Don't be afraid to land in town then find your hotel and plan activities. It may save you tons!

We heard from everyone that if you didn't get your tickets 6 months in advance we weren't going to be able to climb Machu Picchu.  Luckily we went with our gut and combined travel experience in Latin America and decided to wait and see what happened when we got to Peru.

If you can be brave and courageous enough(or stupid and cheap?) you might find great deals on the ground. In Cuzco we found an amazing hostel with fresh made pastries and breakfast for 18 dollars a day.  Kinda expensive? We had our own room to ourselves, which is good in a hostel.

Once we got to the bottom of Machu Picchu we walked around for about 20 minutes asking every hotel we passed how much.  They would look us up and down and say, 90-100 soles (about $38usd), per person.  Finally they began to say, "how much did they tell you down there?" We said "60". The guy said. "I'll give you a room for 40 each" Then a really nice guy told us, I will give you a beautiful room for 60 soles for both of you.  Zara said, I am not paying more than 50 soles a night for us both! and the guy said "DONE". ahhahaaha it was awesome. We even haggled on our room and got it for 19 bucks a night.  Then I saw it online for the same hotel priced at 30 dollars and up.  There's nothing like being on the ground and talking to a human being to get the budget traveler hook up!

Now with the money we saved, we can afford to go spend a few days in Arequipa!! whoot whoot!

Yeah, it is a little nerve racking not knowing where you are going to stay the night, but I have never ended up without a place(not yet LOL).  And it adds adventure! :)