Visas, vaccinations and travel advisories: Peru

One more complex piece in our travel planning puzzle are entry and exit rules. They are not identical for Canadian citizens and EU citizens. So, I am checking info for German citizens (my Canadian landed immigrant status matters not when travelling) and Canadian citizens for every country.
First stop: Peru.

• No tourist visa needed for either of us.
• Have to have proof about leaving the country. (The easiest is a plane ticket of course, but that may not suit us totally, so need to figure out a credible proof of leaving Peru again - wonder if a blog counts? ;)
• Always have to carry our passports with us (Fair enough).
• The only difference is in regulations about length of stay:
• Embassy of Peru in Germany -  I could stay up to 6 months, but cannot extend that. 
• Embassy of Peru in Canada - Jan could only stay 90 days after which she'd have to get an extension. (not a problem given our overall trip)

Travel advisories are always 'fun' to read. Canada has a travel advisory published about Peru that sounds a bit scary for the regions; which is why I always make sure I read travel advisories about countries I know well or have been to along side countries I am exploring. And here's the German government's take on Peru, also not that hot, but as a traveller one has to relax and take a bit of a relativist's view.

In terms of vaccinations it looks like Yellow Fever and Malaria are required. As for altitude sickness, we've been high enough often enough to know about acclimatization and not ascending too quickly.

I have been sorry to hear about the rainy season mud slides disrupting tourists' enjoyment of Machu Picchu. I do hope that all the Peruvian people affected by flooding are coming through well the rainy season this year!

The Andes

The grandness of the Andes as seen through layers of connection.

Santiago: Ecclectic and very real. A lot of character and beauty. Also, smog in the winter with a population of 4,650,000.


The Andes: Excellent skiing. Magnificent vistas. Grandeur.

Skiing in Chile 2006

Our first trip to Chile was for 2 weeks in July/August 2006. We spent 1 week at La Cornisa in Farellones and skied in El Colorado and Valle Navado. Farellones is only about 40 km outside of Santiago, but high in the Andes at the end of many switchbacks. The snow bus and equipment rental service from Santiago is excellent and affordable.

Luckily, there was a 3-day blizzard dumping tons of powder snow. Lucky, because climate change is making winters unreliable everywhere.
Being used to Eastern Canadian ice and hard packed conditions, I became a much better powder skier that trip. Well, eventually ...
Apart from skiing, we fell in love with Santiago where we spent a week of sightseeing, visiting vineyards, day tripping to Valparaiso on the coast and on an amazing hike in Maipo Valley.

We are planning to visit Chile again on our three months trek. The Atacama desert in the North and Torres del Paine in the South are on the shortlist. We'll be looking to find some penguin colonies.

Got any additional ideas?

Learning Spanish

We're back from a beautiful skate along the Rideau Canal, Ottawa's amazing outdoor skateway. Ice conditions were  good, for long stretches, very good. Lots of skaters out enjoying a perfect Sunday afternoon, yet it didn't feel crowded. Now if only the forecast freezing  rain and balmy +6 C on Monday held off ...


After dinner, I'll finish my Spanish homework. Learning to speak Spanish is part of my essential trip preparation: I am taking a course at UNAM (UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL AUTONOMA DE MÉXICO). 2x a week for 5 hours, plus homework and practicing with Jan. I'm also starting to listen a bit to South American radio and TV to develop my ear for various versions of Latin American Spanish, via this Online Radio and TV link. 

Aconcagua, Argentina, November 2007

Dreaming of hiking higher and staying longer. Will take more time to acclimatize this time around.

Talking Trails Debuts

This is the start of something beautiful.

3 months
5 countries - more or less
2 intrepid trekkers - Inga and Jan (that's us after 4 days backpacking in the Grand Canyon, AZ)

Curiosity and challenge. Adventure and adrenaline. Who knows. We're here. And we're heading south, really far south.