Today was pretty much a travel day as most of the group would make our way back to Lima. However, there were 4 of us who were heading out to the Amazon jungle for a few days. We said our goodbyes to Maree and Beverly as well as the Finns, Tarja and Juha as they all had early flights out to the Amazon jungle. Eventually, those of us who remained made our way to the Cuzco airport for our quick 1 hour flight on Avianca back to Lima. Later that evening, Kevin and I took the 6 of us that remained over to El Parquetito, a restaurant that Kevin and I had our first Peruvian meal just over a week ago. Afterwards, the 6 of us decided to get a little dancing in. We went into ... read more

We woke up extremely early this morning for undoubtedly the highlight of any trip to Peru and the reason why everyone booked this tour, Machu Picchu! Wake up call was around 4:30am as Rivelino wanted to make sure that we got in good position for the buses that would take us up to Machu Picchu. We arrived in town at around 6:00am and there was already a long line for the buses. The surrounding mountains were shrouded in fog and as we were making our way up the switchbacks to Machu Picchu, we literally could not see a thing. Arriving at the top, we were assured by Rivelino that in due time, the fog would lift and the Machu Picchu ruins would magically reveal itself. Despite the early hour, Machu Picchu was already bustling with tourists. ... read more

This morning we headed out of Cuzco aboard a private G Adventures coach for a full day of sightseeing in the Sacred Valley. First stop of the day was the Cristo Blanco Statue. Similar to the Christ The Redeemer Statue in Rio, the Cristo Blanco Statue overlooks the city of Cuzco with it's arms extended at the sides. The statue was a gift from a group of Christian Palestinians seeking refuge in Cuzco. When they finally returned to their homeland, the status was created to show their gratitude to the city. There was nothing too special about the statue but the views below of the city were impressive. We continue driving towards the Sacred Valley and stopped in the small village of Ccaccaccollo. The main purpose of stopping here was to visit a women's weaving Co-op ... read more

After struggling to get through this last day of work, Kevin and I were finally on our way to our long anticipated trip to Peru. We signed up for this 8 day trip with G Adventures about 2 months ago and these past 2 months I have been filled with excitement to finally get to see Machu Picchu. Kevin's girlfriend drove us to the airport Wednesday night for our 12:15 am flight on LAN Airlines directly to Lima. The LAN flight was very smooth and surprisingly, I was able to get a good amount of sleep during the flight. 8 hours later, we landed in Lima for my first time in South America. Obtaining our luggage and going through customs was by far the smoothest I have ever experienced and within 30 minutes of landing, we ... read more

We woke up this morning to beautiful blue skies, perfect for a day out on the water. The entire group was grateful that we didn't do this day trip yesterday under cloudy rainy skies. Waiting an additional day was well worth it. After another delicous breakfast at Amor y Cafe, we all met at Ragamuffin tours for our 10:30am departure. There were approximately 50 people and we were all divided into 3 boats. Daniel told us that we were going to be on a catamaran. However when we walked up to the boat, it was definitely not a catamaran. Despite this slight disappointment, we all made the best of it enjoying some fresh fruit and soaking in some sun as we ventured off to our first snorkeling spot of the day. We pulled into an area ... read more