Archive for the ‘Peru’ Category

Galapagos Islands, Machu Picchu & Peru, a trip report from Bob Schminkey

Posted August 19th, 2009 by Matt Bracken

Sue,

Many, many thanks for a GREAT trip! I don’t know where to start in telling you about it, but I’ll try…

The Galapagos… well, simply incredible! We could not have been happier with Lindblad Expeditions National Geographic. The boat was wonderful and we loved our very comfortable little room on a lower deck… (much less rocky than the more expensive cabins!). The staff did everything possible to make us feel comfortable and at home while on board. And the naturalists were simply outstanding. As a part time tour leader myself, I was tremendously impressed by their breath of knowledge about the islands AND their skill in challenging/encouraging us to take full advantage of the experience. After being told over and over that the wildlife would be amazing, we could not believe how close we could come to a wide range of animals. We never imagined that we would go snorkeling, that we would enjoy it so much, and that we would find ourselves swimming along with sea lions while watching boobies dive for lunch. It was just an amazing week… Oh, and BTW, we both read a biography on Darwin and Kurt Vonnegut’s book Galapagos before we left and we highly recommend both to Galapagos travelers.

As for Peru… Also wonderful, but I’ll give you the bad news first. It was a very difficult trip for us both, physically speaking, in part because of the schedule we have been on and in part because of the altitude. We were VERY tired by the time we hit Machu Picchu, and while we had a great time, we were really beat. I spent much of our Cusco time on Oxygen, and Sara picked up a bug somewhere, but we still had a great time.

Our hotels in Peru were fabulous! The Casa Andina Private Collection chain is excellent and we especially liked their hotel in Arequipa. They were all wonderful however, and we were quite pleased with our choices. The hotel in Aquas Caliente was a nice place to stay, but nothing special. I would probably stay there again, but… Well, the only reason to stay there is to get yourself to Machu Picchu early the second morning…

The Ramada Inn at the Lima airport was comfortable the first time we were there… But we stayed there a second time as well. The day we left Peru Sara became very ill. We went to the airport Ramada to let her rest for our six hour layover, and they did some emergency laundry for us AND got a doctor in to see her. Without their service we’d still be there. They were a lifesaver for us.

Ceiba Tops was a great experience. While not as luxurious as we might have been expecting, it was very professionally managed and our stay there was an experience of a lifetime. We will never forget the canopy walk, and the birdwatching there was also great. We loved traveling on the river, fishing and the hikes we took. Thanks for recommending this spot.

This is of course where we got in trouble with the airlines… We had booked a 9 PM flight from Iquitos to Lima, and we left the lodge at 3 to start the journey. Explorama had very professionally booked us into a hotel in town for our four hour wait for a flight, but they helped us change our flight to depart around 5:30 instead. That’s why we were listed as “no-shows” for the original flight, and why we had trouble the rest of the way. In fact, for the rest of our flights we had trouble with check in everytime, and we never got the seats we expected to have, although they did get us sitting together each time. (Otherwise, LAN was really quite good and we would recommend them.)

Condor/Avanti Tours were great. The tour guides were terrific and we always knew we were in good hands as they met us every step of the way. If there was any problem with them, it was that they were SO good that we didn’t have to speak Spanish very much! As tired as we were for much of the time in Peru, we were very grateful to have booked them and would highly recommend them to anyone traveling in the region.

We would highly recommend the Colca Canyon tour to anyone going to Peru. Arequipa is a great little city, not nearly as commercial as Cusco, and we would have liked to have had more time there. The two day tour to the canyon (the deepest canyon in the world!) was very difficult, as we went up to 15,000 feet just getting to our overnight in Chivay. The next morning at the canyon was extraordinary as we saw 18 condors in flight, making the trip well worth our time. Another day in Arequipa would have helped us adjust to the altitude and given us a day to rest a bit more too.

Machu Picchu was all that was advertised. A great way to end the trip. Our tour of the site was excellent, but the second morning when we got there before the “day-trippers” was the highlight. Just a spectacular site…

The whole trip was spectacular and it is difficult to describe without overusing superlatives. You made it possible for us and for that we are both extremely grateful. Your assistance in planning, your knowledge of the region and the opportunities, your helping us to keep to our budget (more or less!) and your help with the airlines during our trip, all made this experience as easy as possible for us. Thank you VERY much for all of your help.

Posted in Client Blogs, Galapagos Islands, Lindblad Expeditions, Peru | 1 Comment »

Peru – Client Trip Tips

Posted June 19th, 2009 by Molly Demmer

We thought you might enjoy this email we received from one of our clients. It provides some great insight into their trip to Peru.

Scott and I had a wonderful time in Peru. Our itinerary was just about perfect allowing time to get settled, time to adjust to the altitude and time to have fun. The Akorn folks were top-notch – meeting us at 1:30AM after a 3 hour flight delay into Lima, following up to make sure we got to our destinations, offering to setup additional side trips and simply being excellent drivers and guides.

Here are a few highlights, comments and personal observations:

The markets – we found great markets in Lima and Cusco which were just plain fun. So much merchandise, such friendly people, great bartering.

Machu Picchu – we were very glad we spent an extra day here. Too many folks take the train from Cusco, arrive at 10ish, take a whirlwind tour (during the hottest time of the day no less), eat lunch and head back to Cusco. Machu Picchu is a destination that deserves time and contemplation. We went back on Day 2, arriving around 7:30AM and took in the site while crowds were minimal. It was such a different experience from the prior day. Both valuable, but so very different. We had a good tour guide on the first day, but even after a 3 hour tour we only visited about 60% of the site. The second day allowed us to investigate and go at our own pace. And yes, you do need bug juice at Machu Picchu. But what we hadn’t read anywhere is that you should put on the juice before getting on the train. The bugs at MP are tiny, black no seeums that get on the buses and trains. We figured this out after the fact, but no real harm. You don’t notice when the bugs bite and the bites don’t itch, but they leave red welts that took about 2 weeks to go away.

The Sacred Valley – such a treasure! We did suffer a bit from the altitude, but it was short lived. I think it was a good decision on our part to spend the time in Ollanta. It was a great little town, gorgeous Inca ruins, nice restaurants, great people. We spent a lot of time just wandering through the streets and hanging out at the Plaza. Our side trip to Maras was also very interesting. The Pakaritampu Hotel was an all around excellent hotel.

Hotels – one piece of advice for the traveler to Peru – try to get an inside room. We found that Peruvians like to use their car horns and rooms that face the street are just too noisy. Our hotels were very accommodating in switching us to different rooms. I look at it as part of the entire travel experience, but a good nights sleep is hard to give up. Overall though, we stayed in comfortable rooms and had no issues.

Manu – Manu was a fascinating trip. It’s not for everyone though as it is unbelievably humid. Every piece of clothing we brought along was damp, whether it was worn on not. The humidity seeps through everything. That was the negative of Manu. But the positives made up for the negative. Bird watching that was top notch, the macaw clay lick was spectacular, we saw a giant anteater (something our guide has only seen one other time in 12 years), monkeys, caimans, and the tapir. And a thunderstorm in a rain forest is something I won’t soon forget! I personally thought the food was great. Some in our group thought there were too many starchy foods, but look at where we were. We thought we’d lose weight on this trip, but that certainly wasn’t the case.

The exchange rate was very nice. We had meals with drinks and dessert that cost $30 for both of us. Bottled water at tourist sites was about $1.50, at the local markets about 35 cents. Taxis were very inexpensive. Anyone who spends time in the Sacred Valley and/or Cusco should investigate purchase of the Turista Boletera (or something close to that – it means Tourist Ticket). Pay once, gain access to 16 different sites in the area. We visited half the sites/museums and felt it was a good value.
Another tip – we paid local guides about $3.00 at a few of the museums and felt it was worth every penny. Otherwise we would have been looking at ‘stuff’ in cases, signs in Spanish, and not getting much out of the visit. The guides that made themselves available to us gave us the history and background to make the visit worthwhile.

I could go on with lots of stories, but bottom line it was a great trip. Language was rarely a barrier, although I am going to take a few conversational Spanish classes before we head south again.

We were very thankful for the assistance and guidance provided by the staff from Akorn. We could have figured things out on our own, but it was much, much easier to have someone guide us along the way. We’re not ones for going on ‘tours’, but this was an excellent compromise.

Thanks for your assistance. Happy Travels!

Posted in Client Blogs, Latin America, Peru | No Comments »