Trip Report: Argentina and Peru
 

I recently spent 3.5 weeks in Argentina and Peru with my mom. We went to Buenos Aires, Lima, Arequipa, Colca Canyon, Puno, Cusco, and Ollantaytambo. Hopefully this brief trip report will help others because I had a lot of trouble planning out how to get to each place within Peru (e.g. driver? taxi? tour bus?) and where to stay!

In a nutshell:
- Buenos Aires: May 13-17
- Santiago (stopover): May 17-18
- Lima: May 18-19
- Arequipa: May 19-21
- Colca Canyon: May 21-23
- Puno: May 23-25
- Cusco: May 25-29
- Ollantaytambo: May 29-June 1
- Lima: June 1-4

Stay tuned for the second post for more details!

ACCOMMODATIONS:

Buenos Aires: Pop Hotel - ~$66US/night through Expedia, 2 twin beds
Pop Hotel is located a little bit out of the way of many tourist sites, but we had no trouble because the Subte (metro) was just a few blocks away. Free WiFi, free breakfast at a cafe across the street (which was AWESOME and very filling), and friendly staff.

Lima: Miraflores Inn - $48US/night, double room
Miraflores is a trendy part of Lima with lots of great restaurants and shopping. Miraflores Inn is family-run and absolutely wonderful. Free WiFi, free breakfast. They provide airport pickups/dropoffs for $20US/trip, which I think is actually quite competitive with the usual taxi service. Keep in mind Miraflores is about 30-45 minutes away from the airport so if you have an early flight the next day, like I did at 5:30am, you'll be getting up at 3am or so :)

Arequipa: Casa de Avila - $46US/night, twin room
Close to tourist sites, free WiFi, free breakfast. We spent one of our days in Arequipa just relaxing and it was great to be staying at Casa de Avila because they have a large garden with chairs and tables and even a pet turtle!

Colca Canyon area:
The first night we stayed with our tour group (more on that in the next post) at La Casa de Mamayacchi (price included in the tour). No WiFi and the food wasn't great, but there is a pet llama in the backyard :)
The second night we stayed in Casa Andina Classic Colca, which cost $93.50US for a twin room. I couldn't find many options in Chivay so we splurged here. There is free WiFi and free breakfast, and the staff even put a hot water bottle in your bed at night so your feet can stay warm and toasty! A nice touch.

Puno: Hotel Kuntur Inn - $50US/night, double room
Another great family-owned inn with free WiFi and free breakfast. They offer free pickup from the bus station, which we took advantage of. Location is very close to the main square and main 'food street', just be aware it's a steep uphill climb for a few minutes before you get back to the hotel :) Our showers were also only lukewarm at times.

Cusco: Ninos Hotel (Meloc) - $53US/night, double room
There are tons of rave reviews about Ninos Hotel on the Internet, so you'll have no problem finding information about it. Free WiFi, you need to pay for breakfast but the food is really good. Staff are friendly and the rooms are large and very cute. Again, quite close to the main square and other tourist attractions.

Ollantaytambo: Hostal Iskay - 93.5soles/night (about $34US/night), double standard twin room
Free WiFi, free breakfast. Very friendly staff and located close to the main square. It was about a 10 minute walk to the train station to catch our train to Machu Picchu and we did it with no problems whatsoever.

FLIGHTS/BUSES/TOURS:

Let me start off by saying if you're looking to visit the same cities in Peru that I did, I would highly recommend going in the same route due to the elevation. By going from Lima to Arequipa first, we never felt any sort of altitude sickness in Peru except for a bit shortness of breath in Arequipa. Lots of travellers talked about being quite sick when they went direct Lima --> Cusco.

A quick note about Buenos Aires - we did everything ourselves, but joined a free walking tour called BA Free Tour, which took 2.5-3 hours. Gaston was great and very knowledgeable about all things Argentina. It was neat to have a local give his opinion about the political issues too. Although it's technically free, you should tip at the end.

Lima -> Arequipa: flight via TACA

Arequipa --> Colca Canyon: tour via Giardino Tours, $64US/person
We left Arequipa at about 7:30-8am and travelled in a 12 person van with 1 driver and 1 tour guide. Just before leaving Arequipa, you'll stop at a corner store where you can buy Gatorade, coca candy, coca chocolate, coca leaves, etc. (anything to help combat altitude sickness). My mom and I bought a bottle of Gatorade and some coca candy. Along the way to Colca Canyon, you'll stop a few times to take pictures of vicunas and other wildlife you might see along the way. You'll also stop at the highest point of the tour, called Pata Pampa, at just under 5000 metres above sea level. Definitely walk slow there! Accommodations are located in the town of Coporaque, and our tour guide took us on a short 1.5 hour hike along the nearby agricultural terraces, which I loved. There is also the option to go to the hot springs afterwards (additional charge not included in the tour price). The next day you wake up early to go see the condors! We were lucky and saw at least a dozen condors, both juveniles and adults. Overall, I would recommend this tour company. The guide was very knowledgeable, the tour group small, and it was nice to relax and have someone else lead us around for once :) However, I didn't really like the food at La Casa de Mamayacchi and you don't have a choice to go somewhere else. The food is also not included in the tour price and it cost 25 soles per person.

To be continued :)

Colca Canyon (Chivay) --> Puno: 4M Express bus, $45US/person
Our bus departed at 1:30pm in Chivay and we arrived in Puno at around 7:30pm. 4M provides water, a sandwich, chocolate, and stops at various sites along the way. Highly recommended.

Puno tour: Allways Travel - Classic Uros-Taquile tour, $30US/person
This tour brought us to two different islands - the Uros floating islands and Taquile island. I thought it was great and our guide gave us a lot of very interesting information about how the floating islands are made, the culture, etc. Keep in mind that lunch isn't included and there are a few other fees that tack on during the tour.

Puno --> Cusco: Inka Express, $60US/person
Comfortable and safe bus; we departed at 7am in Puno and arrived in Cusco at 5pm. There is a tour guide on the bus and the bus makes various stops along the way to different museums and archeological sites. I really liked it because we visited a few small towns and viewpoints we otherwise wouldn't have gone to if we hadn't taken this bus. They also offer free water/coffee/coca tea along the way.

Sacred Valley: booked through Bonanza Tours, $15US/person
We were picked up at 8:30am for the Sacred Valley tour. Unfortunately the bridge to Pisac was closed for the entire time I was in Peru due to construction so we didn't get to see the ruins in Pisac or the Pisac market. However, we had a great tour and our tour guide, Christopher, was phenomenal. He went above and beyond a typical guide and provided supplementary information through drawings, books, etc. The tour was mainly consisted of Chinchero and Ollantaytambo.

Machu Picchu: booked through Bonanza Tours, $265US/person
This price included the train from Ollantaytambo to Aguascalientes and back, bus up and down Machu Picchu, entrance fee, and a 1.5hour guided tour around Machu Picchu. We really enjoyed the day because all the logistics of getting to MP were taken care of, and we spent all day hiking around MP and to the Sun Gate.

That's it! Please let me know if you have any questions or want me to go into more detail.

Sounds like you had an awesome time! :)
My boyfriend and myself are doing South America at the end of the year and cannot wait!
With the buses, were yours prebooked seats or do you just buy a ticket on the day? We are going high season time and the online booking services only go a month in advance! Bit worried we will get there and not have a seat!

Sammybuttons - you're going to have a fantastic trip! I booked my bus tickets months in advance (better to be safe than sorry!). Which buses are you going with? Mine didn't have the time limit. You can also try to email them and see if you can reserve a ticket and pay when you arrive in the city.

Nice report, thanks for sharing

I've looked at Tur Bus and Pullman bus and a few other bus company websites and tried to look at timetables and to book for December but it will only let me book up until July. And all my travel guides say to book months in advance, but I don't see how I can? Haha very frustrating!

Excellent report, with updated prices and some midpriced hotels.

I did Giardino in 2011. The dinner was also just average (and overpriced) but overall I thought it a good value. I was hoping for the buffet that they advertised but we had only menu service. They told us the llama was mean! - I spent my second night at Killawasi Lodge in Yanque, which is a smaller town a short taxi ride from Chivay.

Sammybuttons - Hmm that's odd. Still doesn't hurt to shoot them an email and see what happens!

mlgb - We also only had menu service, leading me to think they never have the buffet as advertised... and apparently the llama is only mean to men :D

I wondered that NC1990. There was supposedly some magic number of guests that they needed for the buffet..probably always two more than the number in attendance!

I did like the afternoon walk, guide and the view from the room, so a mediocre overpriced meal wasn't the worst thing to happen. I recall liking their breakfast.

Another question, what did you think of Chinchero market? Has it gotten very touristy with lots of mass produced items, or do you think it is worthwhile for the tourist that wants locally produced items? I only visited Chinchero on a non market day, before the floods and before they built the covered market stalls.

mlgb - I really liked the Chinchero market! It did seem to have a fair amount of mass produced items, but the great part was if you had something specific you wanted to buy (e.g. a purse, scarf, little souvenirs) it was all there, and for a reasonable price.
Our tour also brought us to another part of Chinchero where some locals showed us how they make different colours of dye and had handmade goods for sale, which was nice.