Peru- How To Make the Most of Lima and Travel Cheap

“Peru, it’s pretty neat.”

By: Clara The Exploradora

As glamorous as traveling is it is also incredibly tiring. Especially if you chose to travel alone, travel on a budget, and trying to travel cheap. At the beginning of December I embarked on a three week trip through the great country of Peru and as amazing as that was, man alive! It wrung all the energy right out of me (it didn’t help that I hit the ground running back home because of Christmas festivities.)

If you need a place to travel in December, go to Peru. The weather is warm but not deathly hot. Everything is decorated and lit up for Christmas. And it’s not peak tourist season.

Commonly asked questions about my motivation:

Before I get into the nitty gritty of this glorious trip to Peru, I want to address a few of the most commonly asked questions I get. People ask me a lot ‘why did you pick Peru?’ or ‘how can you afford to travel so much?’ or ‘isn’t it scary to travel alone?’ swiftly followed by ‘I could never afford that…’ or ‘ I’m poor’ or ‘I’m not brave enough to travel like you do.’ Well folks! You can do all these things!

• I picked Peru for no profound reason; I have never always wanted to hike Machu Picchu or anything cool like that. I simply picked it because I found a cheap one way ticket to Lima.
• Traveling does not need to be expensive. I always try to travel on a budget or travel for cheap. It’s only expensive because of how you chose to travel. You just have to be okay with cheap lodging, market food, and  less than fancy transportation.
• Honestly, I’d be more scared to travel alone to New York, Chicago, or LA. I mean, lets be real, those are the cities aliens invade and for some reason only super heroes reside in. Not Peru.

All that being said, this trip was pretty friggin awesome and I’m grateful I went. Too much happened in this trip to fully grasp it all so I’ll do my best by sharing experiences in order of the cities visited, with how I got to places, intermingled with neat pictures I took with my very own point and shoot camera and cellular device.

Put on some of your most inspiring travel tunes and read on my friends!

Travel Hint:

If you are traveling alone

and are a bit nervous about it,

buy an international plan for

your phone or buy a sim

card with data when you get 

there. Make sure you feel safe 

in your travels. 

Lima, Round One: 

My trip would begin and end in Lima.

Lima is a very big city that I’m sure aliens would attack and super heroes would protect. It is intimidating. And it doesn’t have to be expensive. After a full day of airplanes and layovers (negative side affect of cheap travel: excessively long layovers and crappy seats), I touched ground in South America.

From May 25, 2011- December 12, 2012 I resided in Argentina, serving a proselyting mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints aka Mormon or LDS. I lived in the provinces of Neuquen, Chubut, Rio Negro, and Santa Cruz. As a missionary you get paired with someone serving a mission of the same sex that are called ‘companion’. I had a companion from Peru and couple other friends that I wanted to visit there.

My mission companion, Olivia Villaorduñia was at the airport with her baby and two sisters to greet me and take me to their town of Huanuco, which resides eight hours north of Lima by bus. Getting places in Peru isn’t hard. Their Transportation is efficient and confusing. Taxi drivers can be a very aggressive bunch, and if you are American, they assume you poop money and will try and overcharge you for a ride. Luckily, I was with Peruvians and was able to skip the crazy taxi hoard and barter for a more fair ride. The ride was nuts. I don’t think the police really ticket or watch for traffic violations because anything goes there.

Travel tip:

Keep a map on you,

whether you have google

maps on your phone open or

not and know where you are going.

Taxi drivers will try and

take the long route

so you have to pay more. 

We spent that whole day at the Lima LDS temple showering up, eating, and for me, napping on the lawn before the long overnight bus ride north to her house. Even though I did not go in the temple, it was really nice resting there. I don’t know how they do it but temples and their grounds are always peaceful regardless of surrounding areas and the ruckus it is providing. You definitely should go see this temple. It is gorgeous and there is a visitors center you can go in.

This video shares my thoughts upon arriving in Lima in December and spending time on the lawn of the LDS temple.

After the time spent at the temple we hailed another taxi to go to the appropriate bus terminal. One thing that really threw me off with the bus system here, as opposed to Argentina, is that you have to go to a specific terminal to get to a specific place. The buses don’t all congregate in the same place. I did not know this and it really threw off my travel plans when I went from Huanuco to Cajamarca, but I will write about that later. The terminal was insane. People kept walking up to me to try and sell me random crap and street talent came in to earn a few soles. It was a shock. The currency in Peru is called Soles (soul-es). Exchange rate info here

The five of us got on a red eye, double decker bus to their town of Huanuco. Traveling there was hot, bumpy, and lonnnng but it is worth it to see some awesome places in a new country with a friend.

Since I went to Lima on three separate occasions during the month I was there, I am going to display the passage of time by leaving links each place I traveled to in between Lima stops.

• Huanuco
• Tingo Maria
• Huanuco Pampa Ruins
• Cajamarca

LIMA, Round Two:

After a couple weeks exploring Huanuco and Cajamarca, I ended up back in Lima for a night to pick up my friend Kathryn. I had flow down from Cajamarca to the Lima Airport and stayed the night at a nearby hostal that provided a car service to and from the Hostal. Reason being is it would be very dangerous to walk there or take a taxi, especially at night. Lima is not the safest city. That night spent in the hostal was really fun. Some European travelers and I hung out in hammocks on the roof until I retired for the evening, since I had to be up early to go pick up my friend Kathryn and catch our flight to Cusco.

Travel Hint:

You can say no to

any situation that

makes you uncomfortable.

That night, I did have an odd experience in the hostal, though. I was sleeping with my bag against the wall and one of the guys I had been hanging out with woke me up and asked if I would cuddle him… it was so weird. I said no and he went away. Consent is sexy!

Travel hint:

Buy or bring a

little padlock for lockers.

Also, drink all the Inca Cola

you can. It is delicious.  

I woke up bright and early the next day, got a ride from the hostal to the airport, found Kathryn, got on another plane and made our way to Cusco!

• Cusco
• Salkantay trek
• Macchu Pichu
• Puno
• Juliacca

LIMA, Round Three:

Kathryn and I arrived tired, smelly, hungry, and excited explore Lima. 

I have a few friends from my mission in Lima and was able to stay with one of them and his family. He picked us up from the airport late at night and took us to their home. It was so nice having a home to sleep in after having slept in hostals, tents, and people’s floors.

That night we showered and got some good shut eye. The next day, Christian had a whole agenda for us to show us some of the coolest parts of Lima. It was totally amazing! We ate a breakfast of delicious Peruvian bread and juice with his family before we went to explore Lima.

Mira Flores:

Christian took us to go see Miraflores, costa verde y ovalo de miraflores. This is a beautiful district in Lima. Christian showed us some pretty neat areas that highlighted the Peruvian culture. He also showed us Barranco, which has el Parque del Amor.

This is a beautiful coastal park that has a passionate statue of two people kissing surrounded by gardens and the ocean. Peru does not lack in passion and it is proud to show it. This park and it’s surrounding areas has beautiful walk ways, parks, street performers, statues, murals and artisans. There was even the option to go paragliding.

Near this area is a big fancy mall called Larcomar. Larcomar is a beautiful open air mall that is placed right on a cliff offering up amazing views of the ocean below and all the surfers.

And yes. This district has great surfing. You can take lessons or just rent a board and go. And let’s be honest, surfing it usually a pretty great activity to engage in.

We also spent some time in a really cool park with a bunch of locals where there were beautiful nativities all around. As I said before, Peru is a great place to travel in December.

And an ice cream shop on the outskirts of the park. The ice cream was delicious.

We also appreciated going to the little chocolate shop and seeing how chocolate is made and oh how good it is in Peru!

And this here, is the park. We loved being there and enjoyed the ambiance of kids skating, listening to music, families playing near the park, and overall socializing of friends.

And now, it was time to say goodbye to friends and to Peru!

HASTA LUEGO PERU!!!