For this leg of the journey, I joined another tour, this time with G Adventures. We started in Cusco and then traveled through the Sacred Valley of the Incas, touring Machu Picchu and Rainbow Mountain, before taking a flight into the Amazon. Though the tour itself was a bit disorganized, I was overwhelmed by the beauty of this area of Peru!

Cusco

Once the capital of the Incan Empire, this city in the Andes is at an elevation of just over 11,000 feet! In order to aid with adjusting to the altitude, it is recommended to drink tea made from coca leaves (the raw material for cocaine)….it was available in our hotel upon arrival and at lots of restaurants and shops in town. I’m not sure how helpful it was for me, but when chewed, apparently it made my tour mates mouths go numb!

Walking around the main square, we saw ladies carrying baby lamas for pictures and petting, and we also learned about eating guinea pig, or cuy, which is a popular dish for special occasions.

In the evening of our first day in Cusco, we also took a Peruvian cooking class! It started by making several versions of Pisco sours at the bar, and then progressed to quinoa salads, local potato fries and an Asian Infusion lama stir fry called Lomo Saltado. This was the first cooking class I’ve taken where we had access to a real restaurant kitchen, it was really fun, and the food was delicious.

Sacred Valley

From Cusco, we traveled to Ollantaytambo, with several neat stops along the way. One was with a local women’s weaving co-op where alpaca and lama wool is dyed and woven into beautiful gloves, scarves and sweaters.

There is a popular Incan beer made from fermented corn, called Chicha. We did some tasting in a kitchen at a local vender…..the most interesting thing about the tasting was the built in guinea pig palace and guinea pigs who lived in the kitchen! The guide told us that sometimes families will keep their guinea pigs in the kitchen so that they can feed them scraps to fatten them up!

The following day, we continued through the Sacred Valley with stops at a local salt mine and Moray Incan agricultural ruins, in addition to having lunch near Lake Piurey. This is definitely one of the most lovely and beautiful places that I have ever been!

Machu Picchu!

Sitting more than 7,000 feet above sea level in the Andes Mountains, this Incan citadel was built around 1450, and is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. It felt surreal to see it in person, and impressed me with just how intelligent and sophisticated the Incas were. Being the rainy season, we were super lucky to see it with blue skies and sunshine!

Rainbow Mountain

This colorful mountain, Vinicunca, is a recent addition to Peru’s tourist attractions. Due to global warming and climate change, these mountains, once covered year round with snow and ice, were discovered in 2016 without snow cover. They became an instant sensation on social media, and are now the 2nd most popular tourist attraction in Peru, after Machu Picchu. We had a 4 am pick up for our hike to 16,500 feet and it was worth it! Such a unique and stunning area.

The Amazon!

From Cusco, we took a flight to Puerto Maldonado, met our guide, and then hopped on a boat on the Tambopata River for an hour ride to the lodge. While eating a cute packed lunch on the boat, we spotted a capybara and several caiman, or small crocodilians!

The Amazon Rainforest is the world’s richest, largest, and most varied tropical rainforest in the world. It contains several million species of insects, unique animals and birds, and multiple ecosystems. It covers parts of Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname.

Tambopata Lodge

Prior to arriving, we were told that our accommodations were rustic and would be without electricity….however, this place exceeded all expectations and was really cozy and comfortable. Our rooms had candles and hot water, comfy beds with mosquito netting, and there was actually wifi for limited hours in the main lodge.

Jungle Walks

On our first day, we explored a local farm that supplies the lodge. It had so many plants, including coffee, star fruit, oranges, mandarins, grape fruit, lemons, limes, cocoa, pineapples, bananas, plantains and quite a few that I had never heard of like lucuma, cupuacu and noni (which smelled like blue cheese). We picked and tried almost all of them, while also learning about the medicinal properties of several species of trees and herbs.

On the way there, we spotted several howler monkeys and a lots of macaws!

On our second day, we donned rubber boots to do a day hike up the river, complete with a short boat ride across a small lake to see the 2nd largest species of trees (after sequoias). Our guide showed us a green leaf plant, that when mixed with water will create a purple color that indigenous tribes used to use as war paint.

Night hikes

We did a night hike with flashlights and a night boat ride to look for caiman. We found a baby opossum, lots of insects and spiders, and several caiman along the river bank. The sounds of the forest at night are both peaceful and a bit creepy with intermittent loud noises from unknown animals.

The Amazon leg of this journey was one of my favorites. We mostly had the lodge to ourselves as this is still considered the rainy season. Using just candles in my room at night was more convenient than I had expected, and our group had time to play games and sit in the lodge for drinks and conversation. The weather was surprisingly good with mostly sunny days….it only rained on our last morning!

Thanks to everyone who is following along! I am starting to miss home a little but am looking forward to the next stop on the journey, Brazil!