ROD Y SANDY'S MAS EXCELENTE PERU AVENTURA
Mar 29th, 2008, 05:17 AM
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ROD Y SANDY'S MAS EXCELENTE PERU AVENTURA
Note: all arrangements were made in advance via the internet and email unless otherwise noted.
Day 1: March 9, 2008: Arrive Lima in the evening after Continental rerouted our flights because of bad weather in the eastern US. We arrived Lima via San Jose, Costa Rica on TACA Airlines but our luggage didn’t. We stayed at Ramada Costa del Sol Airport Hotel for two nights which is a good thing because our luggage arrived the next night. We prepaid the hotel using [email protected] at the rate of $156.00.
Day 2: Tour of central Lima with Deltom Laquernaque (phone 92304924, email [email protected] ). He picked us up late morning at the hotel with a little yellow taxi that he rented from his amigo. We saw the changing of the guard ceremony and went into San Francisco church where we also went into the catacombs; had lunch and later coffee and did quite a bit of walking, returned to the hotel late afternoon. Got our luggage that evening, somewhat of a hassle because it was still behind customs so we needed to be escorted backward to the luggage claim and then go through customs for a second time. TACA Airlines paid us $50.
Day 3: Departed Lima on LAN Airlines for Cusco about 8:00. The airport hotel location was a very good thing for us. Arrived Cusco where a driver from Ollantaytambo Lodge was supposed to meet us, but wasn’t there, after a phone call and sometime later the driver showed up, he spoke no English and drove an old 10 passenger van (for the two of us). We needed to stop at the Peru Rail office to pay for and collect our tickets for Machu Picchu later in the week; then off to Pisac for a look at the ruins. The twisting ride and the high altitude had taken its toll on us, when we got to the ruins we were both dizzy and short of breath so we only purchased the Boleto Turistico and went for a short walk and didn’t really see the ruins. We stopped for lunch in Urubamba, only the driver had much appatite and then on to Ollantaytambo Lodge where we had a couple cups of coca tea and a bowl of soup before bed.
Day 4: After breakfast we walked around the town, and down to the train station just to check things out and spent some time just sitting around and acclimating to the altitude by now we were starting to feel good.
Day 5: We went to the ruins of Ollantaytambo, all the way to the top and all around, we saw it all and felt good if not a bit short of breath. The rest of the day we had lunch and walked about the town before off to bed early.
Day 6: Up early for the 5:30 train to Aguas Calientes, we asked the hotel to pre-arranged transport to the train station as it is too far to walk with luggage in the dark and as it turned out in the rain. Arrived Aguas Calientes a bit after 7:00 and immediately checked into Gringo Bill’s Hotel. The hotel packed a bag lunch for us and after purchasing the Machu Picchu entrance and the shuttle tickets we were off to Machu Picchu arriving about 9:30 or so.
The rain had stopped but some fog lingered. Upon entering the site we made the choice of going to the left and uphill where you first see the whole picture (just like all the postcards) of the complex. With a bit of fog, we could see it ok but not great and decided as long as we were up there to go to the Inca Bridge in the hope that the fog would lift by the time we returned.
The walk to the Inca Bridge was the old Inca Trail that follows along the side of the mountain with spectacular views of the valley and the mountains. This was a great walk, maybe not so for anyone afraid of the “edge”.
When we returned to the Machu Picchu over-look site the fog had passed over for the moment and we got the classic view and photos like you see in the postcards. We then walked into the site and all around until lunch time when we returned to the entrance area where we had checked our lunch and took a break, as it started to rain again. We had rain gear and returned to the site and further explored in the drizzle. With the overcast conditions we did get some really great photos. We stayed until late afternoon before returning to Aguas Calientes for dinner and rest.
Day 7: Depart Aguas Calientes at 8:30 for Ollantaytambo, we didn’t have transport to Cusco arranged, but assumed that we could find a taxi and, in fact, we did as soon as we stepped off the train, the man spoke perfect English (I think the only driver we had except Deltom who spoke English) and had a very nice mid-size van for the ride to Cusco with stops at Moray (interesting, but a long way out of the way), Salineras de Maras (very interesting and not far out of the way) and Chinchero a very beautiful setting and exactly on the way to Cusco. Got taken directly to our hotel Orquidea Real Hostal in San Blas, not too far from Plaza de Armas. The hotel has a good location and the people where nice, but not a very nice room, only cost $40.
Day 8: Palm Sunday, in the morning we walked down to the plaza where there was a flag raising ceremony and an almost endless parade. We also walked around Cusco, plus we visited the Museo Inka
Day 9: Again in Plaza de Armas we entered the cathedral and witnessed the procession of El Senior de los Temblores (Lord of the Earthquakes) aka“La Negrita” which was quit interesting. A visit to Qoricancha (Templo del Sol) & Santo Domingo was nice We made reservations for cuy dinner that evening.
.
Day 10: After more exploring Cusco we transferred to the airport for our afternoon flight to Arequipa and were met by a driver from our hotel Hostal La Casa De Malgar, ate dinner at Zig Zag, and made arrangements for our transfer to Chivay..
Day 11: A visit to the ice mummy, the cathedral, and the convent plus some shopping and dinner rounded out the day.
Day 12: Our transfer to Chivay (a very nice 10 passenger van for 2 of us) got us to our hotel Casa Andina Classic by early afternoon. We explored the town and made arrangements with a taxi for a trip down the valley the next day. Several taxis can be found in the plaza most times of the day, although most, if not all, are ordinary mid-size front wheel drive cars and not a larger SUV type vehicle that should be used in the valley because of the road conditions, these taxis are willing and able (just barely) to go just about anywhere.
Day 13: Taxi to Cruz del Condor, the scenery was without a doubt the best we saw on the whole Peru trip. We did see several condors, most at some distance. We made many stops along the way, both going and returning, we intended to cross the bridge to Lari, but the road was too poor for the little car and had to turn back. This driver was quite careful of us and his car so we made arrangements with him to return us to Arequipa in a couple of days. We walked over the foot bridge at Yanque, I highly recommend this, be sure to look for the ruins under the bridge. We also went through the museum in Yanque as well. This trip took most of the day.
Day 14: After breakfast we again walked to the square where hired another taxi to drive us to Coporaque a little visited village across the river from Chivay, this road is even worse than any we traveled the day before but Palo our fearless driver was not too afraid to scrape the bottom of the car several times. From Coporaque we drove (even though someone stopped Palo and told him his little car wasn’t up to the task) to Uyo Uyo the abandoned village on the side of the mountain that does require a bit of a hike and the trail is not too clear, although I think we would have found it ourselves, Palo showed us the way and it was fantastic. We returned to Chivay mid-afternoon and killed the time by resting and eating dinner.
Day 15: This free day was also Easter Sunday, we went for a couple of hikes, one into the mountain and another just outside of town by some of the farms. We also spent a lot of time sitting in the plaza.
Day 16: Our driver from two days earlier drove us to the airport in Arequipa where we spent a good part of the day waiting for our rescheduled LAN flight to Lima where we were greeted by the driver for our hotel San Antonio Abad in Mira Flores.
Day 17: Our last day in Peru; we spent the day walking around Mira Flores and did a bit of shopping plus lunch at Astrid y Gaston. We paid for day use of the hotel room and were able to shower and rest before our transfer to the airport for the red-eye flight back to the US where we would arrive home the next day.
In summary; we came away from Peru with a very positive feeling of the land and its people, we were glad that we studied some Spanish before we went and always carried a small dictionary and phrase book with us so we got along great. We never felt any threat or attempt to be cheated, with the exception that we purchased a music CD and didn’t know until we got home that we got no CD, only the jacket, this could have been an honest mistake by the person who sold it to us in the Inka Market. The two greatest locations that we visited were Machu Picchu (of course) and Colca Valley. The entire trip was a lot of work even for an experienced traveling couple in their mid to late 50’s. This was our first trip to South America but our travels to places like Eastern Europe, India and SE Asia gave us the experience to cope with this different culture and like I mentioned the Spanish lessons and Rosetta Stone helped a great deal. Even though we traveled in the wet season, we had very little rain. In the future we will consider Chile and Argentina.
Peru es encreible!
Rod
Day 1: March 9, 2008: Arrive Lima in the evening after Continental rerouted our flights because of bad weather in the eastern US. We arrived Lima via San Jose, Costa Rica on TACA Airlines but our luggage didn’t. We stayed at Ramada Costa del Sol Airport Hotel for two nights which is a good thing because our luggage arrived the next night. We prepaid the hotel using [email protected] at the rate of $156.00.
Day 2: Tour of central Lima with Deltom Laquernaque (phone 92304924, email [email protected] ). He picked us up late morning at the hotel with a little yellow taxi that he rented from his amigo. We saw the changing of the guard ceremony and went into San Francisco church where we also went into the catacombs; had lunch and later coffee and did quite a bit of walking, returned to the hotel late afternoon. Got our luggage that evening, somewhat of a hassle because it was still behind customs so we needed to be escorted backward to the luggage claim and then go through customs for a second time. TACA Airlines paid us $50.
Day 3: Departed Lima on LAN Airlines for Cusco about 8:00. The airport hotel location was a very good thing for us. Arrived Cusco where a driver from Ollantaytambo Lodge was supposed to meet us, but wasn’t there, after a phone call and sometime later the driver showed up, he spoke no English and drove an old 10 passenger van (for the two of us). We needed to stop at the Peru Rail office to pay for and collect our tickets for Machu Picchu later in the week; then off to Pisac for a look at the ruins. The twisting ride and the high altitude had taken its toll on us, when we got to the ruins we were both dizzy and short of breath so we only purchased the Boleto Turistico and went for a short walk and didn’t really see the ruins. We stopped for lunch in Urubamba, only the driver had much appatite and then on to Ollantaytambo Lodge where we had a couple cups of coca tea and a bowl of soup before bed.
Day 4: After breakfast we walked around the town, and down to the train station just to check things out and spent some time just sitting around and acclimating to the altitude by now we were starting to feel good.
Day 5: We went to the ruins of Ollantaytambo, all the way to the top and all around, we saw it all and felt good if not a bit short of breath. The rest of the day we had lunch and walked about the town before off to bed early.
Day 6: Up early for the 5:30 train to Aguas Calientes, we asked the hotel to pre-arranged transport to the train station as it is too far to walk with luggage in the dark and as it turned out in the rain. Arrived Aguas Calientes a bit after 7:00 and immediately checked into Gringo Bill’s Hotel. The hotel packed a bag lunch for us and after purchasing the Machu Picchu entrance and the shuttle tickets we were off to Machu Picchu arriving about 9:30 or so.
The rain had stopped but some fog lingered. Upon entering the site we made the choice of going to the left and uphill where you first see the whole picture (just like all the postcards) of the complex. With a bit of fog, we could see it ok but not great and decided as long as we were up there to go to the Inca Bridge in the hope that the fog would lift by the time we returned.
The walk to the Inca Bridge was the old Inca Trail that follows along the side of the mountain with spectacular views of the valley and the mountains. This was a great walk, maybe not so for anyone afraid of the “edge”.
When we returned to the Machu Picchu over-look site the fog had passed over for the moment and we got the classic view and photos like you see in the postcards. We then walked into the site and all around until lunch time when we returned to the entrance area where we had checked our lunch and took a break, as it started to rain again. We had rain gear and returned to the site and further explored in the drizzle. With the overcast conditions we did get some really great photos. We stayed until late afternoon before returning to Aguas Calientes for dinner and rest.
Day 7: Depart Aguas Calientes at 8:30 for Ollantaytambo, we didn’t have transport to Cusco arranged, but assumed that we could find a taxi and, in fact, we did as soon as we stepped off the train, the man spoke perfect English (I think the only driver we had except Deltom who spoke English) and had a very nice mid-size van for the ride to Cusco with stops at Moray (interesting, but a long way out of the way), Salineras de Maras (very interesting and not far out of the way) and Chinchero a very beautiful setting and exactly on the way to Cusco. Got taken directly to our hotel Orquidea Real Hostal in San Blas, not too far from Plaza de Armas. The hotel has a good location and the people where nice, but not a very nice room, only cost $40.
Day 8: Palm Sunday, in the morning we walked down to the plaza where there was a flag raising ceremony and an almost endless parade. We also walked around Cusco, plus we visited the Museo Inka
Day 9: Again in Plaza de Armas we entered the cathedral and witnessed the procession of El Senior de los Temblores (Lord of the Earthquakes) aka“La Negrita” which was quit interesting. A visit to Qoricancha (Templo del Sol) & Santo Domingo was nice We made reservations for cuy dinner that evening.
.
Day 10: After more exploring Cusco we transferred to the airport for our afternoon flight to Arequipa and were met by a driver from our hotel Hostal La Casa De Malgar, ate dinner at Zig Zag, and made arrangements for our transfer to Chivay..
Day 11: A visit to the ice mummy, the cathedral, and the convent plus some shopping and dinner rounded out the day.
Day 12: Our transfer to Chivay (a very nice 10 passenger van for 2 of us) got us to our hotel Casa Andina Classic by early afternoon. We explored the town and made arrangements with a taxi for a trip down the valley the next day. Several taxis can be found in the plaza most times of the day, although most, if not all, are ordinary mid-size front wheel drive cars and not a larger SUV type vehicle that should be used in the valley because of the road conditions, these taxis are willing and able (just barely) to go just about anywhere.
Day 13: Taxi to Cruz del Condor, the scenery was without a doubt the best we saw on the whole Peru trip. We did see several condors, most at some distance. We made many stops along the way, both going and returning, we intended to cross the bridge to Lari, but the road was too poor for the little car and had to turn back. This driver was quite careful of us and his car so we made arrangements with him to return us to Arequipa in a couple of days. We walked over the foot bridge at Yanque, I highly recommend this, be sure to look for the ruins under the bridge. We also went through the museum in Yanque as well. This trip took most of the day.
Day 14: After breakfast we again walked to the square where hired another taxi to drive us to Coporaque a little visited village across the river from Chivay, this road is even worse than any we traveled the day before but Palo our fearless driver was not too afraid to scrape the bottom of the car several times. From Coporaque we drove (even though someone stopped Palo and told him his little car wasn’t up to the task) to Uyo Uyo the abandoned village on the side of the mountain that does require a bit of a hike and the trail is not too clear, although I think we would have found it ourselves, Palo showed us the way and it was fantastic. We returned to Chivay mid-afternoon and killed the time by resting and eating dinner.
Day 15: This free day was also Easter Sunday, we went for a couple of hikes, one into the mountain and another just outside of town by some of the farms. We also spent a lot of time sitting in the plaza.
Day 16: Our driver from two days earlier drove us to the airport in Arequipa where we spent a good part of the day waiting for our rescheduled LAN flight to Lima where we were greeted by the driver for our hotel San Antonio Abad in Mira Flores.
Day 17: Our last day in Peru; we spent the day walking around Mira Flores and did a bit of shopping plus lunch at Astrid y Gaston. We paid for day use of the hotel room and were able to shower and rest before our transfer to the airport for the red-eye flight back to the US where we would arrive home the next day.
In summary; we came away from Peru with a very positive feeling of the land and its people, we were glad that we studied some Spanish before we went and always carried a small dictionary and phrase book with us so we got along great. We never felt any threat or attempt to be cheated, with the exception that we purchased a music CD and didn’t know until we got home that we got no CD, only the jacket, this could have been an honest mistake by the person who sold it to us in the Inka Market. The two greatest locations that we visited were Machu Picchu (of course) and Colca Valley. The entire trip was a lot of work even for an experienced traveling couple in their mid to late 50’s. This was our first trip to South America but our travels to places like Eastern Europe, India and SE Asia gave us the experience to cope with this different culture and like I mentioned the Spanish lessons and Rosetta Stone helped a great deal. Even though we traveled in the wet season, we had very little rain. In the future we will consider Chile and Argentina.
Peru es encreible!
Rod
Mar 29th, 2008, 07:45 AM
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Thanks for the great report, tatersalad!
I'm currently doing research for a possible Peru trip in October (focused on Cusco, MP and Sacred Valley) so your info is very useful.
Were you happy with your hotel choices overall? You mentioned that the room at Orquidea Real was not the greatest. Would you recommend Ollantaytambo Lodge and Gringo Bill's?
Thanks for any additional information!
I'm currently doing research for a possible Peru trip in October (focused on Cusco, MP and Sacred Valley) so your info is very useful.
Were you happy with your hotel choices overall? You mentioned that the room at Orquidea Real was not the greatest. Would you recommend Ollantaytambo Lodge and Gringo Bill's?
Thanks for any additional information!
Mar 29th, 2008, 08:11 AM
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Overall the hotel choices we made were good in relation to the money spent. Ollanytaytambo Lodge (had no heat) and Gringo Bill's are quite basic but we were satisfied with them. In all cases the rooms and baths were clean.
Mar 29th, 2008, 05:46 PM
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We do have great pictures (IMO), however I don't think that my satellite internet has the ability to upload photos very well. The upload is so slow that I may not find the time to do it. Can anyone recomend a good site to upload photos into if I should find the time and the ability?
Mar 30th, 2008, 08:34 AM
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Hi--
Great report. We are thinking of Peru too, and it sounds as though we are pretty similar as far as age and travel experience.
Is there any part of your trip that you would have eliminated if you had to cut a few days? I'm wondering because in my reading Lake Titicaca and the Amazon both also sound fabulous, and, of course, we can't do it all.
Days 13-16 were in the Colca Canyon region I think. We are interested in seeing how indigenous people live, and I think I'd read that there were lots of remote villages in this area that can be seen on hikes. Did you encounter these?
Finally, about how much per day did you pay for a car and driver? Overall, did this end up being a pricey trip or a relatively inexpensive trip? Thanks much.
Great report. We are thinking of Peru too, and it sounds as though we are pretty similar as far as age and travel experience.
Is there any part of your trip that you would have eliminated if you had to cut a few days? I'm wondering because in my reading Lake Titicaca and the Amazon both also sound fabulous, and, of course, we can't do it all.
Days 13-16 were in the Colca Canyon region I think. We are interested in seeing how indigenous people live, and I think I'd read that there were lots of remote villages in this area that can be seen on hikes. Did you encounter these?
Finally, about how much per day did you pay for a car and driver? Overall, did this end up being a pricey trip or a relatively inexpensive trip? Thanks much.
Mar 31st, 2008, 06:24 AM
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Julies:
If to do over and had to cut some time we might spend one less day in Cusco; after seeing the ruins at Ollantaytambo and Machu Picchu, we didn't do any ruins in Cusco except the Templo del Sol and the various Inca walls within the city. We just didn't feel like we had seen a shortage of ruins.
In Colca: I think you could spend as much time as you like, depending on how much energy you have. The hiking and trekking opportunities there are endless and yes, we did run into a lot of "locals" in the areas we visited. On one occasion when we took a hike up a mountain trail from Chivay we met an older lady with her flock of livestock which consisted of a couple of donkey, half-dozen goats and about a dozen sheep plus a couple of dogs; we sat to the side and watched the whole show pass us by, it was a very special moment. With the exception of the several tour busses that pass through Chivay on their way to Cruz del Condor, there are not many other people from the outside to be seen. The other side of the Rio Colca has many great places; Uyo Uyo was a great adventure for us and not too hard to do. There are a number of villages on the other side of the river that get very few outside visitors.
We paid the local drivers he hired in Chivay: trip to Cruz del Condor with dozens of stops along the way= 150 Soles; trip to Uyo Uyo with several stops= 50 Soles; trip to Arequipa airport =220 Soles. In all cases the amount we paid was 10 to 20 Soles more than they had asked for and in all cases we purchased a bottle of water for the driver because they didn’t have any.
We were in Colca near the end of the wet season and things were very green and lush. In the dry season the landscape may not be quite so colorful but the people are very colorful. Most people do expect to be paid a small coin for posing for photos and that was a fun thing to do as well. The people are great.
And your other question: the US$ is in strong decline, but we found Peru in general to be a good value.
If to do over and had to cut some time we might spend one less day in Cusco; after seeing the ruins at Ollantaytambo and Machu Picchu, we didn't do any ruins in Cusco except the Templo del Sol and the various Inca walls within the city. We just didn't feel like we had seen a shortage of ruins.
In Colca: I think you could spend as much time as you like, depending on how much energy you have. The hiking and trekking opportunities there are endless and yes, we did run into a lot of "locals" in the areas we visited. On one occasion when we took a hike up a mountain trail from Chivay we met an older lady with her flock of livestock which consisted of a couple of donkey, half-dozen goats and about a dozen sheep plus a couple of dogs; we sat to the side and watched the whole show pass us by, it was a very special moment. With the exception of the several tour busses that pass through Chivay on their way to Cruz del Condor, there are not many other people from the outside to be seen. The other side of the Rio Colca has many great places; Uyo Uyo was a great adventure for us and not too hard to do. There are a number of villages on the other side of the river that get very few outside visitors.
We paid the local drivers he hired in Chivay: trip to Cruz del Condor with dozens of stops along the way= 150 Soles; trip to Uyo Uyo with several stops= 50 Soles; trip to Arequipa airport =220 Soles. In all cases the amount we paid was 10 to 20 Soles more than they had asked for and in all cases we purchased a bottle of water for the driver because they didn’t have any.
We were in Colca near the end of the wet season and things were very green and lush. In the dry season the landscape may not be quite so colorful but the people are very colorful. Most people do expect to be paid a small coin for posing for photos and that was a fun thing to do as well. The people are great.
And your other question: the US$ is in strong decline, but we found Peru in general to be a good value.
Apr 9th, 2008, 12:56 PM
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I now have photos on the web. Please feel free to visit the site.
http://www.worldisround.com/articles/344868/index.html
http://www.worldisround.com/articles/344868/index.html
Apr 16th, 2008, 07:17 PM
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Hi Rod and Sandy!
My husband and I are headed to Peru in June. We would like to chat with you about your experiences. Loved your pictures, by the way! Could you send me an e-mail, so that we can converse?
Thanks much!
Linda
My husband and I are headed to Peru in June. We would like to chat with you about your experiences. Loved your pictures, by the way! Could you send me an e-mail, so that we can converse?
Thanks much!
Linda
Apr 17th, 2008, 03:59 AM
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Linda -
We are also planning a last minute trip in June. Would love to hear about where you are going and what plans you have. We have yet to put our itinerary together and are a bit nervous about timing. Any suggestions you have would be great! We are thinking Lima, SV, MP, Cusco and maybe LT, but haven't done much of the legwork yet at all.
So much to do!
sho
We are also planning a last minute trip in June. Would love to hear about where you are going and what plans you have. We have yet to put our itinerary together and are a bit nervous about timing. Any suggestions you have would be great! We are thinking Lima, SV, MP, Cusco and maybe LT, but haven't done much of the legwork yet at all.
So much to do!
sho
Apr 17th, 2008, 11:43 AM
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We did pay people for pictures most of the time; most were happy to do it for one half Sol or one Sol, whatever coin I had in my pocket at the time. I would usually ask and then give them a coin in advance and pay each person in the group. It is good to have lots of coins with you for this and other reasons. We stoped into banks at several times and changed larger bills into smaller ones and also got coins, our hotels made change for us a couple of times.
All in a days fun.
All in a days fun.
Apr 17th, 2008, 06:21 PM
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shothyme77
It took us quite a while to get our itinary together - we kept changing it as we read more in the forums and communicated with hotel people in Peru. But, I think we finally have it down.
We arrive late into Lima, spend the night and take a 9:30 flight to Cusco the next morning. We will pick up our Machu Pichu tickets and then head to Ollanta, where we will spend 3 nights.
From there, we will go to Cusco, stay 3 nights also and then take the bus to Puno.
We will spend 2 nights in Puno and then take a bus to Arequipa.
We are spending 2 nights in Arequipa and 1 on a tour of Colca Canyon.
Then it's back to Lima for the night and home the following day.
I'm sure that you have specific questions, so let me know and I will answer as best I can.
It took us quite a while to get our itinary together - we kept changing it as we read more in the forums and communicated with hotel people in Peru. But, I think we finally have it down.
We arrive late into Lima, spend the night and take a 9:30 flight to Cusco the next morning. We will pick up our Machu Pichu tickets and then head to Ollanta, where we will spend 3 nights.
From there, we will go to Cusco, stay 3 nights also and then take the bus to Puno.
We will spend 2 nights in Puno and then take a bus to Arequipa.
We are spending 2 nights in Arequipa and 1 on a tour of Colca Canyon.
Then it's back to Lima for the night and home the following day.
I'm sure that you have specific questions, so let me know and I will answer as best I can.
Apr 17th, 2008, 06:35 PM
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Thanks lglass for your quick reply. It seems you are quite the south/central american expert from reading your other posts. Where are you staying in ollanta? are you hiring a guide or did you plan it all yourself? are you going to MP frm ollanta? Will you be in cusco for the festival? any hotel recommendations?
how was nicaragua in june, btw? we were thinking originally of guatemala before peru came up, but it seemed like the wrong season.
thanks for all your help!
how was nicaragua in june, btw? we were thinking originally of guatemala before peru came up, but it seemed like the wrong season.
thanks for all your help!
