Vaccination recommendations can be obtained from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) (U.S. tel. 877/394-8747, www.cdc.gov/travel), which recommends the following vaccinations for Peru: hepatitis A and typhoid. Yellow fever is recommended for people traveling into the jungle below 2,300 meters. Rabies is recommended if you are going to be trekking through areas where the disease is endemic. Hepatitis B is recommended if you might be exposed to blood (for instance, health-care workers), plan on staying for more than six months, or may have sex with a local. Travelers should also be vaccinated against measles and chicken pox (those who have had these diseases are already immune) and have had a tetanus/diphtheria shot within the last 10 years.

Unless you are coming from a region in the Americas or Africa where yellow fever is a problem, you are not required by Peruvian law to have any vaccinations before entering the country. The yellow immunizations pamphlet, which doctors tell you to guard ever so carefully, is rarely checked, but you should carry it with your passport. The shots can be quite expensive, in the United States at least, and many of the shots require second or even third visits. Hepatitis A, for instance, requires a booster shot 6–18 months after the initial shot, which most people get after returning from Peru. Hepatitis B is generally received in three doses, and there are new vaccines now that combine both hep A and hep B in a series of three shots. Rabies is also given in three shots, though both yellow fever and typhoid are single shots.

Most vaccinations do not take effect for at least two weeks, so schedule your shots well in advance. If you are taking multishot vaccinations such as hep B, you will need to receive your first shot five weeks before departing, even under the most accelerated schedule. Getting shots in Peru is easy and a lot cheaper than in the United States, but you will not be protected for the first 2–4 weeks. Places to get shots include Suiza Lab (Atahualpa 308, Miraflores, tel. 01/612-6666, www.suizalab.com.pe, 7:30 a.m.–6 p.m. Mon.–Sat., 8 a.m.–2 p.m. daily), Oficinas de Vacunación (Independencia 121, Breña, 8 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Mon.–Sat.), and International Vaccination Center (Parque de la Medicina s/n, Dos de Mayo National Hospital, 7:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. Mon.–Sat.).