May 3

Fly with our group from Miami non-stop on LAN Airlines to Lima

May 4

We are greeted on arrival to Lima and connect to our one hour flight to Cuzco.  There transfer by private coach down into the lush Sacred Valley (this region has a lower altitude than Cusco to help you acclimatize.)  Arrive to the beautiful Urubamba area, set on gentle mountain slopes.  See the locals in colorful dress trading their goods.  Check into Pakaritampu Hotel with charming architectural style surrounded by gardens.

 After time to rest, we visit Awanakancha Camelid Farm!  Learn how farmers raise these alpacas and llamas for meet and wool, a valuable Peruvian resource.  Later we experience a local “Chicheria”.  Taste some “chichi”, a local beer brewed from corn.  Learn the fascinating history behind the art of this brewing which originated from the Incas. 

May 5

Urumbamba.  Buffet breakfast at hotel followed by a full day tour in Sacred Valley.  We’ll first visit Chahuaytire, a highland village of traditional textile production.  This “Weavers Village” is part of a successful National Geographic Society project to rescue and revive this ancient way of life.  Women own it.  See their gregarious process of gathering wool, spinning , the use of natural dyes, setting the looms and the creation of designs.  You’ll appreciate the beauty of their work.  This is the place to the buy the finest quality alpaca sweaters, scarves, wall hangings, etc.  All products are handmade and a real deal.  Lunch is included.  A shaman will come to give us a private demonstration of the “Tribute to the Earth”, a most interesting Andean religious ritual! 

 Later we visit the “Potato Village” for a taste of agro-tourism.  The 22000 acre potato reserve is spread over beautiful landscapes and lakes with over 1300 varities of potatos.  The Andes are the center to potato origin,  It’s more than just learning fun facts here.  It is seeing how they preserve a way of life since the days of the Incas.  Villagers are united together in a single effort to recover the potato varieties.  It’s about pride in sharing work and their love of mother earth.  Meet the farmers and the cooks.  I hear there’s even an organic restaurant on site that serves grilled alpaca with potato smoothies. 

May 6

Aguas Calientes.  Machu Picchu.  After breakfast , we tour Ollantaytambo, once a religious and military center.  This 15^th century town held Inca nobility.  During the Spanish conquest, the Ollantaytambo fortress protected the people and served as their temporary capital.  Huge rocks reveal the Inca’s best skill-dry masonry.  Scientists remain confused at the astonishing craftsmanship it took to fit these blocks of stone perfectly together.  The stone wasn’t even from this area.  Even after earthquakes, a knife blade cannot be slipped into the seams. 

 Early afternoon, we board the Vistadome train to Machu Picchu.  It’s a 90 minute ride with scenic jungle views through panoramic windows.  It is an exhilarating to ride the switchbacks along the river valley up past Incan terraces.  Arrive to the charming Indian town of Aguas Calientes.  Check into the 3* Machu Picchu Inn.  Visit the great local Indian markets here. You may also walk to the outdoor thermal pools where for $3 you can have a therapeutic swim.

May 7

Machu Picchu.  Early breakfast at hotel followed by a full day guided visit to the “Lost City of the Incas.”  Perched 8000’ high and imbued with magical silence.  The ruins of Machu Picchu, rediscovered in 1911 by Yale archaeologist Hiram Bingham, are one of the most beautiful and enigmatic ancient sites in the world. While the Inca people certainly used the Andean mountain top, erecting many hundreds of stone structures from the early 1400's, legends and myths indicate that Machu Picchu (meaning 'Old Peak' in the Quechua language) was revered as a sacred place from a far earlier time.

 Whatever its origins, the Inca turned the site into a small (5 square miles) but extraordinary city. Invisible from below and completely self-contained, surrounded by agricultural terraces sufficient to feed the population, and watered by natural springs, Machu Picchu seems to have been utilized by the Inca as a secret ceremonial city. Two thousand feet above the rumbling Urubamba River, the cloud shrouded ruins have palaces, baths, temples, storage rooms and some 150 houses, all in a remarkable state of preservation. These structures, carved from the gray granite of the mountain top are wonders of both architectural and aesthetic genius. Many of the building blocks weigh 50 tons or more yet are so precisely sculpted and fitted together with such exactitude that the mortar-less joints will not permit the insertion of even a thin knife blade. Little is known of the social or religious use of the site during Inca times.  Lunch is included – a buffet in the Sanctuary Lodge, right besides the entrance to Machu Picchu.

 Cusco, meaning “navel of the earth” in Quechua is Peru’s most visited city with over a million visitors each year.  It is the former capital on the Inca Empire.  The Spanish arrived in 1533 and constructed a new city over the old.  Temples were replaced with colonial mansions for the conquistadores.  Check into San Augustin Hotel in the heart of town just 2 blocks off the square.

May 8

Cusco.  Our guided city tour begins after breakfast and includes old town and the 15^th century Cathedral which took a century to complete.  Visit Korikancha, Temple of the Sun which was one of the most important Incan temples.  Later we tour Sacsayhuaman with exquisite ruins on a hill overlooking Cuzco.  It was a religious center for cosmology veneration.  The construction was amazing given the size of megaliths, some of which weighed 90 to 130 tons.

You’ll love Cusco.  Plaza de Armas is the main square always buzzing with activity.  Visit the Archeological museum.  There are excellent affordable restaurants (don’t order grilled guinea pig.)  When the sun goes down, Cusco comes alive with music of the quena flutes that fill the pubs and clubs.

May 9

Cuzco and Lima.  At noon we transfer to airport for a short flight to Lima.  Check into La Hacienda Hotel and Casino in trendy district of Miraflores near the Costa Verde beaches.  We put all groups here in the past.

Lima, “City of Kings” lies on the Rimac River facing the Pacific.  It’s a dynamic capital with a glorious past.  It was once the epicenter of Spain’s New World for its seemingly endless profusion of gold.  Now it is a World Heritage Site for its colonial architecture. You’ll have free time to soak up the cosmopolitan atmosphere with great museums and affordable shopping.  Stroll the historic district or the ultra-modern neighborhood of Miraflores.  There are wonderful seaside restaurants and a teeming nightlife of entertainment. 

May 10

After breakfast, morning free to explore.  In afternoon you are transported to a private home on the beach.  After a swim or sunbathing, it’s time to cook, eat and drink.  The chef will give you a cooking lesson on ceviche, a national dish of Peru.  Fresh fish is marinated in lemon, herbs, onion and chili.  You’ll make pisco sours, a drink dating back to the 1500’s when Spaniards brought grapes to Peru.  In the evening we are transferred to the airport for our evening flight home.

May 11

Arrive in Miami at 7am

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