UKH

Sorry, putting this again in Off Belay like my previous (archived) thread about this, for greater visibility.

I got a lot of very helpful recommendations on the UKC forums re: a vague plan to go to South America, when I started a thread about 1 month ago.

I fly out to Lima on 26 August, arriving 22:20 that night. Aside from my return flight, so far I have booked nothing and researched very little. I've taken the general advice to "get out there, book into a hostel or two and wing it a bit"

I know that to visit Machu Picchu I must book a permit. It looks like this is done here
http://www.machupicchu.gob.pe - but now already I am confused as I thought you have to go with an organised trek of some sort, and surely they will want to be organising your permit (and whacking a little commission on top of it)? Permits are very specific - for date, time and exact approach (1er turno, 2do turno, Montana, Waynapicchu). Is it my understanding that I book my own permit and then just find any operator heading there on my schedule? Or do I just get my permit and find my own way there (I'd prefer to go with some sort of group actually just so I don't feel lonely!)

I was thinking of getting a flight to Cuzco very shortly after landing in Lima (just loiter in airport a few hours) but I also like this suggestion from other thread
"I'd fly to Lima, bus it down to Arequipa; from there train to Puno and up to MP from there; I did it on the 'local' train (with hens etc) but I think you can only travel now on the tourist train. You could explore the Lake Titicaca steamer, for the Fitzcarraldo-type connection."

Still pondering whether to book onto the 4 day Inca Trail. This again needs some consideration of the MP permit.

Aside from this, my only other big tick would be the Bolivia salt flats. Everything else I am happy to wing it.


The other consideration is what to take! I'm counting on not actually lugging all my stuff around all the time i.e. always able to leave it in a hostel lock-up or on the minibus etc but I've seen comments about hiring porters on the Inca Trail so perhaps the beginning and end logistics are different?

Regardless of that - I have 23kg allowance but I don't want to be overloaded.
Quick questions:
How cold? Thinking of taking thin down jacket and softshell (or is the climate irrelevant to softshell). No hardshell. I gather that an impermeable poncho is the waterproof of choice, if needed...
Any merit in taking a thin light sleeping bag, or just a cotton liner? For those hostels that might have musty clammy bedsheets.
Other than that, just thinking, two t-shirts, one shirt, vest, fleece, trekking pants, cotton trousers, shorts, light trekking boots, sandals, warm hat, trekking poles. Sound about right? (plus all the other obvious toiletries, sun protection etc)

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Oh and money. I have not got any of these fancy(?) top-up credit cards where you can load them up directly (online?) and minimise charges. Just a Visa card that doesn't add commission on overseas purchases (but still expensive to withdraw cash with) and a bunch of other stuff that isn't set up for overseas.

I am behind the times, as I've been spoiled by many Egypt trips where I just take a stack of cash in pounds sterling and get it changed, when required, by a man in a kiosk at better-than-bank rates. But in Egypt I am staying in one location so my cash reserve is safely locked up most of the time. South America I am essentially back-packing so it's a bit different and probably unwise to carry around £1500 cash :-/

Tips on this please

In reply to Blue Straggler:

My info was hugely out of date re. Lake Titicaca. The old steamer is now a luxury B&B (but closed at present for a refurb). One way to have a 'lake' experience is to take the 2-day catamaran (Puno to La Paz), Its not cheap (about $250 one way I think), but you get something of a feel for the altiplano. Details here:
http://en.incalake.com/Catamaran-Puno-La-Paz-2d1n

Other than that its the pretty tortuous bus ride (about 5.5 hours) - lots of choice, with Inca Express being a reliable one. You could also do it in shorter hops, using local collectivos if you have the time.

In reply to Greenbanks:

Well that one varies between $169 and $449!

It is the latter, when I would be using it. Except I won't as that is quite a lot of money! Thanks for the info anway though

In reply to Greenbanks:

Yeah, we couldn't find a way to make the boat trip reasonable.

The coach trip, whilst undeniably long, is pretty darned spectacular. Admittedly 5 and a half hours was nothing to us by that point. We'd done several 13-20 hour transfers.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

We took three cards each.

One Nationwide Debit Card - no commission on withdrawals
One Nationwide Credit Card - no commission on purchases
One Revolut Card - perfect interbank rate on purchases and withdrawals but you get charged once you go over £500 in a month

We carried a bit of cash but used cards a lot, using the Revolut until we ran out of credit and then switching to the others.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Oh, and regarding the money issue. ATMs are best (in my view), but try to get stuff broken down ASAP into small denomination 'sold', as bigger notes are sometimes hard to shift. ATMs are pretty widespread (were a few years ago, probably more so now). Avoid taking travellers cheques (painful); change-bureau were generally better than banks too.
Cheers

In reply to Greenbanks:
Thanks, I stopped using Travelers' cheques in 2010 and should have stopped in 1999 when we were losing half-days on finding banks and queuing (2010 not so bad and never used them between 1999 and 2010 hence missing the moment when they became esoteric!)

In reply to Lemony:

Ooh I was all set to get a Revolut...but although I have an iPhone, I plan to take my cheaper Windows phone on my trip in case of loss. And the Revolut app is not available for Windows phone. However if I do the pre-loading before the trip, I should be OK right? For a 3 week trip , just stick £x00 on it, use the card and make no further updates to it....right?

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Yep, that's what we did. Load it in GBP and let it do the conversion.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Regarding kit, I gather "all of the above listed plus a few additional thin base layers" thanks