Sacred Valley

After waking up in the mountainside of Cusco to a beautiful landscape, we fed two alpacas right outside our room. Then, after breakfast, we boarded our busses and headed out to the Mora Salt Mines. We walked around and learned about how the salt was found by the limestone in the ground and how the Incas used this to preserve their meats. we then continued our way to Moray to see the Inca terraces and how they learned about what grows at certain elevations and their microclimates. We then went to the Pisac market where we were able to barter and buy various gifts. We then had lunch where there was a beautiful scenery in the back of the restaurant where there were alpacas and the Urubamba River.  Our last stop of the day today was the magnificent ruins of Ollantaytambo. We hiked up 200 steps to the various levels of temples across the area. That evening, we boarded the train that brought us to Aguas Calientes where we would be seeing Machu Picchu the next morning.

Day 2 Lima

After waking up at 6:45 in the morning, all of us met for breakfast at 7:15. After a great breakfast, we headed towards our first museum, el Museo Convento San Francisco and catacombs where we got to see a lot of bones and skulls.  Next, we headed to the town square where we watched the World Cup match where Peru was playing. In addition to watching the games with 100s of people, we also got to take pictures with some of the local kids. During the day, we also went to a private pottery museum with a beautiful flower garden. For lunch, we went to a restaurant to eat roasted chicken. Some even ventured out to eat cow heart for the first time. Before dinner, we went to the mall Miraflores which is right on the Pacific Ocean. There was every store imaginable there! While Francisco is our tour manager for the whole trip, we had a chance to hang out with Fernando for the day as a local tour guide and we couldn't have done the day without him. Overall, it was a great day and a great way to start off our tour.

Day 1 Airport/Lima

On the bus, we were anxious to get to the airport. Once we arrived, we passed through security and went in search of a bite to eat. We all met back at the gate at 2 ready and so excited to get on the plane. we wondered why no one was bordering the plane as the boarding time approached. It turns out there was a minor plumbing issue with the toilet which caused us to have to wait an extra hour to depart. The anticipation of getting to Lima was killing us as we were excited to get our trip on the way.  After a long plane ride, we all got off the plane and jumped in line to go through immigration and customs. Because of the delay, we did not go to bed until 2am. We met our tour guide Francisco who will be with us through the duration of the trip and we couldn't wait to explore Lima and couldn't believe we were finally in Peru.  it was a rough start but became an awesome day!

Meghan Ring