Peru: Connect with Community in the Sacred Valley

Arrive Lima and transfer to flight to Cusco.
 
Upon arrival in Cusco, you will be greeted at the airport by a Global Family Travels representative and transferred to your hotel. Free time to relax for the rest of the day and to acclimatize to the high altitude and recover from jet lag.
 
If we have time before dinner, enjoy a short walking tour orientation of Cusco city to recommend places to eat, change money and other needs.

Flight:  1.5 hrs from Lima to Cusco

Hotel: Tierra Viva or equivalent
 
 

Start the day with an orientation breakfast with Global Family Travels partner in Cusco. Afterwards, we will visit nearby ruins, including the fortress of Sacsayhuaman, a colossal structure of enormous stones, carved and fitted together with incredible precision; Qenqo, the religious center; we will enjoy a panoramic view of Puca-Pucara, the red fortress and then we will visit Tambomachay with their water fountains.

Enjoy lunch on your own in Cusco.

Next, we will explore Cusco alleyways, meet local artisans, stopping at points of interest.

 
Dinner at Manos Unidos Cafe!  MU students and community youth with special needs are gaining job skills at our cafe. We serve delicious pizzas, sandwiches and traditional meals.

Hotel: Tierra Viva or equivalent in Cusco
 

After breakfast at our hotel, we will visit Manos Unidas school for a welcome greeting and learning session.  

Our day will start in the school’s gym with a welcome greeting and an introduction to “disabilities in Peru.” You will learn what life is like for families with special needs children and the social constructs that MU is working against to create a more inclusive society.  You will hear stories from MU founders and success stories from the last 10 years. (1 hour).  
 
Next, we will tour the school campus and visit classrooms where you will meet MU students (preschool - adolescents) and hear directly from teachers.  

11:00 am Coffee break served by MU teens
 
11:30 -1:00 pm Mini Special Olympics!  We will engage in a variety of organized sports and recreational activities together with our students. Each classroom of students (6-8 students) will present a different sport activity in which travel members, children and adults alike, will be able to participate. The Olympics will finish with a participatory awards ceremony.  
 
1:30 Lunch on site: Manos Unidas school venue hosts a large, beautiful restaurant that is rented by a great local chef. We will enjoy a typical “Cuzquenan” lunch with a gorgeous view of the mountainous countryside surrounding the school before heading back to Cusco city.    
 

A visit to the Chocolate Musuem in Cusco with kids is a must to learn how chocolate is made, enjoy tasting including hot chocolate!

Dinner on your own in Cusco.
 
Hotel: Tierra Viva or equivalent in Cusco
 
 
 

After breakfast, we travel to Pisac, a beautiful place where Incan and Colonial influences have reached a perfect balance and created the unique way of life of the local inhabitants.  
 
We will have a chance to explore this quaint town, famous for its artisan markets, where we can find extraordinarily fine jewelry and ceramic and textile craftwork and perhaps participate in an Andean music workshop.

 
 
Hotel: Casa Adina or similar

After breakfast we will also have the chance to visit the community of Patacancha for a traditional weaving demonstration.  The community of Patacancha is located in the mountains above Ollantaytambo about  1.5 hour drive at around 3,800 meters (12,500 feet).

Patacancha maintains an agricultural way of life. Families live in adobe homes with thatched roofs, speak primarily Quechua, and most weavers have limited Spanish ability. Here community members maintain strong cultural heritage, continuing to wear the red hand-woven textile clothing that the area is known for.

Our day is enjoying a traditional lunch prepared and served by our host family, made with natural ingredients from their farmland. Later, you have a chance to learn about the ancient weaving process, and to seeing how they dye the wool, and which plants they use to create different colors. They will demonstrate the technique they use to weave the belts, blankets, ponchos and coats and during our workshop, you will make a beautiful huamanpita woven Peruvian basket to take home. It makes a great gift – if you can bear to part with it!

Continue our journey to Ollantaytambo.

Hotel:

Today, we visit the ancient ruins of Moray, used as an agricultural testing ground, the site's system of circular terraces descend 490 feet (150 m) from where we will stand, serving as a perfect testament to the level of advancement achieved by the Incas, who excelled at building masterful constructions in harmony with nature. 

Buffet lunch served at Muña in Urubamba. Our journey will continue until we reach the Salt Pans of Maras. The sight of this still-operating salt mine, in use since Incan times, will amaze you with the stark white of the steeply descending salt pans juxtaposed against the green of the surrounding mountain slopes.  

After lunch, you will visit the archeological town of Ollantaytambo, and then take the train to Aguas Calientes, where we will overnight.    

Aguas Calientes, also known as “hot springs” or “Machu Picchu Pueblo,” is a town known for its location in a deep gorge under the Machu Picchu ruins. 

Dinner on your own at the hotel. 

Hotel:  Gringo Bill’s Boutique Hotel

After an early breakfast, we will take a bus to Machu Picchu, a World Heritage site and one of the most impressive legacies of the Incan civilization.     After a tour of Machu Picchu, we will have the opportunity to hike around the ruins, relax among the stone walls and grassy nooks, and take in the magnificence of the site and enjoy a packed picnic lunch.  
 
A bus takes us back down the mountain to Aguas Calientes which we will have a restful night.
 
 Hotel: Gringo Bill’s Boutique Hotel

Early morning departure from Aguas Calientes train station to board the return train to Ollantaytambo. On arrival our travel assistant and driver will take you to the Cusco, where you have a free afternoon to perhaps take a cooking class.

 Hotel: Tierra Viva or equivalent

Early morning flight to Puerto Maldonado where you will be met by your guide who will take an unpaved road to Puerto Nuevo, our port in the Inferno Community about one hour drive where will  see various types of woodland, traditional banana and citrus plantations, cattle ranches and small creeks. Once in Puerto Nuevo we will embark on a boat trip up the mighty Tambopata which will include lunch, delicious vegetarian Arroz Chaufa wrapped in the leaf of the bijao heliconia.

We will enter the Buffer zone of the Tambopata National Reserve and the Bahuaja Sonene National Park and along the way there will be banks vegetation mainly of patches of canes, Cecropias and Ficus. We might also see wildlife such as river birds like the oropendulas and their hanging nesting colonies, egrets, herons and others might fly over such as toucans or the magnificent macaws or perhaps mammals like capybaras or monkeys or reptilians such as spectacled caimans and turtles.

On arrival in our Lodge your guide will tell about the dos and don’ts in the jungle and give you a tour of the area. In the afternoon we head out into the jungle for a walk to observe the flora such as immense Ironwood or Kapok trees and birds such as Trogons, quails and wild turkeys. At night fall we can also find spiders such as tarantulas and other nocturnal creatures. After dinner your guide will give you an idea about what to expect and what activities you will be doing during your stay.

Overnight at the lodge

An early the morning boat ride upriver to observe the activity of the macaws, parrots, parakeets and the occasional mammal feeding on the earth. La Torre Clay Lick is a mud bank about four meters high and twenty meters wide crisscrossed with veins of mineral rich clay essential to the diet of these animals. On site we have a hideout at a distance of thirty meters  allowing us an unobstructed view, while adhering to the rules and guidelines set by our guide the previous evening.

We return to the lodge for breakfast and a rest before heading for Tres Chimbadas Lake about fifteen minutes downriver from the lodge. From there will be about 45 minutes to the lake located deep in the jungle. We will pass an eco-tourism concession held by the native people of the Infierno community who guard and maintain the area by way of revenue generated by entry fees from tourists.

At the lake itself we will board a traditional catamaran with a single oar to move around on the lake following the route suggested by our guide. We will see luscious vegetation and birds such as Snakebirds, herons, kingfishers, perhaps reptiles and mammals, above all the illusive giant river otter. The lake happens to be the territory of a clan that can frequently be spotted.

Once back at the lodge lunch is served and after some rest we leave for an excursion to a local farm.

Later we will head out to do a nocturnal boat ride to enjoy the sounds of the Amazonian night, we might see a thunderstorm spilling out on the horizon or marvel at constellations like the Southern Cross or Scorpion.

We are also carrying a powerful searchlight in case we come across some nocturnal animals such as caimans, bats, nightjars or capybaras on the banks and meanders of the Tambopata River.

Overnight at our lodge

After an early breakfast we will return to the office in Puerto Maldonado and then on to the airport. Your guide will accompany you until the airport and help you with the check-in process for your flight to Lima.