Ooh boy, Winnipeg in January/February. My condolences from Ottawa. We had great weather on the Inca Trail last January. Hardly any rain over 12 days in Peru.

I guess that is not what the stats say. But personally I would return any January as would the family.

The later you can go during that period, the better your chances will be for better weather in a typical year.

Highland Peru will be warmer than Winnipeg in January and February, but it's not exactly balmy. The Galapagos, at sea level near the equator, will be quite warm though.

I'd also try to avoid Holy Week (Mar. 24-31, 2013). It will be very busy then.

Unfortunately there is no such thing as a typical year.

One year January is fine, the next year the train tracks to Machu Picchu wash away.

They say February and March are the worst months, so maybe early-mid January is the best combination of bad weather in Canada and not too bad weather around Machu Picchu/SV?

Sorry can't help on Galapagos, post that question on Ecuador forum.

Ecuador and Peru are in the same forum here, mlgb. It's all South America.

I disagree about the "typical year." There will always be variations, of course, but what else do you have to use as a starting point except the averages?

When you have conditions such as El Niño and La Niña affecting wild swings in the amount of rainfall on the west coast of the Americas, it does make the concept of "averages" rather meaningless.

This year the heavy rains started rather early in Peru (late September) but that doesn't mean they will follow any particular pattern. I was discussing weather with the Peruvians on my recent visit, and everyone commented that weather was getting way out of whack compared to past "patterns".

Some of us don't read every post, we just click the country or two we are researching.

Speaking of the Galapagos, Jan-Mar the waved albatross are out at see. April is a nice time there and I've gone then.

In Peru, what are you planning on doing?