Peru Packing Must Haves for Your Bag

Welcome to the Peru Travel Podcast. You can subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google, TuneIn, or listen in the media player above. Most people know the standard items to pack when traveling abroad. But many people tend to overlook a few items such as their credit card costs, how to communicate such as through translation, or how to save your stomach from traveler’s diarrhea. One of the big-ticket items to bring when traveling to Peru includes baby wipes. Especially when trekking or due to the smog, baby wipes help to feel fresh after a long day of activity. If you’re out trekking on the Inca Trail or Salkantay Trail, we recommend you bring some baby powder. If you end up chaffing, you’re not gonna feel good on a multi-day hike. That’s gonna hurt… If you don’t speak Spanish, don’t get nervous. That’s why we love the power of the internet. Google Translate is an excellent resource to help you communicate. It’s also a good idea to bring some cash. Cash is king. But we do lay out some cost-saving tips if you have a credit card. Finally, if you want to try all the amazing street food, don’t forget your Pepto-Bismol tablets. It’s gonna save your stomach. Be sure to visit us at our homepage or email us at [email protected] for any questions or topics that you want us to cover. Follow us on our social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube. Below is a transcript which has been modified for your reading pleasure.

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Transcription

David Kosloski: 00:05 Hey guys, welcome back to the Peru Travel Podcast. I’m your host, Dave Kosloski. Alongside me is Charlie Thompson. Today we’re talking about what is in our bag on the way to Peru. Charlie excited about this episode. Charlie Thompson: 00:16 I am excited about this episode because I had the same question. What do you put it in the bag? David Kosloski: 00:20 That’s right. Well hopefully we can answer that and today we’re actually sharing a mic so there might be some slight pauses back and forth because Charlie seems to have forgotten his mic, which is kind of a bummer because that’d be really close to him. But other than that, I mean I guess. I guess it’s okay. Charlie Thompson: 00:34 Let me clear this up. I didn’t forget my mic. I forgot the cable necessary to transport your voice from a mic to a computer. That’s what I forgot. David Kosloski: 00:44 Yeah. What a shameful display. Anyways. David Kosloski: 00:47 What we’re gonna do is break down a couple of things. A couple of things that are in my bag on the way to Peru. As always, you know, we’re actually heading to Peru in a couple of days, so hopefully, we get this out before we go to Peru. But this Wednesday coming up, we’re gonna be taking off to Peru and Lima’s obviously our first stop. Following that we’re gonna be heading to Cusco. So a couple of things I like to pack that I recommend everyone brings on their trip to Peru. This is my list right here. So the first thing that I like to pack to Peru, just like anywhere else in the world is seriously baby powder. And I know that’s a very weird thing and for some people and some people really like it. I personally use the medicated version. It gives me a nice little cool feeling downstairs if you know what I mean. David Kosloski: 01:28 But the reason for this is really because I got thick thighs. Okay. There’s a song I heard back in the day, it was like the hips too thick for the sidewalk. Well, my thighs are too thick for the sidewalks, so I pack baby powder. That way my legs aren’t crunching together and I’m pretty sure there is a speed stick you can wear as well in between your thighs. Let them go back and forth. We’ll have to ask our cross country runner for that, but that’s what I’m going to be bringing. I highly recommend you bring it as well. Charlie Thompson: 01:54 So David, you got any good stories where you haven’t brought baby powder and what happened? David Kosloski: 01:58 I don’t want to get into that conversation. It ends up really bad. And your legs have a nice, beautiful rash on them. So baby powder on the list as the first one. Charlie Thompson: 02:07 Take it from David. Don’t have the same experience that he has that he doesn’t even want to share on the air. So take it from him. Bring baby powder. David Kosloski: 02:16 Yeah. And on top of that, the second one as we move past the baby powder topic is facial wipes. And I know that’s kind of another one that’s like, well yeah, obviously I clean my face. Sure. But there might be times in Peru where one, you might not have access to clean water right away, that it’s a possibility. Not always if you’re in the city. But another one is because the smog in Lima is actually pretty dramatic compared to anywhere else in the United States. And I hear people talk about LA and the smog there. I’ve been to LA, I’ve been to Phoenix, Arizona, there’s smog in these places. However, Lima really doesn’t have a control over that yet, at least in my experience. And so when I woke up in the morning, I realize there’s a ton of fog and after conversing with a couple of friends. I realized that smog was just a really big deal. So, there rather. So I’ll bring face wipes. I found myself kind of cleaning my face once or twice a day. Actually. I’m even without my morning and night ritual and it’s not so much that I’m cleaning it to scrub it. It’s more just to feel fresh, I guess. Charlie Thompson: 03:17 So, you’re not going to feel like smog is caked on your face. Right. But it’s more so that you’re breathing this stuff in, it is getting on your skin to feel fresh. That’s kind of why you’re advocating that, right? David Kosloski: 03:29 Yeah. That’s one reason I think on top of that though, really. I’m pulling a film off once in a while, really. Throughout the day I’ll have like black soot on my face and you just want to clean it and really when you’re hiking as well if you’re going to Cusco and to do Rainbow Mountain if you go see a small village or whatever the case is. You’re hiking, you’re dirty, you’re going to want to clean it. Everywhere I’ve been that I’m working in a sense, I’m moving to get somewhere physically. I’m always going to want to wash my face roughly here and there. Charlie Thompson: 03:55 So face wipes, don’t forget those. What is up next in your bag, Dave? David Kosloski: 04:01 So the next one on my bag goes without any explanation. It’s money. I feel like a lot of people tend to travel and they don’t bring cash or currency. I think that’s the dumbest thing you can do. And I know people bring the currency of the destination country. I bring American USD. The reason I do that is that when I get to the airport, the location that I’m going, I’ll do the currency exchange there. Now I’m not saying that you have to do the currency exchange at the airport. There are sometimes better rates obviously elsewhere, but that’s just my recommendation. Bring some cash you when you arrive at a place. USD is primarily taken everywhere. But Lima in particular. I know that as soon as I’m there I can usually say hey, I’ll give you like 10 bucks, 20 bucks to take me to this specific place or the hotel that I’m going to. So cash is definitely a must bring cash. Charlie Thompson: 04:46 And you can use international travel cards too. I know some people are afraid. “Oh, I’ve got cash on me. You know, people could steal it.” Things like that. We’re not talking like bring a suitcase of money here. Right. This brings some cash, you never know when you could possibly need it. Like David said, pretty much everywhere takes the United States Dollar or if you’re from Europe, the Euro transfers pretty easily as well. So, bring some cash. You can use those credit cards too make sure you check. There’s several credit cards out there with no foreign transaction fees. So if you’re going to bring one, bring one of those. David Kosloski: 05:18 Definitely I think a credit card’s, obviously a good choice. I will say that if you have a bank, a checking bank, that doesn’t do a foreign transaction fee. That’s probably the best way to go. I do know that some people… I ran into this issue when I was in Peru actually, and it was only here, my friend had a credit card that was Visa, excuse me. And I had a Mastercard and for whatever reason, I was getting a way worse rate and exchange rate than he was. And so he would buy something that was, say $10 and I’d be charged $12. It was frustrating if you can imagine looking at his credit card statement compared to mine and I’m like, how come I paid way more than you? David Kosloski: 06:01 And it really came down to Mastercard had a worse deal than Visa did at the time that we went there. And those rates fluctuate obviously. But that’s something to be wary of at the beginning is if you have a way of pulling out money with no foreign transaction fee, that definitely is a good way of going. The next one on my list is not really something that you pack in your bag, rather you pack it on your phone. That is Google Translate and unless you’re some beautiful Spanish speaker and that is not me. I know Poquito Espanol. Very little, but I can still get around because I use the Google translation app. I basically downloaded the book onto my phone and anytime that I have a question in Spanish, I’ll type it in English and I’ll butcher it to tell them the way that I perceive it to be. David Kosloski: 06:48 In a worse case scenario, I’ll just show them my app and say, “Hey, this is what I’m asking you. This is what I’m looking for.” Because not everyone speaks Spanish. I mean, not everyone speaks English in Peru and you have to be okay with that. I know a lot of Americans typically when they travel, they want places that speak English. I promise you, don’t be scared. It’s still an amazing place and people are willing to help you and be patient to help you. Get the App though. It’ll make things a lot faster than trying to decipher what people are trying to say. Charlie Thompson: 07:11 Or what if? Did you see that new earpiece that came out that allows… It translates in real time, I can’t remember what the name of the device is., But if you could get one of those, I mean, how badass would that be? But if you’re not using one of those, then Google Translate is a great idea. I’ve even had to use it in the US before. If you go to places like Miami and things like that, there’s several people there that don’t speak English. So it’s just a great tool to have a that helps you communicate to get where you need to go. Maybe even if you need help or you need to order some type of food or whatever it is, the Internet’s an amazing thing. David Kosloski: 07:55 Yeah. I mean, you can definitely get an earpiece if you’ve got the capital. I go with the free version. Takes me two seconds to type something up that, but that is an option. I’ve heard about it. I’ve never seen it. I don’t even know how much it costs. I know that there….. I’ve heard random things about it. The last one on my list. Excuse me. Second to last one on my list is Pepto-Bismol tablets. I think this is kind of a weird one. I’m not a doctor and I won’t tell you what to do and what not to do. But my travel physician actually has told me that….. All right, let me break this down. Street food is awesome. Okay, and everybody’s scared to try street food. I apologize, but you should totally try this street food. Just as soon as you’re done eating and consuming the food, make sure you take two Pepto-Bismol tablets because supposedly in theory that kills everything. And I’ve said this before on another podcast episode, but that is something that I can’t stress enough. That probably saved my butt in Peru multiple times because I wanted to try, you know, cow heart or I wanted to try guinea pig and I guess I would assume that they cook it perfectly right? But in the off chance that it doesn’t sit well with my stomach, Pepto-Bismol, eradicates, any problems that I could potentially have. Charlie Thompson: 09:02 And we don’t need to get into the nitty-gritty details of what chemicals are in Pepto-Bismol because no one really cares about that. But just know that there is a chemical in there that does. If you eat it within 30 minutes of eating something that you think might not settle well on your stomach, you pop that Pepto-Bismol and it will kill everything that’s in there. This is not, you know, medical advice. We’re not doctors here, so consult with your physician but take it from experience. Again, try all the street food you can possibly imagine. Pop a Pepto. David Kosloski: 09:36 First of all, I think that’s going to be the new slogan for Pepto-Bismol, Pop a Pepto. Right? The other thing I was going to point out is that when you had said: “we don’t need to go into details as to what happens.” I was like, Oh God, he’s going to talk about diarrhea on the show. Like, here we go. This is the time. So my last one on here is very quick and easy. It is. Bring a good attitude. We’ve said it. A blog posts, we’ve said in podcasts. Bring a good attitude. Be ready for an adventure because when you get off that airplane in Lima, it’s going to seem crazy. It’s going to seem nuts. And unless you speak Spanish, which again, I don’t. It’s going to seem to be kind of like a new world to a little bit and that’s part of the excitement of travel. David Kosloski: 10:21 I’ve so many friends and we’ll do a podcast about this, but they’re like, “I wish I could do what you do.” And I’m literally blown away by that response. What do you mean? Well, you know, we just don’t speak the language. We have never been to a foreign country, we’ve never done x, y, and z. And I’m like, “dude, it’s not that hard.” It’s really easy actually. Just got to make the leap, you know, make the jump. So have a positive attitude, be ready for an adventure and just keep your head on because I promise you you’re going to be in for a real treat, especially when you get to get off that airplane and started seeing all the commotion and the hustle and bustle of Lima. And if you get over to Cusco, it’s obviously a lot of history history there. I definitely think you’ll have a great time. Charlie Thompso: 10:57 You know, I might go on a little bit of rant here, but you bring up a very good point, Dave, to the people that respond to you that way, “oh, we’ve never been outside the country, we don’t speak the language, you know, things like that.” That’s what holds most people back from traveling or doing anything they want to really do in life. Is that fear, that risk factor that you’re not willing to dive in. So take this advice. This is a different take on what’s in the bag from aside from your typical socks and underwear and things like that that you already know to bring those things. These are the outside of the box, if you will, experience from David Kosloski himself to put in the bag for Peru. David Kosloski: 11:38 Awesome man. Well, I’m glad we were able to do that and hopefully help you guys out. Again if you’re looking to book your trip for Peru. Hit us up on cachilife.com. We can definitely help you guys out. If you have any questions, email us [email protected]. Just head onto the site, there’s a lot of great stuff, lot of great information. There’s blog posts. You can shoot us an email, like I said, If you have any questions. If you’re filling out the form and you’re still confused about, you know, I want to do this possibly, or you want a custom trip, guess what? We got you covered. We can do custom trips as well. Just shoot us an email and we hopefully can take care of you. All right. If not, we’ll put you in the right direction. Okay. Thanks so much guys. Take care.