Anyone been to Peru?

I haven't been, but best friend has.
She said it was the most fantastic holiday she had ever been on.
The photos she showed me were fantastic.

Her H wasnt too impressed,but he is a sandy beach and sangria man?

I hope you have as wonderful a holiday as she had

I've been there. Cusco and Macchu Picchu (sp?!) are brilliant. You will have a wonderful time. I also went to Arequipa (it has a lovely monastery and great architecture) but hundreds of taxis! It also has a perfectly shaped volcano which you can see from the monastery roof. Also, the Nazca lines are great. You can take a little 4 seater aircraft and fly over the monkey, spaceman, spider etc. That was a great trip. I also have a feeling there are sand dunes on the west coast where you can go sand surfing but can't remember the name of the place now. Have a fantastic time. South America is one of my faves.

Thanks both of you! Petal, do you mind if I ask a few more questions? did you arrange the trip yourself or use a guided tour? We are considering an Intrepid trip as we used them in Cambodia and they were fantastic. Did you cope with the altitude okay? Thanks.

Well I was traveling in South America for 3 months so most of the stuff I did was organised myself whilst I was there. I got local buses everywhere around the country - mostly overnights (don't recommend the Cuzco to Nazca bus at all as it is 12 hours of dodgy journey over the Andes. My H had serious travel sickness and so him and loads of the locals were throwing up all over the place so I would make sure you fly over if you can afford it as I would imagine that is a much more pleasant experience!)

The tours themselves were organised by travel companies which I just found in my Lonely Planet and approached when I was there to organise. Not many people speak English in SA though so you may want to invest in a Latin American Spanish Phrasebook (although Peru was better than most as it caters for a lot of North American tourists). I did Macchu on the train but you can do the 4 day trek if you want. The Nazca lines I organised directly with a company in Nazca the day before we went. It is surprizingly straight forward tbh. It was back in 2004 so I'm sorry but can't remember the names of the companies but there are loads in Cusco and Nazca offering the trips and generally at the same prices (competition is fierce!)

I was quite used to the Altitude by the time I was there because I had already spent time in La Paz in Bolivia where I mainly felt drunk and breathless for a week. As it was higher than Cuzco I suffered less in Peru. I would just say take it easy whilst you are there and drink plenty of water and you should be fine. It is a strange feeling though!

I did the MP trek a few years ago. We turned up in Cusco and spent a few days acclimatising before doing the trek. We booked it once we got there but I understand (may be wrong) that you need to book in advance. They are trying to preserve the actual trail and are limiting the numbers. This might be different for the day trippers but IMO you really need to do the trek.

Our trip was wrought with problems- strikes all over the place meant we were stranded in a town north of Lima for 4 days, I fainted on the Inca trail and also twisted my ankle so had to be stretchred down to camp on the last night! I managed to see sunrise at MP though which was amazing- it really is a sight to behold! Because of the strike, we also had to start a night earlier and add about 20km onto our trek. It was very tiring but worth it in the end. Saying that, I will never do it again! OHs friends thought I was a ‘girl#%92 for ‘struggling#%92 but they did it a few years later and said it was as tough as base camp in Nepal!

I drank loads of the coco tea to help with altitude but it didn#%92t really do anything. The worst hangover I have ever had was in Cusco and I only had half a bottle of wine and 2 vodkas! So beware, as that is common with being at high altitude. You really do need to be in Cusco for a few days before hand.

xxx

quote:Originally posted by Petal
Well I was traveling in South America for 3 months so most of the stuff I did was organised myself whilst I was there. I got local buses everywhere around the country - mostly overnights (don't recommend the Cuzco to Nazca bus at all as it is 12 hours of dodgy journey over the Andes. My H had serious travel sickness and so him and loads of the locals were throwing up all over the place so I would make sure you fly over if you can afford it as I would imagine that is a much more pleasant experience!)

The tours themselves were organised by travel companies which I just found in my Lonely Planet and approached when I was there to organise. Not many people speak English in SA though so you may want to invest in a Latin American Spanish Phrasebook (although Peru was better than most as it caters for a lot of North American tourists). I did Macchu on the train but you can do the 4 day trek if you want. The Nazca lines I organised directly with a company in Nazca the day before we went. It is surprizingly straight forward tbh. It was back in 2004 so I'm sorry but can't remember the names of the companies but there are loads in Cusco and Nazca offering the trips and generally at the same prices (competition is fierce!)

I was quite used to the Altitude by the time I was there because I had already spent time in La Paz in Bolivia where I mainly felt drunk and breathless for a week. As it was higher than Cuzco I suffered less in Peru. I would just say take it easy whilst you are there and drink plenty of water and you should be fine. It is a strange feeling though!

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What Petal said mostly!! We did 2 nights in Lima, bus to Nazca (1 night) which isn't exactly the most happening place ever, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world, bus to Arequipa, which I loved, flew to Cusco, did MP, back to Cusco and then on to Puno on Lake Titicaca, which I wasn't thrilled with.

Thanks for all of the advice. We have looked at Lake Titicaca (sp?) but I wasn't 100% sure on it. I don't think we'll be able to trek the trail in full as my H suffers from compartment syndrome and although he can walk those distances, we're not sure he'd be able to do it at altitude. One option is to trek from the 88km mark to the sungate. We need to have everything booked as it will be an quick in-and-out job to tie in with the school hols as I'm a teacher. Thanks again ?