Many foreign travelers are surprised by how little help their own embassy will provide during an emergency or a tight situation abroad. If you have been robbed and have no money, expect no help from your embassy, apart from replacing your passport. The same applies if you have broken Peruvian law, even by doing something that would be legal in your own country. Go ahead and contact your embassy in an emergency, but don’t wait for them to call back.

These embassies are all in Lima: United States (Av. La Encalada, Block 17, Surco, tel. 01/434-3000, http://lima.usembassy.gov/, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. Mon.–Fri.), Canada (Libertad 130, Miraflores, tel. 01/444-4015, www.canadainternational.gc.ca/peru-perou/, 8–11 a.m. and 2–4 p.m. Mon.–Fri.), United Kingdom (Av. Larco 1301, 22nd Fl., Miraflores, tel. 01/617-3000, http://ukinperu.fco.gov.uk/, 8 a.m.–1 p.m. Mon.–Fri.), and South Africa (tel. 612/4848, www.dfa.gov.za/foreign/sa_abroad/sap.htm). Australia does not have an embassy in Lima—the closest is in Santiago, Chile (www.chile.embassy.gov.au), but it does have a consulate (tel. 01/222-8281, www.australia.org.pe).

If you find yourself in trouble, your best hope for finding a lawyer, good doctor, or a bit of moral support may not be with your embassy, but with the South American Explorers Club (SAE) (www.saexplorers.org), which has offices in Cusco (Choquechaca 188, #4, tel. 084/24-5484, cuscoclub [at] saexplorers [dot] org, 9:30 a.m.–5 p.m. Mon.–Fri., 10 a.m.–1 p.m. Sat.) and Lima (Piura 135, Miraflores, tel. 01/445-3306, limaclub [at] saexplorers [dot] org, 9:30 a.m.–5 p.m. Mon.–Fri., 9:30 a.m.–1 p.m. Sat.).