Peru Travel Tips 2: Food &Transportation

Food – Street stalls and markets have very cheap food (3-6 PEN) and in a sit down restaurant you can get lunch and dinner menus for 12-20 PEN. For a Western meal in an average restaurant, you will pay 32-48 PEN.

Transportation – The usual price for a 10-hour bus journey is around 95-220 PEN depending on how nice the bus company is. A taxi around Lima should cost no more than 25 PEN. Lima has brand-new, clean intra-city buses. These buses are safe and cost 0.50-3 PEN per trip. Microbuses (colectivos) run as well, and prices vary depending on the distance, but will always cost less than 2.50 PEN. They are a bit hectic and take some getting used to.

(1 PEN (Peruvian Sol) equals 0.28 Euro, 

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Peru Travel Tips

Peru is one of the most famous and popular countries in South America. Most people flock here to hike the Inca Trail and see Machu Picchu. Everything else takes a back seat. Lima and Cusco also get some minor attention but there is far more in this country that just these three major sites.
Come explore the jungles, see the Amazon, head to Lake Titicaca, or to the beaches. Learn about local culture, try the coca tea. In short, stay longer and see lots. There’s more to Peru than Machu Picchu.
Typical Costs 
1 PEN (Peruvian Sol) equals 0.28 Euro
Accommodation – Budget hotels or hostels are in great supply in Peru. A dorm room costs between 25-50 PEN per night. Most double private rooms with a bathroom are between 80-160 PEN for hostels, and around 90-160 PEN for a budget hotel.
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Guatemala Budget Travel Tips

Budget Travel Tips
Guatemala is one of the cheapest countries in Latin America, so just being there is saving money. There is no way to avoid hiring a guide for the caves, nor would you want to. For the more adventurous there are 2 hour, 4 hour, and 8 hour private high risk tours available in the caves, but pray it doesn’t rain. The El Portal Hostal located at the rivers edge in Semuc Champey is a wonderful base hostel for exploring all that Semuc Champey has to offer. If you plan to spend a few days there, choose to stay down by the river. The hostal may be slightly more expensive, but you won’t have to pay for transportation in and out of the valley back up to Lanquin every time you want to visit. The lodging by the river is much more connected with nature and Lanquin is not much of town anyway. Larger and more expensive caves can be found in Lanquin, as well as whitewater rafting.
Aracely Castellani
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Good night America 9:

All in all, this drive-away won’t be all that cheap. The first half day of the voyage had already cost me more than 500 $! Fortunately, we will get – at least they said so in the contract – a refund for the tire by the owner. 

In Washington, where we wanted to spend the night, we could not find any free parking space in the city. Only far away, in the suburbs, I drove into a park where – so it seemed – nobody would chase us away. The destroyed tire (that we had to produce to the owner because of the guarantee) was so big that it occupied the two back seats. I put it out and leaned the back of the seats as much as possible.

As far as sleeping goes, my small Yugo 101 was much more comfortable. For a while, I tried to find the right position, cursing the heat and the mosquitoes, but then I joined my destroyed tire on the grass and finally fell asleep. »Good night America, wherever you are! «

text & photo: Janin Klemenčič

Americas 8: The Explosion

... it exploded behind me as if I had driven onto a landmine. 

The tyre! 

I could not find the spare one anywhere! After a long search inside and under the car, and after consulting the service booklet, I found it was under the plastic cover in the car boot. Instead of a tyre with a 70 cm diameter, I found a spare not much bigger than a wheel of a scooter. The booklet said it wouldn’t last more than 50 miles. 

I wanted to take down the blasted tyre, but one of the screws was different from the others. In fact, that is a good security measure against theft, but the spanner was only fit for normal screws. All the drivers I stopped in the next half hour really tried to be helpful, but even the same kinds of Pontiac had different security bolts. As I nearly lost hope and decided to drive on, blasted tyre and all, I finally found the special wrench in the glove compartment. 

In the next town, in a auto shop, I was told it was impossible to vulcanise the tyre. The prize of the new tyre plus the setting up was 112 $! 

to be continued

text & photo: Janin Klemenčič

Americas 7: The Maze

Once we missed our road turn. Having no navigation, we had to go off the highway, find some knowledgeable locals, ask them for the right way and find our way back.

It was not easy to communicate with them. They spoke to us as if we were born in the same quarter: »Yes, it's no problem, you have several possibilities: from the highway 127 you go to the turnpike, on US 77 south, after about twenty miles on Interstate 76 east, and then to your Interstate 95.« We stared in amazement, asked again, wrote down what we heard and got lost several more times. It took us scores of miles to finally find the promised Interstate 95 south, towards Miami.

 But the eventful day wasn’t over yet. Before I became familiar with the system of marking directions in the confusion of the highways in New Jersey, it exploded behind me as if I had driven onto a landmine.

to be continued

text & photo: Janin Klemenčič

Through the Americas 6: On the road

At the police station, the staff was, again, very complacent. 

First, they kindly sent me to another station, saying that the parking of the tow-away service wasn't under their jurisdiction, but then they gave up because the car had been in their district before being towed-away. A young black woman in a dark-blue uniform unwillingly wrote the report and gave me the copy. Maybe it would help!

With a delay of several hours, we finally started our voyage, but on the road, life wasn’t too easy for us either. In America, the road signs don't show the names of the cities that they lead to, but the numbers of the highways. It sometimes drove me to desperation. On a highway out of New York, you’ll never see written that it leads to Washington or to Miami, instead you can read marks like: I 95 south, US82 west, Hwy.122 east, and so on. The interstate highways, from the East to the West Coast, are marked with even numbers, while those going from the north to the south are marked with odd numbers. Near towns, the roads get an additional mark: an even number, if they bypass the centre, and an odd number, if they go through the town. So I 95 can temporarily become I 495 or I 595.

to be continued

text & photo: Janin

Through the Americas 5: Tow-Away Bump

The employee explained that their agents are entitled, and also have the means, to open any kind of door.

But my karma was still in its negative phase. I found out the car had a large bump on the front wing. The damaged part had been carefully encircled with chalk. I was explained that the chalk proved the car had been damaged before the towing. Of course they had no photo. The employees showed no interest in the fact that the car had been parked at the edge of the street and that nobody could have bruised it from the pavement. It also didn't seem possible to the staff, that the employee could have drawn the circle after having hit the car during the tow-away. And then – did I have any proof for my insolent statement?

Well, I could wait for the return of the corpulent employee, but I'd just lose more time. It wasn't very probable she would admit to her fault. So I'll probably lose the 250 $ of the deposit I had paid when taking the car.

to be continued

text & photo: Janin Klemenčič

The tow-away service

our Pontiac in the Tow away garage

The doorman in the hostel had a lot of fun telling me about a corpulent black lady from the »Tow away service« who, just a while earlier, had towed the car away because it had been parked at the wrong place. I didn't have as much fun as he did; I swore like a trooper as I walked, in the pouring rain, to the parking lot of the tow-away service. Fortunately, it wasn’t too far, just about two kilometers from the hostel.

The employee was unyielding. She agreed with all my arguments, but the tariff was clear: 150 $! Reluctantly, I paid and the doorman led me to the covered parking lot where I found our beautiful dark-red Pontiac. Even though the pane had an inscription saying that the car was protected against breaking in, the door was unlocked and a thick rope was fastened to the steering wheel and clawed with the door; that should prevent the wheels to move during the tow-away. American tow-away vehicles are, in fact, very small trucks, and they only have space for two wheels of any given towed-away vehicle.

to be continued

text & photo: Janin Klemenčič

Drive away 3: The NY Suburb

In our case, it was a NY family who wanted to send the car to their son, living in Key West, Florida, about 300 kilometers south of Miami. Not bad. We’ll take it!

The family lives in a New York suburb, in a neighborhood of villas with big gardens and swimming pools. New York isn't all that small, and it took us several hours to arrive there: by bus (three of them), then by subway, then by train.

The family was nice, but offered us just a glass of water. We got a wonderful Pontiac Firebird and five days to hand it over in Florida.

After the initial problems with automatic gears and trying to find the way through the incredible maze of highways around New York (only New Yorkers understand what most of the road signs mean), we arrived to our youth hostel, in downtown Manhattan. The parking places are awfully expensive, so I drove the car to the side of a wide six-lane street where there were already many cars parked. Surely, there wouldn’t be any problems until the following day, I thought.

Wrong! The next morning it was raining and the car was nowhere to be found.

to be continued

text & photo: Janin Klemenčič 

Drive away service 2

»O.K., sign here,« said the friendly employee, handing me the contract. »Any damage caused through your fault will be subtracted from your deposit, and for the costs of fixing any defect of the vehicle you will get a refund from the owner. «

We found the name of the agency in the telephone directory. But when you talk to them by phone, they usually say they have nothing. The best thing to do is to go there in person and insist – eventually, they always find something. They will set limits in the length of your voyage – but the owners usually don’t fuss about it.

»Drive away«, as this service is called, is an American peculiarity, and also one of the most interesting ways of travelling in the United States. You only have to pay a fee of 10 $ plus a 250 $ deposit which you will get back when you return the car. Of course you also have to pay for the gasoline, but that is not so terrible, since petroleum in the US is at least twice cheaper than in Europe.

So, how do we fetch the car? 

to be continued

text & photo: Janin Klemenčič

Through the Americas With a Backpack: Drive away

Before getting a car we just had time to visit the Central Park, to walk down several avenues and to visit Empire State Building and World Trade Center. 
Yes, the WTC! In 2000 it was still standing. 

New York is a magnificent city and I regretted we had to leave so fast. 
My girlfriend and I were planning to go to South America. The United States were just a transit point. 
We only had two months, and we had to go to Miami as soon as possible, as flights to Peru were supposed to be the cheapest from there. 
So how do we go to Florida? We heard that »Drive away service« was the cheapest way of travelling through the States.

America is a big country. There are many people who need their car to be driven to another part of the country, but don’t feel like driving their car for several thousands of kilometres, or they just don’t have the time to do it. So they communicate their wishes to a Drive away agency, which finds a driver who wants to travel cost-free to that destination.

to be continued

text & photo: Janin Klemenčič

JaninTravel: catching Anaconda

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JaninTravel: catching Anakonda