State of Emergency in Peru
I read this morning about the protests and state of emergency in Peru. Tourists were stranded at Machu Picchu due to the train not running. And the State Dept advises to reconsider travel to Peru due to crime and civil unrest. We’re scheduled to go in May. Hopefully the situation will be resolved before May, and I know Tauck will cancel if the trip is not safe. However, if it is still dicey when final payment is due in mid-January, we may try to switch to another bucket list trip. Looks like B, SA and Z still has a few openings for 2023. Anyone encountered issues when trying to switch from one tour to another?
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None whatsoever. We have done it a few times- one date to a different date on the same tour and one tour to a totally different tour. If you cancel and book a different tour at the same time, you don't need to mess with the Dream Saver or Wallet. If the new trip is less expensive, you can roll any excess amount into the final payment.
Peru has always been dicey. When I was flying to South America, they had armed guards on our crew vans after one got hijacked. You probably need to stay under the Tauck umbrella.
Our kids ended up stuck in their hotel a few days in Peru a couple of years ago. They actually had a good time playing games with other guests in the hotel. Then all was well after a couple of days and they did their climb .
We are going, supposedly, on Peru and Galapagos. I called to see how it was looking as Machu Picchu is closed. The person answering the phone acted like he had no idea what I was talking about, just that Tauck always has safety in mind. How will this work out?
As of last week Machu Picchu has been closed by officials until further notice due to continuing civil unrest.
Just received word from Tauck that the protests have subsided and the state of emergency in Lima has been cancelled. They are confident the journey will be as planned.
In addition, the flight arrangements from Cusco to the Galapagos have reverted to the original schedule. Cusco via Lima to Guayaquil, overnight at the Oro Verde, then to The Islands. Due to COVID-related airline schedules, we were supposed to go Cusco via Lima to Quito, overnight at the Wyndham Airport, then to The Islands, connecting in Guayaquil. So glad they changed it back.
Yes, when we did that trip, we had to fly to Quito and missed our flight to Guayaquil. Happily, our TD was able to get all 10 of us on the next flight. Much less stressful to fly directly to Guayaquil.
Overall, it's a good tour. If you want a preview, I blogged our trip at https://www.mikeandjudytravel.com/2021-1Galapagos-01.htm
[ Marcos Soto was our TD and he was excellent. I hope you also have him as your TD.]
Dottie: We are on the April 28th trip. What dates are you going?
Thanks Mike. I had just reread your great blog a couple of days ago. We’re on the Isabella instead of Silversea, but a lot of the trip looks very similar and we’re looking forward to it.
Debi, we’re going May 12. Sorry to miss you. If you learn anything you think we need to know, please post.
Yes, Dottie, sorry to miss you. We received out Tauck duffels today.
We are leaving on 19 May and we are so looking forward to this trip. We will be going with Silversea as we have travelled with them previously and they are a wonderful company second to Tauck.