Lima, Paracas Reserve, Ballestas Inslands, Nazca Lines, Andes Crossing, Cuzco, Machu Picchu

Trip Length : 12 or 14 days with 3 options to choose

Route Cost : 1680 dollars

Note : 6 First days you will has the same activities, then you can choose for 3 different options, see below

Activities : Expeditions with all terrain overland vehicle, navegation to Ballestas Islands, Paracas Marine and Desert reserve, Hucachina Oasis, Nazca Lines, Pampa Galeras Vicuña reserve, Andes Crossing, Traditional Andes village of Chalhuanca, Cuzco city tour the Cathedral, the Koricancha and nearby ruins, Puca Pucara, Kenko, Tambomachay and Sacsaywaman
Option 1 (Route 2.12-4): Connection to famous 4 days Inca Trail to Machu Picchu (trekking)

Included : 7 camping nights, 4 hotel nights, most meals included, our own vehicles, expert guides, the best quality expedition equipment.

Option 2 (Route 2.12-T): Connection to Machu Picchu by train (no trekking)

Included : 4 camping nights, 7 hotel nights, most meals included, our own vehicles, expert guides, the best quality expedition equipment.

Option 3 (Route 2.14-6): Connection to unexplored 6 days Inca Trail to Machu Picchu (trekking)

Included : 8 camping nights, 5 hotel nights, most meals included, our own vehicles, expert guides, the best quality expedition equipment.

Daily departures : Minimun 2 people

Our departure is from Lima, capital of Peru. We´ll leave the city by the southern highway, enjoying a great view of beaches and deserts. On the road, we´ll introduce you the tipical peruvian food, tamalitos y chicharrones and great tasty coffe, then we´ll continue to Chincha, lands of grapes and great wine, here we´ll stop to try and buy some wine for tonight.

Later, we´ll arrive to Ballestas Islands and Paracas reserve, at the Ballestas Islands a unique environment with large colonies of sea lions, penguins and sea birds. On a mountain on the peninsula you can see a very ancient and unique drawing: the candelabra.

Another interesting point is Huacahina oasis, with warm deep green medical waters, surrounded by high sand dunes and palm trees. Here we´ll try to go down on the dunes on a board, it´s sandboarding, so new for many people, so funny for many other that tried it before, if you don´t… don´t care we´ll introduce you in the best way.

Next, we´ll find Nazca Lines, a plethora of geometric, animals and birds shapes, marked into the sandy ground representing an astronomical pre-Inca calendar. There is no place in the world similar to this, most tourist leave this place impressed, you will do too, we’ll check for your overflight for the Nazca lines and you will experiment see them.

But Nazca has another special misteries, like the great sunset atop the Pampas de Nazca, you not need be romantic at all to feel you are in a special place and location, but we say location because we must to start to go up a little bit in the mountains to get that sepacial view we mention, tonight we´ll get a great meal, before that a beer with a terrific sunset. (1300 mts) (4200 feet)

Driving to the east, we’ll start to climb the huge Andes, here we start the Andes crossing, at the Pampa Galeras Vicuña reserve, and you will see a wide variety of native fauna, such as vicunas, tarucas, condors and infinity of Andean wolves, vizcachas and guinea pigs, as well as native flora.

We´ll sleep one night at the Chalhuanca village (2300 mts)(7500 feet) a beautiful Quechua community in the middle of the Andes, where people are very friendly, kids at the night help us to set up the tents, and then our cook prepares dinner for us, and another special meal for the kids, it´s not a obligation we just do this to share with them… and enrich the experience.

Next day at the morning after breakfast we´ll visit the school where we run the proyect Helping on the Road, if you want you can make your contribution (no money require)

Part of the activities is when kids sings songs to us / with us, you will be surprised when this kids sing in Quechua, (Andean language) more surpriced when they speak some friendly words in English. Communication is part of the fun and the only way to meet people and explore the Andean culture.

Continuing to Abancay town, we´ll visit Saywite ruins, where there are some andenerias (terraces) and a big rock looking like a blue print where the Incas designed the construction of another important city. But more important in the same area is a rock that prove this theory, it has sharp cuts with the same quality as the ones that are in Machu Picchu, it´s rocks, so strange because in the empire of the Incas there are not rocks with sharp cuts in the middle of the nothing, it looks like was planned here a important construction maybe like Machu Picchu, but it was just in the beginning.

After this first days travelling you will be ready for the elevation of Cuzco 3300 mts (10,800 feet) here we’ll back to the civilization, to see Cuzco, a visit to one of the most important ruins in town Sacsaywaman is included, and also another interesting places like the main Cathedral, a huge church with beautiful paints inside, you not need to be religious to appreciate the great geniality of the of Indian painters and artisans that hand made designed many beautifull wood works.

Option 1

Go to Machu Picchu trekking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, it’s a 4 days trek, visiting some Inca ruins on the way, there is more camping and 4 days trekking, you will be all the day long in the middle of the Andes walking with your back pack and breathing clean oxygen of the Andes. This is the traditional Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, you will be many ours at Machu Picchu to back to Cuzco by train later.

Option 2

Until now, all the trip has a chance to relax and enjoy without big efforts, but now everything change, you can take the Option 1 or Option 3, there is more camping and comes trekking, but if you are not fit enough, we believe this is the best option to choose, just relax and go to Machu Picchu by train, enjoining the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu, with a small back pack just with the stuff for the day and your camera, taking a relaxed stile. Because you can’t be happy if you are visiting Machu Picchu exhausted.

Option 3

Go to Machu Picchu trekking a secret unvisited Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, it’s a different path that goes by the Salkantay peak, more adventurous than the option 1, it’s also 2 days longer, (6 days) but you has the chance of get a horse to continue in case you are out of shape. Less visited means more pristine, and exclusive groups go to this area, just to keep our differenced style we were travelling till now. It’s maybe the best option on trekking to connect to Machu Picchu.