wide open. We could fall in love with Cuzco and want to stay there longer.. or maybe do another 4-5 day long hike in the area instead. Who knows!
2. Bus to Huaraz, acclimatize, do the Santa Cruz hike
3. Back in Lima for a couple days. Eat some food, beaches, sights, etc.
4. Fly to Cuzco. Check out Machu Picchu and the sacred valley.
Now here is where things will depend on how much time we have. I've marked 3 spots on the map we could go to (5,6, and 7), and we could probably do them in that order by taking buses.. eventually ending back in Lima.
5. Colca Canyon - twice as deep as the grand canyon! There's trails and lookout points here.
6. Nazca lines - can do a $120 35 min scenic flight here to see the big picture
7. Ica - sanddune surfing!
There's also Lake Titicaca, a bit further east, but maybe worth visiting? There wouldn't be time to do all 4, but it's an option. (on the map it's just east of the yellow marker - colca canyon)
The only other cool things in the country I'd consider seeing if they were closer are the tropical part (north east) and the nice beaches of the north.. but we'll see some really nice ones in Lima anyway. So it seems like all the "must see" things in the country are in the same general area.. sort of..
Here's a rough calendar I made just to have some dates in there.. even though they might very well change.. I left Nazca out, but as you can see we'll have a week left after arriving at the colca canyon.. so there should be enough time to see the Nazca lines too.. It all kind of depends on variables I can't control, so the last week in this plan can be pretty much viewed as wide open. We could fall in love with Cuzco and want to stay there longer.. or maybe do another 4-5 day long hike in the area instead. Who knows!
warpus
In pork I trust
You know, I think this is what I'm going to take to my travelling buddy (he hasn't seen any of this yet)
I'll say "K, so we'll do the santa cruz trip for sure, and the cuzco/machu picchu/valley part too. Then we can decide if we want to visit any of the other places I marked on the map (lake titicaca, canyon, nazca, ica) or maybe do a 4-5 day long hike near Machu Picchu instead."
That's probably going to be a good way to do it, and we can always add more things to the itinerary as we do more research.
I'll say "K, so we'll do the santa cruz trip for sure, and the cuzco/machu picchu/valley part too. Then we can decide if we want to visit any of the other places I marked on the map (lake titicaca, canyon, nazca, ica) or maybe do a 4-5 day long hike near Machu Picchu instead."
That's probably going to be a good way to do it, and we can always add more things to the itinerary as we do more research.
Awesome location choice, my second-grade teacher lived in Peru for a while. Make sure you visit the rain forest (without a guide if possible), and don't be afraid to eat local cuisine. Not sure if chicken foot soup is one of them, but I hear it's tasty. I hope you have fun man.
warpus
In pork I trust
The rain forest part of Peru is actually wayyyy on the other side of the country. There's no way we'd have time to head there. Check the map above and the things on our "to see" list - the rain forest part of the country is in the north-east.
As for local cuisine there's been tons of good advice in this thread. I def. plan on indulging myself when I'm in Lima
warpus
In pork I trust
This is the new "potential plan"
1. Fly into Lima
2. Bus to Huaraz - do the Santa Cruz hike (4 days)
3. Bus back to Lima, consume lots of food, fly to Cuzco
4. Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu (5-6 days)
5. Sacred Valley
6. Probably time to go home, so fly back to Lima and then fly back home. Or maybe enough time for colca canyon or Ica
1. Fly into Lima
2. Bus to Huaraz - do the Santa Cruz hike (4 days)
3. Bus back to Lima, consume lots of food, fly to Cuzco
4. Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu (5-6 days)
5. Sacred Valley
6. Probably time to go home, so fly back to Lima and then fly back home. Or maybe enough time for colca canyon or Ica
warpus
In pork I trust
Santa Cruz hike map
Salkantay hike map
I'm not sure if we could do both hikes; I'm not sure how long we'd have to spend acclimatizing for each.
Salkantay hike map
I'm not sure if we could do both hikes; I'm not sure how long we'd have to spend acclimatizing for each.
warpus
In pork I trust
Some of those ae in the Inca Civ city list!!
Ooooh I should play a game as the Incas before my trip, thanks for the indirect suggestion
warpus
In pork I trust
If anyone is curious, I've been doing lots of research, emailing hostels, tour guides, taking notes, etc. "The Machu Picchu guidebook" just arrived in the mail today too 
It seems to be an excellent guide, but I haven't had time to really go through much of it yet.. Machu Picchu is wayyyy bigger than I initially thought - we might want to spend 2 days exploring the ruins!
So if anyone is ever going to Peru, especially Machu Picchu.. I am going to have a ton of information for you, shall you need it. The Inca trail is totally not worth it.. You pay $650+ for the priviledge of hiking that.. That is really really overpriced.. yet people do it cause it's the "famous" one.
The Salkantay trek is 1 day longer, has more spectacular views, takes you straight to Machu Picchu, and you can do it for less than 10% of the cost of the Inca Trail. I tracked down a hostel that organizes trips, they charge $199 a person... but you can also go out on town and hire a guide on your own and save even more money.. or just do the trail by yourself without any guides. I'm not quite sure which we're going to do.. We're going to fly into Cusco and go through our options - we'll have 2-3 days to acclimatize anyway, so we won't be wasting any time.
Our new itinerary is:
1. Fly into Lima
2. Fly to Cusco the very next morning
3. Acclimatise, explore the sacred valley, Cusco, figure out how we're doing the upcoming trek
3. Do the 5 day Salkantay Trek
4. Fly back to Lima, take a bus to Huaraz
5. Acclimatize, do the 4 day Santa Cruz hike (We should have enough energy left for it)
6. Fly back home, tell stories, show off pictures
It seems to be an excellent guide, but I haven't had time to really go through much of it yet.. Machu Picchu is wayyyy bigger than I initially thought - we might want to spend 2 days exploring the ruins!So if anyone is ever going to Peru, especially Machu Picchu.. I am going to have a ton of information for you, shall you need it. The Inca trail is totally not worth it.. You pay $650+ for the priviledge of hiking that.. That is really really overpriced.. yet people do it cause it's the "famous" one.
The Salkantay trek is 1 day longer, has more spectacular views, takes you straight to Machu Picchu, and you can do it for less than 10% of the cost of the Inca Trail. I tracked down a hostel that organizes trips, they charge $199 a person... but you can also go out on town and hire a guide on your own and save even more money.. or just do the trail by yourself without any guides. I'm not quite sure which we're going to do.. We're going to fly into Cusco and go through our options - we'll have 2-3 days to acclimatize anyway, so we won't be wasting any time.
Our new itinerary is:
1. Fly into Lima
2. Fly to Cusco the very next morning
3. Acclimatise, explore the sacred valley, Cusco, figure out how we're doing the upcoming trek
3. Do the 5 day Salkantay Trek
4. Fly back to Lima, take a bus to Huaraz
5. Acclimatize, do the 4 day Santa Cruz hike (We should have enough energy left for it)
6. Fly back home, tell stories, show off pictures
warpus
In pork I trust
It's the second most popular hike in Peru - in the second tallest mountain chain outside of Asia, the Cordillera Blanca.
Here's some pictures and an itinerary. It really looks like the most spectacular hike I've ever done (if we end up doing it, which I hope we do)
Oerdin
Deity
Eat a guinea pig.
warpus
In pork I trust
Hmmm the Cord. Blanca is advertised as the "second tallest mountain chain outside of Asia".
Probably because it's a much larger chain than the one where Aconcagua is? Shrug
Oerdin said:
Oh we're planning on it
Probably just a publicity stunt.
It's still higher tha those Yankee colonials can offer, so once again 'Merica isn't #1.
Do tell!warpus said:Oh we're planning on it
warpus
In pork I trust
I really can't wait for this trip.. For some reason I'm anticipating it more than both my NZ or Patagonia trips. Problem is that there isn't much research I can do 
So I'm sitting here, trying to figure out what to do with my evening.. All I can think about is Peru, but there isn't much left to do.
I suppose I need to buy a couple things for it, hmm
So I'm sitting here, trying to figure out what to do with my evening.. All I can think about is Peru, but there isn't much left to do.I suppose I need to buy a couple things for it, hmm
warpus
In pork I trust
Okay guys, I just booked the flights!
We fly from Toronto at 5:30pm on a Saturday and land in Lima at 6am the next day, with a 3 1/2 hour layover in New York. The flight from Toronto to New York is on some American Airlines spinoff airline or something.. and then the flight to Lima is on the awesome LAN (free wine, free tetris, free movies, etc.)
Then 3 1/2 hours later, at 9:40am, we fly from Lima to Cusco, where we'll land at 11:05am. Then we have 3 weeks to follow in the steps of the Incas, chew coca leaves, hike in the high Andes, explore Machu Picchu, enjoy the cuisine in Lima.. and much much more!
We are likely going to be exhausted when we get there though so I already picked out a place where we can rest up a bit and have some beers
I haven't booked the flight back to Lima yet (from Cusco).. plans could change! I figure we'll arrange that later.. I only paid $39 for that flight to Cusco for 2 people. LAN was quoting me at $250 per person return.. I think I got lucky!
On the way home we fly from Lima again with LAN airlines with a 2 hour layover in New York and then back to Toronto. It's an overnight flight again - we take off at midnight and are back in Toronto on a Sunday at 12:45pm. I'll be home in time for dinner.
We fly from Toronto at 5:30pm on a Saturday and land in Lima at 6am the next day, with a 3 1/2 hour layover in New York. The flight from Toronto to New York is on some American Airlines spinoff airline or something.. and then the flight to Lima is on the awesome LAN (free wine, free tetris, free movies, etc.)
Then 3 1/2 hours later, at 9:40am, we fly from Lima to Cusco, where we'll land at 11:05am. Then we have 3 weeks to follow in the steps of the Incas, chew coca leaves, hike in the high Andes, explore Machu Picchu, enjoy the cuisine in Lima.. and much much more!
We are likely going to be exhausted when we get there though so I already picked out a place where we can rest up a bit and have some beers
I haven't booked the flight back to Lima yet (from Cusco).. plans could change! I figure we'll arrange that later.. I only paid $39 for that flight to Cusco for 2 people. LAN was quoting me at $250 per person return.. I think I got lucky!
On the way home we fly from Lima again with LAN airlines with a 2 hour layover in New York and then back to Toronto. It's an overnight flight again - we take off at midnight and are back in Toronto on a Sunday at 12:45pm. I'll be home in time for dinner.
warpus
In pork I trust
It's all finalized.. s ort of. I will be in Lima briefly on the 15th (returning from Cusco, just booked a SUPER cheap return flight), but planning on taking a bus to Huaraz on the morning of the 16th. So that's not that much time.
Whenever we're done with the Santa Cruz hike & Huaraz we're heading back to Lima, a couple days before we fly home on the 27th (just after midnight.) If all goes well we'll arrive in Lima on the 23rd and be there for 3 full days before we have to fly home.
But yeah.. that flight I just booked from Cusco to Lima for 2 people? one way? $30 after taxes for both. wtf? Some of the flights were marked as $12 (per person, before some fees), some $200... ... ... It went through orbitz.com, so it's not a scam, but I'm suspicious anyway
