Peru Trip Details

Lost City of the Incas, Machu Picchu

Here are more details on our itinerary. For my researched I used 3 guidebooks, Fodor's, Moon, and Lonely Planet. I also did extensive internet research. So based on my research here is the list of priorities:

High Priority. You would not go to Peru without seeing these sights.

• Machu Picchu
• Sacred Valley
• Cuzco

Medium Priority. Seconday sights that can be chosen after you have seen the biggies.

• Lake Titicaca
• Amazon Jungle
• Lima

Lower Priority. Sights to see if you have the time.

• Nazca
• Colca Canyon
• Arequipa
• The North and Central Highlands

With our limited time we chose the following:

• Machu Picchu
• Sacred Valley
• Cuzco
• Amazon Jungle
• Lake Titicaca

Given our time constraints, we had to choose between Lake Titicaca and Lima. The big city lost out over a cultural exchange with natives in the Andes. The risk is that we overdose on the Incas. However, we have some safety concerns about Lima. If you read the US State Department's website you might never go to Peru. Another interesting website is the Australian goverment website. They rate the safety of every country. Peru has the same rating as Mexico, so apply your own filter. Just the same we are spending one night in Lima to get some rest and maybe enjoy a restaurant.

A trip into the Amazon jungle just sounded too exciting to pass up. Do you know anyone who has been deep into the Amazon? I don't.

Here are the trip details:

Date	Activity
5/21	Leave SFO at 1:25am and arrive in Lima at 7:10pm. There is a 6 hour layover in El Salvador. 1 night in Lima. Lima Hotel: Hotel La Castellana $85/night
5/22	Take a 11:00am flight to Juliaca. A tour company will shuttle us to our hotel, one hour away in Puno. At 12,500 feet in elevation, we will just make a leisurely afternoon of it. 2 nights in Puno. Puno Hotel: Intiqa Hotel $75/night
5/23	We take an all day tour of Lake Titicaca, visit the floating islands and then the indigenous settlement on the island of Taquile. Tour: All Ways Travel   $52/pp
5/24	We take a bus tour between Puno and Cuzco high in the Andes. It is a 9 hour tour that includes mountain scenery, Inca sights, and lunch. 1 night in Cuzco. Cuzco Hotel: Casa San Blas  $130/night Tour: Inka Express $40/pp
5/25	Get on the train for a 4 hour ride to Machu Picchu. Spend time at Machu Picchu as well as the Eco-lodge where we will be staying. 1 night in Aguas Caliente. Aguas Caliente Hotel: InkaTerra Machu Picchu  $900/night
5/26	All day at Machu Picchu and the Eco-lodge. Take the evening train back to Cuzco. 1 night in Cuzco. Cuzco Hotel: Casa San Blas  $130/night
5/27	Take the early morning 40 minute flight into the Amazon. Take a 90 minute canoe ride to our Jungle lodge. Then, jungle exploration. 3 nights in Manu. Jungle Lodge: Manu Wildlife Center  $1350/pp all inclusive with air.
5/28	Jungle Boogie.
5/29	Jungle Boogie.
5/30	Fly back to Cuzco. Enjoy Cuzco. 3 nights in Cuzco. Cuzco Hotel: Royal Inka I $110/night
5/31	Experience the Pisac market and tour the Sacred Valley. Tour: Sacred Valley Tour $70/pp
6/1	Last day in Cuzco. Take a guided tour of the city in the afternoon. Tour: Cuzco City Tour $45/pp
6/2	Early morning flight out of Cuzco to Lima. Catch our flight back to SFO arriving at midnight. There is a 3 hour layover in El Salvador.

One side note. As you can see most prices are reasonable. But the Machu Picchu Eco-lodge is an eye-popper. Most tourists take the 4 hour train ride there, spend 4 hours at Machu Picchu, and then get back on the train for a 4 hour ride back. I just couldn't see going 4500+ miles to see Machu Picchu for 4 hours. So you pay to stay in the vicinity. I was forced to get a Junior Suite because the other rooms were booked, and they charge per person. There are 3 of us. If there had been only 2 of us, it would have been $600/night. The Eco-lodge does provide 3 meals and tours for what it's worth.

Peru Itinerary

We have finalized our itinerary to Peru. Creating the itinerary for this trip was difficult. Air travel is available to most of the areas that you want to visit. However, it seems difficult to make flights that have easy connections. This means flying into either Lima or Cuzco, then spend the night to take another flight the next morning. On my itinerary you will see a few one night stays. But given the issues I think the itinerary turned out pretty well.

One thing about traveling to South America. It is a long distance away. From San Francisco, Lima is 4500 miles away. By comparison, Paris is 5500 miles away. When you fly to Paris you can leave in the afternoon and arrive in the morning. You miss a lot of sleep because of the time change, but it still works out OK. The time change to Peru is not as dramatic, only 2 hours during US daylight savings time, the same time zone as Chicago. But that means you leave for Peru in the morning and arrive in the middle of the night. Or do as we will and leave in the middle of the night and arrive early evening.

There are other issues that make the itinerary challenging. You need to be sensitive to the altitude in the Andes. You want to make sure that when you first get into the Andes you can take it easy and acclimate. We could have traveled 15 hours to get to Lima at midnight, got on a connection to Cuzco at 6:00am and began our first tour in the Andes that morning. That may be efficient, but we could have easily become ill. So we are sleeping in Lima and then a night in Puno before heading out on an all day tour.

Then there are activities that you want to put into the schedule that only occur on particular days. The popular Pisac market is held only on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Some of the Jungle lodges will only depart on particular days. And of course there are personal constraints. When you can go and for how long?

So here is the final itinerary: Peru Trip May. 21 - Jun. 2 Summary
Agenda	Overnight
5/21 (Thu) Leave SFO (1:25am) Arrive LIM (7:10pm)	Lima
5/22 (Fri) Travel to Puno (Fly)	Puno
5/23 (Sat) Lake Titicaca	Puno
5/24 (Sun) Travel to Cuzco (Bus)	Cuzco
5/25 (Mon) Travel to Machu Picchu (Train)	Aguas Calientes
5/26 (Tue) Travel to Cuzco (Train)	Cuzco
5/27 (Wed) Travel to Amazon (Fly)	Manu
5/28 (Thu) Amazon	Manu
5/29 (Fri) Amazon	Manu
5/30 (Sat) Travel to Cusco (Fly)	Cuzco
5/31 (Sun) Cuzco	Cuzco
6/1 (Mon) Cuzco	Cuzco
6/2 (Tue) Travel to SFO

Plans Change

Well, unfortunately we have had to postpone the trip we were planning to England/Holland. There are some unfortunate health issues that have come up. However, we have made other plans, Becky and I have decided to go to Peru. We had thought about going to Peru at the time we go to Antartica. But South America is too big to try to do everything at once, so we are going to first try Peru.

Some people may be wondering why Peru? The big attraction is Machu Picchu, the Lost City of the Incas. It was "discovered" in 1911 by an American Archeaologist, Hiram Bingam. Machu Picchu is located high in the Andes, perched just on the edge where the Andes give way to the Amazon Jungle. Anyway, if you have seen pictures of Machu Picchu you can understand the attraction. I would have liked to have done the 4 day/3 night trek along the Inca Trail, but we have opted for the 4 hour train ride instead.

So what else is in Peru. After doing a fair amount of research it turns out that Peru is a very interesting country. Here are some of the other sights we are pondering:

Cuzco - A large city that sits at over 11,000 feet above sea level. It was a large Inca settlement and then a Spanish colonial city. It is also the jumping off point for Machu Picchu.

The Sacred Valley - Interesting Inca Ruins in a valley in the midst of the Andes.

Amazon Jungle - Peru has preserved large tracts of pristine Amazon Jungle habitat. You can stay in a jungle lodge and view all sorts of wildlife. Tourism helps support the economy and may help prevent other destructive uses of the jungle. Monkeys, Three Toed Sloths, McCaws, and Tapirs all exist in the Peruvian Amazon. There are also Caimans, snakes, and mosquitos. You need Yellow Fever vaccinations and malaria pills. How can you say no to that!

Lake Titicaca - A huge lake resting at an elevation of just over 12,000 feet. It features native island settlements that have existed there for over 3,000 years. The natives make those colorful Peruvian garments, many live on floating islands that are built of reeds that grow in the lake.

Lima - The capital city of 8,000,000 people. Although there are some areas into which you don't want to venture (over 50% of Peruvians live in poverty), there are some nice areas that feature their world class cuisine along the Ocean front.

Nasca Lines - The peculiar lines drawn into the dessert by someone, or something? The lines are actually figures of things, such as a bird, spider, dog, tree, and astronaut. Astronaut? Yes that's what they call it. Which is why some people think they were made by aliens. The biggest one is 6 miles long and you need to view them from an airplane.

The Andes - Yes, many sites are in the Andes. But there are many other places to view the spectacular mountains. The highest peaks are over 20,000 feet high. If you take the train or bus from Lake Titicaca to Cuzco you travel along the crest of the Andes eventually negotiating a pass at over 14,000 feet. Not to worry, they give you coca tea for altitude sickness.

We have alredy bought our plane tickets. I am currently working on the itinerary and will share some of our options in the next post.