San Pedro ceremony got cancelled last minute, so that didn't happen.

Jumped on a collectivo (shared minivan taxi) and jumped out anywhere and everywhere that looked interesting. Long but interesting day.

Ended the day by eating roasted "Cuy" (guinea pig) with a local Peruvian guy I met--damn good! Heavily flavored via various herbs and spices...hard to say what it tasted like, though definitely NOT like chicken. Maybe something along the lines of a mix between duck, rabbit, and pork? Lots of flavor for sure, and while I consider myself a fairly adventurous eater, picking meat off the head was a bit odd / disconcerting.

I had the exact same thing happen, but in Bolivia. I did get to do Ayahuasca a week earlier though.

Ate "Cuy" for a second time (this time fried instead of roasted) and again was delicious. Was enjoying myself and very content in both Cusco and Pisac but felt I was at that point vacationing versus traveling so I bought a 1st class overnight bus ticket to Arequipa for about $45.

Who am kidding--1st class bus ticket = tourist.

As stated earlier, the tourist buses in Peru are the nuts. My seat reclined nearly vertically, again an in-seat LCD TV, large selection of movies to watch, etc.. However, the road from Cusco to Arequipa was absolute ****--nearly the entire time it felt as if we were driving over cobblestone streets or perhaps a cross-country drive across endless dirt roads. Fortunately I had wisely prepared.

Earlier in the day I visited multiple pharmacies to stock up on sleeping meds (most pharmacies won't sell you the good stuff, but with persistence you can find some that will). I had also snuck a bottle of beer on board (no alcohol allowed on the buses) so beer + klonopine and I managed a decent night's sleep.

Spent yesterday checking out multiple uber-ornate Catholic churches, the massive city square, the local city market, and in general just getting lost rambling around the city streets. Had BY FAR the best empanadas I've ever had (I consider myself somewhat of an empanada connoisseur) at some local place. Via Google translate was told by the manager that they were Bolivian-style empanadas. I think I am going to slip him a couple thousand Sol to teach me how to make them, return to USA, go on that show Shark Tank, get a deal, very quickly crush the national empanada market and get stupid rich. They were that crazy good.

Just finished crappy free breakfast at my guesthouse (private room and bath plus breakfast for $11), so headed out to go eat an empanada or three.

Great TR updates dude.
I actually posted here or in similar Peru Poker threads few years back when I was considering living/grinding there.
Like you say, you can get by as cheap as you want to live but I felt without regular 5/10 sol it wasn't worth it. The 25/50 game sounds interesting. These were played at AC right?

Glad you brought some glimmer to the thread. Good luck dude!

Only had once and perhaps it is variance, but not impressed at all. So little meat and not tender one bit

Also, for those of yous not following my travel thread, a few posts about Peru thus far,

Miraflores : https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...&postcount=487

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...&postcount=488

Barranco : https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...&postcount=489

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...&postcount=490

Agree, happy you are detailing your trip with us, Cucamongo

Just arranged a two day/one night off-road motorcycle tour of Colca Canyon with private guide.

If this is my last post you can assume I died.

Grateful to have made it back alive and uninjured.

Had a blast, but the riding was (at times) very challenging--nearly laid the bike down on three separate occasions. Overnight it rained hard, so the next day we had to deal with muddy trails and rock-slides galore. The second day we road from 7AM to 5PM, and I was "white knuckling it" for hours at a time. Rode through a hail storm, then through clouds where you literally could not see more than 15 feet in front of you, all the while dealing with hairpin turn after hairpin turn, and 500+ feet roadside drop offs with rarely any guard rails.

Below is gopro video made by the guide I rode with over some of the same route, albeit with better weather and road conditions:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=754s&v=8_wu23qelSM

After nine hours of riding I was exhausted. Got back to Arequipa about 6PM and caught the overnight bus back to Cusco at 8PM. Really needed a good night's sleep so knocked back a klonopin and a beer moments before boarding. Slept the sleep of the dead--everyone on the entire bus could have decided to gang rape me and I wouldn't have woken up.

Arrived Cusco at 7AM, ate a great breakfast at a hole in the wall near the bus station, than jumped on a collectivo van back to Pisac. Asked several locals (Peruvians and resident gringos) for recommendations regarding a legit San Pedro ceremony. Two guy's names kept coming up; was able to get a hold of one of them and am supposed to drink with him up in the mountains tomorrow.

Fingers crossed for an enjoyable, insightful experience and good weather!

Did a private (meaning just me and the guide, or "facilitator" as he refers to himself") San Pedro Ceremony yesterday. As much as I was told to try and not have any "expectations" I'm human and have an ego so of course I did have some expectations regarding what would go on. For the most part they were wrong.

I'm not going to say much about or describe the ceremony in detail, because a) it's kind of ruining the plot-line and describing spoilers of a movie that others haven't seen but may in the future, and b) if any of you do a ceremony with someone else leading it, most likely it will be very different experience.

I will say that it was a very subtle experience (despite the fact that according to Miguel I drank quite a bit more San Pedro than is normal), that the San Pedro didn't taste as bad as expected, and that I definitely received clarity into certain life-issues I've been mentally / emotionally wrestling with.

All-in-all definitely recommended. Given the opportunity I would absolutely do it again, though hopefully with a little stronger medicine next time.

Nice description. Looking forward to doing a ceremony myself.

On other practical (and boring) note, anyone has any suggestions for atms? Looking to withdraw 5-10k Sol, but have only found a max of 700 thus far (13Sol fees) and - get this -, you can only withdraw once a month from any branch of BPC The others all have been 400 Sol max with fees of 16-18 Sol. Any recommendations? Big cash advances at some banks/casinos?

OK, could not get a cash advance inside BBVA, but curiously, there atms offer 300USD$ when selecting USD option, and only 400Sol when selecting that option... Which means I will have to convert my USD, thus costing me more conversion fees, but seems to be the only way to go for now...

nice to see some life bounced back into lima. super underrated city and you've got another month or so to enjoy it before weather turns to **** again. Miraflores had some great food options, but the nightlife was always fairly touristy with the exception of some higher end clubs at larcomar. Barranco has a ton of great places, and same with plaza san martin in centro. rad rooftop bars with live music, everyone hanging out on the street.
taking money out can be a pain. AC used to exchange stars for us at a 1% fee, unlimited amounts. I haven't spent any time there in 3+ years so can't comment on it its still available. Go after 6pm and talk to the poker room managers

Arrived back in Florida a few days ago; wish I could say it was good to be back, but that would be a lie, but I already wish I were back traveling. Below is a recap of my last few days in Peru & my thoughts on the country as a whole:

The day after San Pedro ceremony in Pisac I took a collective back to Cusco, spent the day there buying souvenirs & gifts for various people back in the States (plus a San Pedro chocolate for me to try later!), and flew to Lima the following morning.

Arrived in Lima at about 3PM after two weather-related delayed flights (evidently fairly common for flights landing/taking off from Cusco) and a lost-luggage situation (eventually resolved). This time I decided to stay at an airbnb in the historic "Centro Lima" area, which IMO is a much more interesting area than Miraflores and even Barranco. My host was born in Peru but lived in USA for several decades and was pretty much half Peruvian / half gringa. In addition she was about my age & very attractive! We hit it off nicely & we ended up going to a local seafood restaurant around the corner from her apartment on Plaza San Martin where we ate GREAT ceviche for 25 Sol ($8). Afterwards she played tour guide & showed me around a bit; had I not already had plans for later that evening I would have asked her out for dinner as well.

However, another 2+2er & I had sent a few PMs back & forth over the previous few weeks, and had previously agreed to meet for dinner & perhaps some poker later that night. We were supposed to meet at 8pm, but traffic in Lima is a beast & was nearly 30 minutes late.

Met Dubnjoy000 & he suggested we try a sushi restaurant he had heard good things about, but as it was expensive & involved a cab ride (& I had just been stuck in traffic for half an hour) I declined, and we ended up eating at a just OK local tourist restaurant in Miraflores. My bad, we should have done the sushi-thing.

Afterwards we walked to Atlantic City casino, only to learn that the 25/50 PLO game was now a 50/100 game with minimum 3000 Sol (roughly $1K) buy-in! I had no intention of playing even in the 25/50 game, but Dubnjoy000 was itching to play in it but wasn't rolled to play 50/100. As he has previously described, the max you can withdraw from an ATM in Peru is 700 Sol (actually lots of ATMs limit you to 400 Sol), so it's going to be challenging for him to accumulate the bankroll needed for such a big game. More of a hassle even still is what does a gringo-tourist do with the money if they win big at a 25/50 or 50/100 game?? Walk around Peru with $5K+ in your pocket for the next few weeks/months?!? I have no idea how easy or difficult it is for a gringo to get a back account in Peru, but making it such hard to withdraw money from an ATM, and the inability to deposit / otherwise get rid of excess cash, makes playing live poker in Peru a real hassle / potential liability for any potentially-interested grinders.

At any rate, the 50/100 PLO game was the only game playing at Atlantic City, so we walked over to the casino next to the JW Marriott & goofed-off in the 1/3 (or was it 2/5?) NL game there. While it was enjoyable playing and talking with Dubnjoy000 (cool guy, enjoyed meeting him and hope to run into him again somewhere), the game was tight & fairly boring, and I think it would be tough to try and eek out a living playing that game. I played my basic ABC game (Dubnjoy000 is clearly a much, MUCH better player than I, though I got lucky and won about $75 off Dubnjoy000 when my flopped set ended up filling up over his straight) & managed to walk away up about $150-$200 for the night. Nice way to end the trip! Caught an 8AM flight home the following morning.

Peru:
GREAT food!
Extremely nice, friendly helpful people
Beautiful scenery
1st Class AAA+Tourist buses
Easy to travel as a tourist
Seemingly very safe once outside of Lima
Can be as expensive or as cheap as you want it to be, I probably spent on average about $60/day.

The only things I didn't like about Peru was a) the traffic in Lima (and to a lesser extent in Ariquipa as well), and the ever-present "plastic pollution". Peruvians definitely don't have a conservation ethic like say Costa Ricans (Pura Vida) do, and it's really too bad. It's rare to find a public trash can on the street, and in an otherwise picturesque countryside-area the roads are lined with Coke bottles, trash & plastic bags everywhere. Peru is a stunningly beautiful country, and imho it would be in their economic self-interest to create a more conservative environmental ethos. Otherwise Peru was great, and I highly encourage anyone interested to book a trip asap, you won't be disappointed!

Great TR Cucomonga and it was great to meet you as well bro

A few specs about the live poker scene in Lima :

- first of all, I am primary an online player and have thus only played twice live here and just for a few hours, as the 5-5 Sol game was nitty as frack and quite boring

- As mentioned by Cucomonga, there is a huge gap in between the stakes offered : from the 50-100 NLHE game, min 7k buy-in held at AC, to the 5-5 NLHE and PLO games offered at Marriott. There is also a 5-10 Sol 500 min buy-in at the AC, but I have yet to see it run...

- ATMs here are a biitch and a half But if they do limit the withdrawal to 700Sol, you can get more if you choose the USD$ option. Casinos do not charge a fee nor commission from USD$ to chips to Sol or whatever combination you want.

- There is a BTC atm in downtown Lima, where you can only buy bitcoins (no selling option). This could be another way to dump your winnings if playing the 50-100 game. I am assuming that you can hold your monies at AC and I believe boliver mentioned in a post above that you can get a cash advance there... (although I have not inquired, having given up on playing that game considering all the hassles and all ). Also, this table seems like the same regs all the time and appears to be filled up as early as 6pm.

Published this in Medium, it is an article about my ayahuasca ceremony in Pisaq : https://medium.com/@jeansergebaril/b...wn-9f0123584e1

Hey guys. I am planing to move to Lima and was wonderin if there is any PLO Action going on? I know some of you mentioned it, but it could be that some of the games are dead now. I plan to play mostly PLO online but i enjoy also the live poker feeling from time to time.

Thx for your time

The Marriot is where you want to check for PLO games ; they had it going some nights last year. It does not seem like it played that big though...

Just wanted to pop in and echo the general sentiment that Lima seemed underrated compared to what I was reading/hearing beforehand. Of course the weather is perfect now and in 6 months I'd probably change my mind. El centro was a lot better than expected and I kinda wish I had more time to spend there. Maybe I'll rent an AirBNB there for a night or 2 when I return to Lima for my flight back to CDMX.

Re: girls, I'd say there are a lot of "cute" girls walking around, but almost 0 "hot" girls. I was lucky enough to meet a really cute girl off Tinder who showed me around several parts of the city. She lives in Surquillo and obviously I'd never go there in a million years otherwise, but it was cool to see a different side of Lima and we ate in an incredible cevichería for like 20 soles each. We met 5 times in only 10 days and she's really gf material, but probably not enough to change my plans and stick around here longer.

In the coming 2 weeks I hit up Cuzco, Puno, Lago Titicaca, and Arequipa. I'm 100% sure Cuzco will be epic, but am super curious to see what Arequipa is all about. The girl mentioned above is from Trujillo and told me a bit about, and now I'd really love to go, but it's too far out of the way and I'm running low on time.

trujillo blows imo, if you surf there's a really sick left there, but I don't see a reason to stop by. Plus that many places in 2 weeks sounds insane anyways, def wouldn't be looking to add anything else and trujillo is nowhere near the others, I feel like that was a solid full day of driving to get there from lima.
c'monnn I lived in surquillo, its down the street from all the gringo places anyways and not so different there, careful though because some spots of lima can get really hood very quickly.

Ahh ok, yah I guess Surquillo is technically right next door, but she lived in a sketchier part and even advised me not to take out my phone or draw attention on certain streets. I'd have no reason to ever venture that far into Surquillo unless specifically taken there by a friend/girl.

I wasn't seriously considering Trujillo unless I extend my time here in Peru, but I don't think I'm going to. I'm happy with my itinerary for now, and after almost 3 months of heavy travel and pretty burned out and just want to get back to my life in CDMX.

Thx for the update. Do u know how big it is?

I think it was the equivalent of a 1-3 USD game, like 5-10 Soles, but don't quote me on it, I forgot...

Hey guys, i love to get some advice here from people that have lived in Peru a bit.

I am an online grinder playing on mainly stars sites,eu and es/fr/pt. I assume they are not restricted like in Colombia?

Secondly, i red it's a 180 visa free arrival for EU citizens, do i need an outgoing flight ticket, and after the 180 days can i easily border hop and get a new 180 days? Or can i just extend without having to fly out?

I assume if i rent a 1 bedroom apartment i can make due with a 1k USD budget a month, as i have red ppl make like 430 Euro a month there net?

If there are any FB or skype groups idd love to join ,-)

Hey man, am on my way back in 4 days and would gladly meet up for coffee (that goes for others as well ITT)

Not sure, but Unibet is not, so I assume the others are fine as well...

Am from Canada, so google/Duckduckgo will be your friend on this one...

I would not assume here, as you will not be wanting to live in districts that most locals would live in, me thinks, for comfort/security/quality of life reasons... (if so, why Lima?). I am assuming you will be wanting to live in the San Isildro/Miraflores/Barranco area...? My budget is quite higher, but I am sure you can make it work it out (if not, perhaps go to Cusco instead...?). I would recommend to perhaps look at the AirBnB monthly offerings and substract 30% from that to get an idea of what you could get in person, perhaps...

Not sure about this, but would also join

edit : anyone has played PLO at Marriot's hotel lately? Am wondering if game is still running and if so, on which nights...?

What day was this PLO game running? I'll be in Miraflores next week(Monday-Wednesday) and wondering which is the best casino to play.