Peru and Bolivia

Here are some unedited notes from various people on their trips to Peru and Bolivia:

Joe (SV Music) Writes:

"Music's" Trip to Peru and Bolivia

Itinerary and costs:
Depart Arrive Via Cost Hotel Cost
Bahia Guayaquil Reina del Camino bus $7.00 California $23
Guayaquil Tumbes Ormeno bus $15.00 Asturias $20 ?
Tumbes Lima Aero Continente air $78.58 + $12.10 tax Caribe $25
Lima Cusco Trans Peru Airline $69.02 + $5.04 tax Monarca $25
Cusco Aguas Caliente Rail Peru $120 including Machu Puccuhu tour Cabana $20
Aguas Caliente Cusco Rail Peru included Monarca $25
Cusco Puno ? bus $10 Don Julio $17
Puno La Paz Trans Peru $10 Galeria $8
La Paz Guayaquil Taca Airline $389 including $68 tax + $25 ariport tax
Guayaquil Bahia Reina del Camino bus $7

City Comments:

Guayaquil: Hotel California wanted to charge us $28 for a single with hot water, we were able to get them down to $23, but it was a hassle. My room was very noisy, right over the bakery. Walked the Malacon in the afternoon, which is a great place to go. Went there the next morning as well, and toured the thieves market just to get a feel for it.

Tumbes: Motor cycle taxis dominate, but you can get a car taxi in town. It has a border town feel to it. Taxi driver said to hold onto luggage which was in an open rack behind us. A nice quiet room, but small.

Lima: At the airport we met a taxi agent that we thought was a taxi driver at first. We negotiated a decent fare and a return trip to the airport early the next morning. He was a bit insistent that we give him something for the little service he provided. The taxi driver made sure that the doors were all locked and I didn't have a real safe feeling on the taxi ride to the marina district down town. Nice quiet room, with a restaurant attached, so we didn't need to go far.

Cusco: Were picked up by tour agent (see below) and taken to 3 hotels and decided on an expensive one, near the main part of town and very nice. This was the hub of the tours that we took. Great city. The restaurants had menu pushers out in force. You couldn't even look hungry without a dozen of them trying to get you into their restaurant. The post card vendors were as thick as flies and sometimes pretty insistent. Very tourist oriented where we went, with all of the tourist services you could expect. The airport arrival area was crowded with tour booths and there was even a band playing for tips.

Agues Calientes: A total tourist town. Restaurant hawkers not as bad here. There are a lot of hostels and restaurants along the main street. Even though the hotel said it had hot water, my room only had very cold water, otherwise it was nice.

Puno: Another very tourist oriented town, located right on the shores of Lake Titicaca. Didn't have much time to spend in the city, out on tours most of the time. Hotel was nice.

La Paz: This was nicer than I expected. I only had a few hours to go exploring. All the streets were lined with stalls selling all sorts of hardware, clothes and food. They were all oriented towards the locals and not tourists. The hotel gave me a wake-up call and arranged for a taxi to the airport the next day. I was told that it was a 45 minute ride to the airport, so I left an hour before the 3 hours I was supposed to be there. It only took 15 minutes early in the morning, so it was a long wait at the airport. They had a rate card in the room that included an antenna for the TV, heater, even oxygen bottles.

Guided Tours that I took:
Sacred Valley: This is a major bus tour that starts in Cusco and makes 2 stops along the way at artisan stall areas. The main place on the tour was the town of Ollantaytambo, where we went through some of the local's houses and walked around the town. Then we hiked up the agricultural terraces up to the temple of the sun, where the view was spectacular. We looked down at the town and the sculpted mountain at Wiracochan. The bus stopped along the way to allow pictures of the snow capped mountains and at another artisan area. The tour cost $18 each and includes a lunch stop, which was included in the price. There was someone who came on the bus on the way back that was selling a CD with 500 pictures (and music) of the major areas which I just had to buy.

Down Town tour: This included many stops. The first was at the Cathedral del Cusco, which is the main cathedral and located right at the Plaza de Amas. It was an additional $3.00 and not included on the $10.00 tourist ticket, which is required for most of the sights around Cusco. All types of photography was prohibited, so I wasn't able to get a picture of the painting of the Last Supper that had Cuy as the main dish, but I was able to buy a postcard of the painting which I've scanned. The next stop was the temple of Qoricancha, which the Spanish mostly destroyed, but still had some of the major structures in tact. Then we went to the ruins at Q'enqo, Pukapukara, Tambomachy and Saqsaywaman, which was the most impressive of the tour. Then the bus stopped at a tourist store that tried to sell overpriced woven goods. I did buy an alpaca blanket for $28.

Machu Picchu tour: A real must see. I didn't take the Inca trail, but wish I had. It would have been an extra 4 days. Our cost was $120 each and included rail transportation, bus transportation up and down the mountain, and entrance to the monument. You just have to see it to believe it.

Lake Titicaca tour: This included 2 floating islands and the island of Tiquilla. The cost was $10 for the all day tour. Lunch was extra, but organized at a patio restaurant and almwerzo style. I even took a reed boat between the floating islands, which are not to be missed, just because of how they are made and that people actually live on them. Walking on them was like walking on a wet sponge. They both had stalls where they were selling tourist stuff.

Using a tour guide/travel agent:
I highly recommend this, even if you pay a little for their services. I used Sharamira, for the tours around Cusco. She arranged the flights from Tumbes to Lima, to Cusco. Our tickets were prepaid and we picked them up at the respective airports. Her charge for them was $8.90 for the three of us. We arranged all of our Cusco tours through her, and she even bought our Boleta and brought them to the hotel. She, or her husband, took us to the tour bus pick-up points, the train station and even picked us up at the train station and the airport upon arrival. We bought our bus to Puno tickets through her, and she made reservations at the Don Julio for us as well. Overall a great service and she speaks good English. Her email is: kpullied@yahoo.com and her cell number is: 084-9636301 or 084-9634446. I highly recommend her. Please give her my name if you use her.

In Puno, I used the hotel owner to arrange my Lake Titicaca tour and bus trip to La Paz. If there were any service charges, they were built into the tickets. For the tour and the trip to La Paz, I was picked up at the hotel by van, so just like in Cusco, I didn't have to take a taxi, I was even picked up at the bus station by the hotel.

General observations:
In general things are more expensive in Peru. Food, lodging, taxis and most things cost more. The exception is Internet cafes. They were about 50 cents an hour and much faster than in Bahia. Cusco and Puno are very geared to the tourist trade. When we went to Machu Picchu, we left our big bags at the hotel, and at the train tracks in Machu Picchu there was someone holding a sign with our names on them to deposit our overnight bags, so we didn't have to carry them around Machu Picchu.

The bus trip up the mountain from the valley where the train drops you off is an amazing set of switch backs. A one lane dirt road where the busses were going up and down and managed to not drop over the edge or collide.

There were clouds of black biting bugs all over Machu Picchu, so cover yourself with bug repellant before you get up there.

The Ormeno buses were the best of the trip. Very comfortable leather seats with calf rests and a lot of leg room. We had to buy our tickets in Guayaquil the day before because they get crowded some days. The bus station is a short cab ride from the main bus station.

Bus trip to La Paz:
All of the other bus rides were pretty un-eventful, but this one was the exception. I was picked up by a 20 passenger van that went around to several other hotels to pick up passengers. Then it stopped at an intersection and we all got off of it and onto the big Tour Peru bus. It stopped at the border for check out of Peru and check into Bolivia without any problems except for the time it took. The next stop was at Copacabana for almost 2 hours. A nice little beach resort with tons of restaurants and stalls selling all manner of tourist stuff. We had to change busses and the new one was a Hotel Galeria bus, not a Tour Peru bus. About an hour out, we all had to get out of the bus so it could go on the ferry across the lake. All the passengers got out and bought their 30 cent boat ticket for their separate and short ride across the lake. The bus took us to the hotel Galeria, which was the nicest of the whole trip for me.


Winona and Roy (SV Saucy Lady) Writes:

Saucy Lady
Peru Trip
Bahia to Guayaquil----$14.00 for two on Reina bus
Bus to Lima, Del Camano--$100.00 for two
Lima to Cusco, Rutas de America on Cruse del Sur $52.94 for two
Cusco $17.00 city tour for two
Machu Picchu $125.00 per person
Sacred Valley $18.00 per person
Bus to Puno $34.00 for two
Boat on Lake Titicaca $70.00 and includes one night stay on island Amantani
Bus from Puno to Cusco $60.00 for two including a very nice buffet lunch.
Airline ticket to Lima from Cusco $116.00 for two
Airline ticket to Guayaquil from Lima $142.00 for two-we were in the low season and that is why the prices were low and they were doing a special rate at this time: April-May
Hotel California $20.00 a night for two
Hotel Iquique in Lima $10.00 pp a night and in Cusco it is $8.40pp a night.
You have to pay taxes leaving Peru on airlines

You have a six hour bus trip from Bahia to Guayaquil and then we had a 22 hour ride to Lima and the country and towns look just like Mexico and Central America. We had a 25 hour trip to Cusco with a five hour delay for a slide in the mountains. From Lima to Cusco you follow the ocean and all you see is mountains of sand and very desolate.

Altitude sickness may strike at anytime, so it would be best if you had this medicine with you: Coramina-Glucosa (Novartis) this is a large pill that you just suck on for a long time to absorb in your system. Coca tea works well also.

Our stays in the hostels were very excellent and the people are very helpful and they can do excellent trips for you.

If you plan a trip to the Sacred Valley, plan on a Sunday as they have a big market in one of the towns and you can get great bargains.

The city tour of Cusco is a very good bargain, as you will see ruins outside of Cusco, as well as museums and you will need the ticket to get into Sacred Valley ruins. The cost is $10.00pp. boleto turistico. (tourism ticket)

All of the buffets that were included on our trips were excellent and no one had any ill effects from the food.

If you do Lake Titicaca, bring shoes you can walk in on rocks and uneven terrain, as you will have two hikes to do.

Shamira Valencia r. is an excellent tour arranger and she will get bus and airline tickets for you. She is in the Hostal Iquique in Cusco.

It would be best if you e-mailed ahead for reservations to the sights you want to see, as the busy season is June through September. Lima Hostal iquique-hiquique@terra.com.pe phone 511-423-3699 Cusco Hostal, iquique-kpullied@yahoo.com

We had a very enjoyable trip and we enjoyed our stay in the home on the island with a lovely family, and experienced how they live and work and play. We went to a fiesta and we all had to dress in their dress, it was quite and experience.

You should take warm clothes, as it is cold in the mountains in the mornings and nights. if you go by bus take a blanket, as the bus is cold.
We hope you will have as good a trip as we did.
Winona & Roy Rombough

Second Peru Trip

We took the 2:00 pm Ormeno bus from Guayaquil to Tumbes Peru on September 2, 2004. The bus terminal is in a strip mall between the Terminal Terrestre and the airport. You purchase the ticket and get the bus there. It is about a five hour ride to Tumbes. You have to get off the bus three times to show your passport.

1-just show your passport
2-make out papers and have them and your passport stamped.
3-make out papers and them and your passport stamped.
All this is done in reverse when coming back into Ecuador.

The bus is a double deck and the seats below are more comfortable than the upper deck, but it is a very comfortable bus. There isn't any food served, so it is good to take something along.

In Guayaquil we stay in California hotel, and have been very satisfied with their service and hotel.
In Tumbes we stayed in the Rodrich, and if you are sensitive to oders or mildew this isn't the place to stay. Tumbes has lots of hostals in all price ranges.

We did a one day trip to the mangroves and we were the first tourists to do this trip. We enjoyed the trip through the canals and the walk on the beach, where only the fishermen go. This beach was very clean. We had a great lunch in the village that does the dugout canoe ride through the mangroves. The cost was $70.00 for both of us.

Rutas de America has international bus service-e-mail: ragye@impsat.net.ec guayaquil-----quito: rauio@impsat.net.ec


Cruising Destinations in Ecuador


Stella Maris Yacht Club

Breakwater: 00� 51.6'N 079� 55.4'W

New marina south of Esmeraldas. Still under construction at this writing but may provide a safe harbor north of Punta Galera. This is a new development associated with a resort. The port of Esmeraldas itself is NOT considered a safe harbor, for security reasons. Breakwater is under a development of white apartment buildings.

Email for further info: fmestanza@mardisresearch.com

Cabo Passado

Anchorage: 00� 21.7'S 080� 28.5'W

Can be somewhat rolly. Used as an overnight before entering Bahia de Caraquez on an early high tide, or as a day trip from Bahia for those looking for clear water for snorkling or bottom cleaning.

Manta

Approach Waypoint: 00� 55.769S 080� 43.156W (end of seawall)
Anchorage Waypoint: 00� 56.052 S, 080� 43.036 W

Manta is a big city and the site of one of the largest tuna canneries in the world. It is the largest tuna fishing port in the Pacific and boasts an enormous fishing fleet. Since the small boat harbour has been filled in and there is major construction going on at the shore, the outer harbour is packed with 1) HUGE fish boats (some over 200 feet), 2) Regular sized deep sea fish boats, to which 3) Hundreds of pangas were rafted up. The U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force also have a presence here. Anchor among the fishing fleet. You may be asked to move by the harbor patrol if you appear to be anchored in an area where more boats are expected. The anchorage waypoint above was closer to the wall, among the boats. It is quite shallow - some spots about 13 or 14 feet - and very calm - so boats don't have a lot of scope out. Go in close by the end of the breakwater and you will miss all the wrecks that scatter the bay.

Isla de la Plata

Anchorage: 01�16.05'S 081� 03.70'W

Probably will require an overnight from Bahia because of adverse wind and current and the requirement to leave the bay only at high tide, but an easy day hop from Manta. It is a straightforward approach to anchorage off the beach, just east of Drake's Bay. Drake's Bay is conspicuous as you get close to the island as the ranger station is right in the middle; there is a narrow shelf for anchoring depth. If the tide is high, look to make sure you are between the two rock outcrops at the shoreline. There were a lot of day boats moored there so we went over to where the fishermen were. We anchored just inshore of the last mooring can, in about 17' at low tide, 22 when we got in. We stayed beam to the island all day as the wind and current shear that way. It was flat calm even though there were 10-15 kn winds and 2-3' seas in the crossing. A very comfy night.

The island is part of the Parque Nacional Machalilla, known as "poor man's Galapagos" where blue-footed boobies and frigates, circle and swirl feeding on schools of fish around the rocks. The island is steep-to, with exposed rocky protrusions covered in guano like a dusting of snow. The sea is settled and the water appears fairly clear. The temperatures however are not equatorial. Clearly we are under the influence of the cold Humboldt current that comes up from Peru. The water temperature is a brisk 67 degrees, and the air temperature about the same! You will encounter sport fisherman, tour boats, snorkelers & divers.

The Park Ranger is busy in the mornings with the day boats that come in, and he said for us to come ashore as soon as they leave - about 3:30 - and he will walk us around. This Ranger, Jorge, is alone on the island, so he welcomes the chance to talk to someone - all in Spanish, though, he speaks little English.

Los Frailes/Machalilla

Approach Waypoint : 01� 29.13'S 080� 48.5'W
Anchorage: 01� 29.62'S 080� 47.74'W

Los Frailes proved to be a big open bay with a long sandy beach with dramatic rocky cliffs at each end. Parque Machalilla protects the last bit of virgin tropical dry forest remaining on Ecuador's coast and the long caramel beach appears to be a popular vacation spot.
Approach perpendicular to beach, avoiding the SW side where a sand bar nearly breaks at low tide. The water is much warmer here; hikes into park, although there may be a $20 entry fee.


Isla Salango

Anchorage: 02� 30.74'S 080� 55.37'W

Good holding in sand. Lots of pelicans & frigates. Good visibility. Village on mainland smells of fish.


Salinas/La Libertad

Approach Waypoint: Buoy at 02� 12.0'S 080� 55.0'W
Puerto Lucia Yacht Club Marina: 02�12.966'S, 080�55.319'W

There is a flashing white lighthouse on the tip of the breakwater, and red and green channel markers. Behind the marina, there are three tall buildings, one with a distinct pyramid-shape top. There are shoals close inshore to the east and west of the marina entrance, so approach due south from the waypoint entrance. There is no bar to cross.

Communications: Contact the Port Captain on Channel 16, day or night, as you approach Salinas/La Libertad. Contact the PLYC on channel 19 (hours 8 am - 6 pm, daily).

Check-in: Capitania has occasionally been asking for an agent, but should NOT be required if you have an internal zarpe. If you have a problem, ask PLYC manager Galo Ortiz to help. Cost in 8/04 was $6.40 for a 40' boat, with an internal zarpe from Bah�a.

Puerto Lucia Yacht Club:
Phone 593-4-278-3190
Fax x402
Marina @ Puertolucia.com.ec
Manager, Galo Ortiz: manager@puertolucia.com.ec .
La Libertad, Guayos, Ecuador
VHF Channel 19

Marina Costs: Approx $20 for med-mooring, and these do not have docks, so you need to use your dinghy - same costs for on-the-hard - for 40' boat, or $360 per month. There is also a water charge, and water is metered ($3 per cubic meter). Electricity on the hard is $.25 per day, and at the med-moors is $.40/kwh. There are some dock spaces available at $750 per month, regardless of boat length. Rates include dinghy dock use, decent showers, washrooms, good security, restaurant/bar. You pay a $5 deposit for shower room key. If you want to use the pool, $6 per day. Health club $10 per day. Fuel is available at the marina, but it is about 50% higher than in town. There is a hotel here, rates approx $40 to $60 per night. Haul-outs (50-ton travel lift) $160 for boats up to 40'. There is a crane to un-step masts. Very good facilities, and they let you do your own work. Dogs are not welcome, but cats are, and the marina guys will go on your boat to feed/water/change litter daily for $5 per week. There are swimming beaches either side of the marina - one is private to the marina.

Marina work: Run by George Stewart - excellent management, good workers, skilled rate: $35 per day. - varnishing, bottom paint, even Awlgrip painting for hull and/or decks. George can get HEMPEL bottom paint and Awlgrip paint for you. He also know who does good welding/machining in town, and where to get various parts.

Salinas Yacht Club does not welcome cruisers. However, it is reported that you can anchor off this yacht club in protected waters for free.

General Information: There is a US-style mall 1/2 mile from PLYC, with a big supermarket, ferreteria, internet, cinema, food court and lots of shoe stores. Prices are higher than in the town of La Libertad, which is more working-class, and where prices are about the same as Bah�a. Salinas is a ritzy resort area, so prices are according, but there are nicer restaurants. The land is very flat - good for bicycles - and dusty. There are local buses ($.20), collectivos ($.30), taxis ($1-$3), and long-distances buses to Guayaquil ($3.40) and Quito ($8). There is a good mercado in La Libertad. Climate is good, generally dry, not much wind, good for getting boat work done. Mosquitos are around at dusk/dawn. There are good almuerzo and merienda restaurants within walking distance. People are friendly. The hotel marina will do your laundry, but it is expensive. In La Libertad, there is a lavander�a which charges $3 per load, wash and dry, same day, about 2 miles away ($1 cab ride.) There are two good laundries in Salinas, $3.60 per load, $3 cab ride.


Isla Santa Clara

Approach Waypoint: 03� 08.756'S; 080� 25.475'W

Waypoint would bring you within sight of islands from the Northeast. Commodore Palau (Puerto Lucia YC) suggested these islands in the Golfo de Guayaquil as another possible cruising destination. On the chart they appear as an arch of six islands from NE to SW with a seventh island to the N.