Just a few more words about Peru before we leave for Chile...
The people in Peru are wonderful! They are polite and even in the hotels if they see you ten times in one day they always speak. In Lima they seem to be almost quite formal a lot of the time. And they are helpful too, rarely do you have to pick up your suitcase as somebody will usually get to it first! They also have a great sense of humour and smile a lot! They are also quite happy to chat on to you even though you do not understand a word of what they are saying, for those who are linguistically challenged, such as myself, in many places you will find that they do understand English, but a phrase book and learning a few words particularly the numbers and general greetings will be very helpful and make you more popular.
As for food, this is sometimes a problem for visitors to a country but really the food in Peru is some of the best you will get anywhere. OK so they eat guinea pig, I just could not bring myself to do that because I used to keep them as pets! But let's look at everything else....Lomo Saltado is one of their 'national dishes', and is absolutely delicious, steak, which is something I rarely eat, they manage to cook 'well done' without it being tough, and the chicken tastes like chicken, and again they have their own ways of cooking it!
For a main course you can expect to pay between about €10 to €15, in a reasonable class of restaurant such as Cafe de la Paz in Miraflores. Or in El Parquetito which is nearby, about the same, except that here they make an amazing chicken, avocado, and mayonnaise sandwich for lunchtime!
In Cusco food tends to be a little more expensive, probably because it is a big tourist centre, one particular restaurant springs to mind here, which is the Inka Grill on the Plaza de Armes, mainly because it has the most amazing dessert menu which includes bread and butter pudding!
Two further restaurants in Cusco, away from the main square are Baco in Calle Ruinas, where the chef refuses to cook the lamb chops anything other than rare, and The Fallen Angel, which has old enamel bath tubs with goldfish in them with glass tops for tables.
If you really must there is fast food such as the dreaded MacDonalds or KFC, and in Miraflores there is a street that is marked on the map as 'Pizza Street' so you can guess what they sell there.
The guide books have dire warnings about not eating salads and avoiding all 'uncooked' foods, and also about buying food from street vendors, but I think that this going a bit too far, particularly if the food is barbecued. And if you are going to avoid 'uncooked food' then this means you are not going to be able to enjoy the vast range of fruits and fruit juices that are normally available as part of breakfast, and are frequently offered as desserts at other meals. During my stay in Peru, no matter which hotel I was in, the fruit juices offered for breakfast were freshly prepared and at Heliconia Lodge in the jungle there was not a sign of orange juice at all!
Most hotels seem to include breakfast as standard, this is usually fresh fruit, fresh juices, cereals, breads, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, cold meats, and cheeses.
The coffee is often not terribly good generally. I found that the best way to get a good cup of coffee was to order a double espresso and then put milk in it, similarly if you are English then you might not find the tea to your taste so best take your own tea bags!
During my stay I was using 'tourist class' hotels, so about 3* I guess. This is not because I am a cheapskate, but because you meet friendlier people in such hotels, and because these hotels tend to be locally owned rather than the big 'chain hotels' who want only to repatriate the profits to their own country of origin. In general you will find that even these hotels are more expensive than in Greece, it is difficult to find a room for less than about €70 per night, although you can find hostel accommodation for about half this price, and you do not even get a kettle in the room. So for those who complain that Greece is expensive then I suggest they stop complaining or go somewhere else!
In Peru the national drink is Pisco, which is distilled from grapes and is 'sort of like brandy', usually served as a Pisco Sour which is made from pisco, lemon juice, and raw egg white shaken together. For those of you worried about food poisoning then of course you will realise that raw egg is one of the best ways of getting it, however the combination of alcohol and the acid from the lemon is a sure fire way of killing any bacteria along with most of your taste buds. As you would expect I found the Pisco Sour absolutely undrinkable because I cannot stand lemon, unless it is diluted with gin, however the Pisco Sour is a certain way to get a hangover quite cheaply. Bottled beer made locally will set you back about €2 for a small bottle, and about €3 for an imported type like 'Sol'. Peruvian wine by the glass is a similar amount, they make an excellent Merlot.
So where do the fibre optic networks come in to all this?
Many would consider that Peru and South America in general, are 'third world', throughout Peru, Internet access is usually free and very fast, even quite small villages will often have a 'WiFi' point stuck on top of a building somewhere, I only make a point of this because as the phone lines are generally above ground you can see and be amazed by the fibre optic network in Peru and all around South America, while we in Greece and many other European countries are still waiting, waiting, waiting........
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