My trip to Peru, Bolivia and Chile

It was my old dream to visit Peru. I had read an article that was published as series in “Sudha” Kannada magazine during my school/college days. It was a travelogue of two ladies from Bengaluru who went to Peru on their own during the pre-internet era. Courageous ladies, I must say. I found it very fascinating and had decided to visit Peru sometime in my life. With the information at the fingertips now, I did not have to face the challenges they encountered in those days.

Initial plan

The initial plan was to visit only Peru – focussing on the sacred valley of Incas and the Amazon basin. I made a draft plan and started collecting all information. Peru does not require a visa for Indian citizens if they have a US visa. It made my life easy.

Bolivia enters into my plan

While planning, I realised that I would be travelling very near to Bolivia. After travelling to the other part of the world, I felt that I should include it in my plan. The capital city of La Paz was my entry point. I added the salt flats of Uyuni, a top tourist destination into my itinerary. Bolivia needed a visa but could be obtained at the border or Cusco in Peru in a day. It did not look like an issue.

What about Chile?

I realised that I would be minutes away from the Atacama desert of Chile after finishing the salt flats tour. It was an excellent opportunity to visit the driest place on earth!! The problem was that Chile needed a visa, and it was not an easy task to obtain one for people residing outside Delhi. So, I decided not to include Chile. But then I saw the news that it was possible to enter Chile with a US visa from April 2019!!

 

Since I would be entering Chile on land, I was not sure whether this policy applied for land crossing. The rules sometimes are different in Airport and land border. I sent a mail to the Chilean embassy in India for clarification. I got a quick reply that it is possible to use a US visa for land crossing also. Chile enters into my plan.

Easter Island

My exit point of the trip was Santiago in Chile. I found that I could also visit one of the remote places on earth – Easter Island. I was always intrigued by the mystery of Easter Island. With only two flights per day, it was expensive to fly to that place. But I managed to get tickets at the lower bracket of the standard price for Easter Island.

Places that had to be left out

With the plan now extended beyond my initial thoughts, I realised that I would need at least two months to visit these places at a decent pace. I did not have that luxury, and I had to trim down my trip. It was inevitable that I had to drop some places.

• Amazon basin – My dream of Amazon was not to do a hit and run visit. It involved moving between different countries. So, I decided to drop it for now. Maybe sometime later, and I hope that Amazon forests survive till then (Amazon forests are burning)
  Torres del Paine – Visiting Chile and not going to Torres del Paine looked like an offence!! But at least 10-15 days are needed for a decent visit to Patagonia, and I wanted to cover the Argentina part as well. Sometime in future.
  Other places – Huaraz (north of Lima), Arequipa and some places around Cusco due to lack of time.

Final plan

It was Lima -> Paracas -> Huacachina -> Naza -> Cusco -> MachuPicchu -> Lake Titicaca -> La Paz -> Salar de Uyuni -> Atacama desert -> Santiago -> Easter Island -> Santiago.
The total duration of the trip was 24 days (including travel dates from/to India)

Mode of travel

I decided to travel on the road for most of the trip as I felt that travelling on land is the best way to experience a country. Also, all these countries had excellent bus network, which worked very efficiently. Few long distance travel was done in night (Nazca->Cusco, Cusco->La Paz, La Paz->Uyuni). The buses have toilets, and most provide food inside the bus.

 

The Atacama to Santiago was covered by flight as it was a long journey of 24 hours on land, and there were no places that interested me on the way. Of course, the flight was the only practical way to reach Easter Island!!

Hotels

I used booking.com to make hotel reservations. I usually use the following criteria for booking a hotel which worked very well on this trip.

• Rating – It has to be a 7-star rating and above. I also look at the recent reviews as the service would have degraded recently despite a good rating due to legacy.
• Location – I booked hotels that are near to the centre and accessible by public transport. It helps to move quickly.
• Cost – Of course!!
• Other factors – Depending on the need, I look at 24-hour reception (If I am arriving very late), Kitchen, breakfast etc.

Why September-October?

There were few reasons why I chose the September October time to travel to these countries.

• Off season – June to August is the peak season in Peru and Bolivia, while December to March is the season in Easter Island. I try to avoid travelling during peak season as much as possible. September-October was a off season for visiting in these areas.
• Great Weather – Even though September-October was not a peak season, it was still good from the weather perspective. It was spring season, and there was not a single day of rain during my trip. It would be raining from November to March in Peru and Bolivia, while June to August was wet months in Easter Island. Hence September-October seemed to be the best time for travel for all three countries.
• Holidays – With the Dasara holidays, I could get more time for the trip.

In general, I did not find huge crowds anywhere except Machu Picchu.

Process of planning and booking

I had planned this trip six months ago. The leaves were applied, and I gave enough publicity to check whether it clashed with any events in the family or office. But the actual booking process started only a month before travel. It started with booking the Air ticket to Easter Island and Machu Picchu entry tickets. Botel and bus bookings followed.

 

Flying via Heathrow was the cheapest option, but it had multiple connections, and the UK had a confusing policy on transit in Heathrow. A lot of if, else if and else conditions!! I understand that the UK is now a confused state, but it is high time they learn from other EU counterparts (where transit is simple). I had seen people returning from the airport without boarding as some if-else conditions were not met. Sorry, Heathrow.

Finally, I booked the combination of Air France, KLM and Oman Air that was reasonable from the cost perspective. The journey to Lima was simple, with a layover in Paris. But return journey was complex: Santiago->Buenos Aires->Amsterdam->Dammam->Muscat->Bengaluru!! I did not bother much as it was the return journey. But my return flight was delayed due to a thunderstorm and lightning in Buenos Aires, and I missed my connecting flight in Amsterdam. But KLM did a great job in rebooking the flights. As I came out of the plane in Amsterdam, there was an email and WhatsApp message on rebooking. I just went to the self-service kiosk and got my new boarding passes. They had rerouted me via New Delhi. I was in for a pleasant surprise when my bag appeared on the baggage belt despite multiple connections and missed flights!!

Language

Spanish was the primary language in all three countries. I had learnt a bit of Spanish last year, which helped me a lot. You will regularly meet people who do not know a single English word!!

Currency

Each country had its currency. I used the credit card for all online bookings. All hotels (except Easter Island) accepted credit card. The credit card was the most efficient option for me as my bank charges a lesser conversion fee, and it was cheaper than withdrawing money from ATM or converting currency from INR->USD->Peru/Bolivia/Chile currency. But cash was needed in some places for which I withdrew money from my debit card. No hassles. At some places, I used US dollars directly.

I had also learnt a lesson from my Argentina visit last year, where my two credit cards were blocked on repeated transactions. I called up the banks before my travel and told them not to get excited if transactions happen from Peru, Bolivia or Chile. I did not face any issues this time.

Vegetarian food

Surprisingly, there was no issue for me at all. There were many vegetarian/vegan hotels in all the places, with Peru being the best in cuisine options!! The tours and the buses had vegetarian option!!

Indian restaurants are available in Lima, Cusco, LaPaz and Santiago but the food served was average and expensive. I did not find a single South Indian restaurant.

Communication

I had taken tsim, a global SIM card. While it worked well in Peru and Bolivia, I could only use data but not make calls in Chile. On Easter Island, both refused to work!! tsim was unable to help. Anyway, most hotels had Wi-Fi, and I had offline maps in Google.

Safety

People usually worry about safety in these countries. But I did not face any incident during my journey. People were helpful everywhere. I travelled at night in the cities of La Paz and Santiago and did not face any problem. Bolivia was in the middle of elections, but the impact was not seen on the streets. Of course, there are shady areas that are outside tourist zones which are better to be avoided.