TASTE OF PERU: Salkantay Trek, Rainbow Mountain and Amazon 10 Days / 9 Night

Your journey begins with your arrival in Cusco. We’ll whisk you away to your comfortable hotel in the city. As the day unfolds, join your guide and fellow hikers for an engaging introductory meeting, setting the stage for the remarkable days ahead. In the afternoon, immerse yourself in the charm of Cusco City as you embark on a captivating historical tour. Immerse yourself in the world-renowned Peruvian gastronomy. Learn how to make causa limeña, a traditional Peruvian dish made with mashed potatoes, peppers, and avocado–similar to a tiny casserole. You’ll also get a chance to make a pisco sour, the national drink of Peru! After learning to make these dishes, gather with your new group of friends and enjoy a delicious dinner sure to delight your taste buds.

• MEALS: DINNER
• ACOMMODATION: HOTEL 3*** IN CUSCO
• ACTIVITY LEVEL: MODERATE
• CUSCO ELEVATION: 3,399 M/11,151.57 FT

On your second day, you’ll do a lot more than hiking and sightseeing. Drive up the Sacred Valley to a small indigenous village outside of Chinchero, also known as the birthplace of the rainbow. As part of a community outreach project, you’ll have an opportunity to learn from Quechua people, indigenous people who’ll tell you about their sustainable way of life, spirituality and connection to Mother Earth. You’ll also learn how they support themselves by farming and weaving, both of them being important parts of Peruvian culture. Hear their native tongues, see how they traditionally dance and let them flaunt you their traditional Andean clothing! Then we will return to the hotel in Cusco.

• MEALS: BREAKFAST AND LUNCH
• ACOMMODATION: HOTEL 3*** IN OLLANTAYTAMBO
• ACTIVITY LEVEL: MODERATE

We start this amazing adventure with the pickup from your hotel at 5am, this will be a ride of two hours approximately until we arrive to Mollepata community, Where We will have our first breakfast which is not included, after breakfast we continue on transportation to Challacancha where is the started point of the hike. Here we meet the chef and muleteers and need to check our luggage, pack the horses, and begin the long ascent to our campsite. Three hours and a half approximately to arrive at our campsite, on the way you will hike the original Inca trail Canal. The experience is unique, you will be part of nature and see far away the Salkantay mountain which is breathtaking at first glance. After this we will arrive to our campsite where we will be waiting for you, you will get the accommodation and we will wait for the lunch to recover energy after lunch, you will have some free time until we will start our hike up to Humantay Lake, this will take two hours to hike up and one hour on the way back approximately. You will enjoy the beauty of Humantay Lake which is located on the bottom of the snowcapped Humantay Mountain. It is quite cold as you can imagine but the view is unique and worthy. Back to our campsite, you can change your clothes and then you will enjoy a delicious dinner. After dinner, our tour guide will brief the itinerary for the next day, which is moderate to challenging.

• MEALS: BREAKFAST, LUNCH AND DINNER
• ACOMMODATION: SORAYPAMPA CAMPSITE.
• HIKE DISTANCE: 10 KM / 6.21 MI
• WALKING TIME: 5/6 HOURS
• ACITIVITY LEVEL: MODERATE
• MINIMUM ELEVATION: 3800 M/ 12.467 FT.
• MAXIMUM ELEVATION: 4200 M/ 13.975 FT.

This day, you will wake up early and be ready and prepared for this beautiful experience. Then you will enjoy the delicious breakfast and start the hike to the Salkantay Pass. You will pass through the Pampa Salkantay and continue to climb quickly to the Summit. We will make some breaks along the way to enjoy the nature of the impressive mountains, time for photos and a proper explanation from the guide and of course to recover some energy. Once you reach the pass, you will reach 4,630 m / 15,228 ft. Now you can take beautiful pictures of the snowy Salkantay mountain. Then we will continue our hike to Wayracmachay, the landscape will change a bit, and you will realize once there you will have a delicious lunch, our chefs will surprise you, after recovering some energy, we need to continue going down to Chaullay, where we will take the transportation to Loreta la Playa, we will realize that the temperature will improve considerably due to the low altitude, so it is quite pleasant in contrast to the first base camp, we will be waiting for you. You will be able to take a break for a while to prepare dinner, during which our tour guide will brief you on the itinerary for the next day.

• MEALS: BREAKFAST, LUNCH AND DINNER
• ACOMMODATION: LORETA LA PLAYA CAMPSITE
• ACTIVITY LEVEL: CHALLENGING
• WALKING DISTANCE: 24 KM/13.67MI
• WALKING TIME: 11/12 HOURS
• MINIMUM ELEVATION: 2,900M/9,514FT
• MAXIMUM ELEVATION: 4,600 M/15,190 FT
• BASECAMP ELEVATION: 3000M /9,842 FT

After a challenging day, we will wake up early in the morning to have a delicious breakfast. This day will be for relaxing, the trail is beautiful and the vegetation is very dense and we will see a variety of orchids and impressive waterfalls approximately 80 meters high. We will hike all the way down through the Santa Teresa Valley to Lucmabamba where we will have lunch and board the transportation to Hidroelectrica. In the afternoon, we continue walking towards Aguas Calientes for 2 hours (12 kilometers) where we will spend the night in a proper hotel. The dinner is Included and your tour guide will give you the important information for the next day. The main reason for this program is Machupicchu.

• MEALS: BREAKFAST, LUNCH AND DINNER
• ACOMMODATION: HOTEL IN AGUAS CALIENTES (STANDARD).
• ACTIVITY LEVEL: DIFFICULT
• WALKING DISTANCE: 27KM/16.78MI
• WALKING TIME: 8 OR 9 HOURS
• MINIMUM ELEVATION: 2000M/6,560 FT
• MAXIMUM ELEVATION: 3,000M/9,842 FT
• AGUAS CALIENTES ELEVATION: 2,040M /6,693 FT

We wake up early in the morning (depending on the time of our admission). Some of you will want to hike to the entrance to Machupicchu which can take one hour and a half some of You will want to take the first bus (5:30am) from Aguas Calientes to the Machupicchu Citadel, usually 30 minutes by bus. Our guide will thoroughly guide you through the Machupicchu archeological site for about 2 hours, then time to come back to Aguas Calientes town where You can get lunch (not included in the program) and in the afternoon we will take the train to Ollantaytambo, you need to be at the Aguas Calientes train station 30mn in advance. A representative of our company will meet you at the train station in Ollantaytambo town then We will take You back to Cusco in proper tourist transportation. We will leave you at your hotel.

• MEALS: BREAKFAST.
• ACOMMODATION: HOTEL 3*** IN CUSCO
• ACITIVITY LEVEL: MODERATE.
• HIKE DISTANCE: 7 KM (3.11 MILES).
• WALKING TIME: 2 HOURS.
• MINIMUM ELEVATION: 2040 M/ 6690 FT
• MAXIMUM ELEVATION: 2430 M/ 7970 FT.

We will pick you up early from your Cusco hotel around 04am and set out on a drive through the South Valley. The drive to the trailhead (4,326 m / 14,189 ft) is 3 hours long. On the way we will provide you Breakfast in a local restaurant (at the hotel you may not have option to get breakfast). We then start off on our hike, following a lovely stream. Literally herds of alpacas and llamas will immediately surprise you. We will have consistent views of the Ausangate Mountain. We will hike through villages and interact with the local residents. Back on the trail, we encounter more of the traditional elements of this trek. This includes potato fields and unique fauna. We have the prospect of seeing chinchillas and vicunas. Vicunas are the only non-domesticated animal of the llama family in Peru. Many red mountains are also a highlight of this portion of the hike. After a total hike of approximately 1.5 hours, we finally reach our destination, what we came to see, the Rainbow Mountains (5,020 m / 16,466 ft). After getting over the shock of their beauty, you will have time to explore the area. You will have time to take pictures and soak in the environment. We will spend approximately 30 minutes at the top. At this point, it is time to go back down. We hike downhill the way we came. The hike will take 2 hours. Our transportation will be waiting for us when we return. We will stop for lunch in the same restaurant before we head to Cusco. We will embark on the 3-hour drive back to Cusco and drop you off at your Cusco hotel. Approximate arrival time is between 5:00 pm.

• MEALS: BREAKFAST AND LUNCH
• ACOMMODATION: HOTEL 3*** IN CUSCO
• ACTIVITY LEVEL: MODERATE TO HARD.
• WALKING DISTANCE: 7 KM
• WALKING TIME: 3&4 HOURS
• HIKING STARTING POINT: 4630M / 15190 FT
• MINIMUM ELEVATION: 4795M/ 15371FT
• MAXIMUM ELEVATION: 5100M/16732 FT

We will pick you up from your hotel in Cusco to transfer you to the airport and help you board the flight from Cusco to Puerto Maldonado. Our staff will welcome you at the airport in Puerto Maldonado and drive you through the city to the boat dock on the Tambopata River. Here we board a motorized canoe and head towards the nearby confluence of the mighty Madre de Dios River, the source of the Amazon tributary. Just 30 minutes down river is landing at the port that will lead to Sandoval Lake. We walk a trail of 3 Km (2 mi), stopping to watch birds and butterflies, up to a narrow canal boat. From there, we navigate the flooded forest of palm trees that leads to the open waters of this peaceful lake. Our crew will row the boats across to the lodge (motors are prohibited on the lake). Under the surface of the lake, we may see the huge Paiche (an Amazonian fish that can weigh up to 100Kg/220lbs). Or you may hear strange and unsettling screams and see heads peering from the lake surface, which will mark our first encounter with Pteronura brasiliensis, the Giant Otter of the Amazon. After a brief rest, we start again by boat to explore the entire eastern end of the lake, following the sound of hundreds of Blue and-Yellow and Red-Breasted Macaws as they return to the palm forest for the night. Our view from the boat often allows close and extensive encounters with birds and mammals. In Sandoval Lake the Capuchin Monkey, in particular, has nearly lost its fear of humans. We return to the lodge at dusk for dinner. Afterwards we take the boat again, in search of caimans, which are now extremely rare in the Amazon, but are still common in this protected lake. They grow up to 4m long, and dispute their share of fishing with the otters. On clear nights we go by boat farther into the lake for a view of the vast southern sky, unobstructed, with its magnificent views of constellations and the Milky Way.

• MEALS: LUNCH AND DINNER
• ACOMMODATION: SANDOVAL LODGE

Just before dawn we will be on the lake for what is often a spectacular sunrise; and hope for an encounter with the Giant Otters that roam the lake in a close-knit family, very active at this time of day. At this time most of the birds that inhabit the lake are also very active. There will be time and tranquility to observe the birds fishing; while they stalk and capture prey. We will also have close-up views of the primitive Shansho (Ophistocumus hoazin) eating leaves. After enjoying a late breakfast, we’ll walk the trail through the cool understory of the impressive primary rainforest that surrounds the lake. We will see the great Chestnut trees that abound here. After lunch we rest for an hour and then explore the west side of the lake where we will have chances to observe different species of monkey; including the most common Capuchin Monkey. Before dinner there is a video presentation on the Peruvian Jungle and after dinner, we will have the opportunity to spot caimans in the lake.

• MEALS: BREAKFAST, LUNCH AND DINNER
• ACOMMODATION: SANDOVAL LODGE

After breakfast we make a final paddle through palm swamps on the west end of the lake. On the clearer mornings a glorious sunrise and its reflection can be seen in the lake. We return to the Madre de Dios River and head towards Puerto Maldonado and from there on to the airport to board the flight to Lima.

• MEALS: BREAKFAST
• ACOMMODATION: NO INCLUDED