Thanks for your great report with the details and photos.

Any advice on best months to travel to take advantage of lower costs, less people but still not squarely in the rainy season?

Would you have felt comfortable doing the trip solo?

Leslie - really enjoyed your report and photos! I too used Percy (and was one of the ones who recommended him). Your photos are wonderful and brought back memories of our own trip. Thanks so much for sharing. The details really bring it to life.
(I'm going to check out your Egypt pictures, too. That's my next trip, in February!)
Karen

Karen - Percy asked me how I had heard of him and I mentioned your name & your trip report and his face lit up. Enjoy Egypt - I loved it and hope to go back again in a few years. Warning - I posted way too many pictures from that trip!

mlgb - I think early October is the end of their high season. There were no crowds anywhere we were. And going then rather than the end of Oct. or into Nov. gave us a better chance of getting in before the rain starts. It would've been a whole different trip in the rain. Can't imagine walking on the narrow paths or slippery stones in rain. I'd rather have more crowds to deal with (if it ever gets very crowded - I don't know much about that) rather than dealing with bad weather.

As far as going alone: safety-wise I would feel okay. I never once felt any sense of any kind of danger or hassle. If you're used to traveling solo I think that area of Peru would be fine. The only thing I wouldn't want to do there is drive - renting a car and trying to navigate -- especially in Cusco where the traffic was a little hairy - that would not be my idea of fun.

Percy-not-the-guide: I also like reading trip reports on places I've been & reliving the experience vicariously. I keep going back to the Egypt forum to see what's going on over there. And thanks for the compliment!

Leslie - oh, I'm so glad Percy lit up when you mentioned me and my trip report. We thought he was so dear, and he took such good care of us. Made me and my daughter feel like we had a friend there to rely on. I told him I planned to do a trip report and would give his contact info. I could tell he was tickled.
And no you didn't post too many Egypt pictures! (if you looked at mine, you'll notice I definitely post too many - can't help myself) Yours are great and I'm really excited about our Egypt trip. We were supposed to be there this month but I tore my rotator cuff (shoulder) and had to have surgery - ouch - very painful. So we're going in Feb instead. We're booked with Gap, but plan to spend two days with Debbie before the tour starts. Can't wait!
Just in case you DIDN'T see my pics, here's the link (I'm shameless):
http://kbutler1122.zenfolio.com/f754704379
Thanks again - I'll prob be posting questions on the Africa board as the Egypt trip gets closer!

Leslie_S

I got the link to your Egypt and Jordan trip..but what is the link to your pictures of Egypt.!?

I was there 2 years ago ..so I am anxious to see your pictures.

altho1122 , by Debbie I assume you mean Debbie Senters. If you can swing it ..let her take you to Alexandria also.



( Leslie_S ..Your welcome !)

Percy ( not the guide )

mlgb-
We were in Cusco, Ollantaytambo, and Juliaca in mid- to late September. We met up with very few European tourists and virtually no Americans, except at Machu Picchu itself. Then we were glad to see a few people who were able to speak English so they called in an English speaking guide to lead a tour of the ruins. Some day tours we were interested in weren't going out due to lack of tourists, so I think it is safe to say that it was not high season. We had rain a couple of times during the night, but never had to get out the ponchos we carried with us for the trip.

Karen - Oh yes, I intently studied your pictures in my planning phase - they are superb. I was just looking again and the ones of Lake Titicaca really make me wish we'd gotten there. Love the ones of the little kids blowing bubbles.

We met with Debbie S. in Cairo one evening and took a felluca ride. She was lots of fun & packed us a yummy picnic...her feta & tomato pitas were to die for (and good cold Sakkara beer!).

Hope your shoulder heals quickly...no fun to be side-lined.

Percy - if you go to my Peru pix at the top right corner there's a link that says 'photos by leslie' and that takes you to other albums including Egypt & Jordan. Hope you enjoy them.

Percy - yes, I do mean Debbie Senters. Alexandria is included in our Gap trip, so we're not using Debbie for that. We're doing her Islamic Cairo/City of the Dead tour and her Lazy Afternoon on the Nile. I'm really looking forward to it. She's been wonderful in answering my questions.

Leslie - we did love Lake Titicaca. It was beautiful and the homestay was really fun - unlike anything I'd ever done before. I know what you mean because I don't think I've ever been on a trip where I got to every place I wanted to see! Vacations are always too short. I wish we could have gotten to Arequipa and also the Galapagos. And in my plans for Egypt, I wish we had time for the western desert and Petra. (I've been to Amman/Jerash.)

althom1122

You will have a great time with Debbie on your Cairo excursions !

In the City of the Dead..climb one of those Minarets...the one at the back of the Egyptian one pound note !!!

Debbie will let you know which one.
Have a good time..I'm jealous even though I have been there !

Percy

Leslie:

Your report really encourages me. I
have been hesitant to try a similar trip because of the fear that Machu Picchu requires a lot of steep climbing. I know that I cannot do that. Obviously, you found your trip worthwhile even though you did not do
a steep climb at MP.

Did your original guide arrabge your guide at MP or did you hire one at the gate?

How did you pay for this trip? Did you have to wire a lot of cash to the guide before athe trip. Did he arrange your hotels?

I am curious.

Pat

Hi Pat --
There are definitely parts of MP that were strenuous but you could choose to take those paths or not. Most of it was relatively level and not that much of a challenge.

Our guide Percy did arrange for our MP guide since he was already booked with other people for that day (same for our Cusco guide). The guide we had at MP was OK & very sweet, etc. but I think we would've enjoyed it as much by ourselves with our book (The Machu Pichu Guidebook by Ruth Wright & Alfredo Valencia Zegarra).

People have written that it's easy to hire guides right outside the MP entrance (or maybe down in Aguas Caliente before getting on the bus).

We didn't have to wire money or pay Percy in advance. We paid when we were with him in the Sacred Valley and he gave us the option of waiting until the end of our 3 days together.

I booked all of our hotels online by myself. From what I read of others' experiences, I believe after contacting Percy (or the other guides recommended here like David Chocque (sp?)) -- I think they also can do that for you and perhaps they could even get a better rate. It might be worth it to ask a guide and also find out the price yourself & see which is the better way to go. Booking online was easy - could be done in English.

Leslie

Hi Leslie. I am planning a trip to Peru next Oct. for my husband's birthday. I've talked to sev'l tour operators, and all tell me there are only twin beds in Peru. Is this true? It looks like you spent no time in Lima -- any particular reason? I didn't see on your post any info on how to reach Percy. Could you provide that? Thanks so much for your post; it gave me some great ideas.

LaJen - I'm not Leslie_S, but as to your question re: beds; many of the hotels I researched for our upcoming trip showed an option for "matrimonial," which are double beds. But the hotels do seem to have far fewer rooms with matrimonial beds than they do twins.

LaJen:
Here's Percy's email: [email protected]

The beds - yes, ask for matrimonial to get a double. However, not being used to a double bed, we were wishing we went with two twins! But then we're used to a king at home. We did get a king-sized at the Torre Dorada in Cusco, which was very nice.

We didn't spend any time in Lima just because we were limited to one week. There are differences of opinion among fodorites about Lima - some recommend not going at all; not worth it. I would've like to do a city tour but it just didn't work with our schedule.

Have fun planning -- and enjoy your trip! Let me know if you have other questions.

My husband and I travelled in Peru with our adult daughter recently. Mostly a room for 3 was 3 twin beds. In Ollantaytambo it was a double bed with a twin (Andean Moon). In Lima we shared a room with a young woman who had lived with us in the US 20 years ago, and had 2 double beds and 2 twins, with a wall between the two parts of the room. After our daughter and our former student left we moved to a room with a king size bed (Kamana Hotel). So it depends on what hotel you are in. Single beds did seem to be the most common.

We are small town residents and usually avoid the big cities. Lima was definitely the exception. We were there a week, as our student, Roxana, joined us there from Bolivia after we decided we were not comfortable going into Bolivia in the midst of their civil unrest. There is a lot to see and taxi travel is cheap. We went to the ocean beaches, museums, took walking tours, watched the changing of the guard and the lowering of the flags - great traditions- and the Circuit of Magic Water. We walked a lot and ate terrific food!

Enjoy your year of planning. Your trip will start much sooner than you would think possible, and next thing you know you are on your way home with hundreds of photos and even more wonderful memories.

You all are swell! Many thanks!

Teriffic report. Bookmarking for Percy's email. Thanks