Things to Know Before you Go: Peru

South America was a whole new world of uncharted territory for us. Would it be similar to trips we’d planned on our own around Europe? We went in to this trip a little clueless since the bulk of it had been planned by a travel company. After spending 10 days in this beautiful country, here are a few things you should know before you go to Peru.

Money

Tipping – While tipping isn’t quite as big as it is in the U.S., we’ve found that most touristy cities do have some expectation of tipping. In Peru, the standard is typically around 10% for good service. They won’t include tip on the bill, so make sure to have a few soles to leave and to have the math ready in your head when paying. Also, don’t be afraid to be vocal about how much change you expect. There were a few times when someone in our group didn’t specifically ask for change and the waiter/waitress just pocketed the difference. Sometimes this was a massive tip, so just let them know what you expect to receive back. 

Cash vs. Credit – We kept hearing people say to bring cash because it was much more difficult to find places to take credit cards. While we would definitely say to keep some cash on hand, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the majority of places seemed to take credit card, especially in the cities. It was helpful to have cash for smaller businesses, places whose credit card readers were “broken” or to bargain in the market. We’d also recommend taking out a decent amount of cash in a larger city like Lima because a lot of ATMs in smaller cities were our of money.

Altitude Sickness

While we’d heard all about it in blogs, it didn’t quite seem like a real thing. How do you prep for it? Will it hit you and how hard? Besides wheezing a bit after climbing a large flight of stairs to the beach, we hadn’t really felt the effects upon arriving in Lima. A drink hit you a little harder than normal, but maybe that was just the pisco sours talking.  It seemed like we might have been in the clear until we arrived in Cusco. Boy, did altitude sickness hit us hard. Walking across the plaza left us out of breath, the room wouldn’t stop swaying and nausea set in. 

Our tips to battle altitude sickness –

•  Drink tons of water. This was probably our biggest mistake. Staying hydrated helps ease your symptoms, so be sure to chug water all day. 
• Coco leaves really are your best friend. They don’t taste great, but chewing on the leaves (especially if you hike the Inca Trail) will save you from some serious pain. 
• Pop the ibuprofen to help with the headache. We basically took some as soon as we woke up to help keep the pounding headache at bay. Pair that with the leaves and lots of water, and you’ll feel much better. 
• Take it easy on the first day and trust that your body will acclimate. By the next morning, we felt back to normal and were breathing a lot better.

Crime

One thing we kept hearing from people and news articles as we prepped for our trip was that there’s a lot of crime in Lima. We heard the city was swarming with pickpockets. We’re not strangers to scammers in big cities, so we’ve always got a bit of a guard up when traveling, but we honestly didn’t feel worried at all. Besides a few pushy sales people, no one really bothered us. 

Taxis

There’s not a great system of transport besides maybe some packed buses and taxis, which we’re not huge fans of. Since the start of Uber, dealing with taxi drivers and the meter system seems like a distant memory. Make sure to book a taxi with a reputable company like Green Taxi. We highly recommend stopping by one of the stands to book a taxi for a set rate before leaving the airport because once you get outside, it’s a swarm of supposed taxi drivers soliciting people for business. Avoid unknown rates, long drives out of the way to up the charge, etc. by booking in advance.