Cusco

[Saint]

Thanks to all those that sent me a PM regarding this. I might just skip it and hope for the best. I dont like taking medicines. I arrived in Lima late last night with my novia. Its nice in the Miraflores area. Not sure if I can hobby but I might extend my trip after next week and stay a few more days. I already have all my hotels booked in Miraflores and Aguas Calientes. $5?? Shit. The place I got is like $40 a night and I thought that was cheap. Thanks again for all the advice.

Saint

[Tantrik]

Saint: Seriously, you have nothing to fear from drinking coca leaf tea. It's by far the best cure for the soroche. The amount of cocaine in coca tea is extremely small, and coca won't get you wired unless you chew a bunch of it with some lime based helping agents. AFAIK there are no good remedies for altitude sickness available in the pharmacies, they just aren't very effective and some of them also have bad side effects.

Robert51: I may be able to answer some of your questions.

[Big Bug]

Saint,

If you are flying in Cuzco, your flight will arrive in the morning, (high altitude and afternoon flights dont mix).

when going to Machu Pichu by train, it leaves in the morning, so you will overnight in a hotel, this will give you time to adapt. Drink the coca teas, they taste like hell, use plenty sugar.

If you are going by Inca Trail. Do NOT consider hiking the same day as you arrive, regardless of your coca ingestion. It is a long hike, uphill, rough trails. Sleep at hotel the night before you start in Cuzco, let your body adapt, go next day.

If you are going by chopper, doesnt matter, the chopper get tired.

PLS NOTE : turists had to be rescued from MP by chopper and ferried out last week end because mud slides cut the roads.

the cost of hotels in Cuzco is a joke US$2-5, just walk arround looking for the hosterias, hostales, etc. Avoid big hotels, why pay US$100-200 ??? use them on the chicas man

Bug

[Kachta]

Saint...

I don't know anything about that drug. But I WILL recommend that when in Rome....errrrr Peru...do as the Peruvians. The coca tea they serve at EVERY cafe, the 1/2 way lodge up the mountain and the MP Hotel up there works extremely well for all that ails ya. I went 3 years ago to climb MP and had probably 1 cup a day while I was there....worked very well. They have also conveniently planted some along the hike to help you out. Just rip a few leaves off and chew it.

Best of luck..its a climb! But its worth every step!

Kach

[Saint]

Hey guys. Need some quick advice. A physician on the board mentioned to take Diamox for altitude sickness if going to Cuzco. I totally forgot about it and I'm at the airport now arriving Lima in a few hours. I'm headed to Machu Picchu. Can I get Diamox there in Lima before I go to Cuzco? If so, what's it called there and where can I get it? Is it in any pharmacy? I'd prefer taking it rather than that coca based plant. Thanks in advance.

Saint

[Robert51]

Any one in Cusco looking at this board anymore?

I have questions, do you have answers?

Take care.

Rob

[Bowling]

Hi fellas,

New monger here needing advice. A friend and I are heading to Peru early in April, and we need help deciding where to go. We only have one week and would like to either go to Cusco or Iquitos. DanDaMan has made them both sound very interesting. We mostly are interested in local girls if possible vs pros. Given our length of stay, where will we have the best luck and the most fun?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Bowling

[Tantrik]

No problem, Saint! Aquas is actually quite a nice place, but it's pretty small, so you might get bored quickly.

[Saint]

Thanks Tantrik,

That's some good detailed advice. I think Cusco sounds more my style. I'll hit Lima one night then spend the rest of it in Cusco and Agua Calientes. I'm quite sure there isn't much action in Aguas but that's ok. Thanks again for the info.

Saint

[Tantrik]

I'm hardly a local, but I can tell you some things from a Western perspective, after a few trips to Lima/Cusco.

Lima is a huge city with over six million people - you can experience everything from the most exquisite luxury to the utmost squalor there. The whole city is hardly either this or that. However, it is a third world city, so there are a lot more shitholes than nice places there. You just have to spend some time studying your Lonely Planet guide to find the good places. Also, crime is high. The poor areas are no-go ( or drive )-zone, and Miraflores isn't completely safe either, but the risks are acceptable if you behave smart.

Cusco is much nicer concerning crime, I didn't talk to anyone who to me they had been mugged or attacked there the last time I visited. Also, it's much cheaper than Lima. I had a really nice time there.

Peru is a very diverse country ( deserts, mountains covered in snow 365 days/year, highlands, beaches, jungles ) and so are the chicks. Lima has the best chicks IMO - especially among middle classes. They're a mix between european and indian blood, and a significant percentage of the available ones tend to be very good looking. The rest of the country will be more indian looking, and IMO not quite as pretty ( but still some good lookers ). Actually most of the good looking girls I met in Cusco were Lima girls on summer ( winter in Europe ) holiday.

Which city? Depends on what you want, really. If you want a safe, inexpensive and cozy, townish city to party in, choose Cusco. If you want to spend some cash to get something bigger and more cosmopolitan, go to Lima.

If your spanish sucks, you'll have a much bigger chance talking to the more educated Limeñas than the Cusqueñas. However, Cusco has alot more euro/us/aussie/SA native english speakers per person, many of them stranded there because of the cheap coke that's made right up the hillside, I suspect. So again, it depends on you.

[Saint]

I'm headed to Cusco in late April. I don't really find Peruvian girls that attractive overall. I'm mainly going to Peru to see Machu Picchu. If given the choice would most of you stay longer in Lima or Cusco? I heard Lima was a dump. Is that true?

[Tantrik]

Thanks Ferolga!

Nice to receive praise from an experienced SA traveller.

Concerning the weather in Cusco at the time, it was much better than expected. Experienced only one shower, which was a relief, since this was supposed to be in the middle of the rainy season.

I also noticed a club called Noika on the way to the airport, which hasn't been reviewed here yet. Might be worth checking out if you're in the area.

[Ferolga777]

Tantrik

Super report. Thank you. The non-pro can be much more satisfying than the pro scene and it seems that you did well.

ferolga

[Tantrik]

Cusqueña mongrino esperienca
-----------------------------

Hi all, here's some stuff on my experiences in Cuzco. I was there for about two weeks starting at the beginning of January this year.

Warning: The following contains behaviour which some may find to be chump-like, as well as britchera action and subtle bragging. Read at your peril!



I only had one pro experience in Cuzco, and it was a disappointment. Went to La Rumba at about 10 o'clock on a Thursday. I was the only male when I entered, and the guy in charge seemed eager to get me inside. He asked me if I liked darker or lighter girls, I answered I didn't really care as long as they were beautiful. He sends me a lithe chick, early-mid 20s. Big boobs ( C+ ) for such a slim girl, 45-50 kilos and around 160 cm - a 9-9.5 body. Her name was Mel, and she was *calitente*:-) So warm she had no problem walking around in a negliché in the not so warm club. Also, she was very cheerful, flirty and smiling. She had the kind of moves you expect from a girl that really likes sex and knows how to give you a very good time. Her face didn't really appeal to me though, it was too broad. I wanted to take a look around before deciding, and then I saw

Daisy. She was a perfect 10 in my book, wonderfully beautiful face, young ( looked 20 ), slim and sexy bod, tall for a Cuzco-girl ( 5'8 ), and great big ( D-DD ) breasts. She managed to milk me for 3 drinks ( at 20 soles each ), plus the standard 35 soles barfine. We agreed to sex for an hour at 160 soles ( 40 euros ), but that's where the trouble began. She claimed I was too big for her, and kept crying out in pain when I entered her. Maybe most guys in this part of the world aren't very well endowed, I dunno. I certainly had problems with the condoms there, one kind was too short to fit me, which resulted in it slipping. The third condom in that pack actually broke, and I didn't notice before I deposited a healthy load of sperma into one of my local gfs love-hives. And these were imported Durex condoms, not some local basement brand. Luckily I got her to take some pills that were supposed to hinder pregnancy... But back to the main story. It seemed a bit unsportswomanlike of her, I'm hung well over normal for a european, but I'm not a John Holmes either. I agreed to give her 60 soles for her time and take her back to the club. We kissed each other goodbye, I was feeling tired and headed back to my hotel.

The quality of the chicks in the club was disappointing. One girl looked young ( 20+- ) and had looks, soul and character, a bit like Frida Kahlo, minus the ugly eyebrows. But except for her and the two girls I met, the quality was very average. There was a lot of boobage there though, so if you're into large naturals, you'll like this place. Of course, as long as you manage to pick out a great looking girl, it doesn't matter if the rest are so-so. This place doesn't have beds on the premises btw. The rest of this review is non pro stuff, so if that doesn't rock your boat, you might as well stop reading here.

Britcheras aplenty there, I kinda liked them - they were often very pretty, entertaining and cheerful. Nice company, in other words. I hanged out with a bunch consisting of 3-7 Lima chicks, where 2 were 9 1/2s, one 9, 2 8s, one 4 and one was a ( clear! ) 1. Luckily the ugly one didn't stick too often. I used to buy food and drinks for them, and I didn't mind, drinks were around 1 euro at the irish pub and Mama Amerika, and they didn't drink too heavily. The food was cheap as (w/h)ell, 1-3 euros for a good dish, and they used to share their meals with their friends.

Some people might think that paying for chicks without pressing for anything back is a stupid thing to do. Generally I agree with that, but not in this case. As I mentioned, the girls were really pretty and great company. There's something special about walking around in the city as the only male with a bunch of modelesque young eye candy flirting with you, people stop and start smiling and looking at you while talking to eachother, one guy in a shop handed me a condom with a smirk on his face... :-) And since they were unspoilt and low maintainance, total expenditures came to about 20-30 euro a day, which seems a reasonable deal to me.

Anyway, I was pulled out of their arms ( literally ) by another girl from Lima, who wanted some close attention. A fresh young ( 20 ) university student who I came to like a lot and became my gf. As far as looks were concerned, she was an 8. After I began banging her regularly, one of the chicks from the Lima gang ( the 9 ) made it clear she wanted me to bang her. And so I was pulled back and forth between those two groups for the rest of my trip. Quite a nice feeling really.

On the whole I'd recommend Cuzco to any caucasian guy, especially if you're from the USA and Western Europe, except maybe Germany - a lot of the girls I met seemed to dislike germans, for some reason. The girls really like white guys there, the whiter the better. You'll have no trouble picking up girls if you look ok, everything is cheap there, crime is low and the cocaleaves are great. Two things though: The girls expect you to pay for them atleast some times, and it will help you immensly to know some spanish.

[Don River]

Gringo Loco #2:

I don't know what your budget is, but you can get a suite with a whirlpool and sauna in the Maria Angola in Mira Flores for 1/2 of what a room costs at the Marriott.

Don