Umm... but you'd still be in Peru.
Yes, and it would be wonderful.
How much does it cost to charter a Mercedes somewhere interesting? And at $22 a night, that's over $600 a month, just for lodging. Just sayin'....
You can take the bus just about anywhere there's a road in Peru or in most countries. Some of those buses are way way nicer than Greyhound for a fraction of the price.
$22 is the air conditioned hotel room in a skyscraper price. You can go way cheaper if you practice even the least amount of Mustachianism. You can live on nearly nothing if you enjoy camping out by the lake and relaxing.
The US is a great country to see. It can be cheap if you're already set up here and don't move around a whole lot, but it's quite expensive from the outside looking in when you compare apples to apples. I get that some people want to stick to developed countries where things are clean and orderly. I get that you can save a lot of money by sticking close to home and camping out. I just don't think it's where this thread was headed, though.
On some level I'm jealous of the people who are happy near home. That 5000 mile plane ticket is expensive. Some of us unfortunately have the itch to see those dirty, smelly, chaotic, wonderful places a long ways from wherever the lottery of birth lottery plopped us down.
Hey, at least it's not Ohio...
Or Detroit :)