So this isn’t my usual type of post. But I’ve recently convinced a close friend of mine Diego, to start his own website and share his expertise when it comes to Cusco and Peru in general.
I’m making this post because I want to show Diego some love. And hopefully help my you, my readers, get better advice when it comes to traveling in Peru.
Diego
How Did I Meet Diego?
I’ve known Diego for over a decade (I feel old saying that). Having first met him when he was hanging around my then favourite hostel in Cusco Peru.
It was in that hostel I shall not mention, when run by a fellow Australian named ‘Ben’, that I met Diego one fateful day sometime back in 2011. And it was on that day that Diego forever earned his nickname, ‘the sexual harassment panda‘.
Now, back then Cusco and that particular hostel was one wild place to visit. Cusco was and still is a city that doesn’t sleep. But over the last couple of decades Cusco has toned itself down somewhat.
Back then Cusco was a place where it wasn’t uncommon to find random drunks in wedding dresses dancing on bars at 2am. Or to buy someone so many Jägerbombs they’d wake up on a bar floor wearing nothing but a wedding dress with both their nipples pierced or a tattoo on their face.
Just ask Diego. I got him more than once…
It’s okay though. I made it up to Diego by persuading him to come and study at a university in Australia. And he earned his double degree at my own alma-mater, Griffith University on Australia’s Gold Coast.
Using the skills he learnt as a master bartender in Cusco’s (then) hottest nightclub Mama Africa, Diego worked as a bartender on the Gold Coast in Australia, while he studied. And he even spent the first year of his degree renting a room from one of my ex girlfriends (I feel sorry for him there).
Diego would still be in Australia if COVID hadn’t coincided with him finishing his Australian studies. After graduating he needed to change his visa. And the Australian Government being the pack of useless twats that they are, made him leave the country.
Yet in someways, Diego’s loss is your gain. Because he went back to his roots in Cusco. And worked as a tour guide with our mutual friend Marco, the owner of Cusco’s largest and most popular tourism company.
What’s Diego Doing Now?
With a Swedish father and a Peruvian mother, Diego speaks a lot of languages and loves to travel. So like me he’s out and about exploring the world.
He’s already a digital nomad of sorts. It’s only the blogging thing he’s new too. But he’ll get a handle on it. And you should head over to his website justcruisingaround.com and bookmark it. It’ll be updated near daily and continually get better as he learns all about using WordPress.
On Diego’s website justcruisingaround.com you’ll learn all about Cusco in particular and Peru in general. You can also send him a message or drop a comment if there’s something you want to know about Peru.
As a Peruvian with extensive experience in the tourism and hospitality sector in Peru, I can guarantee Diego will be able to provide the kind of advice you’ll need on all things Peru.
Like my own endeavours on this website, Diego’s aiming to share his experience and help save people time, stress and money when traveling abroad.
Why Follow Diego?
Well, to start with he could save you from waking up on a bar floor in a wedding dress with both your nipples pierced and a tattoo on your face. He could also provide invaluable travel and dating advice for the single lads because he is the ‘the sexual harassment panda’ and he does travel a lot.
But all jokes aside, as a native Peruvian and a polyglot (someone who speaks several languages) he can provide some of the best travel advice you’ll get for Peru. And he can likely give you that advice in your native language.
Sharing his own experience of Peru as a native Peruvian who knows his country better than most, he’ll give you the lowdown on where to go, how to travel and what to do or not do in his country.
Diego’s also currently working as a medical translator for a travel insurance company. So he knows how to get you out of trouble should you find yourself banged up abroad after too many Jägerbombs in Cusco.
Yet after those Jägerbombs if you do want a tattoo, he can also introduce you to my own tattooists. Who own and operate Willka Tattoo in Cusco.
Just don’t try and get them to paint your face. They’re fantastic tattooists but faceprinting isn’t their forte.
What Makes Diego’s Advice Better Than Other Bloggers?
Like I’ve said, Diego is a native Peruvian. He’s lived, worked and partied in Cusco Peru for decades. He can reveal all the secret spots that tourists never see. The kind of spots that other people writing about Cusco have never even heard of.
He can also help you get into or out of trouble. Depending on your desire for adventure.
Whether you want to find an ice-cold Olympic sized swimming pool, soccer fields high up in the Andes or just want to bake some potatoes in the hills like a local on Sundays, Diego’s got the good travel tips.
So why not head over to Diego’s website justcruisingaround.com and show Diego some love. You’ll learn more about Cusco Peru and life high up in the Andes from Diego, than you would from any other website.
But just don’t get too close. He is ‘the sexual harassment panda‘ after all.
