Suitable clothing for Cusco and the Andes Peru
Given the layers approach to clothing, in the Andes region weather is generally cooler and can be much wetter than the Amazon, plus the terrain is more rocky. Glaringly obvious perhaps but what the heck lets say it anyway This layers approach to clothing means if you check out the page Clothing - Amazon Villages and take this as starting point for your base layers. All we then need do is....
Add these layers.
- A warm Fleece or Jacket
- Overtrousers
- Sturdy Walking Boots
A Warm Fleece or Jacket
There are now some wonderful fleeces and jackets which are much more practical than the woolly jerseys which are bulky and takes ages to dry. I know I'm going on a bit about this ages to dry thing but it's a key of travelling light. Take fewer clothes, but take clothes that are lightweight and easy to wash and dry.
Travelling lighter means more fun as you have less strain than carrying unnecessary stuff, and let's face it the way the excess luggage surcharges are going at the airports, travelling lighter saves you money as well. A good combo.
Here are a few of the new type jackets I'm talking about which are warm some are also windproof. Most all woolly jerseys are useless as an other layer as the cool wind in the Andes will go straight through, completely undoing the warm woolly jersey thing. Anyway I'll stop going on now about the woolly thing.
Fleece from the Patagonia Company - options for women and men, great quality and stylish but expensive
Fleece from the
Berghaus Company - options for women and men, a bit
lightweight perhaps for the Andes?
Windstopper from the
Berghaus Company - a more effective, (its windproof),
option for women and men
Anyway you get the general idea
I'll move on now to overtrousers.
Overtrousers
Not a lot to be said about the very unglamorous overtrousers really. They are very handy if you have a lot of heavy rain and wind were the likes of a Poncho gets blown about and no longer protects the legs. If you want to include one it's worth getting a strong roomy one with zips at the ankles. The cheap flimsy ones with elasticated ankles can fall apart very fast and can leak around the backside.
A wet cold and soggy backside can take the fun out of a trek, I know. I like the ones by Agu the company that makes cycling gear. You can check the sidebar on this page for their website. I'm going to spare showing you an image of this very utilitarian piece of kit.
Sturdy Walking Boots
There's a choice of three types
- Conventional leather Boots
- Hi tech style fabric based Boots
- Teva Sandals - yes I know these aren't boots!
An example from Lowa - a hybrid boot made up of leather and synthetic material this can make the boot lighter and breathable.
An great example from Scarpa - a traditional leather boot
of excellent quality, strong, comfortable and rugged, my
favourite.
Teva rugged terrain quality - an alternative footwear for
wet days but read the note below.
When things get wet and the
going gets rough some people favour going minimal. For
example shorts and a pair of rugged sandals like these
Tevas. The idea is rather than avoid the wet and try and
protect yourself against it, just get into it! I think it
works well if it's not too cold and the terrain doesn't
have prickly plants and low scub.
In most of the areas around Cusco and the Sacred Valley you
could manage well with these providing as I said, it wasn't
too cold. You can get other models of these kind of all
terrain sandals, within the Teva Range and others, that
protect your toes, (more than the one shown), against
snubbing them on rocks and stuff.
