Anyone trave to Peru

[inthedark]

I'll be heading there in two weeks. Aside from the usual travel advice, anyone have any first hand experience regarding travel in Peru? Right now I'm most concerned about safety, I'm usually pretty alert to my surroundings, but from what I've been reading crime's gotten a lot worse recently.

[chavez]

Last time I was in Peru was for a business trip to Lima but that was around 1998 so it has been a long while. You might ask the hotel if they have any cab drivers that also act as guides for the city that you can strike a good deal with. I contracted one driver once that was very helpful and not all that expensive to drive me to restraunts, museums, etc. and wait for me when I got out. BTW, I can speak Spanish reasonably well and so of course that helped!

The one thing I noticed with Peruvian cuisine at least in Lima was they are deathly afraid of spicy foods which I thought was weird. Next country over in Ecuador they eat peppers but the Peruvians think green peppers are hot. Oh yeah, stick to hot food and be wary of both non-heated foods like ceviche. Also, the hotel may say that the water they provide to you is safe but unless it is sealed imported bottled water, I would rather not drink it. The first time I went and came back drinking the water the hotel offered me I was sick for two weeks and had to see the doctor to check for parasites!

I hope this is the sort of advice you were looking for. Have a good trip!

[inthedark]

Thanks for the tips Chavez,

I just got back yesterday, had a great time. Spent 9 days travelling around Peru, getting as much in as possible. It was definitely an experience. I had even had the chance to put some of my EDC stuff to use. Needed to use my multitool to fix a broken door lock at one of the places. If I didn't have it with me, my gf would probably still be stuck inside a bathroom in Cusco. Also used some duct tape to seal the roof of a leaky bus. That saved me from sitting underneath a dripping roof on a 9 hour bus ride. Lot of other things, I'll have to give a trip report later.