UKC

Morning
I'm after a bit of advice please. We're hoping to go to Peru for 3 weeks or so next year and do some trekking. I've done a quick search on the intyweb and found a guided trek that looks great, but costs £1400 each. I thought we could potentially just get to Lima, find a porter/guide and head off on our own, but I'm not sure of the logistics of this? Does anyone have any experience? How hard is it to get a porter/guide? Do you NEED a guide? I guess we'll need trekking permits, same as Nepal, but do these have to go through official sources or do you just buy them at the start of the trek (a la Annanpurna)? I know you have to be part of a guided party for the Inca Trail, but we're wanting something a bit more strenuous and memorable.

Any yes, I know I could probably find all this info online, but I thought I would take the easy option first on the off-chance that someone can save me a lot of time!

Any advice would be very welcome! Ta.

In reply to Nim:

Get he hell out of Lima as fast as you can...


Only kidding, Mireflores is ok, but you can get all you need in Huaraz. Lots of guides in the town, some cowboys though.

Best are Skyline tours who can arrange epxerienced guides, donkeys and a good burrito.

No need for permits, although when you go into a national park you do pay for a "permit" - very informal - pay as you go - 5 bucks.

I would not bother with guided treks unless you like the idea of Wallace Arnold at altitude

Inca Trail, well if you must and like the company of 450 invesment bankers and lawyers all looking for themselves / doing this years thing.

The best treks are the Santa Cruz and the Huayhuash circuit. I have not done them but you wil find plenty about them on the web.

Try

http://huaylas.com/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/huaylas/default.pl?mapsize=small&lan...

In reply to John Rushby: Fab, thanks John. Will check it out. I know what you mean about the Inca Trail, but I think it would be a shame to go to Peru and not see Machu Picchu - maybe we'll just take the train up instead...

In reply to Nim: we did Johns Wallace Arnold thing (if you call 5 clients and 4 crew a bus tour) on the Santa Cruz loop. In hindsight it is very easy to do, from Huaraz head out to Cashapampa and you can pick up people no problem.

Cruz del Sur do good buses to Huaraz, loud movies and a semi edible meal. the trek round the Santa Cruz is relatively easy, but the mountains you walk by are A-list, make an effort to go up Pisco the views are astounding.

There is no shame in getting the train to Machu Picchu, as John says it is very busy, seeing the hordes crawling over from the sun gate made me glad I'd went up in a wee bus, at least there was only ten of us on the bus. Got dissed by a septic for being "too clean man, you ain't done The Trail". He was pointedly reminded that he hadn't just done a 5700m peak like I had either. Spend the time exploring round Cuzco if you've got it; some really nice places easily accesible by foot or taxi from the town.

In reply to Removed User:

You ate the Cruz del Sur food, repsect.

I was probably a bit too dismissive about the tour thing but as JaB pointed out,m there are a load of wannabes hero types bullshitting about ther trail and discussing the merits of approach shoes and north face cargo pants.

Bloody hell I am in a cynical mood today

In reply to Nim:
Hi, I've been there last year and going this year again. Don't stay too long in Lima if you can. In Huaraz you can go to Casa de Guias, where they can organise/give advise/information about the routes you want to do. If you have experience and want to do some easy things like Pisco/ Ishinca/ Urus , etc, you only need to hire a cook(if you want but I would advise you to), dunkies and the guy to look after the dunkies. You really need to speak spanish and in the casa de guias they will organise all this. If you want a guide , they will give you as well. The cook is alsos responsable to buy all the food/get the equipment but be careful to see if they don't take advantage. I have no complains to be honest.

There's a fee to get into the national park and it last 30 days...you can get into any quebrada/valley in the Cordilheira Blanca and it cost $20...not 5! Some places might try to get a few more but depends where you go.

It's not very compliacted and definatelly not like in Nepal! You don't have porters to carry stuff up the glacier unless you hire some people...our cook actually helped us and the guide we hired for one of the summits did help as well.

It's afantastic place and if you speak spanish it's just fab!

Hope you have a good time there and good luck with your plans1

Liz

In reply to Removed User: I'm assuming you joined up for the the "Wallace Arnold" trip when you arrived, not in advance? Can you remember roughly how much it cost? The bloke is worried about getting out there with nothing planned and then not being able to do anything, but I'm reluctant to fork out £2800 just for a 10 day trek with guide, when we could potentially get the same trip cheaper if we sign up out there!

In reply to John Rushby:
The edible part of the semi was the apple, bag of crisps and the bottle of coke. Right about the gap year heroes on the trail though: shit, my overweight mate did it on a diet of 20 Bensons a day and a bottle of pisco.

Nim; If you have a spare day in Huaraz there is a bike guide in town that I can recommend (can't remember where but look it up in the lLonely Planet, bike business is combined with one that does really nice t-shirts - doesn't make sense here but you'll find it in the book). Good gear, good guide and can take you on a variety of routes in the Cordillera Negra from hairy downhills to a more sedate downhill on the bulldozed roads (my bumbly cyclist preference!!). Cost about $15 for the day (pick up truck to near the top of the Negra, little of that uphill shite).

In reply to Nim:

I turned up in Huaraz, on my own with nothing planned.

Granted I was climbing but I found a victim, sorry partner easy enough.

I suggest you turn up and work it our from there - gives you loads more flexibility and most trekkers book at the last minute anyway - it gives you chance to peruse the various trekking agencies.

I would also suggest you look at Quebrada honda ratherthan Ishinca, quieter more spectacular.

Get a taxi - costs about $10 but you will have to carry your own stuff. nice 2/3 day trek to acclimatise.

Mail if you need more

In reply to Nim:
We went with Sherpa in 2002; it was nothing like £2800 and that was for all hotels, crew, climbing guides, flight to Cuzco etc for a three week trip. Have alook at Sherpa, Explore, Exodus etc and work your way back from their prices if going independantly. £2800 for ten days sounds well excessive. The main street in Huaraz has heaps of agencies on it doing trips. For MP there are alot of small hotels and hostels in Aguas Calientes, train is quite cheap from Cuzco, you can walk up from the town to MP, but the bus wasn't dear if you don't fancy the hike a 6 in the morning!! If you are going by train though the Trail trash have usually cleared off by mid day and the place gets a good deal quieter in the mid afternoon.

In reply to Removed User: Thanks guys. I'm going to print this out and leave it for the disbeliever to read
We've not really looked around at options, but I did think that £1400 per person was a tad excessive!
I'm dead excited about it already!

In reply to Nim:

Defo use Skyline tours or Montrek, nah Skyline and eat at the Baby donkey next door and California Cafe

In reply to John Rushby:
I agree with John pretty much throughout. I was out paddling in Peru for 2 months (though did quite a bit of trekking to get to rivers and also did the Santa Cruz circuit on my tod) in 1996 and although it was a while ago I'd have thought things will have only got easier (and busier). I'd say if you were intending to head to Huaraz or Cusco, then just turn up and sort yourself out with local info there. Hire a donkey + driver if you need to as locally to the start of the trek as you can (usually dead easy if you ask around the local village) and just walk.

Some points I'd recommend :

THe Inca trail is very overrated in my opinion, though MIGHT just be worth it to look down on MP from the sun gate IF you get there nice and early (6.00?). A night spent in the village at the bottom of MP (Las Termas ?) would probably be worth it unless its now commercialised to hell.

Santa Cruz trek is pretty easy, and if you go by the guidebook times (or worse take a guided trip) you'll be spending too much time on it. I personally think its comfortable doing the round trip in 2 to 2.5 days (road to road). I did it in less (day and a half) but was on my own and so just kept walking.

You'll find all the info you could ever wish for in Huaraz. Just get a Cruz del Sur bus up ther from Lima (get the hell out as fast as possible - Miraflores is only acceptable because the rest of Lima is so bad) and sort yourself out when you get there. The SA Explorers Club provides a VERY welcome haven in LIma and is an excellent source of info.

The trekking in more remote parts would be very worthwhile. If you end up taking a bus to Cabanaconde (bus from Arequipa) to see the Colca, then I'd recommend going a bit further in to the Colca. Take anohter bus to Huambo (they ran every 2nd or 3rd day when I was there), see if you can get hold of Susanna Yappo who'll sort you out with some burros and a guide (you caould manage easily without these, but you might have where the path out of the village starts) and walk down into the depths of the Colca canyon to Hacienda Canco. Awesome awesome scenery. It'll make the Grand Canyon look like Cheddar gorge. I reckon a day down to Canco and a day to get back (along the same path, but still worth it), although we took nearly 2 days to get to the bottom (we paddled out so didn't come back)

THere are some great sites and trekking to be had in the Sacred Valley which won't get half the traffic that the ones in the Blanca will / do.

Dont bother with guided tours, unless you're heading to more remote areas. You just wont need them if you can get a trekking guide book (Bradt for example) and if you do decide to hire a guide then just hire a local one - or a donkey driver.

Most importantly of all, learn Spanish - if you dont already speak it now, of course. Even a smattering will help no end.

In reply to Graham B:

Of course, as someone said above, its "Aguas Calientes" not "Las Termas" at the bottom of MP. Well worth stopping here even if you train it in AND out to MP.

In reply to Graham B: Thanks Mr B!
All info taken on board. Went into town at lunchtime and discovered Waterstones had 3 for 2 on travel guides so now have Lonely Planet, Rough Guide and ?Footprints. Lots of lovely homework.
And Spanish lessons to follow..... :S