Lovely Lima

I am more convinced than ever that travel changes your perspective on life. I am newly convinced after this trek through Central and South America with my husband, two kids and a very small budget, that your experiences in traveling are influenced and altered by your particular circumstances, thus affecting your perspective. In a nutshell,…

Advice for Cheapskates in Peru – Skip the Bus (Part 3 – The Rest of the Way to Machu Picchu)

Budget travelers and Machu Picchu are perhaps not a match made in heaven, but as a family of four trying to travel for a year with limited funds but a burning desire to conquer this, the most famous of the Incan sites, we were struggling to make it work. After several hours riding in…

Advice for Cheapskates in Peru – Skip the Bus (Part 2 – Halfway to Machu Picchu)

I felt my cheeks flame and my blood pressure jump up a notch. “I will NOT walk with my CHILDREN along a TRAIN TRACK just to save a few bucks!” My husband looked back at me and shrugged the way he does when he has decided to not engage. We are not generally the arguing…

Advice for Cheapskates in Peru – Skip the Bus (Part 1 – Cusco)

Did you ever make a bad decision in life and have the misfortune of distinctly remembering when someone had warned you NOT to do that very thing? Do the words haunt you? Sometime about three months ago while staying in Quito I stumbled upon a guidebook for Peru. I forget which exact guidebook it was…

Mancora – Beautiful Beaches, Miserable People

I’ve been behind schedule with my blog posts lately, but I really wanted to get this Mancora one immediately done with and out of the way. Why? Because it was a segment of our trip that I would like to purge from my brain forever. I need some closure on that place so I…

Over the Border and into Peru….

The bus begins to pull out of the Cuenca bus station just as the sun comes fully into view. The four of us sit back and relax for the first time that morning. We’d already been up for hours, making sure that we had packed every toy and phone charger and had left our rental…

Places we Have Stayed

When we were researching our trip, I often had a hard time finding affordable, furnished apartments in safe areas that would accommodate children. I figure I can update this as we proceed on our trip, but here is a list of the places we have rented so far in case you are looking for lodging…