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Peru Tours and Travel

Suggested Packages / Amazon / Cusco / Lima / Lake Titicaca / Arequipa / Nazca
Trujillo & Chiclayo / Chachapoyas / Trekking / Multisport / Rafting / Biking

Nazca-Arequipa-Colca Canyon-Lake Titicaca-
Cusco and Machu Picchu - 12 days

Day 1. Arrival to Lima, transfer to selected hotel.

Day 2. Lima - Ica - Early morning transfer to the bus station. Take the Royal Class special bus to the city of Ica (308 Km/191 miles South of Lima). Bus will leave passengers at Las Dunas Hotel. In the afternoon take a small (one engine) plane to Nazca and fly over the mysterious Nazca lines, which is the only way to see them. These are drawings made in the sand over 2,000 years ago, that time and weather have not eroded. You will see gigantic geometrical lines resembling a landing field and over 32 figures including a monkey, a spider, a condor, a reptile, a fish, a bird, etc. The biggest figures are the reptile (180 mts/590 ft long) and the monkey (90mts/295 ft.)

Day 3. Ica - Paracas - Lima Breakfast. Transfer by private car (1 hour) to the Bay of Paracas for a cruise out to the Ballestas islands (90 mins.), where you will see sea lions, penguins and more than 60 species of sea birds and wild life. On the way you will also see the "Candelabra" a huge sand design on the hilly coast, only seen from the sea or sky. Afternoon return by Royal Class bus to Lima. Meet on arrival and transer to your hotel.

Day 4. breakfast, transfer to airport, fly to Arequipa and transfer to your hotel. Tour of the city and of Santa Catalina Convent that has remained the same since its foundation in 1580 but was only opened to the public in 1970. Then tour the Plaza de Armas or Main Square, the Cathedral, the church of La Compañía and the Colonial district of Yanahuara.

Day 5 - breakfast, then morning departure for Pampa Canahuas, passing through Yura on the way. Arrive at Pulpera and Callali villages, and stop at Sibayo to visit the new and old town. Here you will see an Incan bridge. Lunch included. Continue on to Chivay village an its thermal baths, La Calera.Accommodation. Dinner. Overnight.

Day 6- Breakfast at the hotel. The early morning excursion reaches an observation point, on a wide bend, where a wooden cross called CRUZ DEL CONDOR has been erected. The view from here is breathtaking: one can see the silvery thread of the Colca River flowing below in the roar of the canyon, while majestic condors soar overhead using the warm air currents from the canyon depths to rise towards the high peaks. Here the chasm is 1,200 mts. deep, but the highest part of the canyon wall on the other side is more than 3,000 meters above the river level, and permanently snow capped. Return to Chivay. On the way visit the Colonial church of Maca and Yanque. Lunch included. Return to Arequipa, transfer to the airport.for your flight to Juliaca. Transfer from Juliaca airport to Puno, visiting Sillustani on the way. Located between Puno and Juliaca (45 minutes from either of them). Sillustani is on a small hilltop in the peninsular overlooking Lake Umayo and looking very impressive against the bleak landscape. The lake has a good variety of plants and water birds like the Giant Andean Coot, the White tufted and Silvery Grebes, the Puna Ibis, the Andean Goose, the Black Crowned Night-Heron, the Speckled and Puna Teals, the Yellow-billed Pintail, the Andean Gull and others. Most of the funerary towers called CHULLPAS date from the Inca occupation in the 15th century, but there are burial towers of the Aymara-speaking Colla culture. The engineering involved in their construction is more complex than anything that Incas built.

Day 7 - Morning visit to the Uros Islands. These islands are made of reeds, rising six meters above the lake level. They are anchored by logs and connected to each other by ropes. The main activities of the people who live here are fishing and handcrafting several items that they sell to visitors. Continue to Taquile Island which has two essential characteristics; its geography, offering a spectacular view from its hills, and its standing as a first-rate textile center. Taquileños live on their textile activities. This can easily be seen in the men walking about in rubber sandals ("ojotas" in quechua), wearing black pants, white flannel shirts and beautiful, finely woven chumpis (belts), covering their heads with finely knitted warm "chullos" (caps with ear flaps). Box lunch included.

Day 8. transfer to station for bus to Cusco. The bus makes several stops along the way to see:
Andahuaylillas: "Sistine Chapel of America": The church is of simple construction, made of thick adobe mud-brick walls, common in colonial buildings, and features a relatively modest structure: a single nave with a bell tower and a façade with two solid stone columns that stand out against the others around the main entrance. While the exterior of the church looks rather humble, it is the interior, that makes this one of the most valuable jewels of the colonial art in Peru, sometimes called the "Capilla Sixtina" or "Sistine Chapel" of America.
Raqchi: "Temple of Wiracocha" The most prominent structure is the Temple of Wiracocha, an enormous rectangular two-story roofed structure that measures 92 metres (300 ft) by 25.5 metres (84 ft). This structure consists of a central adobe wall some 18 to 20 meters in height with an andesite base. Windows and doors allow passage. It is flanked on each side by a row of eleven columns.
Raya Pass: This is La Raya pass Mountain views, 4310m - 14172 ft above sea level, here we have the chance to get out and breathe the air and take some photographs of grazing llamas and alpacas extend to the broad Altiplano horizon. This point is the conjunction of the cordillera and the origin of the Vilcanota knot.
Pukara: "Museum of Pukara" Located 106 kms from the city of Puno. People of potters, which retains the name of the first civilization of southern Peru, which dates back to 1600 years BC and archaeological remains of which, besides its lithic and ceramic pieces are exhibited in the Museum site. Pucara Puno, Has its origin in the Late Formative Period (200 BC – 200 AD) around Titicaca Lake in the Collao Plateau, was one of an Aymara speaking cultures that flourished in that region.
Guide and lunch included.Transfer to your hotel.

Day 9. Visit the Cathedral built from 1560 to 1654 at the site of the Viracocha Inca palace. It is the best example of the European art done by natives of Cusco, has the high altar plated with silver and contains masterpieces of woodcarvings and painting. See the Koricancha, which displays the best Inca stonework in Cusco. Explore the ancient Indian sanctuary of Sacsayhuaman with magnificent Inca walls of massive rocks weighing up to 130 tons fitted together with absolute perfection. The amphitheatre of Qenqo, the fortress of Pukapukara and the spring shrine of Tambomachay where water still flows by a hidden channel out of the masonry wall are also visited.

Day 10. Breakfast and lunch. Full day visit to the Sacred Valley. The Pisac Market is a colorful morning market where you can purchase Peruvian weavings, jewelry, and pottery, and see its traditional Indian market where goods are traded. Visits to Pisac are on Sundays and Thursdays. After lunch we visit Ollantaytambo, the Inca town on which the present day town is based is clearly seen as a fine example of the traditional Inca City planning of Canchas or blocks, which are almost entirely intact and still occupied. The tour includes visits the village, terraces, temples, irrigation systems, granaries, the fortress and the temple of the Sun built by Pachacuty Inca, using Colla Indians from Lake Titicaca..

Day 11. Breakfast and Lunch. Machu Picchu, the lost city, is a complete city, set on a high mountain with terraced slopes falling away to the Urubamba River. For centuries it was buried in jungle, until Hiram Bingham stumbled upon it in 1911. Professional tour guides will explain about the history of the site and lead you through; staircases, terraces, temples, palaces, towers, and fountains. Afternoon transfer back to Cusco and transfer to hotel.

Day 12. Breakfast. Transfer to Airport for flight to Lima.

Price per person in US$ for 2012