Value Traveling Asians

We flew back from Puerto Maldonado (PEM) to San Francisco (SFO) by redeeming points on United. It was a relative steal at 35k points one-way for business class and a real treat to spend our 28 hour trip (it takes 4 connecting flights to get from the Amazon rainforest back home) in more comfortable seats. The whole experience was definitely not the most luxurious of business class trips, though. Yes, the seats were bigger and reclined more, but that's about it. First, the food and drink. There just wasn't that much of it. We flew from PEM-CUZ-LIM starting at 12:30, a trip that took 3.5 hours total, including a 30 minute stopover in Cusco. We were offered beverages just twice, when we boarded the plane and when we were in Cusco. We were so thirsty! And, there was absolutely NO food at all on the flight, which was clearly during Latin America's lunch time. We were starving by the time we got to Lima. Secondly, we flew on Avianca from PEM-CUZ-LIM and Copa from LIM-PTY-SFO...

We were sure that we were going to visit the Amazon rainforest during our trip to Peru and Colombia, but we weren’t sure where it was best to. Obviously, we only visited the rainforest in one location so we can’t compare the two locations from personal experience. Here’s why we decided on going to visit the Amazon rainforest from Puerto Maldonado in Peru, based on research: ·        It’s convenient and affordable to get there. Assuming that you are going to Cusco to visit Machu Picchu (and I sure hope so, if you’re going to Peru!), it’s pretty easy and cost effective to visit the Amazon from Cusco. Our flight to Puerto Maldonado was $100 round trip and 30 minutes each way. On the way back to Cusco, our flight did a quick pit stop in Cusco for 30 minutes before conveniently heading on to Lima.   Other locations require a bit more work to get to. Manu is a 8-10 hour drive from Cusco and doesn’t have an airport that's right there. Iquitos requires a...

Once we decided on going to Puerto Maldonado, I set about looking at the different options available to us. Because we were visiting during off-peak season (October) and were booking just three weeks in advance, I e-mailed the lodges and all offered me a discount. We ended up going with the Explorer’s Inn for our trip at $900 each for the 5 day/4 night option. It was the moderately priced option with good reviews, and one of only two lodges that offered an option to go to Chuncho Macaw Clay Lick. The Chuncho Macaw Clay Lick is an additional 2-3 hours down the river from most of the lodges and packages that include it cost about $100 more. This Clay Lick was phenomenal. Hands down the best activity that we did during our 4 night/5 day stay in the Amazon. There were 50 macaws and parrots all around us that morning (we spent about 3 hours at the Clay Lick). These birds mate for life and it was awesome to see them fly around in pairs. We had breakfast at the Clay Lick, surro...

Surprisingly, there are not many places to get a massage in Arequipa. In Cusco, you can’t walk one block without being propositioned for massage (of varying quality), but in Arequipa, there are only a few places that offer massage and they’re mostly expensive hotels with US prices for massages. I recommend that you try la Hosteria in Arequipa if you’re looking for a good, moderately priced massage ($35USD). They're just a few blocks away from the main square. It’s a pain to schedule if you aren’t staying at the hotel because you have to go in person to pay for it before they’ll reserve a time for you (calling doesn’t work). The cost includes an hour soak in their Roman Bath (think big hot tub) which gets you nice and ready for your massage! Their Roman Bath was all booked up when we went, so they took 5USD off of the price. They did try to upsell us on the deep tissue massage ($5 more), but the regular massage was fine. Plus, they take credit cards. The massage was good,...