Weather:
Daytime temperatures hover around 65 F and night-times significantly cooler around 40 F. The air is thin and daytime sun can feel hotter than it really is, but sunscreen or light protective clothing is essential for the altitude. Bringing layers is important: bulk up in the mornings, take them off around mid-day and then place them all back on towards late afternoon. Thermal underwear, sweaters or fleece, and hats are also important if walking around at night. Additionally, it could start raining at a moment's notice. Temperatures in The Sacred Valley towards Machu Picchu tend to be milder. None of this is guaranteed as we are in the mountains and it is quite unpredictable!
What to bring:
_______ Passport
_______ ATM Cards for cash (VISA, MC are best – AmEx not reliable)
_______ Voltage Converter 220 to 110V (most electronics of the last four years have built-in converters)
_______ Sunglasses/Sun Screen/Hat
_______ Re-usable water bottle
_______ Usual clothes for 8/9 days -- sweaters, hats, scarves, can be purchased cheaply while in Cusco
_______ Jacket, hat and gloves for warmth or sun protection
_______ Long underwear, tops and bottoms
_______ Rain gear – tops & bottoms
_______ Walking/hiking shoes and nicer city shoes (nothing fancy)
_______ Day pack for city walking
_______ Simple backpack for overnight to Sacred Valley/Machu Picchu
_______ Camera(s)
Optional:
________ Extra voltage converter 220-110V
________ Guidebook on The Sacred Valley or Peru (Footprints or Lonely Planet)
________ Film
________ Laptop, Flash Cards/Digital Storage Devices (can be dumped to DVD in Cusco)
________ Extra batteries and charger
________ Tripod
________ Small flashlight
________ Books
________ Anything you might want to offer – pens, books, old laptops, cameras, bi-focals
________ Patience
Recommended Essentials:
________ Extra voltage converter 110-220V or adaptor
________ Guide Book on Peru (Footprints or Lonely Planet)
________ Film
________ Laptop, Flash Cards/Digital Storage Devices (can be dumped to CD in Cuzco)
________ Extra Batteries and charger
________ Books (see list below)
________ Anything you might want to offer some of the people we will meet – pens, books and money are always a favorite, but also anything of minor value you aren't using anymore (old laptops, cameras, etc).
________ Patience
Background and Reading:
Below is a partial list of cultural, historical and photographically interesting items on Peru and more specifically, the Cusco region. Your knowledge of the list in it's entirety will be challenged, provoked and attacked throughout our trip. If you do not know every piece of religion, culture or history from the group below, you will be forced to drink Chicha and eat Cuy for the remainder of our travels...
Books:
•Conquest of the Incas by John Hemming
•The White Rock by Hugh Thomson
•Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa
•Realm of the Incas Max Milligan (photography)
•Martin Chambi: Photographs 1920-1950
•Peru, Lonely Planet or Footprint or Insight Guides
•Celestine Prophesy by James Redfield
•Ancient Cuzco: Heartland of the Inca (Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Series in Latin American and Latino Art and Culture) by Brian S. Bauer -- (Haven't read it but it looks interesting!)
•The Royal Commentaries of the Incas and General History of Peru, Abridged by GarciLaso De la Vega, Karen Spalding, and Harold V. Livermore
Films:
•"City of Dogs (La Ciudad De Los Perros)" (1985) Francisco J. Lombardi
•"La Boca del Lobo" (1989) Francisco J. Lombardi
•"Pantaleon y Las Visitadoras" (1999) Francisco J. Lombardi
•"Paloma de Papel" ( 2003 ) Directed by Fabrizio Aguilar
•"Aguirre, the Wrath of God" (1972), Peru/W. Germany, directed by Werner Herzog
•"The Dancer Upstairs" (2002) by John Malkovich (Definately worth watching, and in English!)
B&B in Cusco:
Panza del Artista -- www.panzadelartista.com
Distrito de Santiago, Calle Jorge Ochoa 215, interior, Cusco Peru
Phone: +/51/84/262610
Breakfasts, coffee and tea, towels, sheets, blankets, soap, toilet paper, hot water and drinking water provided free of charge. Portable heaters, alcoholic beverages, lunches or dinners will be billed accordingly. Storage during overnights is free.
How to reach us:
Our B&B, Panza del Artista, is located at Calle Jorge Ochoa 215, interior, Distrito de Santiago, Cusco TEL (084)262610. You do not need the prefix 084 while calling from within the Cusco region (unless you’re using your own cell phone with your GSM Int’l Roaming… expensive). There is no daylight savings change in Peru, and thus when we are in Standard Time, Peru is on East Coast time zone; while we are in Daylight Savings (March-Oct), Peru is on Midwest (Houston) time.
The international access code for Peru is +51, and the outgoing code is 00, followed by the relevant country code (e.g. 0044 for the UK). City/area codes are in use, e.g. 01 for Lima. A mobile phone operator provides a GSM 1900 network with coverage limited to major towns and cities. Peru is well connected to the Internet with a proliferation of inexpensive Internet kiosks, called cabinas públicas, available on street corners in most towns and cities.
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Some good General Peru information is available here:
http://www.wordtravels.com/Travelguide/Countries/Peru/Basics
Passport/Liability Release Forms:
We will need to have a travel liability release form on file in order for you to participate in our workshops! The release form is available at time of registration. As mentioned in the Details section, you will also want to consider purchasing Travel Insurance for this trip. While not required, it is very much recommended. You will then want to make us aware of this purchase.
Travel Arrangements:
Let us know what day and time you’ll be arriving in Cusco, and we’ll work on coordinating a ride from the airport (unless you’ve made other arrangements). We highly recommend printing out our address and this map to Panza del Artista, our B&B, in case a flight is delayed or there is some reason we’re delayed on our end of things: http://www.panzadelartista.com/contact.html. You would expect to pay no more than 10 soles (about $3) from the airport to our B&B.
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Portfolio:
Bring a portfolio of 20-30 images to show during the first session of the workshop. Prints are preferable, but digital files are just fine.
Preferences:
Will you be using film or shooting digitally for the workshop in Cusco, or both? Let us know what format you would like to focus on, using the following guidelines to help you consider available options:
Students can use choose to photograph with 35mm film (color and/or black-and-white, C-41 processing). These can be safely processed in a few hours if you like or you may work digitally (if working digitally, please bring a digital camera, laptop, batteries, CF or memory stick and a portable device to transfer files for back-up). We will also have a PC laptop computer on-site, loaded with Adobe Bridge for organizing and showing digital images.
What subject matter do you want to focus on? This is not something you need to inform us of ahead of time; rather, something to think about in the coming weeks.
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Schedule/Flow:
We tend to leave early in the mornings, have lunch on the fly and then go out and photograph in the afternoons again – all without returning to Panza. Thus, please have all equipment and battery support/back-up support you may need for a long day of photographing. We will be dining relatively early (helps digestion at higher altitudes) and a few of us may trickle in towards the main Plaza for a drink, or relax at the B&B with some wine. Mostly, the flow will be fairly continuous to take advantage of the time we have. We will also have several full nights away from Panza in the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu – please have a duffle or light bag to take your items from Panza, though you may safely leave behind the majority of your clothes and items in a suitcase.
Resources/Links:
Please refer to the following link from w/info about what to bring, travel details, etc http://photoexperience.net/resources.html. I have included an excerpt from this page below:
Converters:
In Peru, most people need a 220 to 110 converter, as the voltage there is the one we need to convert from220V to 110V. Also, with respect to needing a transformer or adapter (the flat or round outlet holes to the plug): Panza has mostly flat outlets, but there are still a few round ones to be found. I’m not 100% certain about the other places, but all outlets in Peru are either vertical flat or round (no slanted slats there!). Panza may provide some power strips for those who need them.
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