Cusco and the Sacred Valley
 

We just returned from ten incredible days in the Sacred Valley and Cusco (April 9-18). You can visit my travel blog here for details and photos. Will gladly answer any questions.

Thanks to those who helped me out ahead of time: crellston, colduphere, yestravel, and mlgb

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/odie1/7/tpod.html

Our schedule:
three nights in Ollantaytambo (town, remote villages, local ruins, school visits)
one night Aguas Calientes (Mandor Gardens and Machu Picchu)
one night Ollantaytambo again (Maras, Moray, Chincheros on our way out)
four nights Cusco (central plaza area, animal sanctuaries)
one night Lima (3 hour walking tour historical area)

Who:
Me (45), DH (51), DD (14), BFF (46) and her significant other (63)

Some thoughts:
Peru was fantastic. The Peruvians are some of the nicest people I have ever encountered. The country is beyond gorgeous. I felt 100% safe at all times.

Three of the five of us got sick from food/water-two badly enough that they took prescribed antibiotics that we brought with us. The two of us that didn't get sick, take daily probiotics on a regular basis and I believe that helped. Everybody but one was very careful about what they ate/drank. No one had problems with the elevation (save for a small headache the first night), only one took Diamox.

Guides greatly enhanced the experiences at all places-we used:
David Ramos for Ollantaytambo visit to remote villages and school (though it wasn't him, he sent Fernando-who was great)
Alpaca Expeditions for Ollantaytambo and Aguas Calientes (we had Jayme who was awesome)
Peruvian Local Friend for Lima (we had Rodrigo who was also awesome)

I pre arranged all of our transfers with Taxi Datum-Leonardo was amazing to work with, including having to cancel, rebook, reschedule, etc. All drivers were prompt, cars immaculate, though realize some do not speak English, drivers were safe

Even though we actually did not experience that much rain, quality rain gear, was helpful including a pack with a rain hood and gore-tex hiking shoes.

Hotels:
Ollantaytambo-Apu Lodge for three nights (absolutely loved it, except our room had beds that squeaked though our friends did not-2nd floor is a must) AND El Alburgue (very nice but would have been totally bummed with the location for the entire trip. It was perfect for the one night getting off the train exhausted)
Aguas Calientes-El Mapi-loved it
Cusco-JW Marriott-fantastic!
Lima-Courtyard-Very good

Highlight Restaurants:
Ollantaytambo: Apu Veronica, Hearts Cafe and Uchucuta
Aguas Calientes: Tree House
Cusco: Qespi at Marriott, Cicciolina and Inka Grill

We absolutely loved Ollantaytambo, thought Aguas Calientes was tacky, loved Cusco and the historical section of Lima

Your first trip to Peru? Hopefully not the last..you have just scratched the surface...

mlgb-It really was a fantastic country. If my daughter and I could, we would return every few months to those mountain villages bringing more school supplies and dental products! It truly was life changing!

I think one year I went twice..Just about my favorite country on the planet.

You should consider Ayacucho (I used Wari Tours for a one day excursion up to Quinua and the Wari ruins).

http://waritoursayacucho.blogspot.com/

Or the Chiclayo/Trujillo?Chaparri combo.

http://chiclayogringo.blogspot.com/2017/04/

Sounds like you had a great time odie1 . I enjoyed reading your blog and I am sure you had the same email as me saying that Travelpod is to close down in June. Such a shame!

yes crellston, I did! I am so disappointed. Have you found a replacement website? It's too bad it did;t go the way like Kodak Gallery where it got bought by Shutterfly but you can still access those photos.


My plan is to spend tomorrow making sure I get all my blogs moved and saved. I was just getting ready to order a few more books too!

We use Wordpress for our current blog - https://accidentalnomads.com . In the email that came from Travelpod they offer a free service to send all the blog, words, photos etc. In an .xml file which "can be easily imported to Wordpress . It has been a bit of a disaster! No photos, corrupt files etc.. some stuff was ok but we have a lot of entries. They get the files to you in a day or so, so it is worth a try to see if it works for you.

Fortunately, a few months ago I cut and pasted the words into pages and have a library of the photos. Transferring it manually will be a bit of a chore and I am just not sure whether we want to spend the time just yet getting every across to Wordpress.

We just left London yesterday on a long trip around Asia, Australia and New Zealand so I think we may just post some new stuff on the current blog.

Thanks crellston. I will check that out and get busy cutting and pasting! I do have all the photos.

Have a great trip!

I have a wordpress blog - mytimetotravel.wordpress.com - and found it very easy both to start and maintain. I am using a rather dated format, which I should probably update, but there are plenty to chose from. Exporting from Travelpod is a whole different matter, though. Will everything disappear when they close?

Yes, everything will disappear. I just downloaded my blogs and then spent yesterday cutting and pasting them to include the photos for each blog. I will definitely have to check out wordpress.

On wordpress you upload the text and media (e.g. photos) separately.

Thank you so much for posting this informative and inspiring trip report!

(Sorry -- I hit submit too soon!)

Can you tell me more about your arrangement to bring school supplies and dental products to Peru?

kja-

I am curious how you knew about the school supplies and dental products because I did not mention it above and the travelpod link no longer works.

I arranged the visits to the schools in the remote villages above Ollantaytambo with David Ramos. We brought the supplies with us. Our guide stopped at two of the schools and asked if they would allow us in to share the supplies. We were let in and allowed to distribute the supplies. We also just gave out dental products to kids walking along the road and ones we saw in Olly. The other school in Olly I arranged through the school itself. It is in much better shape though then the ones in the villages.

You mentioned them upthread, in your comment at Apr 27, 17 at 3:47pm. Thanks for providing this additional information!