Vic-Views - The Life & Times of Sheila & Norm

Rather than putting everything on one page, this will serve as a "cover page” with comments about the trip and Peru in general.  Subsequent pages will highlight the major stops along the way, starting with Lima.

We hope you enjoy these pages -all comments are welcome. Please send them to normandsheila@vicviews.com . If you would rather not receive future updates, please let us know. No offence will be taken - we understand email overload!

We were at a disadvantage in terms of photos. When we left our Lima hotel, I failed to pack the spare camera battery and charger - this was only discovered when the battery in the camera needed charging around Nazca, our fourth day. Our tour guide called the hotel in Lima to see if they were indeed there, but they told him no. It was, therefore, very disappointing that when we got back to Lima and checked at the desk, the charger, battery and cable were all there! This is a long winded way of saying that most of the photos were taken on the iPhone, which although a good camera, is not the same as our Canon PowerShot. I should add, we also got photos from others in the group.

This was our first venture to South America - it proved to be very enjoyable and we would recommend it to everyone. 

Getting there:

Although Victoria and Lima are on the west coast of the American continent, travel time for the journey is almost 24 hours door to door - Air Canada has only flight to Lima and it is from Toronto, forcing us to fly 7 hours eastward, when we could have been flying south.  Of course, we had forgotten that Toronto is the centre of the universe!!

For the eight hour flight to Lima, we paid an extra $100.00/person/flight to get extra leg room - it was worth the extra. The upgrade in space was not reflected in the food offerings which were poor.

When to go?

Our trip to Peru extended between May 12 and May 29. According to the travel books, this was a good time to go to the parts of the country we were visiting. And the good news was that the books were correct. We had only a few sprinkles of rain, and perhaps best of all, the weather at Machu Picchu was good, although not perfect. If you are planning on going to other parts of the country, it’s best to check weather conditions at that time of year. But even the best laid plans can go awry - there was severe flooding in northern Peru early in 2017 causing significant damage that was still having an impact in May.

The Tour Company:

There are many Peruvian tours and tour companies to chose from - some are restricted to Peru, some include surrounding countries and the Galapagos. We opted to go with G - Adventures which operates a 15 day tour in conjunction with National Geographic. While it does not include the Amazon Basin nor the area between Lima and the Ecuadorian border, it does include such highlights as Machu Picchu, Nazca Lines, Arequipa, Cusco, Puno and Lake Titicaca. We also appreciated the small size of the group - max of 16.

Yuri, our tour guide was outstanding - he was knowledgable on many fronts, a good listener, organized and had a good sense of humour. No request was too great, no question too trivial. There were 15 in our group, although one person opted to fly home after getting sick quite early on. All our accommodation and travel arrangements were organized by G Adventures which made life easier. Most of the travel was on a mini bus with seating capacity of 24, while we also had a couple train and plane journeys. We were glad that we weren’t driving - traffic in the cities was very hectic, and on the the open road, there were invisible rules that only the locals understood. Despite that, we only saw one accident over the 17 days, and that was a fender bender in a quiet suburban street in Lima.

To their credit, G-Adventures endeavour to support the local economy wherever possible. In terms of accommodation we stayed in smaller hotels that were not part of international chains such The Marriott. Overall, the accommodation was very comfortable and the rooms well appointed, most more so, one or two less so. Breakfasts were always included. Lunches were usually taken as a group when travelling - there were a couple of special lunches which will get special mention in later postings. When exploring cities on our own, it was common to have lunch in small groups. Dinner was usually up to individuals, but always Yuri would provide several recommendations reflecting what people were looking for - local cuisine, a snack, full dinner, casual dining. I think there was only one occasion when we ate dinner on our own, every other dinner we ate with the entire group or with some others in the group. 

Yuri was with us throughout the trip which was well received by our group. In addition, every day, there were local guides who provided more detailed commentary. The local guides were extremely well educated with an excellent command of English. I'm not sure but what Yuri could have done as good a job as the local guides, but they did afford Yuri the opportunity for some "down time", although he never did "tune out". Hiring these local guides was also part of G Adventures commitment to provide employment in locations outside the capital cities.

Health Matters:

When going to Peru, one of the issues is always altitude - how to best avoid altitude sickness. There are three useful tips we can pass on: 

    1.    Any increase in elevation should be done in small increments, rather than all in one e.g. it is better to take a 3 day road trip than a 3 hour flight,

    2.    Stay hydrated and

    3.    Drink coca tea whenever it is on offer.

You may also want to consider acetazolamide [Diamox] which we took as prescribed, without any side effects. Indeed, we were pleased not to have any medical issues at all. However, we did notice that physical activity was more demanding at elevation. While on the topic of matters medical, we were told that medical facilities and treatment is very good in the major centres when needed - one of our group had to access medical care while in Arequipa. 

Speaking of water and hydration, it is advised to use bottled water except for bathing. Fortunately, bottled water is readily available, and not expensive, although experience taught us that the price does vary quite widely - even in the same store, the price might vary by time of day, who is serving, and who is being served! In some countries, there are warnings about consuming salads which may or may not have been rinsed before serving, avoiding ice and so on. We did exercise caution, but suffered no ill effects from consuming salads in selected restaurants.

Food:

Peru prides itself on its cuisine with many different influences: Indigenous, Spanish, African, Chinese and Japanese. Meals tend to be large - many of us would opt to share a plate for example. There were always potatoes and corn served, in copious quantities! Ceviche is served in almost every restaurant, not surprising given the rich off shore fishing grounds. Guinea Pig is the “national dish”; we did the right thing and had guinea pig once. There is not much eating on a guinea pig, tastes similar to duck and is usually quite greasy - due as much to the method of cooking as to the meat. Pisco Sour is the national drink; we did not share a Pisco Sour and we had more than one!! Quite often restaurants would serve a Pisco Sour without cost. They come in many flavours - the best one was to be had right in the lobby of our Lima Hotel, The Antiqua Hotel in Miraflores. 

Cash:

The Peruvian Sol is the currency. ATM’s which may dispense Sol or American dollars are prevalent everywhere we went. Most ATM’s limit withdrawals to 400 Sol which may come in large denominations which doesn’t help when it comes to tipping! However, we found that if you go into a bank they will willingly give you small change. Watch also for bank fees at ATM’s - there is wide variation - Banco Nationale had the lowest fees, BNS [Banco Nova Scotia] had the highest fees, despite what tour books said. If you happen to be a Bank of Nova Scotia customer, we understand the fees are waived.

Because our tour was all inclusive, we had little exposure to day to day costs apart from eating. Restaurant prices vary widely, as they do everywhere, depending on the type of eating establishment. Overall costs are lower, but it is not universal.

Language:

English is widely understood and spoken in tourist related industries, but when outside of that restricted environment, not much English was spoken or understood. We don’t speak Spanish except for “cerveza por favor”. We did notice that our high school French came in useful in translating from Spanish

Safety:

We never felt insecure during our time in Peru, although we were not in high risk areas. When driving to and from the airport, there was a strong police presence. We felt quite relaxed walking around the Miraflores district of Lima and the other towns we were in. However, we did use PacSafe bags as a precaution - operating on the basis of better safe than sorry.

Peru in a Nutshell:

If you would like a condensed history of Peru, you might like to go here

The next instalment will focus on Lima.