hello y hola todo

Im Uk citizen, have a fiancee in Peru and a mother in Murcia Spain, have joined the forum here to pick advice and oppurtunities on visa issues and also to get more familiar with various aspects of what seems to be my impossible situation ..being torn apart by two seperate worlds….ill say no more for now, shall get familiar with the forums here and hopefully soon enough start making some posts 😊

sooo cuidate for now

SM

Hi, maybe I can take advantage and ask you something…  We’re thinking of Peru for a 2 week holiday soon, maybe Christmas time this year.  I speak quite good Spanish and we are confident independent travellers, having travelled widely in Mexico, Argentina and Brazil, as well as 3rd world places like India. Our time is too limited for backpacking, so we usually fly between cities, then hire a car and explore the local countryside.  Do you think this is easy, safe and practical in Peru?  You read conflicting reports everywhere.  We don’t scare easily, but we don’t want to be stupid either.  And when is the best time to go?  Is Christmas/New Year a good season for travelling?  It looks like we can get reasonably priced flights from Europe at that time, for a start.

Oh, and welcome to this forum and I hope you can find the information you want here.  I share my time between Scotland and Granada; if there’s anything I can help you with, please ask.

hi MartCross, thanks for your post, it be a pleaure for me to help you out, but before i say anything, can you give a rough guide to the places you are wishing to travel to…..Peru can differ very much depending which region you traveling to, for example…out of all the worlds 32 diferent types of climates available, peru holds 28 of them….so just give me an idea where you wish to visits etc and ill let you know as much as i can…look foward to your reply
S.M.

Dunno, really, we only just started to think about it.  If travel is difficult, unreliable or time-consuming, then in two weeks we might restrict ourselves to just two or three locations.  I want to spend a couple of days in Lima, and Cuzco.  Thereafter, I need to read up on the place…. saludos.

lima and cusco i am only well too familiar with…so yep i can help you out….. a two week vist would do fine, theres is plenty enough to see surrounding cusco and the valleys….

now… first off, lima is a good time to go as it will be the summer, which also means less tourists, though theres always some activity going on in the centro regarding entertainment.

cusco, you would find more wet, and if you intend to go to macchu piccu then it is the wet season there, though shouldnt be a problem, it is not like the rain we get here in britian..lol

travelling, regarding lima and hiring a car…..id forget that idea, id say 85% of traffic on the roads there are all public transport and very cheap…..travelling to cusuco you have two options, bith i have done. you could catch a national coach…which takes 24 hours, a return trip for me the first time to macchu piccu via cusco from lima took in all six days by time i got back to lima, and that was a rush trip. the cost was about 15 quid aprox. just to cusco…..second option is by flight, costs aprox ?80.00 and takes only one hour, this can be booked in many of teh travelling agents that you will see in the centro area of lima.

oh another disadvantage of the bus trip, is that you gotta toilet on the coach, you will soon find out yourself, no matter where you are, peruvians have a thing about not cleaning thier toilets.

accomodation in lima can be very cheap, just matter of looking via internet, same goes for cusco and surrounding areas.

if you are heading for machu piccu, take supplies with you, you will find the nearear you get the more prices start to rise.

also, fotocopy your passport to carrry at all times, keep the original and anything else hidden safe where ever you are staying, some apartments or hotels provide safe boxes. but you will need ID for catching certain public transports such as the national coaches and trains etc.

hum…  you seem to know the crack with general common sense regarding saftey, considering the palces you have been to..soo feel free to ask any thing else….

Thanks, siempre m, it’s much better to get that kind of advice from an individual than from a book or an anonymous website.  If we got ahead and book a flight, I may ask you more.  Chevere, hombre!

absolutley , you are welcome, ive got posts to make soon, so ill be in and out this forum each day .

also, if you do plan for machu piccu, before you pay any travel agencies or tour operators, leave a post here, they can be expensive, luckily my fiancee has the gift of the gab and got us there cheaply via alternative means (local transport)

all best,