Cusco

[Hasideas Tao]

Hey Bret,

Thank you and to all the others as well, for the valuable info. I'm heading to MP in May and would love some first hand non-biased knowledge about this whole licensed guide thing. It seems clear that the Peruvians are making every effort to maximize their profits off of tourists but it has been my experience when traveling outside the USA that you can pretty much always find a better way with a little insight. Example, when booking the flight from Lima to Cusco, the tix are $300+ rt. Funny thing is that when you log in to the LAN sight as your country of origin being PERU, the flights are $90 round trip. Is this a clue as to how I am to be treated in Peru?

My schedule will be a little flexible and I think the 2 day hike you describe sounds attractive. I would love to camp at least one night under the stars! But I'm seeing $500 for tours! Once in Aguas Calientes or any of the other nearby towns, do you really need to book a guide in advance? I'm a moderately seasoned traveler and enjoy making friends with locals. Especially of the female variety. I'm just wondering if I am deluding myself into believing I can make this happen on the fly.

Separated the travel stuff but forgot to erase that part of the title:

On the MP / Inca Trail front: If you have time constraints but want a non-rushed experience, I recommend the two day trip I did to MP out of Cusco. Day 1 was early bus to Ollantaytambo, train to km104, then full day hike on the Camino Sacgrado (Sacred Trail) to Chachabamba, Wiñaywayna, Inti Punku, and MP before overnight in AC. Day 2 we toured MP, hiked up to Waynapicchu (no guide) , and relaxed in town before taking the 5pm train back to Cusco. You have to use a guide on the Inca Trail and I was happy with my SAS experience.

[Hasideas Tao]

Hey Bret, thank you and to all the others as well, for the valuable info. I'm heading to MP in May and would love some first hand non-biased knowledge about this whole licensed guide thing. It seems clear that the Peruvians are making every effort to maximize their profits off of tourists but it has been my experience when traveling outside the USA that you can pretty much always find a better way. Example, when booking the flight from Lima to Cusco, the tix are $300+ rt. Funny thing is that when you log in to the LAN sight as your country of origin being PERU, the flights are $90 round trip. Is this a clue as to how I am to be treated in Peru?

My schedule will be a little flexible and I think the 2 day hike you describe sounds attractive. I would love to camp at least one night under the stars! But I'm seeing $500 for tours! Once in Aguas Calientes or any of the other nearby towns, do you really need to book a guide in advance? I'm a moderately seasoned traveler and make friends pretty easily. I'm just wondering if I am deluding myself into believing I can make this happen on the fly.

On the MP / Inca Trail front: If you have time constraints but want a non-rushed experience, I recommend the two day trip I did to MP out of Cusco. Day 1 was early bus to Ollantaytambo, train to km104, then full day hike on the Camino Sacgrado (Sacred Trail) to Chachabamba, Wiñaywayna, Inti Punku, and MP before overnight in AC. Day 2 we toured MP, hiked up to Waynapicchu (no guide) , and relaxed in town before taking the 5pm train back to Cusco. You have to use a guide on the Inca Trail and I was happy with my SAS experience.[/QUOTE]

[Bowerboy]

I did the 4 day trek to MP.

I completely agree that the 2 day option would be perfectly fine and you would get most of the Inca Trail feel without having to do the extra days.

As a keen walker the 4 day hike was actually pretty easy. But we were very very lucky with the weather (no rain even though it was January and middle of the wet season).

[BMz69]

Aguas Calientes Massage / Flights to Cusco / 2 day MP option

Separated the travel stuff but forgot to erase that part of the title:

Flights to Cusco: I flew Peruvian Airlines as the tickets were much cheaper than LAN but had a couple of issues to report. I stopped by their Miraflores office to confirm my flight a couple of days in advance and learned that they had cancelled my flight and they had re-booked me on their last flight of the day (9:30am). I hope they would have contacted me. Given I had fairly tight timelines, I had them rebook me on their early 5:45am flight. By printing boarding passes ahead of time at their office, I was able to show up at the airport at 4:45am instead of 3:45am. Once at the airport, due to weather in Cusco, all non-LAN flights were delayed (including TACA, Peruvian Airlines, Star Peru and one other very small outfit). Apparently only LAN has the instrumentation to fly to Cusco in poor visibility. However, about 3 hours later, things improved and Peruvian Airlines was the first plane out. They have nice planes and good service. However, if you have very tight timelines, paying LAN their ransom may be worth it.

On the MP / Inca Trail front: If you have time constraints but want a non-rushed experience, I recommend the two day trip I did to MP out of Cusco. Day 1 was early bus to Ollantaytambo, train to km104, then full day hike on the Camino Sacgrado (Sacred Trail) to Chachabamba, Wiñaywayna, Inti Punku, and MP before overnight in AC. Day 2 we toured MP, hiked up to Waynapicchu (no guide) , and relaxed in town before taking the 5pm train back to Cusco. You have to use a guide on the Inca Trail and I was happy with my SAS experience.

[BMz69]

my schedule did not allow me to explore the limited p4p options in cusco.

massages in aguas calientes:

- better quality and somewhat more sensual offering (still no he) than in cusco but a little more expensive.

- they asked for s / 60 per hour but easily negotiated that to s / 60 for 90 min (busy week during low season)

- rooms were smaller, more private, and more comfortable than cusco.

- in cusco they asked me to keep my underwear on but here i just took everything off and lay on the table. they'll drape you with a very warm blanket but did not have a problem when i pushed the draping down my thighs for open exposure when doing my back / ass or when i pulled it up when doing my legs. draping when face up was done much more carefully and they did not massage the abdomen so it's just the legs face up.

from pachacutec (main road – go east / up from main square) :

mayta capac / 2nd road (to the right)

- massage spa santi (next to hostal john)

- therapist here was very cute in 20's.

- minimal contact and no indication of anything else available.

yahuar huaca / 4th road (to the right)

- therapist here was in 30's and likely a mother. moderately attractive.

- when face down, treated my balls as if they were simply an extension of my legs with extensive attention.

- face up, much more cautious, unlikely anything more possible given family can walk in and out of the room.

- saw her twice with similar results.

not the he experience we all would love to find on the gringo trail but definitely more interesting than i expected.

[Bowerboy]

Loads of massage girls in Cuzco but they only do real massage (the kind for perverts, with no happy ending). It is very dissapointing and they are missing out on so many upsell opportunities!

Went out to San Tutas as explained in a prvious post (past San Sebastien). It is about 20 minutes and 7 soles in a cab. What a bizarre place! It is a kind of courtyard with doors behind which women wait. The place was PACKED with guys when I went and they would line up outside the best loking girls doors waiting for thier turn. Nasty man! They would all be trying to look through the door cracks and windows to see when the previous guy was finished so they could get their turn.

The place was very safe and even had security / police guards. I could not imagin anything at all pleasurable happening there and guys al looking through the cracks to see when you are finished.

Its surprising really given the huge amount of tourism but as previously mentioned Cusco is a bit of a wasteland for the monger. Amazing city though from a culrural and "chilling out" perspective.

[Fun And Sun]

Did Peru a few months ago, but mainly to do some touristy stuff rather than for mongering.

Managed to find a local girl through MSN that was happy to come with me for the trip, one with a decent job that thought it was fun to make a new friend and "show me her beautiful country"... She did pay her own way for most things so was worried it would end up being a "friends only thing" for real, but by the third night we started sleeping in the same hotel room finally after a boozy evening out.

I really think that if you plan to do the gringo trail it is possible to find a local girl to come with you for the trip if you invest a bit of time and try to find them through either facebook, MSN, or whatever. Give Craigslist and all the "tour guides" on there a skip.

I think that local mongering options are possible along the gringo trail, especially in the bigger places like Cuzco, Arequipa, Puno, but most tours head out early in the morning so difficult to do a lot of playing at night so think that it is a BYOP type of thing unless you plan to do the trail slowly.

I did also find both my sexual appetite and stamina pretty badly impacted by being at high altitude up in the mountains, so do bring a good supply of viagra until you adjust to the altitude...

[Steven Jones]

San Tutis sound amazing! Whats do the girls look like? Anyone get some pics?

[Sly One]

Next time. I'll be more selective. The girl I had was the least attractive in the club, but the most aggressive, as soon as I entered the place she was on me like a cheap suit, having spent all day in the Sacred Valley of the Incas I was tired. Not being mentally Prepared for this, she grabbed my hand and took me to a seat in the back of the club where she got me to order expensive drinks for me and her! She pretended to be hot and ready for sex and gave me a DFK! This was not the girl for me so I wanted to give her the slip. I told her that I wanted to go the rest room to take a [CodeWord140], that was my chance to escape! When I walk out the restroom she was right there waiting for me like a Armed Security Guard Shhhiiittt no chance for escape! It was like she new I would walk out! So I told her lets go, back to the hostel we go. Back in the room her performance was Very poor, and she even caught a bad attitude for some reason. I got my nut and I was done for the night. The guy at the front desk said"Daaammmm she was Ugly, in Cusco you can do much better", Thats what I get for being a Nice and not saying NOOOO!

Best Bar/Strip Club Stratagy

In these type of places.

1. Ignore any chicas attentions.

2. Outright reject any walk-ups by saying "No gracias."

As a general rule, the aggressive chicas are the ones you want to most avoid as they are the hardened pros or the ugly ones.

3. You are, should ideally, be looking for cute out-of-town girls or students looking to supplement their income (and there are plenty of those in Peru).

Sly

[Slick Rich33]

Hi All, There are some other options besides Decamaron and San Tutis. I went to a club called La Noika which is a bar fine club. I think the fine is about 50 soles/and for the girl I paid her S/150. Next time. I'll be more selective. The girl I had was the least attractive in the club, but the most aggressive, as soon as I entered the place she was on me like a cheap suit, having spent all day in the Sacred Valley of the Incas I was tired. Not being mentally Prepared for this, she grabbed my hand and took me to a seat in the back of the club where she got me to order expensive drinks for me and her! She pretended to be hot and ready for sex and gave me a DFK! This was not the girl for me so I wanted to give her the slip. I told her that I wanted to go the rest room to take a [CodeWord140], that was my chance to escape! When I walk out the restroom she was right there waiting for me like a Armed Security Guard Shhhiiittt no chance for escape! It was like she new I would walk out! So I told her lets go, back to the hostel we go. Back in the room her performance was Very poor, and she even caught a bad attitude for some reason. I got my nut and I was done for the night. The guy at the front desk said"Daaammmm she was Ugly, in Cusco you can do much better", Thats what I get for being a Nice and not saying NOOOO!

P.S. I came accross some other clubs and forgot there names, It was late Saturday night going into Sunday Morning So everything was pretty much dead! One club had 2 girls laying on a couch, thay looked lazy. The club manager knowing that I was a Tourist told me that It was a $100 for the girl, and $50 dollars U. S for Him WTF!

[Sound7]

Walk on the trail of Wayna Pichu to Pichu Pichu (Peak) is good idea to go with the guide. Guide has the coca leaves to minimize the elevation effects. Bring water, snack & camera for a small picnic at the peak (Pichu Pichu)

I took the trip this Wednesday. From Cuzco to Piscacucho on a minivan (from PeruRail) around 2 and a half hours and them the train to Aguas Calientes, another 1 and a half hour. Best option is to stay a night in Aguas Calientes and do the visit first thing in the morning. If you do it all in one day (like I did) it's a very long day and most of it just travelling. Also if you’re planning on climbing the Wayna Pichu you have to be there pretty early because there is a limit on the number of visitors ( 400 I think)

[Mario Ramos]

I took the trip this Wednesday. From Cuzco to Piscacucho on a minivan (from PeruRail) around 2 and a half hours and them the train to Aguas Calientes, another 1 and a half hour. Best option is to stay a night in Aguas Calientes and do the visit first thing in the morning. If you do it all in one day (like I did) it's a very long day and most of it just travelling. Also if you’re planning on climbing the Wayna Pichu you have to be there pretty early because there is a limit on the number of visitors ( 400 I think)

[Captain Napalm]

As of last week, trains are running from Aguas Calientes to Piscacucho. We had to take a bus (provided by Inca Rail) from Piscacucho to Ollantaytambo where my ride back to Cuzco was waiting.

[Noqrtr61]

Guys,

Thanks for the info.

NOQ

[Artisttyp]

Hola,

Anybody have an update on the status of the railroad repairs from Cusco to MP?

What do you think the outlook is for June 1 time frame?

Thanks,

Noq

travel.state.gov updates the information as it comes in. I was on the website today for other reasons and came across it.