I am planning my first trip to South America, and my top contender is Peru. I will have 10 days (short, I know, but the best I can do) in late November/early December, and I have questions for the forum's Peru experts.

I'll be traveling with my cousin; we're two 30-something women who have previously gone to Costa Rica and Honduras together. We prefer slower-paced trips where we spend five days at a Spanish school/homestay and then sightsee on the weekends on either side (and during the afternoons after class).

My initial questions:

-obviously we want to go to MP; would one night in Aguas Calientes give us a good amount of time to explore the site?

-we'd like to avoid Lima and are considering Cusco and Arequipa as our Spanish school base. For a first Peru trip, do you have a strong feeling as to which of these would be better?

-If we live with a family, is it possible to have a good immersion experience in Cusco? (We understand that we have a lot to do with the experience by avoiding tourist hangouts and the like, but I guess I'm wondering if most people in shops/on the street will let us speak our intermediate level Spanish or just switch to English.)

-If we choose Arequipa, will we have enough fun things to do on the afternoons? Can you visit Colca in a daytrip, or does it need to be an overnight?

-Are there any other locations we should be considering as a base?

I appreciate the help!

I think 1 night in AC will give you enough time to explore MP.

I agree about avoiding Lima. Cusco is definitely way more touristy than Arequipa. But I think you will have no trouble practicing your Spanish in either city. There is more to see in the Cusco area than the Arequipa area. I would prefer to stay in Cusco rather than Arequipa. I enjoyed our time in Arequipa, but I wasnt as wowed by it as Cusco which I really liked. Also enjoyed visiting the various sites around Cusco and u can day trip to the Scared Valley where there is much to choose from for visits. From Arequipa you can visit Colca Canyon which was wonderful.

U could visit Colca Canyon in a daytrip, but it would be very rushed. I would prefer to do the overnight trip.

Are u thinking of dividing your time between the 2 cities or staying the entire 10 days in one or the other? Obviously if you want to go to MP, u will need to be based in Cusco.

Can't respond to your questions re the language school/homestay.

Agree with the above. We've just returned from 2 weeks in Peru. we stayed 2 nights in Aguas Caliente and 1 would have definitely be enough. You need a day to see Machu Picchu - and maybe another am if you want to climb the big mt trails there. You'll be there in off season - that should be nice. Aguas itself is nothing worth hanging around for. We only stayed because of when we could get reservs on the train.

I'd definitely try to do an overnight in Colca. It's a long bumpy slog out there (though beautiful and interesting). As we did our overnight trip I was thinking how MUCH it would be for a day trip. In fact, it would be nice to spend MORE time there. We stayed in Chivay. There are a TON of agencies in Arequipa organizing these trips. We organized ours from states with Ilary tours, but probably would have saved money by doing it when we got to Areq. We liked both Cusco and Areq alot. I speak intermed Spanish and definitely used it in both cities. Didn't find that much English spoken outside tour guides for most part. There may be more to do in and around Cusco, but we really liked Arequipa . ...

Don't discount Lima - we had one great day there - beautiful old buildings in center. Fun to see Barranco and Miraflores areas too. Great museums. Cheap to take taxis all around.

With only 10 days, not sure why you want to use 5 whole days going to Spanish classes. Why not take them at home before travel or go on a Spanish learning website to get the basics down because that's all you will learn in 5 days. Doesn't really make much sense to me but if that's what you decided, you'd be better of spending the other 5 days in Cusco as there's lots to see and do and you're not taking into consideration the very real possibility of altitude sickness.

Hi mmb and glover.

I'm a regular Costa Rica poster so both of your names are familiar to me.

I'm also heading to Peru this year (first week of November), and am trying to figure out whether to do MP as a daytrip or spend a night there.

Where did you stay in AC, glover? Are you planning to do a trip report? I'd love to hear about your experiences in Peru.

Hi cmerrell, yep, I'm gonna do that trip report on Peru and Ecuador in the next coupla days I hope. ...

You'll love Peru!

Thanks for the great suggestions! A few thoughts:
-re: spanish school, we like it both because it's great to learn something in the classroom in the morning and then use it in real life in the afternoon. Plus we enjoy the homestay experience, which allows us to glimpse how folks live and get to have a few conversations (even in a short time) about our two countries. The detriment, of course, is that you have to stay put for a week of school! My traveling companion is even more set on Spanish school than I am, so I think my next steps are to propose two itineraries: one based in Cusco, featuring Spanish school and MP, and one that allows us to see more of the country, probably Arequipa/Colca and then Cusco/MP.

Budget also is a consideration, so I'd need to figure out the in-country flight.

Thanks again to everyone who weighed in--I'll keep you posted & ask for feedback when we decide on a rough itinerary.

Cusco is a great place to study - I had a great experience with a good spanish language school called ViaSpanish - you can find more information at http://www.viaspanish.com/Learn-Spanish-in-Cusco-2.html

And the city really is beautiful! Enjoy Peru - I really miss it!!

I agree w/everything above: MP can be seen in a day from Aguas Calientes. Colca Canyon needs to be an overnight (we stayed at the Colca Lodge and LOVED it, but it may be out of your budget). Cusco has more activity; Arequipa is beautiful with the monastery and big square.

FYI - We (both females your age) were in Lima for one evening before our red-eye flight back. We took a taxi to Larcomar mall, walked up the main avenue to Huaca Pullaca in Miraflores for dinner and then to a square where lots of older folks were slow dancing. We were careful and not flashy and didn't have problems or feel unsafe.

We were also only in Peru for 10 days...here's more info on what we did (I plan to add more details, but you can at least see pictures of some of the cities you're thinking about): http://enthoosed.com/traveling/trip/view.v?id=56459

I think your plans for MP and language immersion sound pretty good!

PS: At MP, climb the Huayna Picchu peak for a great view!

Just got back from your areas...

In only 10 days would fly

Lima Cusco Arequipa

You will have time for Sacred Valley Cusco Mp for 4 days or so
and Arequipa/Colca Canyon for 3 days or so...

Do not think spanish "immersion"

possible in the time you have

with the things to see and vast

distances to cover...

Would spend the night at MP get up

for the sunrise the next day or you

will miss a lot...

www.peruforless.com can help you

get the most out of the short time

you have...

If you are on a budget have used

Inka Planet for cheap hotels/deluxe

bus for your journey not as great.

Botton line distances lots more

than CA you will not have

a lot of time...make more time

if you can...have fun,

I noticed that the Peru site of Fodor's is not that busy unlike the European site. But, it's not really that hard to navigate planning. In one of the Peru trip reports (sorry, forgot which one), I got the travel agency, Enjoy Peru. I have been in contact with them and seems coordinating is easy, toll free # 1-800-790-2965, url www.enjoy-peru.com. I have been dealing with Jose Castillo Vera; he speaks fluent English,is very courteus and helpful. So far, I just placed domestic tickets and Lima hotel reservations with him.

Sorry, correction, the correct website is www.enjoyperu.com. Happy travel.

Please report back on Enjoy Peru AFTER your trip!

Mlgb, there's nothing to report as I just got reservations for domestic flights and 1 hotel reservation from them, so far. Is there anything that I should know about them?

I tried to use their related website apunake to get cheap Peruvian airfares and it didn't work, nor did I get a response to an email that I sent. I did not find any correlation between fancy websites and good service when planning my own Peruvian trip. In the end I booked directly with airlines, PeruRail, and hotels. Other things I arranged when I got to Peru.

We spent a couple of months in Peru last year and one of our objectives being to learn Spanish we spent a couple of weeks in Cusco and used Fairplay, school that is set up to help unmarried mother who are employed as teachers. We had 2 hours of grammar lessons each day followed by 2/3 hours out and about in the streets with our teachers practicing in the markets, on the buses etc. It was very enjoybale and reasonably effective especially as we were practicing in real life situations.
We then moved on to Ollantaytambo where we ended up spending 3 weeks helping out Hearts Cafe a small NGO which supports projects in the mountain commuities. There we arranged lessons (2 hours per day) with Guile an Argentine woman who was an excellent teacher. The advantage of Olly was that it was right in the Sacred Valley and there were lots of places to visit close by and was certainly much slower placed than Cusco which, although very nice was jam packed with tourists.

crellston, I too loved "Olly" and by chance I ate at Hearts Cafe, it was very good and quite reasonable, and I also bought one of the weavings on offer there.

mlgb, thanks for the feedback re Enjoy Peru.

Do NOT use Enjoy Peru or Apunake. Mayda has already experienced problems even before her trip.

http://www.fodors.com/community/lati...vel-agency.cfm

I dont know if you are still looking for a school, but we went to Maximo Nivel in Cusco. We volunteered for a week but had spanish lessons in the morning which were great. I highly reccomend the school. Run by a wonderful American man who married a Peruvian lady and they do so much for the community.
website is maximonivel.com
Loved Peru.