Resources

Below is a review of the resources we used. The opinions are based on our personal expectations. We booked our trek, hotels and internal flights well in advance of our trip. Some people prefer the freedom to make these decisions while traveling, with two travel days and only 10 days to explore, we figured we could best utilize our time with advance planning.

Hostals

With the exception of the last hotel listed, we booked small, tourist class hotels so that we could experience a degree of comfort with emphasis on local flavor. With the exception of the last hotel, these accommodations are not lush. The 3rd hotel listed was lovely but almost too "Americanized" for our tastes.

Hostal El Balcon

Tambo de Montero 222, Cusco ph (51 84) 23 6738

balcon1@terra.com.pe

Perched on a hill on a narrow side street, Hostal El Balcon offers a panoramic view of the city of Cusco (El Balcon means The Balcony). The hotel is a restored pre-colonial house dating back to 1630. This was our favorite! We found the employees pleasant and helpful, infinite hot water for showers, comfortable beds (4 blankets for warmth), a bottomless thermos of hot water for regular or coca tea and very reasonable rates. The hotel's 16 en suite rooms surround a small pretty courtyard, home to beautiful flowers, 3 talkative parrots and 1 very friendly cat. Breakfast was included in the price of the room. We were served coffee, warm bread, jam, juice (changed daily) and fruit, usually a banana. Eggs or other items could be added for a charge but most people didn't.

Our room temperature maintained at about 58 F. The floors are hardwood and the walls, thick adobe. We had a small portable heater but found that the blankets kept us warm so we used the heater in the bathroom to warm the tile floor and help dry clothes.

Two downsides to the hotel: 1) it is located on a hill and we did some huffing and puffing walking up the hill until we adjusted to the altitude (take a taxi if you don't want to walk, 2) the wood floors, outside steps and balcony were noisy specifically early in the morning when people were checking out for treks or other travel.

Our reservations were set up via email. Our word was the guarantee, no credit card required. The staff at El Balcon is quick to respond to email and always very gracious. We paid in cash, US $$. Credit cards are accepted but we watched a German guy throw such a fit about the credit card service charge (usually 5-10% in the areas we traveled) that the next day, when we mentioned credit cards, the staff kept insisting cash. We note that the German's temper flared over $5/US, less in Euros. We aren't wealthy but, yikes, that was quite a display for $5.00.

Hostal Presidente

Avenue Imperio de Los Incas, Aquas Calientes ph (51 84) 21 1085

A welcoming place after 4 days on the Inca Trail, Hostal Presidente is located on the "rail tracks" across from the old station. Our travel companions consider this to be their favorite hotel, we rank it # 2. The couples had rooms overlooking the Urubamba River. Barbara had a 2nd floor room track side and loved it! When not on the streets of Aquas Calientes, she was hanging out of the window watching the town's commerce along the tracks. Rooms include breakfast (same as in Cusco).

The hotel is decorated in colonial Peruvian decor with strong yellows and reds. The staircase is open to the elements (we figure the hotel staff must do some mopping during wet season) and tropical plants stretch toward the sky. The beds are comfy enough and the attached bathroom seemed to have unlimited hot water. Note: some single rooms did not have attached baths.

Our reservations were set up via phone (about $1.15/minute from US). We initially attempted email but the hotel did not respond. We tried to phone once at night for reservations but no one spoke English so we made our calls during the day with no problem. As with El Balcon, no credit card is taken to guarantee the room. We had a slight scare when we showed up and the clerk could not find our names on the guest list. The reservation had been translated to Deperly (instead of Beverly). It took only a few minutes to work through the problem. Hostal Presidente is cash only!

Hotel Pakaritampu

Avenue Ferrocarril s/n, Ollantaytambo ph (51 84) 20 4020

email: hotel@pakaritampu.com website: www.pakaritampu.com

Hotel Pakaritampu is a lovely hotel. The hotel feels like an isolated island with a front gate and fences to keep out any unpleasantness. Terra cotta buildings surround a courtyard filled with flowering bushes, trees and plants. Two llamas, one white, one black, live in the courtyard. The hotel is decorated with Inca related paintings and beautiful pottery created in two nearby studios. Our room overlooked the courtyard and we had an abundance of warm, morning sunshine to dry damp clothes and items from the trek that did not dry in the humid Aquas Calientes air. We had a beautiful green marble bathroom and, as Will commented, probably one of four hotels in the country (outside of Lima), that provide hair dryers. We think some of the luxury hotels in Cusco might but we don't know.

So, what is our problem with this oasis in the Peruvian countryside? It is just that, an oasis and a very American oasis at that. The hotel operates on US $ (most credit cards are accepted). Everything is listed in and paid for in US $...the restaurant, bottled water, rooms, internet service. The price of everything is commiserate with the type of tourist the hotel draws. A fabulous breakfast buffet is included with the room. The buffet included eggs, fried bananas, fresh homemade breads, ham and cheese slices, honey, jam, fresh fruit, wonderful granola, yogurt, fruit juice, coffee and more. Yum yum!

The hotel is very professionally run, the staff very helpful. We had 2 complaints with this hotel 1) hot water was an issue... we ran out, 2) the pillows felt like laying one's head on an Inca stone for the night.

We booked this hotel via email and guaranteed the rooms with the required credit card. Our emails were responded to quickly and all questions answered. All in all, a really nice hotel but we found ourselves passing by local hostals wondering what we were missing.

Trekking Service

We went back and forth between Andean Life and SAS before selecting SAS. Both companies are priced at the top end of Inca Trail trekking services.

SAS Travel

Portal de Panes 143 (Plaza de Armas), Cusco

Phone: 51-084-237292 website: http://www.sastravelperu.com/

We read a lot of Peru travelogues before selecting SAS and we were not disappointed with our choice. Although a many trekking services can be found along the Plaza de Armas and side streets in Cusco, we wanted to be sure that our company paid porters and guides fairly and would help us have a good experience. We were not disappointed with the experience.

Aside from the incident that occurred when we visited the office to pay for our trek (see day 2), we had a great trek. We were very impressed with our guide, Freddy Munoz, whose outgoing personality and social skills insured each person in our group felt comfortable. His grasp of the English language provided him with the skills to explain our surroundings in a manner that we could all understand. SAS is lucky to have him! Our assistant guide, Julian Perez, though a bit shy and still working on his English, was always smiling, friendly and helpful.

Our biggest concern on the trek? Putting on weight. We were well fed with large meals and an abundance of snacks. The food was excellent and the presentation, great. More often than not, we ate too much and this made trekking up the mountain difficult as our stomachs tried to use our bodies resources to digest while our lungs were screaming for the resources to breath.

We do wish that an independent service would create a rating service for all trekking companies. We believe the rating should include categories like food, equipment and service but most important, pay for porters and guides. We do not know how much of our high trekking fee actually went to the people doing the work. As with many services that we paid for in Peru, we think we could have paid less and had equal service but we have no way to judge.

Travel Agency

To book our roundtrip flight from Lima to Cusco, we used a local Lima travel agency, Fertur Peru. We obtained the name from the South American Explorers Club and would use the agency again to book additional travel in Peru.

Fertur Peru

Jr. Junin 211, Lima, Peru

Ph: 0051-1-4271958

email: fertur@terra.com.pe

Our contact: Patricia

Most Useful Websites

http://www.andeantravelweb.com/peru/index.html

This website provides a vast amount of useful information about travel in Peru including information about tours, hotels, travel, trekking and many other topics. We found this our single best source of information an supplemented it with books and Peruvian travelogues.

http://www.saexplorers.org/

The website of South America Explorers Club, a great source of travel information for South America. Club houses are located in Cusco and Lima Peru, Quito, Ecuador and Ithaca, New York. SAE is a non profit organization working o promote knowledge and cross culturalism of South America.

Most Useful Books

"The Inca Trail, Cusco & Machu Picchu"

Author: Richard Danbury, Trailblazer Publications, 2nd Edition 2002

"Footprint Peru Handbook"

Author: Ben Box & Alan Murphy, Footprint Books

"Cusco and the Sacred Valley of the Incas"

Fernando Elorrieta Salazar and Edgar Elorrieta Salazar

Translated by: Beverly Nelson Elder

Ausonia S.A., Lima 2003

Note: We purchased this beautiful paperback in the market at Ollantaytambo for 50/soles (about $14.00 US). Beautiful photographs and a detailed explanation of the ruins in the Sacred Valley.

"The Machu Picchu Guidebook, A Self Guided Tour"

Author: Ruth M. Wright & Alfredo Valencia Zegarra, Johnson Books, 2001

A detailed book explaining Machu Picchu ruins.

"Camino Inka, Inca Trail" MAP

Published by Lima 2000 S.A.

Note: A topo map of the Inca Trail (one side) and a tourist map of the Sacred Valley (other side). We purchased the map at a kiosk in the Lima Airport. Unfortunately, we purchased the map on the way home so we did not get to enjoy it during our trip.

Out and Back Home Peru Home