Peru

Peru is a very cheap country. Normal hostels run about $5 a night throughout the country and you’ll usually have your own room and bathroom. The cheapest hostels are about 10 soles or $3.50 but it’s entirely possible that you’ll get bedbugs or lice. Watch your possessions and check that the windows are secure. Break-ins happen frequently as your Ipod just doubled the worth of the contents of your backpack.

Menu restaurants charge anywhere from $1-3 for a hardy meal, usually involving some combination of rice, potatoes and meat. There are usually several choices for the meal and generally Peruvian food is quite good and safe. Tourist-oriented restaurants cost at least twice as much as a menu and are rarely worth it.

Transport is cheap and the options range from deluxe buses with all the amenities down to the worst, most cramped and uncomfortable metal heap imaginable. Flights are also an option but much more expensive.

Generally, it is possible to travel in Peru on a very tight budget of $15 a day, including transport and the occasional brew or smoke for morale. $20-$30 would provide for a very comfortable lifestyle and plenty of nights out…

Living in Peru is dirt cheap. In the countryside, a house rents for $30 a month or less. Bags full of fruits, vegetables and meat can be bought in the market for a few dollars. By sticking to home cooking and menu restaurants it’s easily possible to live on $50-$60 a month for food.

As always, going out to bars or clubs is expensive. The cheap local places charge about $3 for 3 large 620ml bottles of beer, and it’s a good opportunity to get drunk with locals and often robbed. More expensive, generally safer bars can range up to $3 for just one beer.

Work in Peru

You probably won’t make much money working in Peru, but you can make a living.

Guide work

There are a wide range of opportunities for guiding in Peru. The most common job involves working for international tour companies as an English-speaking (or other in-demand languages, such as French or Japanese) tour conductor. You should have some kind of handle on Spanish to do this.

There are other opportunities to guide in the mountains as well, and the pay can be quite good for a good guide. You’ll need to know the mountains thoroughly and speak good Spanish to deal with the cooks and donkey drivers that you’ll work with. A good job can pay from $40-$60 a day in the mountains plus tips. A few months of work can easily set you up for living all year.

Bar work is an option but is a better way to get laid than make money as tips are thin on the ground.

English teaching is another possibility though the pay is dismal.

If you want to continue with the 500 year old tradition of screwing the natives you could get involved with missionary work but we gather it helps to be Catholic…

Import/export of rare jungle plants is possible, and the powerful hallucinogen Ayahuaska is still legal in the USA, so hurry if you want to get in on that potential market… On the other hand, shame on you for even thinking about trying to profit from ancient, sacred medicine. You’re guaranteed the worst trip of your life.

M.J Lloyd was born and raised on a small farm in rural Ohio. At the age of 18 he hit the road to Alaska with a meager savings and no plan. Over the next 2 years he wandered in search of real answers and a livable life. The journey has taken him through three continents, various loves, battles with the loneliness and insanity of the road, and extreme poverty. Though the lessons haven’t been easy, he has learned much from the trail, and has reached a much happier and more peaceful understanding on the nature of his life.

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