Peru: Sacred Valley and Incan Cities Meets Thread

Yes, bobo you are on your trip! Can't wait to hear all about it!,

Yes I am. We arrived at Sol y Luna today. Just got back from the welcome dinner. No computer, just the Kindle which is a chore to type with. So details to come when we get home.
 
Yes I am. We arrived at Sol y Luna today. Just got back from the welcome dinner. No computer, just the Kindle which is a chore to type with. So details to come when we get home.
OMG! How did I miss this? I hope you're having a fabulous time! I can't wait to hear about it!

Sayhello
 


We're back. It was a great trip. I'll post more when I have time. For now, here's a photo of the Insider pin.

196.jpg
 
We're back. It was a great trip. I'll post more when I have time. For now, here's a photo of the Insider pin.

196.jpg
Oooo, cool! Josh D'Amaro was pretty proud of those! :thumbsup2

Looking forward to more when you've recovered! :)

Sayhello
 
We were told they were supposed to send the rest of the number pins back in July.

Josh is now president of AK. The guy who replaced him is Ken Potrock who is also the DVC senior veep.

Looking forward to your trip report, bobo912!!!
 


We were told they were supposed to send the rest of the number pins back in July.

Josh is now president of AK. The guy who replaced him is Ken Potrock who is also the DVC senior veep.

Looking forward to your trip report, bobo912!!!

We were told that we would receive the other pins in the mail, as well.
 
We were told that we would receive the other pins in the mail, as well.

That would be great, you know. I even called ABD a few weeks after I got back and they said the same but none of the pins arrived. I guess we just have to wait and see...

Now that there's a new head, I wonder if they will revamp the program. I really like the books and the DVDs, I wonder if those will continue...

I'm glad you are back home and safe. Were your guides concerned about the warning?
 
That would be great, you know. I even called ABD a few weeks after I got back and they said the same but none of the pins arrived. I guess we just have to wait and see...

Now that there's a new head, I wonder if they will revamp the program. I really like the books and the DVDs, I wonder if those will continue...

I'm glad you are back home and safe. Were your guides concerned about the warning?

The guides didn't mention the warning. They did suggest areas they consider safe for the time on our own, but I imagine they always do that.
 
Bobo912

Did you stay at the “Hotel Sol y Luna” on your trip? We are spending 2 nights there in June when we are traveling to Machu Picchu (on our own). How did you like the resort? What activities did they have for the guest to do? How were the rooms and the dining?

Thanks for any info.
 
Can someone who's been on this trip before or who has any information share with us some reputable travel agents in Peru? We will be arriving on Wednesday and ABD doesn't start until Saturday, so we need to plan some pre-trip activities ahead of the trip and would like to contact travel agencies directly (unless this is something ABD can plan for us? - it's our first ABD, so I really have no clue)...
 
Can someone who's been on this trip before or who has any information share with us some reputable travel agents in Peru? We will be arriving on Wednesday and ABD doesn't start until Saturday, so we need to plan some pre-trip activities ahead of the trip and would like to contact travel agencies directly (unless this is something ABD can plan for us? - it's our first ABD, so I really have no clue)...
ABD will not plan your pre-days for you (at least not ahead of time). I've found that once I met up with our Adventure Guides, they've always been happy to recommend things to do on the spot if I didn't have plans. They are usually at the hotel where the trip begins a day or 2 ahead of time.

We've had several people on this board take this ABD, and I'm sure they'll be by to help you if they can! :thumbsup2

Sayhello
 
Can someone who's been on this trip before or who has any information share with us some reputable travel agents in Peru? We will be arriving on Wednesday and ABD doesn't start until Saturday, so we need to plan some pre-trip activities ahead of the trip and would like to contact travel agencies directly (unless this is something ABD can plan for us? - it's our first ABD, so I really have no clue)...

We have been looking at reviews from Trip Advisor (http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g2656695-Activities-c25-Lima_Region.html). We did this for our last Euro trip, and had a great time with the companies we choose!

I would be interested to hear from fellow ABD-ers too as well on what they did and what companies they used.
 
We used Viator to book a tour in Lima--beyond that we walked from the Lima hotel (we booked pre and post nights with Disney)--to the beach area with an interesting outdoor mall, etc. Watch your backpacks!!
 
Bobo912

Did you stay at the “Hotel Sol y Luna” on your trip? We are spending 2 nights there in June when we are traveling to Machu Picchu (on our own). How did you like the resort? What activities did they have for the guest to do? How were the rooms and the dining?

Thanks for any info.


We did stay at the Sol y Luna. The resort is beautiful. We were given an upgrade and had a huge, beautiful casita. I'll post some photos as soon as I have a little time. The guides didn't really mention any of the activities at the resort and when I asked the only comment was that past guests didn't recommend the horseback riding. There wasn't any information on activities in the rooms either. Their website says biking and paragliding, as well as horseback riding, but I don't know of anyone who did any of the activities at the resort. We didn't have a lot of free time anyway. We had one free afternoon where there was an optional excursion to an artists pottery studio and I think a lot of people in our group did that. It was raining that afternoon and I took the opportunity just to spend some time in our awesome casita, soaking in the huge tub and sitting on the patio reading. As far as dining goes, I wasn't particularly impressed with the breakfast buffet. It was nothing special and never changed from one day to the next (we were there 4 days). Dinner in the main restaurant was very good. I don't know if you'll have the opportunity to attend the Pachamanca feast but it was interesting to see how the food is cooked in a pit and the entertainment was great, but the food IMO was nothing to write home about.

Can someone who's been on this trip before or who has any information share with us some reputable travel agents in Peru? We will be arriving on Wednesday and ABD doesn't start until Saturday, so we need to plan some pre-trip activities ahead of the trip and would like to contact travel agencies directly (unless this is something ABD can plan for us? - it's our first ABD, so I really have no clue)...

We arrived a day early and the guides were not at the Casa Andina in Lima (where the tour group stays). They arrived the next morning (the official day 1 of the tour, even though there are no activities on that day) and set up shop in the lobby to greet the guests. They told me they were in town the night before, but stayed in a different hotel.
 
Ideally, we would want to use the pre-days (Th/Fr and most of Sa) to explore areas outside of Lima as we will also have one post-day to stay in Lima after ABD ends. So far, I've found the following areas, but would need to get some travel agent involved to make this happens given the short time and the long distance involved:

1. Nazca Lines / Paracas
- helicopter tour or possible a boat cruise
- could spend time at a nice SPG beach side resort
- in this case, we probably won't need to plan much as I can just book helicopter or boat cruise and hotel nights myself.

2. Colca Canyon
- south of Lima, would probably need to fly there?
- would prefer booking a 3D2N trip with a travel agency (instead of going on our own)

3. Lake Titicaca
- border of Peru and Bolivia
- would need to fly there, but it seems like it's easier to visit Titicaca from the Bolivia side (as it's closer to La Paz, the capital of Bolivia)
- the pictures seem amazing, but 3D2N may be a bit tight
- would prefer booking a 3D2N trip with a travel agency if we do end up choosing this one

Does anyone have any other suggestion? We're also still very interested in hearing any experience you've had with local travel agencies or tour companies. :)
 
A family in our group went to see the Nazca lines and from what I remember what they told us, someone local helped them book the trip. It was someone they knew. You would need a full entire day to see it. First you have to take a long bus ride to reach the airport where the plane will take you up to see the lines.

Lake Titicaca is far from Lima. Another thing to consider is elevation. It is 18000 feet above sea level and not many will tolerate it. I would see how you do at 12000 feet (where you would be mostly) and consider.

You could probably ask your local ABD guide where to book those trips and do it after ABD. The online merchants are too few and far between.
 
Our family split in half - two did the pottery tour, and three of us did the horseback riding at Sol y Luna. The horses were magnificent. The ride was through the village area, sometimes riding right beside people's "homes." The trip was illuminating; the poverty severe; the horses were terrific. We enjoyed Sol y Luna - I agree with Bobo about the breakfasts - but we were happy with them.

We stayed post trip, and our guides assisted us in arranging very full activities touring Lima, with a separate hired guide they recommended, who was terrific. It was just our family, and we absolutely loved the post trip.

We had looked hard at visiting Lake Titicaca and the Nazca lines. We ruled it out because, after everything else, we thought it would be too much, and I think that was the right call.

We have a couple of posts about this trip elsewhere here - it was a great trip - Cusco museums stay open late (We had our own "night in the museum experiences at 11 pm one night) and we LOVED this trip.

Airlines are not real timely for "in country" trips...so be prepared and plan on substantial delays, by the way...
 

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