First trip to Peru (tentative plans) - seeking feedback

I have six full days in Peru this coming March. Acceptable (but not fluent) Spanish skills, and have mongered in CR and DR often.

I'm a budget-minded, solo hunter with limited interest in non-pros (not heartbroken if we part company after an hour).

50 years old. Not really an "outdoor activities" (hiking, surfing, etc.) type.

With that in mind... I'm seeking constructive criticism of this plan.

- arrive Lima Wed at 11pm. Stay at Maria Louisa or Las Palmas for 2-3 nights

- mid week, do an overnight trip (1, maybe 2 nights) to somewhere. Beach? Mountains? Jungle? Someplace (2-4 hours by bus, maybe) to hang, have a few beers, and get laid... just to get out of the city for awhile (REALLY hoping for advice on this part)

- wrap things us with a couple nights in Barranco... just to experience a side of Lima other than Miraflores. Am looking at Hostal Gemina (but would welcom other suggestions)

- depart the following Wednesday morning

Full trip report is promised. Your thoughts?

 

Strike out the Jungle if you plan in just 2-4 hours by BUS. But if your budget allows it, I would certainly recomend Iquitos (1 hour by plane) at the very Amazon River, right in the middle of the jungle. Check this link. Great hotels in the $30.00-$60.00 range, plenty of P4P action day and night and, of course, the Charapa girls, reputedly the hottest in bed here in Peru (ask RT about Charapas).

For mongering purposes I don't recomend the Mountains, not that close to Lima if what you want is to get laid; unless, of course, you take your bed companion with you. If you do, then Lunahuana would do. A completely developed Eco-Tourism area in the Cañete river valley, with plenty of good hotels in your price range. In March the river is high, so you'll have Class IV rapids for world-class rafting as well as trekking and mountain biking. Besides, the local food is outstanding. Check This Link. Again, if you can afford a plane ticket, Cuzco would be a must; three days - two nights... perfect. Plenty of info about Cuzco in the Field Reports section of this forum.

As for the beach, beaches are great right here in Lima. You can walk down to the beach from your hotel in Miraflores, there is nothing better within 2-4 hours from Lima at least in the P4P department. However, 8 hours north of Lima by bus, 45 minutes by plane, is Trujillo (check This Link), my favorite destination for mongering purposes; IMHO, the best P4P scene outside Lima. And there you have Huanchaco Beach or, if you are a fanatic surfer, Malabrigo Beach (a.k.a. Chicama Beach), the longest surf wave in the world. If you can read some spanish, check the forum thread about Trujillo here.

I hope this info to be of some help, and... Welcome to Peru!

 

I really wouldn't recommend taking a long distance trip by bus in Peru. I ride busses all over Costa Rica without worry but I checked into it in Peru and I found that they have a startling number of horrific bus crashes. Do a google search for bus crash Peru and you will see what I mean. LAN is pretty cheap when flying inside Peru and while it's more expensive than a bus it's a whole lot faster and safer.

Please let us know how your trip goes as I'm interested in hearing about other areas of Peru.

 

Main problem with bus travel, in Peru, is that there are a lot of small not-quite-legal bus companies which do not comply with legal and safety regulations; but they are cheap and I mean Cheap.

An example: I use to travel a lot to Trujillo. If by bus, the best service would be the VIP service of Linea, the VIP service of Oltursa, the Cruzero service of Cruz del Sur or the Royal Class Service of Ormeno. Any of them will cost around US$ 30.00 for the 8 Hour non-stop trip and they will offer you a fully reclinable, very wide (3 across), VIP coach, where you can really sleep; plus dinner (or breakfast), bar, etc. And their buses have safety cameras w/recorder, speed recorder, speed limiter and proximity radar, so they are very VERY safe.

Or you can go to the "Terminal Terrestre" and pick a bus that will take you to Trujillo in about 10 hours, stopping to let passengers climb or leave the bus at a zillion places on the way, and will offer you a narrow (4 across) seat, barely reclinable, where you cannot sleep (which is good for you could be robbed), but will charge you just about US$ 5.00. And I am not kidding, I've taken such a bus once because I got too late to Linea and I HAD to travel that night. Now, I was shit-scared all night and arrived to Trujillo exhausted.

Of course, you can always buy the US$ 100.00 airplane ticket (LAN, AeroCondor or Wayraperu) and pay the US$ 15.00 taxi to the airport in Lima and the US$ 5.00 taxi from the airport in Trujillo plust the two Airport Taxes (I'm not sure, since there is a different tax for foreigners, but let's say some aditional US$ 40.00 in all), but, believe me, the first option (the expensive bus) is just as safe.

 

I'd say that Línea might be a good choice to travel to Trujillo. And you can buy your ticket on-line.

I've posted the links to the sites of the companies I've mentioned in a new thread Here in This Link

I hope it is of some help