Peru

Trip Duration: December 28 2011 - January 14 2012

Packing:
  1- drawstring day bag
  1- 65 Liter Gregory Hiking BackPack
Vaccinations and Medications:
  No shots were needed
  Plenty of Dramamine motion sickness medicine (both for sleeping and motion sickness relief)
  Ibuprofen
  Anti-itch cream (I get bit by every bug in the room)
Clothing, Etc.:
  Anything that could fit in my 65 Liter pack for daily wear as we took only carry-on luggage (a trick we learned after our Thailand/Cambodia trip)
  One pair of flip flops
  One pair of walking sneakers
  Basic shower/hygiene products
Extras:
  Waterproof Digital Camera
  Headlamp
  Rain cover for Backpack
  Water bottle
  UV light water purifier
  HTC global smartphone (which I later learned to be a mistake)
Things we picked up immediately upon arrival:
  Toilet Paper!!!!
  Snacks

My brother Michael and my friend Lisa traveled with me to Peru for two weeks on this trip.  We had a layover in San Salvador, which looked like a country I would like to visit for real sometime, and continued on to Lima, Peru. Leaving the airport we made a new friend that had been on both of our flights from JFK and decided we would all ride together to find a hostal for the night. We had a driver arranged for us by a Peruvian friend from college, which was very helpful seeing as the taxi driver barrage as you leave the airport is a bit daunting. We were dropped off in the Mira Flores district in Lima and found a backpackers hostal that was listed in our Lonely Planet book to sleep for the night.  Luckily there is no time difference between home and Peru so we were not completely wiped out once we finally arrived.
The next day we decided to head to Arequipa on a night bus.  Using our poor Spanish speaking we managed to get tickets with Cruz del Sur, the most expensive bus line we found during our trip in Peru.  Helpful hint, there are many bus companies that have routes between the major cities all across Peru, the most expensive ones are so because tourists use them most often but there are much cheaper companies that the locals use so look for these!