Beware Going to Peru

They are trying to put a law into effect, that if you rob a tourist in Peru, your punishment is double whatever the law reads: that should tell you something. But Peru is a beautiful country to visit, the dollar is down 25%, but still good, and the people are warm, most of them.

Alas, in Lima, the robberies are up, and the law and president are doing little to nothing about it. In Cusco, and Machu Picchu, strikes will delay you, the natives put boulders on the road, on the train tracks, block the airstrips, to stop transportation, and do not care if tourism is altered, actually, that is why they do it, to get the government’s attention: only the businesses care.

Inter Bank, a smaller bank in Peru, has a lot of Instant Cash machines around, they take your credit card, and tell you the transaction did not go through, and it did, but you did not get the money, and you will be charged, for instance if it is $200. Plus $2, making it $202; and it will take 45-days to settle the dispute (if you can figure out when you get the bill what happened), and if they give you back the money back, they will try not to; the hassle is not worth it, I suggest you use other machines; these machines are specifically put into tourist spots, where Americans and Europeans, Chinese and Japanese visit (and their international law and Visa back them up because you have to use a pin number, and the benefit of the doubt is not taken into consideration). The taxes from the airport to Lima should be thirty soles (or about $10), but they are charging tourists $30+-dollars. The buses, beware, they area robbed all the time on long trips beyond Lima, and the government has done little about it, that is, to stop it. The bandits are armed, and usually come in groups of four to ten; they put road blocks in the Andes, and wait for the bus to stop, rob the tourist, and take of to nearby villages, never to be found. Unfortunately, it is not getting better with President Garcia; under the last two presidents, it was. I love this country, I’ve been to Peru nine times, but I do not share in their idleness, and although their tourism has grown nine fold, since I came here in 1999, its care for the unaware tourist has not gained anymore respect. I carry a gun, with permit of course, and for good reason. The taxi drivers will drive you around a corner, and there will be two more folks waiting, and that is that, they rob you. Often times they do not hurt you if you cooperate, so make sure you do not go with an unknown taxi company—taxis will make a deal with you, if you do not speak Spanish, you may end up paying dollars instead of soles.

Two other items might be worth noting. In Peru, you do not have the right-away, as you do in the United States and Europe, meaning, pedestrians need to be extra careful when they come to the corners of streets, and cross them, even on turning on green lights (and when there are no lights, it is most dangerous), cars will, and do not stop for you. So many people get hurt and killed here every year because of that, and the law basically says, written or not, watch where you are going, you take your life into your own hands. Actually, the car drivers will scream at you if you do not give them the right-away they feel they deserve, and have gotten for ages, and may purposely hit you. Going to court here in Peru, is not like going to court in other countries, you can buy the judge as simply as you can bribe a police officer.

The last thing to note is: be careful when you exchange money. You give the exchange person a hundred dollar bill, he looks at it, hands it back saying: “You gave me a bad bill,” he says, and then asks for another one, and actually he hid the good one you gave him, and gave you the bad one back (a counterfeit one), most likely he will have a friend standing by him to help with the transaction. Now you got a phony bill, and you will not be able to pedal it off. This happens a lot in Trujillo (north part of Peru, but in Lima, it is also happening, and Cusco I expect; in Huancayo, they will try to short change you by having the adding machines rigged). Often times the police are nearby, but turn their heads when such things are happening, perhaps getting a payoff. And I tried to talk to the Mayor of Trujillo about this taking place about the one-hundred dollar bills being exchanged for phonies, in the plaza area right by where his office is, and he refused to talk to me about it.

This is something no tourist book will tell you, so take heed, and have a joyful trip to Peru.