traveling.. Peru vacations

hi people are really open & kind. peruvians love foreigners  a lot, smiling all time.the weather its variable culture and land. coast, mountain, jungle.only take care picket pocket and informal taxidrivers.public transportation  its unconfortable.

Hi, I am living in Lima, Peru.(unfortunatelly)for a while, I will recommend you to be very careful around here...
First: Bring several Imodium, you will have diarreah for at least 2 weeks... the food is always not safety or fresh...
Be sure your change s good because they give fake bills to the gringos...
Remember as more they smile to you more are hidding... this people are the worst to trust...people are friendly but do not trust on anybody they can ripp u off quickly. You will be the Target Gringa or Gringo coming to spend your dollars. Most of the people are ok, but beware of the "friendly people" they will take advantage of you at anytime.
The taxis are really non-responsible at all, they run and they don't care about security on the road.
be careful crossing the road, the cars here never stop for a pedestrian like in the U.S.
Do not go out with jewerly not even earrings you will be attack by a hungry or drogadict thief
Do not show your money in public... do not carry a purse, leave your credit cards and passport in a safe box in your Hotel. Just take whatever cash you need for the day.
If you go shopping for handcraft for example to the Indian Market... Do not show your american accent, only if you need it because you will double charge in all the prices, Gringos pay double... as they said.
If you are married or have a boyfriend beware of any 'girl friend', keep her far away from your husband or boyfriend, she can do anything to take him away from you.
The cholas (female indian typical from the andean mountains) here are really anoying and very dangerous. They smell very bad, they are looking only for money... beware!
This is not a good place to move. I am ready to go back soon, but while you're here, be very careful.

from a different point of view... i have lived here for almost a year (in lima) and i am just careful about what i do and where i go... being a young white female, i have received so many horror stories from ppl i know its ridiculous... however, i have NEVER had anything happen to me.  I take taxis, i go on combis... i wear jewelry (though i will say most of my jewelry is small and not like huge diamonds...)

i never got sick when i was viisiting here... i actually didnt get sick for the first time here til i had been living here already for about 3 months.  I had visited for 2 week periods 3 times before moving here.. just dont go to not nice restaurants.

i agree about checking for counterfeit money... you will notice cashiers checking if you give them counterfeits, too. 

the beggers here tend to be females, yes... and they dont smell the best, but they dont have much so im sure buying deodorant and perfume isnt high on their importance list.  i would advise against talking to them or giving them money, regardless.

just remember while you are here that you are in a third world country.  lima isn't so third world, in my opinion, but it is a HUGE city (around 11 million) so be careful... just like you would be careful in new york or paris or any other huge city in the world. 

i LOVE lima... and my parents were just here for 2 weeks and they also loved lima (and paracas and nazca and huacachina...) they actually preferred those cities to cuzco! 

have fun... you can message me if you have any specific questions and i can try to help you out!

I'm peruvian-french and here in Peru you will find very warm people and discover that is really easy get friends, peruvians love gringos.We have many friends visiting Peru and allways I give them this tip: talk as if you were annoying because sometimes there are chater people ("hacerse el vivo", "criollada")and they respect when you are choleric(they profit because its cultural that majority peruvian people not complaint).In the streets there are a lot of pretends poors kids asking money,is better not give anything them and move away from you. With bold people requests aid from locals and helped you. Generally peruvains are good people with tourists.

We're planning a trip to Peru and plan on using Karikuy, www.karikuy.org, for our next trip.
They seem to handle socially conscious tourism in a very responsible way. Just my two cents!

katie is right this is a country like many other countries in the world. You will always find those trickers who take advantage of people from other countries.

About the food I dont think this is always true that it is not safety or fresh. Well it dependes on the kind of places you are living around so spend little more money to find a very nice restaurant with delicious food.

I hope you enjoy your stay here.

Regards!!