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Peru-fect!
Town & Country Vacation Planner, Cindy Cromwell, and her husband Don take on Peru with Abercrombie & Kent (A&K)
Abercrombie & Kent (A&K) put together an amazing trip to Peru, a wonderful country filled with exciting new experiences for the traveler. Highlights include: charming Andean highland towns with colonial architecture, remote jungle lodges and river cruises in the Amazon basin, unique animals, snowcapped mountains and volcanoes, and, of course, Machu Picchu and the stunning legacies of the Incas and other sophisticated pre-Columbian civilizations.
We began our journey in Lima, the city of kings…a wonderful Spanish Colonial city filled with gourmet restaurants, art and beautiful buildings.
Some of my favorite experiences were a cooking class, lunch at the ruins at Huaca Pucllana, visiting the bohemian section of Lima called Barranco, and strolling along the Pacific waterfront. The beautiful Belmond Miraflores was our home base.
Next up was a flight from Lima to Cusco, from there we were transferred to the Sacred Valley, a region of spectacular sights, Incan ruins and indigenous villages in the Andes. The Urubamba River runs through the valley, which is truly beautiful.
From the Sacred Valley, we took the Andean Explorer train to Aguas Calientes – our base for visiting Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Incas, which was recently named one of the “New Seven Wonders of the World”.
The scenery throughout the train journey is breathtaking…and, needless to say, the first glimpse of Machu Picchu is truly awe-inspiring. Machu Picchu, a citadel built at the peak of the Incan civilization atop a jungle-rich Andes Mountain peak, is remarkably well preserved and our fantastic guide walked us through the city.
Returning from Aguas Calientes to Cusco, we took the famous Hiram Bingham train, which was a thrill. The experience of travelling through some of the most beautiful and romantic scenery in Peru in luxurious surroundings is fantastic. This train is named after the US explorer who claimed to have discovered the remains of the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in 1911.
Cusco, the longest continually inhabited city of the Americas and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a city of stone streets, cathedrals and squares that speak to the people who have lived there through the ages. It has a wonderful marketplace, alive with contemporary mestizo culture, good restaurants, and warm, friendly people.
From Cusco, we flew to Iquitos from where we headed to the Amazon region, where we boarded the Delfin II for a 4 day / 3 night river cruise. It was a fantastic experience which included kayaking on the Amazon, bird watching, boat excursions for animal viewing, and breakfast on the river one special morning, and a visit to a local village.
While it may seem like a complicated journey with a lot of moving parts, a Peruvian travel experience is effortless with a quality tour operator, wonderful guides, and a thoughtful, expertly -designed itinerary. With such, it truly was a vacation I will never forget.
For more information about this program and others, contact Town & Country Travel at (805) 495-9888. It is our job and passion to help create your dream vacation.
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