Learning from Peru

Peru was our third one-month trip. By now, we were feeling pretty confident that we knew what we were doing. We expected it to follow a pattern similar to the other two even though it was a more complicated itinerary and a country with a significantly lower standard of living. We were wrong. All of our planning assumptions were based upon our experience in Europe and Argentina. Peru was quite different.

The biggest difference was food shopping. In our previous trips, we were always able to walk to a market with a wide range of food items from our apartment. We expected to find these markets in Peru and were surprised to learn that there are few supermarkets and very limited local food shopping opportunities. This significantly affected our trip.

On our first d day in Cuzco, we were told to take a cab to a shopping mall if we wanted to buy food items. We took the long cab ride and found a Walmart type store in a shopping center. There was a wide selection of food items but we then had to lug the bags back to the street, snag a taxi and travel home. It took time and effort to get food.

There are small locked shops on the streets where you rattle the door to get the attention of the shop owner who will collect items off the shelf when you ask but it is hard for a foreigner to know what it stocked and communicate your needs. Within walking distance of our apartment, there was one of the locked shops. It wasn’t much help. Buying food was a major activity requiring a taxi trip both ways.

If our apartment was isolated from food shopping, it was also isolated from the points of interest in Cuzco. Instead of walking out the front door and into the attractions of Cuzco, we had to call a cab and take a 15 minute ride. Cabs were cheap and convenient but the cab ride was still a barrier. We thought that an apartment with more amenities even with a taxi ride every time you wanted to go somewhere was better than a more basic apartment near the Plaza de Armas. Now we wonder.

There were unforgettable moments in Peru. The Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu are like no place on earth. We liked Cuzco and Lima but we expected a more NorteAmericano lifestyle and, as a result, suffered some frustration. Perhaps better research might have helped but we just didn’t know what we didn’t know. Sometimes the only way to learn something new is to experience it.

For now, we intend to focus on European destinations. Peru was a great experience but it was also an experiment to test our resilience and flexibility. Knowing what we know now, we would have planned the trip differently or maybe chosen a different destination. Still we have our Peru memories and photographs. It was an unforgettable trip, warts and all.