Welcome to Centro Lima, Peru: Nuts and bolts. In regards to bus travel in Lima; if you’re not sure if the bus in front of you is going where you want to go, then ask. Just blurt out the area or a landmark to the bus wrangler (the guy standing in the door yelling at you). This time, all information will be on the interactive map. This map is a key to getting around Lima (by bus) from the Centro area, and to find nearby bus lines or the Train station. There are many more notable landmarks in Centro Lima, but you can find that stuff everywhere. So, check this out. Click the map to get to the interactive map page.

If there is any bus information missing or anything that you (the reader) would like to add fee free to contact me at, Robert@UnpavedSouthAmerica.com

Summer in February: A Memoir of Lima, Peru and Its Beaches
by Marie Mcnair Alvarez-calderon

Related posts:

1. Magdalena, Lima Peru: Nuts and Bolts
2. Cusco Peru: Nuts and Bolts
3. Nuts and Bolts: Trujillo and Huanchaco

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Welcome to Magdalena, Lima Peru: Nuts and bolts. This is the first of many parts of an “over all” Lima bus trajectory list and guide to moving about the area. We have added a few landmarks and markets to see, if you’re staying in the area. In regards to bus travel in Lima; if you’re not sure if the bus in front of you is going where you want to go, then ask. Just blurt out the area or a landmark to the bus wrangler (the guy standing in the door yelling at you). For more great info about Magdalena, check out Jessie’s post about the area. Click on the map below for a link to an interactive map of Magdalena Lima Peru.

Magdalena: Nuts and Bolts.

The Green thumb tack:

Head to this intersection to catch buses taking you anywhere you want to go. On the North side of the footbridge catch buses going West to La Punta and the Airport. For areas North and East stay on the South side of La Marina. Click here to see some of the Buses that come by this Intersection.

The Red thumb tack:

Brazil and Javier Prado is a great place to catch a bus to Centro Lima or Miraflores and Barranco. Click HERE to see Bus photos…exciting.

Light Blue thumb tack:

Most buses that say Magdalena should use this street. Click Here to see photos.

Purple Marker:

Iglesia Inmaculada Corazón de Maria (corner of Sucre and 28 de Julio) is the neighborhood’s main landmark. The church’s unique 5-story teal and pink dome is visible from most of the neighborhood, especially at night when the church’s facade is brightly lit. It is topped with a statue of the Virgin Mary by Ariquepeño artist Freddy Luque Sonco. – words by Jessie Kwak.

Yellow house: Huaca Huantille

Lima is stuffed with old temples, and Magdalena has one of their own.

Green Backpackers: Tambopacaya

Our buddy Scott and his GREAT Hostel.

Yellow Marker: Magdalena’s Malecón

Magdalena’s Malecón is a work in progress, and although it’s not as beautiful as Miraflores’, it can be a pleasant place for a walk in the sunset—just avoid young necking couples and the kids on bikes, as it seems to be a popular place to go when you’re learning to lose the training wheels (take that how you will).

Blue Marker: Valencia

Come here to strut your stuff or buy stuff or look at people buying stuff and strutting their stuff.

Neon Green marker: Madalena Market

The main market in the area and a great place so save money on produce or just about anything else. Enter on the NW corner or on the South side.

Light Blue Marker: Vivanda Grocery

High end grocery store.

Red Marker: Candy Grocery

Low end grocery store.

If there is anything in this article that has changed or that you may want to add, please let me know at Robert@unpavedsouthamerica.com. Cheers.

Related posts:

1. Nuts and Bolts: Trujillo and Huanchaco
2. Centro Lima, Peru: Nuts and Bolts
3. A closer look at Lima: Magdalena del Mar

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A common question on travel forums is always “how much will I spend?” When Rob and I spent six months in Peru, we vastly underestimated how much money we’d need, but I kept obsessive notes about our expenditures in order to both provide a guide for next trip, and to help out other people.

As a couple, we spent just under $50 a day, or $25 a person. That’s our average for the full six months, but I’m splitting my analysis into three periods of distinct travel: 1) Rob-’n-Jessie mellow backpacking, 2) sedentary lifestyle, and 3) frantic tourist circuit of the Gringo Trail.

Our daily averages (for two people):

• Overall: 47.45 a day
• Backpacking: 52.76
• Sedentary: 30.89
• Gringo trail: 81.40. for real.

What do those numbers mean??

Backpacking

This made up about 3 and a half months worth of our trip. The major categories of lodging, food, transportation, and tourism are what I’ll talk about here, since other expenditures on sundries are pretty relative to each type of traveler.

Lodging: We moved every few days, stayed in hotels except for a few nights couchsurfing. Almost every time were staying for more than a couple of nights in one place, we were able to bargain for a discount.

Tourism: We hit up a good amount of tourist activities, and we always tried to shop around for the best deal. What we saved by using public transportation to get to one site we often spent by hiring private guides for another site.

Transportation: We rode decent buses, sometimes splurging for the lower-level “full cama” (fully-reclining) seats, but mostly sleeping just fine in the upper level “semi-cama” seats. We could have saved money here by taking cheaper buses, but our motto was that we’d rather spend 9 hours in a comfy bus than 13 crowded into a chicken bus just to save a couple of dollars.

Food: We ate out most nights, partly because of lack of kitchen access, and partly because Peru is really ridiculously cheap to eat in. Sometimes we ate at cheap menu places, sometimes we ate well in good restaurants. This was our biggest expenditure. We spent about $15 a day between the two of us which we could have cut down by doing more of our own cooking, eating in more economical places (Peru is rife with restaurants that serve a decent complete menu for $1-2).

Sedentary life

We spent about 6 weeks living in Huanchaco, near Trujillo in northern Peru. We rented an apartment, which cost us S/.100 ($35) a week, taking our housing cost to about $4.15 a day for two people. Food was still our biggest expenditure (we like our food). We ate in a lot more, but Huanchaco has some fantastic seafood that we didn’t pass up as much as we should have to stay on budget. Obviously transportation and tourism costs were way down, since we weren’t going too many places.

Gringo Trail

Woah. We spent two weeks hitting all the tourist hotspots of southern Peru with my parents near the end of December. This is the typical route that most tourists take when visiting Peru: the Nazca lines, Arequipa and the Colca Canyon, Puno and Lake Titicaca, Cusco and Machu Picchu. Our daily costs went up $30 from our normal backpacking costs, and $50 from our stay in Huanchaco.

Lonely Planet Peru
by Lonely Planet

Why did we end up spending so much more money? A) Things are a lot more expensive in southern Peru. B) We went on a lot more tours, which begin to add up. C) We were constantly moving from city to city, which meant a lot more in travel expenses—in fact, our daily average for transportation in that two weeks more than doubled from our normal backpacking costs.

How could we have saved? Well, honestly I don’t know. Because we were on a strict schedule, we were often booking hotels in advance rather than our usual method of showing up and checking out a few places to get a feel for the pricing. Restaurants and tours are just more expensive in Southern Peru, and when you’re changing cities every other day, transportation costs can skyrocket.

In Conclusion

Overall, we could have spent less on the stuff that Rob calls “quality of life” items. Did we need to go out for a beer after a long day? No. Did we need to spend money on souvenirs? No. Do we wish that we’d avoided those things in order to save a couple of bucks? Absolutely no.

If we’d had more time we would have gone slower through the Gringo Trail, hunting down good deals and savoring each place more.

Obviously, this is meant to be a rough guideline and a partial answer to everyone who’s looking for help budgeting. If anyone else has advice, please post in the comments!

Related posts:

1. Cusco Peru: Nuts and Bolts
2. Gocta Cataracts, Peru’s giant waterfall
3. Midweek Snack: Chicharron de Pescado

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Welcome to Nuts and Bolts: Trujillo and Huanchaco. This article is an attempt to explain some of the key features of the Trujillo/Huanchaco bus system. It also will highlight locations and directions to popular places to visit in the area. But first, here is a bit of info about the two towns.

Trujillo

Trujillo is the Third largest city in Peru, just trailing Arequipa, and is one of the best preserved colonial cites in the country. Trujillo offers many volunteering opportunities as well as many tourism related activities. The surfing village of Huanchaco is about 10-15 minutes by taxi and 20-30 minutes by buss.

For more info about Trujillo check out these articles…
Be Your Own Tourguide: Trujillo
Trujillo’s Casonas Antiguas (Antique Homes)
Colonial Tourism in Spanish Trujillo.

Huanchaco

Huanchaco is the most popular place to stay for foreign tourists and surfers as well as anyone volunteering in Trujillo or the surrounding area. It offers the quaintness of a small fishing village, with the convenience of having a large city only 15-20 minutes away (Trujillo).

For more about Huanchaco check out Jessie’s articles on www.UnpavedSouthAmerica.com…
This is Huanchaco, Part One
This is Huanchaco, Part Two: Surfing
This is Huanchaco, Part Three: Volunteering

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View Nuts and Bolts: Trujillo and Huanchaco in a larger map

All of the entries below are referencing the Google Map I created for this article.

Using this map: Click on the different colored thumbtacks to see which city bus lines come through the intersection.

#1 Huanchaco

To get into Trujillo from Huanchaco, catch the Red and Orange Huanchaco bus. This bus has three routes. The B, A and H. All three bus routes will go by Chan Chan and the Tottus (supermarket, #3). The routes split up as they near the core of Trujillo. The B heads north and ends up on España North, the A heads south and ends up on España South and the H heads south and ends up on America Sur. If you are anywhere and you see a Huanchaco bus heading in the westerly direction you can be sure it will go to Huanchaco sooner or later. There is also a smaller designation of a Heart (Corozón) and M on various Huanchaco buses, but they do not change the route enough to affect a regular traveler or tourist.

#2 Huanchaco Market

The Huanchaco Market is located on Manco Capac in between Bolivar and Los Abetos. You can get most everything you need here, but for non-locals I would suggest buying meat at a larger supermercado.
Check out my Flickr Page for more photos of the Huanchaco market.

#3 Chan Chan

The entrance to the main ruins at Chan Chan, is along Av. Mansiche and can be reached by taking any one of the Huanchaco buses. There are usualy a few taxis waiting to take you the two kilometers to the ruins and ticket booth. There is also a sort-of Military security car at the main entrance to Chan Chan and the area seems fairly secure. Jessie and I walked this portion because the Taxis had taken lunch break. This location is serviced by all three of the different Huanchaco Bus routes.

#4 Mall Adventura Plaza

Here you can by stuff like you can in the USA. There is a Tottus (groceries), Sodimac (hardware), Saga Falabella (cloths), Ripley (everything) and Cinemark (cinema). This location is serviced by all three of the different Huanchaco Bus routes.

#5 Huaca Arco Iris

When you purchace your Chan Chan ticket you get entrance to Huaca Arco Iris as well. Take the Red and Blue and White “Milagros – Buenos Aires” bus from Trujillo to get here. Make sure to ask the bus wrangler if the bus is going to Arco Iris (“Va a Arco Iris?”). We picked up the bus near the interception of Nicolas de Pierola and La Construccion, just north-west of the Terminal Terrestre Norte.

#6 Huaca Takaynamo

Huaca Takaynamo is not currently open, but we snuck a look at the ruins under repair. This can also be reached with the Milagros – Buenos Aires bus.

#7 Terminal Terrestre Norte

In this terminal you should be able to find cheap buses to northern locations such as: Chiclayo, Mancora and Tumbes.

#8 Estadio Mansiche

Trujillo’s professional futból team Cesar Vallejo plays here.

#9 Old City Wall

This is the only remaining piece of the old protective wall around the Spanish colonial town of Trujillo Peru. The encircling road of España has now taken its place at protecting it from pedestrians trying to get across this nightmare.

#10 Major Bus companies

This area and one block SE (Del Ejercito) will have higher end bus lines offering rides all over the Country and South America, but only to major cites and tourist locations. Look for buses from the España North (Red thumb tack) entry for help getting here via city bus.

#11 Linea Bus lines

Linea is another major, far reaching, bus line and it’s on the opposite side of town from any other bus station. If you arrive here, as with any bus station, be prepared to be bombarded by taxi drivers. Look for buses from the Ovalo Grau (Purple thumb tack) entry for help getting here via city bus.

#12 Plaza de Armas, Trujillo

The main square in Trujillo is big open and beautiful.

#13 Trujillo Market

Trujillo’s market is big and has almost everything you would ever need. Be careful in dark tight spaces and always keep moving. And of course, go with a friend. The surrounding area is also a market in its self, and we found some things were cheaper on the outskirts of the market area. The Huanchaco B route goes here.

#14 Huaca de la Luna

Huaca de la Luna is one of the more well preserved ruins on the Peruvian seaboard. You can catch a Combi at Ovalo Grau that will take you out to the ruins.

#15 Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is not necessarily safe at any time and especially at night. The Malecón Colón (waterfront park) looks as though it has seen better days. A rusting play area sits with the wood splintered and weatherworn. From Ovalo Mansiche (Pink thumb tack) we caught the Blue striped “Buenos Aires” bus to get here. We have also seen the Green and White “Beach Sceen” bus and the Blue and Red striped Milagro – Buenos Aires bus that will take you here as well. Be careful in this area, please. See our post on Buenos Aires

Related posts:

1. Be Your Own Tourguide: Trujillo
2. Magdalena, Lima Peru: Nuts and Bolts
3. Cusco Peru: Nuts and Bolts

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Welcome to the first installment of Nuts and Bolts. Here we will be giving tourists and travelers some clues, hints and tricks dealing with transportation around any given town. This Nuts and Bolts is dedicated to travel in the city of Cusco, Peru, and surrounding areas.

White Rock: An Exploration of the Inca Heartland
by Hugh Thomson

Taxis

Though cheaper than in the US, travel by taxi around Cusco can deplete your daily budget quickly. As in all of Peru, you should negotiate your fare before getting in the cab; however, in Cusco almost all rides in the central area should only be S/.2.50 or S/.3 after 10pm. If you shoot for this price point they might think you know what you are doing and not try to rip you off. Taxis to the Airport will always be more (S/.5 or 6).

Getting around without a taxi

We have compiled Cusco bus information and put it all into this map. This map is not complete, but we will update it every time we whip through Cusco. All of the locations are detailed on the map page and below.
Cheers and good luck.

To see a full page version of the map CLICK HERE.


View Cusco: Nuts and Bolts in a larger map

#1. The Airport

From Ayacucho and Av. Del Sol you can catch the Correcaminos Micro bus directly to the Airport. Make sure you are on the south side of the street or you will get the long tour of the Correcaminos route before returning to the Ayacucho intersection and on to the Airport. This bus takes about 10 minutes and should cost about S/.1. There are other buses that leave this corner and also go to the airport, but they may take longer routes and more time. Also, there is a Aeropuerto Micro Bus that I have seen and I can only imagine where it goes, but it does not currently stop at this location. The Correcaminos bus should also take you near the Terminal Terrestre.

Catch the Servico Andino Combi on Ayacucho (or anywhere along its route) over to the Rosaspata Market. Ask to make sure the Combi is going the right direction. From the Rosaspata Market you catch either the Huerto Combi up the hill to Sacsayhuamàn, Qenco, Puka Pukara and Tambomachay, or the Christo Blanco Combi to Sacsayhuamàn, Qenco and Christo Blanco.

From the Rosaspata Market you catch either the: Huerto Combi up the hill to Sacsayhuamàn, Qenco, Puka Pukara and Tambomachay, or the Christo Blanco Combi to Sacsayhuamàn, Qenco and Christo Blanco. Sorry, no photo of the Christo Blanco Combi, but I can tell you it is a Combi with the words “Christo Blanco” on the upper part of the windshield.

Just SW of Plaza Tupac Amaru is the terminal where you can catch a bus to Urcos that will stop anywhere along the way for you, Including: Tipòn, Piqillacta or Rumicolca. This one way fare should cost about s/.3 per person and it would be wise to speak with the driver or wrangler early and let them know where you want to get off.

On Av Grau about three blocks SE of El Sol you can catch a bus to Urubamba and sometimes a direct bus to Ollantaytambo. If you are going to Poroy to catch a train this is the Bus for you. Price is around s/.3.

Along the way you can stop at Chinchero, or at Maras to see the terraces of Moray. Make sure to get dropped off at the second/main road to Maras. From here take a cab for about s/.15 to the unique ruins of Moray.

On Av Tullumayo, just south of Garcilaso, catch the bus to Pisac for about s/.3. This bus will also drop you off at Tambomachay, Pukapukara, Qenko and Sacsayhuamàn.

Catch the Correcaminos or Aeropuerto Micro Bus. Other Buses and Combis pass by the Airport on their way to Downtown Cusco, but they could take a long route or put you in a strange part of the City.

Cusco’s Bus station is crazy and unorganized. Make sure you get there early and purchase the Terminal tax in the booth near the middle of the terminal. Before you exit the terminal to the passenger loading area, ask what ramp number your bus company uses, or else.

Related posts:

1. Magdalena, Lima Peru: Nuts and Bolts
2. Nuts and Bolts: Trujillo and Huanchaco
3. Centro Lima, Peru: Nuts and Bolts

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