sailingon Posted July 15, 2012 #1 Share Posted July 15, 2012 I will be on an Oceania cruise next winter, circumnavigating South America. Two ports for which I have been unable to find information on private or taxi tours are Matarani (port for visit of Arequipa, Peru), and Antofagasta, Chile. Would appreciate any information anyone has on availability of tours (other than the ship's) in these ports and what we might expect on arrival. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greatam Posted July 15, 2012 #2 Share Posted July 15, 2012 (edited) I will be on an Oceania cruise next winter, circumnavigating South America. Two ports for which I have been unable to find information on private or taxi tours are Matarani (port for visit of Arequipa, Peru), and Antofagasta, Chile. Would appreciate any information anyone has on availability of tours (other than the ship's) in these ports and what we might expect on arrival. It is about 75-85 miles by road to Arequipa from the Coast. It is a narrow mountain road, so not a fast drive. And Arequipa is over 7500 feet in altitude so be careful of AMS. You are leaving from sea level, so that is a very rapid rise in altitude. Even on an airplane, the rise isn't as great, as planes are pressurized to 6-8000 feet. Arequipa is the home of Colca Canyon and the South American condors. Absolutely HUGE birds-about twice the size of California condors!!! It is another 4-6,000 feet in altitude to get to the canyon (up and over the hill). That is one port I wouldn't even try to do a private tour (and I spend quite a bit of time in South America for business). Just too much chance you could miss the ship. Other than as a fuel stop, I think it is a wasted stop if it is only for a day. I truly believe the cruise lines get people's hopes up that they may see something way out of the ordinary and then there is no time to get to INTERESTING places. And that is the way I feel about any ship calling Mantarani Arequipa. Just like the cruise lines call Hanoi Halong Bay or vice versa. The reality-a 3-4 hour drive each way between the two. If you can find a tour to Arequipa (I buy stuff in Arequipa sometimes for import to the US but most of my import stuff comes from Juliaca/Lake Titicaca or Cuzco), go enjoy the white buildings. There is some very stunning architecture. The market is OK and more "native" than the one in Lima. There are a lot of underground thermal hot springs in the area and some of the hotels have great spa treatments. BUT I don't think you will have time for any of this if it is just a normal 8 hour port stop. El Tatio in Antofogasta is truly truly spectacular. Geysers shooting out of the ground in the desert. The best show is very early in the morning. The ride to the Geyser field is about an hour, again all up hill on a narrow mountain road. So the chances of seeing the "full show" on cruise ship port stop are slim. The ocean views are nice (saw them from a bus I took from Peru). Sorry I can't offer more encouragement. Edited July 15, 2012 by greatam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houtbay Posted July 16, 2012 #3 Share Posted July 16, 2012 I will be on an Oceania cruise next winter, circumnavigating South America. Two ports for which I have been unable to find information on private or taxi tours are Matarani (port for visit of Arequipa, Peru), and Antofagasta, Chile. Would appreciate any information anyone has on availability of tours (other than the ship's) in these ports and what we might expect on arrival. Arequipa, The white City has some beautiful colonial churches and mansions and the Monasterio de santa Catalina is a must see. Has a lovely central plaza and if you are lucky you will get to see El Misti in the distance. There is not much to see in Antofagasta but it is the hop off point to San Pedro de Atacama home to some of Chile's most spectacular scenery and salt flats. One day stops make both these not easy to tour. We did a land trip and found the stark beauty amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sailingon Posted July 18, 2012 Author #4 Share Posted July 18, 2012 Many thanks for the guidance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bimala spencer Posted November 25, 2012 #5 Share Posted November 25, 2012 Sailingon, are you on the Regatta for 30 days beginning January 23rd? If so, my husband and I are also on the same ship. We don't participate in ship's tours and are quite happy to do our own research and take off on our own. My husband speaks fluent Spanish which will be a real bonus on this itinerary. Please let us know if you'd like to work out some trips together. We don't care for shopping and are much more interested in checking out the natural beauty and the architecture. Thanks! Bimala Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c&semail Posted December 8, 2012 #6 Share Posted December 8, 2012 We are also on this cruise (see Roll Call) and will be happy to link up with others on trips. We received our booklet from Oceania today with the choice of tours provided by them, and may also take a few, but in general we prefer to do things in smaller groups. However, we don't speak Spanish (or Portuguese!) beyond ordering drinks. Like you, Bimala, shopping holds little interest. We've enough junk in our home already and should probably start getting rid of some! Sheila and Colin from London. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ram2645 Posted December 25, 2012 #7 Share Posted December 25, 2012 Sailingon, are you on the Regatta for 30 days beginning January 23rd? If so, my husband and I are also on the same ship. We don't participate in ship's tours and are quite happy to do our own research and take off on our own. My husband speaks fluent Spanish which will be a real bonus on this itinerary. Please let us know if you'd like to work out some trips together. We don't care for shopping and are much more interested in checking out the natural beauty and the architecture. Thanks! Bimala Hi Bimala, My niece (from Vancouver) and I (from Toronto) are booking some excursions but also enjoy exploring on our own where possible to enjoy the local culture and sights. I tried your email in your profile but message bounced back. Can you email me at rena.miller@rogers.com? Happy Holidays all ! Rena Miller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AOshel Posted April 8, 2013 #8 Share Posted April 8, 2013 Hi Sailingon: We were cruising on Holland America Line last year with a one day stop at Matarani and Callao Ports for Arequipa and Lima. We don't like to take ship tours and had found reports about Paul Cusinga both on tripadvisor and cruise critic. We booked Paul and after several emails back and forth we managed to organise an itinerary which suited us. In Arequipa, we wanted to visit the Santa Catalina Monastery and viewpoint of Yanahuara. It was really beautiful. In Lima, we wanted to visit the Pachacamac ruins outside Lima, do a city tour, have lunch and visit the Indian market. Paul met us at the cruise terminal and took us in our air conditioned mini bus to see the sights. The whole time Paul, who has perfect English, gave us the history of Lima remembering lots of mind boggling facts and figures and also telling stories of folklore with so much fun and enthusiasm. Don't miss Pachacamac ruins, they are so well preserved and would remind you of some of the Egyptian ruins, the city is beautiful, we would have loved to have more time to explore but will hopefully return someday. We ate in a restaurant called El Senorio de Sulco which Paul recommended, you could have a la carte or buffet, we decided to go for the buffet as it let us try all the traditional Peruvian food. The food was really good, The tour was great value for money and Paul even gave us a Peruvian ornament each as a keepsake. I would definitely recommend Peruincawonders company. His details are: Paul Cusinga Email : info@peruincawonders.com Website www.peruincawonders.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayfairers Posted July 26, 2017 #9 Share Posted July 26, 2017 I know this is an old thread, but wanted to comment on it to save the info. Thanks for the contact info on Paul - I've read good things about him on other threads. Sent from my iPad using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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