My friend and I are heading to Peru in May 2007. We have the following Questions:
1.) We have an agenda set and was wondering if this is not realistic?
14 Day excurstion.
May 15th - 10pm Lima (arrive)
May 16h - Day in Lima - Fly out to Cusco
May 17th - Cusco May 18th - Cusco
May 19th - Machu Picchu
May 20th - Machu Picchu
May 21th - Puno - Lake Titicaca
May 22nd - La Paz
May 23rd - Nasca
May 24th - Lima May 25th - Lima
May 26th - Lima (Fly home)
2.) We really want to go to La Paz while we visit Lk. Titicaca since it's so close. Do you think that's a good idea?
3.) From La Paz, what's the best way to go to Nasca? Or is Nasca not a realistic idea?
4.) Should we book the flight ahead of time from Lima to Cusco or should we wait until we get there? What's a good airline that is cheap and realiable?
5.) Should we book hotel ahead of time or negotitate when we get there? Do you have a good website or a place to stay that is nice and clean? And cheap?
6.) Are there reliable ATMs there that I can use?
7.) Can I get around with only speaking a little spanish?
We are excited to head there in May!
Thanks!
-mcn
Reply to this This is a LOT to do in such a short time, but do-able if you plan well. Some recommendations:
1. Have you considered flying into La Paz instead of Lima? Then you could acclimate to the altitude, and then go by land to the Lake, then to Puno and by land to Cuzco (a spectacular trip on the bus).
2. To get to Nasca you either need to start in Lima (you can fly or take buses - everything from dirt cheap to pretty fancy) OR you can take the bus from Arequipa (not recommended for a trip as short as yours). Consider going from La Paz to Lima (or, if you take advice above, from Cusco) on the 23rd, then the 24th do a day trip on Aero Condor to Lima (you could even do this on teh dya you leave for home if your flight home is at night..)
3. ATMS are fine in the big cities, but not so much in smaller towns.
With such a short trip - I recommend you book flights in advance. there's only one airline anyway (Lan) Check out our Quixo Peru website http://www.quixo.com/peru/ for tips on this stuff.
Finally, yes, you can get around with little Spanish. Peruvians are wonderful, and the places youre going have plenty of tourist infrastructure. Get yourself a good guidebook, though! and before you go check out some language tapes from teh librayr to practice. buen viaje -CC
Reply to this I don't think it is an impossible itinerary I just think you'll be fitting a lot in and will be spending a lot of time on buses/trains.
2) I wouldn't bother going to La Paz for such a short amount of time unless you were going to fly and even then maybe not if your flight gets delayed. By the time you get all the way to La Paz and then have to go all the way back to Lima. You are spending a long time on buses and not enough time seeing La Paz.
3) I wouldn't try to go to the Nazca lines from La Paz either. I'd do it whilst you were in Peru and like the person above suggested from Cusco. If you haven't booked your flight already I'd go from Lima to Nazca to Cusco.
5) It depends on your budget and flexibility. I wouldn't bother booking hotels in advance as it can restrict you as to what you do and sometimes when you are there you get offered good deals which might include a hotel. When we went to the Nazca lines we were offered a price for both the hotel and the flight. So being flexible can be useful.
7) You can definitely get around with little spanish. I spoke none but I did manage to pick up words as I was going along.
Hope you have a great time!
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