Food:
Everyone who knows me knows I’m a huge foodie😏Lima is definitely the best place for food. Since I have a tight budget and I am in South America, not like New York or Tokyo, my strategy this time is really to go local – street food.
- Breakfast:
This is what local people normally eat for breakfast. You can have drinks for their local tea which is good for your stomach, coffee, or coca + bread. The meat inside is saltier than what we have in North America. With the bread, it is actually not bad.
This is what you normally get for breakfast from a hostel. Bread + coffee/juice + fried egg/scramble egg + yogurt of some kind
what you get if you stay in a fancy hotel. This is from Hotel de Sal Luna Salada, one of two finest hotel in Bolivia.
- Local style
This is my to-eat list before departure. I have Googled many pages and I think this list has included all the famous food. The ones that I checked 👌 meant I ate
For the ones I didn’t eat, most of the times were because I had the chance but don’t feel like it.
– pisco: I heard it is a very strong wine and therefore I didn’t feel like drinking it with all the altitude sickness. However, you can buy this wine EVERYWHERE in Lima international Airport as a souvenier.
– Polloteria: A very very common and local food! it is basically roasted chicken. Peru people LOVE chicken. You eat this with Inka Cola! My Peruvian friend told me that it’s the perfect match 😂 You can find this EVERYWHERE in Lima BUT not so common in Cusco or Bolivia. Therefore, seize your chance!
I didn’t eat that because my stomach wasn’t feeling well when I was in Lima. And since I’m not a big BBQ fan, roast chicken is just roast chicken 😅
– Lomo Saltado: This is also very very traditional and common. You can find this dish in Lima, Cusco, and Bolivia. It is beef + potato + rice. I didn’t eat this because I think it is a pretty heavy dish. And I didn’t feel like eating something heavy.
– Parihula & Juanes
Something that I want to try but didn’t have the chance. Both are tractional Peruvian food. Juanes is a typical Lima food; didn’t see any in Cusco. Juanes就是中国的种子，但我还蛮好奇有什么不同
– Cuy
Everyone knows it’s a famous local dish. Personally, I don’t think it’s worth. First of all, it is a little scary… Secondly, the way they cook it is just roast/BBQ (like in the picture below). Therefore, it just tastes like meat. Thirdly, the texture of the meat is not that especially good.
Because every tourist will try to find this and therefore it is very overpriced. I ate this dish at Pacha Papa in Cusco. This is a famous local restaurant. The cuy itself was almost 70 sol, the cheapest I have seen is 50 sol. For local/normal people in Cusco, their entire dinner can be as low as 3~5 sol. Now you know how expensive is this. Nonetheless, it is a nice restaurant. Recommended for couples: Pacha Papa, Cusco
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| On the left is the friend whom I traveled with, and on the right is a very nice Peruvian girl who helped us out a lot! |
– Caldo de Gallina: chicken soup
Peruvian has the tradition to eat chicken soup when you go to a new place because it is good for your stomach. I had this in the Saint Pedro market, a very local market. We ate like this:
It is worth to try. Not like amazingly good but is a very cultural food. The chicken in the market taste like real chicken (Chinese know what I am talking about 😂 Chicken in North American supermarket taste like nothing)
Btw, the spice sauce in Peru is very spicy! Spicy food lovers should try it, but try just a little first, otherwise, you will cry.
– Ceviche + Chica Mirada
Ceviche is probably my favorite Peruvian dish. People say Lima food is a combination of Latin American food + Japanese food. I think Ceviche is a good example. Ceviche is basically fish sashimi with lemon based sauce. A very good appetizer! I had this both in Lima and Cusco and I think Lima does this better. Also, Lima is close to the sea and therefore has better seafood.
Chica Miranda is honestly taste nothing special.
I had this in a nearby restaurant of Plaza Mayor, Lima. They had a special deal for lunch. The previous picture plus
is only 20 sol. lots of food place near Plaza Mayor, just walk around.
Lima also has lots of fine dining places that won awards. I only had a half day in Lima city and therefore I didn’t do any research but I think those places are worth to try. For those places, Google, and reserve before you go.
– ceviche + alpaca
I had this in Cusco. This restaurant is called Nuna and I think was recommended on Trip Advisor. Ceviche is good as well but the one in Lima does better. The meat of Alpaca is actually very tender. I like it. For meat choice, I will say Alpaca over Cuy.
– anticuchos
For Western people, this might be new but for Chinese, this is home-style food 😂😂 The have beef, chicken and beef heart. The taste is not bad but compares to the Chinese ones, they just need some extra spicy powder!
– Tuna & other fruits
Tuna is their local fruit. I really like it because it is juicy and fresh! In Peru/Bolivia, YOU NEED TO EAT THEIR FRUIT! SO GOOD!
Highly recommended fruits: Mango and Papaya. Sooo good!! If you are taking bus between Peru and Bolivia, at the border, you will see local farmers selling fruits BUY
Those will be the cheapest you can find: 2 sol for a big Mango (3.22 sol for 1 USD) ! so good!
The picture below is from the market in Cusco that I mentioned. The fruit is more expensive than at the border and I think the quality is slightly less than at the border. At the market, they sell 4~5 sol for 1kg Mango
Another thing about the fruit is that they are actually hard to find. You can only find them in such market. It is not sold in the supermarket. On the street, they mainly sell juices instead of fresh fruit.
If you see a fruit cart that freshly squeezed orange for juice (no sugar no added) Buy! you won’t regret it! it is so good!
– Emoliente
Good & good for your stomach, worth a try.
– Common food:
Coca Tea (infusion) + pan
I had this in the bus station of LA Paz. I really like the Coca Tea and it is good for altitude sickness. You can also drink them with fresh leaves.
Believe or not, we bought the chocolate-colored bread from the same store for 5 times? I think. Remember the look of the bread, when u r in Bolivia, buy this one! this one is better than the other ones.
– Random street food
By now you can tell, they really love potato fries, egg and chicken or beef.
Hotels:
[All within expectation]
Like I mentioned before, we stayed on the bus for 4 nights but we still booked several hotels for a shower and rest a bit before we get on the bus.
Most hotels that we booked are B&B, because we have 2 people and don’t want to stay in a 6/8 person room like a hostel. Our price was about 25 ~30 US dollars per night
We booked through Booking.com just do your own research. If you are unsure about the rating, check several websites of the same hotel to confirm the information/reviews are accurate.
The Hotel de Sal Luna Salada was something extra. Since we had a tried trip we felt that we need one night like this! and for us, it is totally worthy! It was about $250 per night. very good breakfast & the whole building is made of salt. But how honestly, when you were there to sleep, salt building or not doesn’t matter.
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| My face after 2 days no shower lol |
Transportation:
- Flights:
If you enough of the budget, you can fly directly to the Salt flat or Bolivia. They have airports in both Uyuni and La Paz.
For doing domestic flight within Peru and Bolivia, there were only a few airlines. Not sure about flying to the Salt flat because I didn’t fly but within Peru, there were only 4 or 5 airlines. We had the experience with both LATAM and Avianca. I personally had a smooth experience with both airline, however, my roommate had a terrible experience with Avianca.
Avianca canceled its flight (weather in Cusco is really bad, rainy and cloudy, so it’s actually common for flights to change due to weather condition) but gave no compensation/solution to its cancelation. My roommate has to buy another extra ticket herself. In addition, Avianca had a very terrible attitude when treating her. My roommate at the end bought another ticket from LATAM.
Just to be safe, I would choose LATAM whenever possible.
- Bus:
We ride the bus so much that I almost want to throw up when I saw these three letters 😖😖
Bus is actually a very common choice for travelers especially if you are going to both Peru and Bolivia. We bought our tickets from "ticketbolivia".
You can buy tickets from different bus companies on ticket Bolivia, or you can go straight to the bus terminal and buy it on that day. This is a common practice for the local but I do not recommend this because the bus terminal is a very headache place with lots of people and stuff (like the train station in China). If you have a limited Spanish, I suggest buying beforehand.
if you want to change your bus time after you book your ticket, you can email ticket bolivia to ask for a change. They respond to email pretty quickly and chill about changing time.
In Bus Station:
Some extra costs you might expect:
– printing tickets: because we only have the electronic version so some companies charge you for printing; some companies are cool; some companies asked you to walk out and print it out yourself 🙃🙃 If you can, print off yourself in Canada first.
– Get a sticker on the back of your ticket: I never understood what is this fee for. I think it is just their way to charge you more but if that station request this, it means everyone has to do it. Everyone go to a booth at the centre of the hallway, pay a fee and get the sticker.
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| The green thing is the sticker |
– fee for using the station: this is a fee that you pay when try to go out to your terminal. Just a small amount, normally 3 Bolivianos or sol
Some service you can expect:
– in the bus station, they have places to store luggage for 10 sol/bolivianos
– money exchange
– buying a Sim card
On the Bus
– extra blankets: they have blankets and is very warm but bring extra because it gets very cold at night, even during summer!
– FOOD: they don’t have people selling food on the bus. So all the time in the bus, you can only eat what you have with you.
– Charging device: they don’t have a plug on the bus! so even if you have your cable, you can’t charge your phone, it is also hard to find one in the bus station. Therefore, prepare some charing devices.
– These are not fancy buses. You can lay down your chair and everything. However, no flushing toilet, no place to wash your hand, no reading lights, no charging places, and no wifi
- Train
We took the train for one night and we thought it is way better than the bus!! unfortunately, train mostly has a very inconvenient timetable and has very few destinations. However, if you can, take the train.
Staff on the train are very nice! giving you pillows and blankets. You can charge your phone on the train!! toilets are very clean and free! (you need to pay for the washroom everywhere in all cities) They don’t have lots of people taking the train, so you can take 2 seats for sleeping 😊
- Taxi (uber)
They have uber in Lima, use it! it is cheap and safe!! For example, a taxi from the airport to my hostel in Lima taxi driver asked for 50 sol at first. I asked for 30. But my roommate paid only 8 sol by using Uber. It's not always this cheap, depending on the time but generally, way cheaper. Also, you can pay in cash for Uber in Peru😉
Bargain with the taxi driver! They are the ones that u can bargain.
Give you a rough idea. The airport is always more expensive but in the city, it should be very cheap! 40 min in Lima is 16 sol (I ride with a local)
IMPORTANT:
Take a picture of the plate number before you get on the taxi and send it to your friend! Make sure the driver saw you taking a picture! so that they know they can’t kidnap you.
- Local transportation
In La Paz, you have the cable car.
I suggest you not to try the bus or subway. Firstly, they don’t really have a metro system, for bus, it is way too local for me. I don’t want to get lost or get my stuff stolen.
In Uyuni, you need to talk to your travel agents to get the transportation sorted. Pick up and drop off is normally included. There is nothing in the town so don’t try to do it when you get there.
Tips
– the altitude in Cusco and Bolivia is higher than Tibet!! prepare your medicine from your doctor before you go!! or buy local, it is called: Sorojchi Pills
– Phone Sim card: 30 sol for 3G internet in Peru. The carrier is called Claro. Don’t buy it at the airport, they jet up the price a lot. You can find a local place EVERYWHERE outside
15 Bolivian for 1G data in Bolivia. Remember 15!! people always try to raise to some ridiculous price because we are foreigners. Ask the person to register for you. If they refused, find a person that can speak Spanish and you can register yourself.
– Bring several bags of tissues with you. You will need it in all developing countries. If you want, bring the wet ones as well or hand sanitizer, many times it is hard to find hand soap here…
– Safety
Bring an “invisible bag” with you, a bag that you can wear on your body. Put your money and passport inside. This is much safer and easier to grab money than taking out your wallet all the time.
Don’t wear fancy stuffs or jewelries
don’t give your cellphone to anyone you don’t know for pictures or any reasons.
Get help from reliable people, like people who own a shop (can’t run away) or look out for "tourist station", they normally have one outside of the train station/bus station (People from the tourist station told me that there are fake police in La Paz)
Use your safety common sense and don’t be lazy
– No Spanish? It is okay. Learn some basics and get your cellphone Sim card so that you can get on Google translate.
– be prepared to pay some “tuition” for travel or some random additional cost especially in bus station/train station
Weather:
Winter in North America is summer in South America. However, it is still chilly in Cusco and Bolivia. Lima was humid.
During their winter time, I heard it’s very very cold, like Canada. Check the weather and believe the numbers you saw! bring warm clothes!
Visa
Canadians: no need
Chinese: Google it, fill the application and mail to Ottawa. Took my roommate a week to get the visa back. You don’t have to have the vaccine if you are not going to the tropical areas.
Some people say you can get a visa at the border but we don’t feel secure to do it so we did it beforehand.
If you have questions, you can call them (find the number online), they pick up phone pretty quickly.