So once we decided on Peru, I visited my local library and got a whole lot of guidebooks about Peru. There is tons of cultual and natural diversity in Peru. Following places are of major tourist interest
1. Lima : Capital of Peru and probably the most "Americanized" city.
2. Cusco : Historical Capital. Gateway to Machu Picchu.
3. Machu Picchu : Lost city of the Incas which is located high up in the mountains. New wonder of the World.
4. Lake Titicaca : Highest navigable lake in the World.
5. Arequipa : Famous for its wool work
6. Colca Canyon : Canyon deeper than Grand Canyon
7. Nazca lines : Mysterious lines and figures which are drawn over hundreds of kilometers in desert.
8. Amazon : Rainforest and start of the might Amazon river.
9. Paracas Peninsula, Ica : Beaches, watersport etc
10. Mountains of Huayhuash : Many snow clad mountains and glacier fed lakes
So, it was impossible to see everything in the 10-11 days timespan that we had in mind.
hence, we decided to follow "The Gringo Trail" - thats the most common route that most tourists follow when they visit Peru. We added a small extension to Amazon rainforest to the trail. So our final plan was somewhat like
Lima - Cusco - Machu Picchu - Lake Titicaca - Arequipa - Lima - Amazon rainforest near Iquitos.
I you plot this on map, it becomes a nice circuit with Amazon as extension.
Although Colca canyon and Nazca lines also come on on the way, we simply didnt want to rush things, so we skipped them.
Once we had the route mapped reasonably well, we started to worry about internal transportation.
One thought was to take flights as and where possible, to save time. But upon research we came to understand that, some journeys were truly scenic and we had to do them by road. Also, although Peru has some local flight companies, they are at best unreliable. They change flight times as they please. (which we experienced hard way...more about that later).
So ultimately we decided to take flight to Cusco and Iquitos because the distance was way too much to go by road. Flights to Cusco are quite a few and are quite reliable since Cusco is a major tourist hub and millions pf tourists come there each year to go to Machu Picchu.
Iquitos flight was tricky, just one local company flies there and that too one hop. No direct flight. Tricky in the sense that, Iquitos is located right in between amazon rainforest, so weather is very unpredictable. And the local flight company flies in a small dinghy plane, it cant fly in extreme rain or extreme winds.
Still we decided to take it. Internal lights are fairly reasonable. May be $100 per flight on an average.
We also debated if we should do the highly publicized Inca trail -It is a 4 day trek through Andes mountains which starts near Cusco and ends at Machu Picchu. But we didnt have 4 days to spare, so we decided to take Perurail trains rom Cusco to Machu Picchu.
Then there was question of hotels. Since we were visiting almost all touristy places, every place has tons of Hotels to suit your budget. We chose reasonable 2/3 star Hotels and the rates never crossed $35 for a double room. Yes, it is that cheap.
I decided to call one of the hotel, since most hotel websites are static pages, you cant reserve online.
'Hi'
'Hola'
'Do you speak English?'
'Yes, English'
I am already sold on that Hotel after horrible consulate experience.
'I wanted a double room in your hotel from xx to xx'
'Sure, we have plenty'
'Cool, how do I reserve the room? Do you take Visa credit card?'
'No advance, we pick you up at Airport and take to Hotel....Name?'
'Abhijit'
'Ok, you are all set!'
I had read that, hotels dont need advanced payment or any security deposit etc. Being used to Indian/American mentality, we are not used to such "trust". But this is unbelievable. And this is true all over the Peru. We didnt pay advance for any Hotel and still we had our rooms reserved on specified date. Later, we booked hotels over email, and carried the reply email printout with us as confirmation. But we were never required to show the reply email printout, everything was all set !
After my experience in Peru, I can confidently say that, Peruvian people are genuinely simple and warm at heart, just that they are just beginning to get flow of tourists visiting their country, so they are not tourist-ready yet. No one will do you any harm, you may find their ways of living a bit strange, as they are not "Americanized" yet. But thats the fun and novel experience
Here is a teaser pic of Machu Picchu
So finally, everything was booked. Internal transportation, hotels etc etc. And we were raring to go!
Then disaster !!
Severe rains and floods washed away a major portion of Peru rail track and Machu Picchu was disconnected from the World for indefinite time! Even Inca trail route suffered damage from landslides and people near Machu Picchu were required to be air-lifted to safety.
We were eagerly watching the news every day, debating whether to cancel the whole trip if Machu Picchu was not possible. But thankfully, just a week before our scheduled departure date, Peru rail managed to make service available to Machu Picchu partially by train and partially by bus!
So yes.. trip was back on !!