Lima, the capital of Peru, is a major business and tourist destination in South America. Peru is well connected by regular flights from destinations across the world. The Jorge Chávez International Airport has frequent flights from several destinations in North America; the following US airports have nonstop flights to Lima: Washington Dulles, Miami, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas and Los Angeles and New York City. From Lima, it is an easy regional flight to Cuzco.
Flying between Lima and Cusco takes about one hours and is by far the easiest way to travel. Basically the high mountainous Andes lie directly between these two cities so you either fly over them or take a long winding detour around them. The bus route is usually southwards down the Pan-American highway via Nasca and Pisco to Arequipa, then eastwards across to Lake Titicaca and then northwards towards Cusco. This is a good option if you have plenty of days to break up the journey by possibly visiting the Ballestas Islands, Nasca, Arequipa, Lake Titicaca on the way to Cusco. If you don’t have long in Peru and you don’t want to spend a day and two nights on a bus then take a flight. There are many daily flights between Lima and Cusco. If you really can’t afford to miss your flight then we suggest taking one of the early flights before 09:30 since later flights often become delayed or cancelled particularly during the wet season in the highlands (January to March). Airline companies operating this route include Lan www.lan.com & TACA www.taca.co. You are responsible for booking your own air travel; if you would like assistance, you may contact Julie at andeantreks.com, the travel company who is setting up our ground transportation. Once you have given us your flight information, we will set up your ground transfer to our hotel in Cuzco.
Entry/Exit Requirements: A valid passport is required to enter and depart Peru. Tourists must also provide evidence of return or onward travel. American citizens do not currently need a visa to enter Peru. Peru does not require any immunizations for entry, although it recommends vaccination against Yellow Fever.
As far as altitude goes, it is a bit of a toss up. Kelly suffered from the effects of altitude last year (coming from 4000′), but it only lasted 24 hours. We have worked some checks and balances into the trip this year in order to ease that initial transition. Flying into Cusco is the toughest part, where we go from sea level in Lima to 14,000′. This year we will go directly from the airport to a hotel in Cusco where we will rest for the night. All of the hotels in Cusco have oxygen tanks and altitude sickness medicine available as well. Though there is varying opinions outside of Peru on the efficacy of Coca Tea, Peruvians trust it implicitly and encourage it as the best remedy for altitude sickness. All hotels also have the tea available 24/7.
Ultimately, there is no real understanding on who is susceptible to altitude sickness and who is not. Your current altitude isn’t always a determining factor in the altitude effect upon arrival (strange but true). But, whomever does happen to suffer, it lasts only 24 hours, and then life becomes overwhelmingly beautiful :~)
We will do our best to support your experience, and personally, the initial day of altitude sickness was not enough to ruin the remaining time that we spent in the Sacred Valley.
As yoga teachers, we can make some recommendations which can help with recovery from a long flight and getting accustomed to a higher elevation. They are as follows: arriving hydrated is probably the single best thing you can do to ease into a higher altitude. We also recommend bringing a quality oil for oil massage before showers and a travel neti pot. Finally, gentle twisting postures help to reduce vata in the body which can be exacerbated by airline travel.