Route: Puno - Cusco - Lima - Tumbes - Ecuador

Total Number of Days: 11
**See below for breakdown

Budget:

Overall Average: $30/day

Interesting Expenditures:

• Train to Machu Picchu: $77
• Entrance to Machu Picchu: $40
• Cost of a Pisco Sour: $2.30
• Cost of Amazing Ceviche: $5
• Cost of sending a 10lb package home: $42

Food and Drink: Lima is known for its seafood, and well known for its seafood it should be.  That said, the beef heart isn’t anything to turn your nose up at either.

Must Eats:

• Ceviche at Punta Azul in Miraflores, Lima: This is chunks of raw fish “cooked” in spices and lime and served with onions, but what really adds to the whole experience is the sweet potato on the side.
• Beef Heart: Despite our initial queasiness about the idea of eating a heart, we liked it.  It’s a lot like beef: more flavorful than most beef but not as strong as liver, and a little tougher, like sirloin.  It’s a delicacy that’s worth a try.
• Picarones: These are the sweet fried donuts served with a super-sweet syrup.  We got ours from a vendor in the park and had sugar rushes for an hour.
• Arroz con leche or Arroz con leche con mazamorra morada: This is rice pudding or rice pudding with a purple corn pudding that tasted a little like jam.  Also found in the park.
• Cancha: This is like a half popped popcorn that are a little bit like peanuts.  We got them free all the time at bars and restaurants as snacks.
• Tres Leches: A cream cake that involved three types of milk when they make it.  Very smooth.
• Long live the Pisco Sour: The way the Peruvians make it is definitely worth a try, but pace yourself.  Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Highlights:

• Macchu Pichu and Cusco
• Ordering in Pizza Hut
• Having Ruth and Mary show us around Lima
• Pisco Sour outings

Best Deals:

• Sleeping at Mary and Ruth’s - Thanks, guys!
• We successfully sent 10 pounds of stuff home for $42. Peruvians express a certain amount of pride in their mail system, which is known to be trustworthy and fast.
• Other than that, the hotels and the bus rides were a bit pricey. The best deals we found were around food (above) and that was in part because it was so fricken good (not necessarily cheap).

Calendar of Events
June
1 - Puno overnight to
2-5 - Cusco
6 - Cusco overnight to
7-10 - Lima
11 - Lima overnight to
12 - Tumbes to Ecuador