Travel Tip 10
How to keep your spending local.
Handmade souvenirs are a great way to keep your spending local, especially if you buy directly from the artist.
Whether you want to practice sustainable travel, regenerative travel or just want to be a good human being, here are my top tips for keeping your spending local.
If you go to France, buy delicious croissants and baguettes at a local, family-owned bakery. If you go to Morocco, buy your souvenirs at the souk, not at the airport. If you come to Peru, spend your money at family-owned businesses, not international brands. This is actually really easy in Peru.
Buying art from the artist or from non-profits like Xapiri Ground (above) is a great way to keep spending local.
Most businesses in Peru are family-owned, and you can easily stay at hotels and eat at restaurants owned by locals.
What’s more difficult is if you want to plan everything before you get to Peru. The top ratings of hotels and travel agencies are skewed towards international brands. It does take some extra effort to make all your reservations with local companies, but it’s not hard.
On an internet search, the top results for trekking agencies might come up with international brands like Intrepid and G-Adventures. Scroll down just a bit farther and you’ll find Cusqueñian companies like Alpaca Expeditions and Salkantay Trekking.
Most locally owned businesses are proud of that fact and will say so on their website. Also, international brands tend to be proud of that fact so it’s obvious on their website. For example, Palacio del Inka sounds like it should be a locally owned hotel, but when you go to their website, it’s Marriott. There are plenty of locally owned hotels in Peru, like the Casa Andina and Aranwa chains. Check out my review of the Aranwa Boutique Hotel in Cusco below.
I get that a lot of people use points from their credit cards to make travel more affordable, which means that you’ll be looking for international chains like Marriott and Hilton to use your points. If that’s what makes your trip to Cusco affordable, you should absolutely take advantage of those deals. However, when you do have the opportunity to choose a local company, do it.
The best souvenirs are the ones that remind you how amazing your trip was. If you’re hiking through the Andes, or even if you’re just walking around Cusco, you’ll likely go home with adorable photos of alpacas and llamas. Buying alpaca yarn or clothes at places like HJK (above) is a great way to support local women who make these products and take home some alpaca of your own.
In most countries, restaurants are family-owned affairs. It’s only the chains like McDonalds and KFC that are obviously not locally owned. Avoid those both so you’re not contributing to some multinational corporation – and because their food isn’t particularly healthy. Even if what you want in Cusco is a hamburger, you can get that at a locally owned place like Jack’s Café (above).
Got any questions about how to keep your spending local? Drop me a question in the comments below!
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Iquitos, Capital of the Peruvian Amazon
Here’s my travel tips for activities and food in Iquitos! It is by far the largest city in the Amazon. Iquitos is an island in the rainforest, accessible only by boat and plane. Untethered from the rest of the country, it felt more like Malaysia than Peru to me.
Recent article
Review of Aranwa Boutique Hotel in Cusco
This is one of the best hotels in Cusco, at about half the price of similar hotels. Click on the link above to see my Aranwa review published in Luxury Latin America.
