Trekking in Peru

[Jkrew81]

Hello,
I have been given the oppotunity to goto Peru next year and join a three day trek through the Andes. I was wondering if anyone here has ever been to the area? My main concern obviously is safty. Going onto the state departments website of course they let you in on all of the bad stuff going on, but I am looking for an actual travelers oppinion.

 

[professor]

I travelled in Peru last summer, although did not have the opportunity to do any real trekking. My hosts, who were native Peruvians, felt that Peru was now mostly safe, other that some remote pockets where the remnants of the Shining Path insurgents were basically reduced to drug runners, rather than a real revolutionary movement. We did several 4WD days far into the Andes on roads rarely if ever travelled by tourists, and spent a day in Huancayo, which had been one of the last urban hotspots of the Shining Path and found the indigenous people friendly and helpful, as well as surprised to see anglos. The major trekking areas, the Cordillera Blanca and the Inca trail are supposed to be safe at present.