Bolivia and Peru

geuro

Hi folks

I am planning to go on holidays to Bolivia/Peru for 18 days at the end of July and start of August, and i am looking for some advice on how i should spend this time..

I am flying in and out of La Paz, so my initial and very rough route would take me west from La Paz, past Lake Titicaca as far as Arequipe. Then i would travel north-east to Cusco and do some trekking up that way, before making my way back down south-east to La Paz.

I want to fit in as much as is comfortable in the time i have, without organising the fun out of the trip.

Any ideas on what i should definately not miss, or where i would be as well off to avoid? Anyone got any tips or tricks or special recommendations?

Any advice very much appreciated

Gav

Aurora Borealis

Was there last summer. La Paz is amazing so allow for some time there.
Completely frenetic but so much fun. Make sure you do the death road cycle. It's exhilarating! Arequipa is the loveliest town. Really nice to just walk around and some great craic in the pubs etc. Check out Deja Vu, not the funkiest of clubs but a nice mix of travelers and locals. I did the trek into Colca Canyon from there and really enjoyed it. Beautiful and very diverse scenery with a gorgeous oasis where you can hang out and swim for the day. Cusco is also a great party town and you should def take in Machu Picchu which kinda blew my socks off! It's a pity you're missing out on the Salt Flats in Uyuni. There quite spectacular. PM me if you want any more advice on places to stay etc. You'll love it over there. Really makes you feel alive, the people and the scenery are so vibrant!

geuro

Thanks for the reply Aurora. I am so excited about this! i decided i might go yesterday morning and by last night i had my flights booked. Now all i have to do is plan my trip out and figure out all the injections that are required etc. By the way if anyone knows a good place to get this done at a reasonable cost in dublin that would be great..

In relation to the Salt flats, i was thinking maybe these should not be missed. I have a rough idea of what i should see but certainly no itinerary set in stone. Also, the Colca canyon trip sounds great. Did a quick google image on it and it looks spectacular. Does this involve a few days trekking or is it more of a day trip? Arequipe sounds great, i'll make sure to keep a few days free for a bit of craic when i get there!

Meathlass

geuro wrote: »

Thanks for the reply Aurora. I am so excited about this! i decided i might go yesterday morning and by last night i had my flights booked. Now all i have to do is plan my trip out and figure out all the injections that are required etc. By the way if anyone knows a good place to get this done at a reasonable cost in dublin that would be great..

In relation to the Salt flats, i was thinking maybe these should not be missed. I have a rough idea of what i should see but certainly no itinerary set in stone. Also, the Colca canyon trip sounds great. Did a quick google image on it and it looks spectacular. Does this involve a few days trekking or is it more of a day trip? Arequipe sounds great, i'll make sure to keep a few days free for a bit of craic when i get there!

I don't see why you can't fit in the Salt Flats and Arequipa (didn't do the trek but the monastry and the 'Ice Maiden' were worth the trip). Start in La Paz and head to Uyuni on the overnight bus or for more comfort get the train. Do the Salt Flat tour from Uyuni to San Pedro in Chile (2 nights and 2 and a bit days). From San Pedro head to the Chilean coast and up into Peru (didn't go this way myself so not sure what to do). Go to Arequipa, Cusco, Puno (Lake Titicaca) and back to La Paz. I'd recommend doing the route this way as there are not as many options for salt flat tours from San Pedro to Uyuni. If you have time Nasca is great and the Nasca lines were a highlight of my whole South American Trip. Ollyantatambo in the Sacred Valley around Cusco is also worth the trip. If you're not doing the Inca Trail (and I presume you're not as most of the permits for July would be taken up already) you should get a minibus from Cusco to Ollyantambo, spend the afternoon there seeing the village and the ruins and get the 8pm ish train to MP. Stay the night in Agua Calientes, the village at the base of MP, and head up there in the morning. There's a train back in the afternoon or you could spend the whole day in MP and the night in AC and get the train back to Ollyantambo the next morning. From there there will be lots of mini buses waiting to bring people on the hour's trip back to Cusco, which means you'll get back into Cusco around 10am.

Pat Mustard

I would agree with most of the above. Regrettably, I never got to see the Nazca Lines, The Salt Flats, or the Death Road - all regrets!

I would say that I travelled from Cusco to La Paz, skipping Puno, but stopping in Copacobana, which was a lovely village on Lake Titicaca. Stayed there a couple of nights, and would recommend.

Regarding Cusco, obviously the Inca Trail is a must. If you absolutely refuse to do it, the previous poster's advice was spot on. You can also go to the baths in Agua Calientes, which is a welcome relief after the 4 day Inca Trail hike.

I would generally avoid day-long guided bus tours - they can be very frustrating and quite boring unless your guide gives the tour exclusively in english (unless you speak Spanish well). We had a slightly crap experience doing a day long Sacred Valley bus tour.

geuro

thanks for all the replies folks, i'll be printing these off and stuffing them into my backpack....

Aurora Borealis

I agree with La Mustard. I avoided guided tours for the most part. I just eavesdropped using the bit of Spanish I had picked up. It's not too difficult at all and you can pick up English language literature yourself to read up on most things.
Copa is definitely a lovely spot. Stay in La Cupula if you're not on too strict a budget. The rooms are gorgeous and the food there is absolutely fab! It's not that expensive by our standards at all but more than neighbouring hotels. Worth it though in my opinion.
Make sure too you climb to the top of the hill that looks over Copa, (think it's actually called La Cupula or the church at the top of it is at least..) It's not the easiest at that altitude but an amazing spot to see the sunset from! I also hired a a boat and went out for an afternoon with a local fisherman. So much fun! He only spoke Quechua so you can imagine the hilarity of trying to navigate. You should try and take in Isla del Sol as well. I stayed out there overnight and really enjoyed it. It's so peaceful.

Happy planning. You couldn't but love it over there!

Suerte,

AB.

How Strange

OP, you've only got 18 days so you really have to narrow down what you want to see. Remember that if you're flying into La Paz then it's quite likely that you'll be hit with altitude sickness within hours of getting off the plane.

La Paz is the highest or one of the highest cities in the world and flying into high altitude is a serious shock to the system so you may be unable to do anything except sit around for the first couple of days.

Then you need to make a plan about where you want to go in Peru and factor in bus journey times and allow a day here and there in case you can't get the a bus on one day and have to wait.

There are lots of good suggestions here but including La Paz, Arequipa, Cusco, MP, Uyuni, the Salt Plains and San Pedro into 18 days is completely unrealistic unless you have the benefit of time travel.

La Paz - Puno/Cocacobana - Cusco/Arequipa and back to La Paz is probably all you'll manage in 18 days.

geuro

yeah i agree How Strange, its going to be tricky enough to fit everything in. Just trying to get a list of priorities and ill try and fit in as much as i can. at the moment i am sort of thinking of La Paz - Arequipa - Cusco/MP etc - copacobana - Lake Titicaca - Home. I like the sound of Colca canyon too but i will probably have to sacrifice the salt plains

And fingers crossed about the altitude sickness...

By the way, are there altitude sickness drugs that it would be adviseable to bring with me in case the altitude is a problem? Also, are there any other things that one might not think of, eg medical supplies, tools, that i should bring with me.

Cheers

Aurora Borealis

Yup bit tight for the Salt flats on top of all the rest. So you'll have to start eliminating places. So much to do, so little time...I loved the trip to the jungle/pampas in Rurrenabaque as well. Loadsa wildlife etc.. Worth considering..

As regards altitude it hits people different ways so you can't be sure how it'll affect you. It hit me at the start of the death road cycle but by the time we started to descend at all I was grand. It is a factor though particularly if flying into La Paz as you don't have the time to acclimatize that you do when you travel by road. Coca leaves are the local remedy. I found them good but rotten!!

In terms of other stuff to bring. Bring as little else as possible. Clothes you can wash in hostels etc. Layers are a good idea as temps vary. Espec if going to Salt Flats as temps drop considerably there. One essential for peace of mind is a good lock for your bag which you can use in Hostel lockers too and I found a phrasebook very handy but plenty do without.

FX Meister

For some of the trails you want to do in Peru you may need a permit. Inca trail is chock full of peeps so the Lares trek might be better. Defo check out Machu Pichu. In La Paz the death road is pretty good but I think a lot of people don't realise how serious it is, especially if you have an accident. Try and check out the prison in La Paz, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Pedro_prison, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/06/americas_inside_a_bolivian_jail/html/1.stm
You won't find anything like it anywhere else. Check out this book about it, http://www.marchingpowder.com/

It's a lot harder to get in these days but you can still manage it. Might be best to get your visitor pass sorted before you get there. Took a lot of moving around from office to office to get the right paperwork until I finally managed to get in. The Salt Flats are pretty cool but the long tours taking days are way too long and Uyuni, the jump off point, is a really **** town. Nothing there and it's very filthy.

Meathlass

It's definately a good idea to factor in some time to acclimitise in La Paz. I was fine in Cusco but on Isla de Sol I had a terrible headache and I thought my heart was going to explode. It was beating so fast I could barely breathe. One of the guys with me passed out that night sitting at a table eating dinner. When he came too he got sick several times. Now all this happened after a fairly hectic afternoon of walking but even when we got to La Paz I still had no appetite and we all had headaches and were out of breathe for a few days. You can try coca leaves if you want but remember it's not the coca itself but the chemical reaction caused when you mix the coca leaves with an alkaline catalyst like charcoal; you have to chew both in your mouth, it looks disgusting. Just drinking coca tea or chewing leaves on their own is totally pointless. You'll still be able to move around and do stuff if you're hit with altitude sickness; it's like having a really bad hangover but does affect people different ways. I found that drinking rum and coke tends not to help!!

Aurora Borealis

FX Meister wrote: »

. Try and check out the prison in La Paz, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Pedro_prison, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/06/americas_inside_a_bolivian_jail/html/1.stm
You won't find anything like it anywhere else. Check out this book about it, http://www.marchingpowder.com/

It's a lot harder to get in these days but you can still manage it. Might be best to get your visitor pass sorted before you get there. Took a lot of moving around from office to office to get the right paperwork until I finally managed to get in.

Intrigued to hear more about this FX Meister if ya don't mind. Tried to and didn't succeed though almost swung it... How was it?

FX Meister wrote: »

Uyuni, the jump off point, is a really **** town. Nothing there and it's very filthy.

I've never come across a more desolate place. Even the bus journey out of it was terrible. Had a load of the local woman shouting at me on the bus and trying to push me off my seat. Freaky place!! They were not loving tourists as the bus had been held up over an hour because some Spanish girl had carelessly left her bag outside and it was, surprise, surprise.. robbed so police had to be called. Funny looking back..

Word of advice..Do not stay in the IH Hostel. Fouler than foul.

On the plus side though, there's great pizza to be had in the town which was most welcome.

Meathlass

Second that, Uyuni is a dump. The less time spent there the better. I had an horrendous night bus there. The smell of unwashed clothes had me gagging the whole way there. The only bright side was the Pizza place (called Minute man I think), Thank god, as there was no where else decent to eat in town.

How Strange

Meathlass wrote: »

Second that, Uyuni is a dump. The less time spent there the better. I had an horrendous night bus there. The smell of unwashed clothes had me gagging the whole way there.

Me too! One of the worst nights of my life!

Re the altitude sickness, flying into altitude is a very stupid thing to do and I know because I did it too. Within hours I was completely floored and thought I was dying!

OP, get diamox from your doctor and start taking them 2 days before you leave. If you're only in SA for 18 days you won't really have time to acclimatise so hedge your bets with the tablets. You'll still probably have to take it easy for a day or too anyway and you'll still be very breathless - you'll feel like you're 80!

Take as many internal flights as possible to save travel time. I think you can fly from Arequipa to Cusco.

I thought Lake Titicaca was a bit over hyped tbh. Yes, it's amazing that the islands are made out of reeds but the boat trip out to and back from the other islands was boring. I heard cocacobana was amazing. Puno was good in a weird frontier kind of way.

Aurora Borealis

How Strange wrote: »

Take as many internal flights as possible to save travel time. I think you can fly from Arequipa to Cusco.

I thought Lake Titicaca was a bit over hyped tbh. Yes, it's amazing that the islands are made out of reeds but the boat trip out to and back from the other islands was boring. I heard cocacobana was amazing. Puno was good in a weird frontier kind of way.

You can fly Arequipa - Cusco.
Yeah heard the floating islands are very gimmicky.
Copa def worth a visit in my book as is Isla del Sol which you can visit from there.

Pat Mustard

People mentioned the aul altitude sickness and coca leaves.

I had a Footprints Guidebook - called 'The South American Handbook 2005', which I found good for basic research on where I wanted to go. It kicked the ass off the Lonely Planet Guide, which made quite an attractive paperweight.

The reason I mention the South American Handbook is that I remember reading in it that the coca leaves shouldn't be brought across borders. So dump the coca leaves if you plan a border crossing from Bolivia to Peru etc. I think it's legal enough to have in your possession in each country, but who needs the hassle of finding trouble at the border, eh? Border guards can be a funny breed anyways. Coca leaves are cheap as chips anyhow.

As for altitude sickness, I found that it just made me very lethargic. I felt like I'd climbed a mountain after climbing two flights of stairs. No exaggeration. I was chomping on them coca leaves to beat the band. Can't say if they worked or not.