My Trip to Peru

My Trip to Peru
Testimonial from our customer Mr. Hazen & Family
Request a sample itinerary of a similar tour here:
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Hi Susana,

I just wanted to give you some feedback on the terrific trip you put together for us. We had a great time, and really appreciated the service and flexibility you provided during the trip.

The guides were all excellent and really knew their stuff.

Tierra Viva hotels in Urubamba and Aguas Callientes were terrific.

The Huchuy Quosco trek was outstanding. It was great to be on the mountains and the Inca Trail essentially by ourselves rather than in a crowd as would have been the case on the standard treks. Camping up on Huchuy Quosco was a real treat and the guides took great care of us. The trail chef was awesome – all the food was great, and he even baked a birthday cake for Naomi in the morning on the mountain.

Our one complaint the next day was that the timing of things was just too tight. By the time we got to Pisac, we didn’t have time for the longer hike back down to the town and we didn’t really have time in Pisac market either. This was partly because we waited a long time at the van near Lamay for the guys with the horses to make their way down, but even without that delay I think it would have been too tight. The guys were also very concerned with the timing of getting us to the lunch buffet back in Urubamba. In retrospect, we could have skipped that as well and done something different for lunch, but I understand it was pre-arranged and pre-paid, but something to bear in mind for the future.

Ollaytantambo was described as a hike to the ruins, but really it’s just a bit of a climb up the ruins right from the town market, so again we thought we were getting a hike but not really. Though the ruins were very impressive.

Machu Picchu was absolutely amazing, and we are so glad we were able to get the tickets to climb Wayna Picchu and the smaller peak. We climbed through the mists and then they cleared when we got to the top and it was magnificent. Our guide for Machu Picchu itself was terrific, with great explanations and stories.

Cusco itself was a surprising delight. We were expecting a typical city and it was anything but. It was also very cool that every night there were crowds of young people out in the squares practicing solstice dances etc. Only downside for me in Cusco was that I tried the purple corn drink in the evening and was really sick the next day. Spent the airport waittime curled up on a bench recuperating LOL.

The Amak Lodge was very nice and the staff were great. All of the meals were excellent. However, they seemed to be getting re-started under new management and there were only one or two groups there. I think they need to work on their excursions however. Visits to monkey island and the little local conservation/rescue centre were positioned as separate trips even though they are very close along the river together and could easily be done together in one half-day (which is what we had them do for us). There seemed to be a lot of down-time in between things.

The visit to the local village was not good. It really felt like “bring the white folks to see natives in a zoo” and frankly made us uncomfortable. Even the villagers did not seem to be really into it, and the “dance” was really lame.

Following that we talked at length with the local head guide and came up with a better plan. They took us fishing, and although we didn’t really catch anything it was fun. Then the next day we did a full day jungle hike. We had the lead guide, his good friend, and Daniel from the conservation centre. We all hiked 2-3 hours into the jungle, and they picked wild yucca on the way and gathered worms for fishing. We got to a spot with a stream where we spent an hour or so fishing (successfully!) while the guys made a fire, gutted the fish, roasted the yuccas and we all had a great lunch before hiking back again. It was a fast hike because they were concerned about timing, but was definitely more what we were looking for. I think they would do well to build a selection of such activities so that there are choices between short-and-leisurely excursions and more involved treks.

We then spent a day wandering around Iquitos, which as also very interesting. Went to a couple of museums including the River Boat museum which was very interesting.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip and well worth the time and money. Thanks again for arranging everything for us.

Here is a VLOG that our kids made of the trip