Knowing your food issues from Rick Steves I volunteered the grocery store issue for O. There are 2 or 3 tiny convenience stores, there’s a multistory public market were you can buy fruit and bread, but no reasonable food store, so you would have to carry food in if staying for 3 nights.

You won’t have this issue in the cities.

The term “sacred valley” appears to be just a successful marketing scheme, so don’t think it’s that great to do an additional day trip from O. A taxi tour from O to Cusco will pick up 3 major sites, but not Pisac which is an easy day trip from Cusco. I would prioritize Pisac.

"The term “sacred valley” appears to be just a successful marketing scheme," hardly!

It comes from the Quechua words for the Urumbamba River Valley , "Willka Qhichwa . Has been around for centuries.

Anyway, day trips in and around said valley include Moray , Maras and Chinchero on the way between Cusco and Ollantaytambo. Easily done by hiring a taxi or using taxidatum.

Alternatively, a nice trip from Cusco is to get a collectivo to Pisac, explore the ruins and then return to Cusco by collectivo stopping off at Tambo Machay and then hiking back to Cusco via a few Inca sites and Sacsayhuaman. Three hours all level or downhill.

You clearly have concerned re food but, having travelled extensively in South America, I would say that teh food in Peru is the best on the continent. There are some excellent restaurants in Ollantaytambo. We lived there for a few months volunteering for a small NGO that ran Hearts Cafe in teh centre of Ollantaytambo. It was set up by a food writer and nutritionist, Sonia Newhouse who then ran the NGO. The aim was to promote good food hygiene amongst the villages in the Mountains. You should feel relaxed about eating there and indeed in most Ollantaytambo restaurants who raise their standards to compete.

I would steer clear of Ollantaytambo market where hygiene standards are not good. We tended to head to Urumbamba for most food shopping or left it till when we visited Cusco

Your preconceptions about food in Peru are incorrect. There is no reason to consume tinned fish, nuts and preserved fruit when healthy meals are easy to find. I would be more cautious about these types of foods (and dairy) than the "menu del dia" at local places, where it is all freshly prepared. Eating a little bit of salt might be a good idea to help with staying hydrated. You may find at altitude that your appetite is diminished. Most tourist restaurants know how to prepare fresh produce for consumption (and will used purified water) but I would not eat anything straight from a market that you cannot peel yourself.

No you cannot bring food into Machu Picchu historic site , if seen it will be confiscated. There really are no restaurants on site that would be suitable for you. Recommend eating in advance and then when you return.

Thanks for all your input. Maybe I will cut back to just 2 nights in Ollantaytambo and see Pisac and maybe somewhere else as a day trip from Cusco.

I didn't eat any restaurant food in Florida, southern California, Spain, or Germany. I ate some restaurant food and street food more than once in Mexico, not more than once a day. I know perfectly well that you need some sodium to survive well but you don't need more than 250 milligrams of sodium a day on average; most restaurant food is made with a boatload of salt, oil, and/or sugar; if it wasn't made with those ingredients, people would feel like it was disgustingly bland and most people are addicted to those ingredients. Fresh junk food is still junk food. But is it really that bad to eat a little bit of fruit like grapes or apple in Peru?

"most people are addicted to those ingredients" really? How could you possibly know to what most people are addicted?

”most restaurant food is made with a boatload of salt, oil, and/or sugar” you are clearly visiting the wrong restaurants.


“Fresh junk food is still junk food.” suggest you look up the definition of junk food”

”But is it really that bad to eat a little bit of fruit like grapes or apple in Peru?”! No one has suggested that it is.

A properly balanced diet will keep you healthy regardless of whether you are in Peru or Pittsburgh. However, looking back at your previous posts it is abundantly clear that you will do whatever you decide reoffend anything that is said here, so why ask?

Having read your Rick Steves posts I know you have demanding food requirements that aren’t really hygiene related. I think that’s what the others are assuming, that hygiene is your main concern, when it’s more about avoiding processed food and junk ingredients.

There’s a lot of great fresh fruit in Peru, also a lot of great dried fruit. Personally I would not hold back from eating grapes or other unpeeled fruit. There’s also only-in-Perú fruit.

Have you settled on an itinerary? I like 2 nights in O and a Pisac trip from Cusco. You should peruse the Taxidatum website to line up a taxi from Cusco airport to O, then a taxi tour back to Cusco, and a taxi tour to Pisac with the other tourist sites heading back to Cusco. Taxidatum is very reliable and it’s hard to get better pricing on your own (for a private car). You could say in your booking that you want to stop at the Plaza Vea supermarket south end of the Cusco historical area on the way from the airport to O, maybe for a little more money, but it’s a good store (bring bags). Also bring cash to O, remember the taxis are paid with cash. There are ATMs in MP town also. Get to O early enough from the airport to pick up one or both ruins. If you need to buy your tourist ticket in O it’s cash only, 240 soles.

OP has gone into great detail about his food anxieties on this and other travel threads. A combined fear of a heart attack and concern about catching another virus as in Spain. With regard to fruit, it isn't a stretch to assume it's sanitation. As in any country with unpurified tap water (outside of Lima) it's safest not to eat unpeeled fruit or produce such as lettuce without knowing the source or relying on the restaurant to soak it in a disinfecting solution. Just like Mexico. But you are free to 'spin the wheel' and take your chances.

Plaza Vea is a nice supermarket, not a local market. Doesn't mean someone might not have touched whatever pear you were intending to eat. As far as pears, that's a rather strange choice in Peru, most likely they will be "importado".

My worst case of food borne illness was eating fresh cherries bought in Chile and even rinsing them in supposedly clean tap water, I still think I caught something. But as crellston says, you can never really know. It could just as easily be from touching a contaminated door knob or seat back!

Does one of the following sound better than the others I listed, or does it matter?

Arrive in Cusco approximately 8am to noon. Transportation to Ollantaytambo. Ruins in Ollantaytambo if time. Sleep in Ollantaytambo.
Trip to Machu Picchu. Sleep in Ollantaytambo.
Transportation to certain major sites in the sacred valley area, I guess Pisac ruins, Chinchero, maybe Moray and Maras, driver takes me to my hotel in Cusco instead of back to Ollantaytambo. Sleep in Cusco
Museums in Cusco. Sleep in Custo
Ruins in and near Cusco (sacsayhuman, whatever else if time). Sleep in Cusco

OR

Spend time in Cusco first and then Ollantaytambo and Machu Picchu.
Various museums on the day I arrive in Cusco. Sleep in Cusco.
Various ruins near Cusco. Sleep in Cusco
Transportation to various major sites in the sacred valley area, getting dropped off at my hotel in Ollantaytambo.
Macchu picchu. Sleep in Ollantaytambo.
Ruins in Ollantaytambo, whatever else if extra time. transportation to Cusco. Evening flight to Lima. Sleep in Lima.

Or some other variation?

The first one is better as nearly everyone has suggested (I'm not sure who has suggested otherwise but won't take the time to read back over the thread again). It is better to spend the arrival day getting to Ollantaytambo or even Pisac, where you will sleep at a lower elevation, mitigating the effects of altitude. Even if you don't get a headache, you will still not be at 100%. BTW I know someone (older than you) who had a stroke at altitude while visiting Cusco.

I am assuming that you will not be taking Diamox in advance. If you feel good in the afternoon, you can "knock off" one of the two major ruin sites in those towns. Or just visit the town centers.

As several have mentioned, the Cusco museums are not really very good. I would not rush through other parts of the itinerary to set aside a day just for those. Better spent in Lima for museum visits. It is the Inca sites such as Sacsayhuaman, the town center, and the Qoricancha/Cathedral that are worth visiting.

Where do you see that the same ticket (110 soles) costs more in Ollantaytambo than it does in Cusco.?
I assume you realize that the complete ticket does not include admission to Machu PIcchu, Maras Salt pans, and the Qoricancha site itself (not the museum).

Doing a web search for those words, the ticket pricing quoted seems to be from May 2021.

There are a number of private ticket expeditors where you can land by Google Search, not all of them honest.. The official website for the Cusco boleto turistico is still https://cosituc.gob.pe/tarifario/# and if you use the English translation tab, it does say that the purchase is made directly at any of the points of visit included in our Ticket or at the main office of the Counter Central of Galerías Turísticas - Av. El Sol 103.

I can only think that the OP is either looking on some bogus travel agent website or confusing different types of tickets (partial circuit or resident vs foreigner) but nothing I see adds up to 110 soles more than 130 soles for the comprehensive ticket. The last time I went I bought only the two-day ticket and visited Ollantaytambo and Pisac on consecutive days. But I had already seen Moray and Chinchero so didn't need to include those.

PS It's probable that the tickets have not been repriced since 2021 (remember they are still recovering from the pandemic lockdown) and also possible that the ticket prices for 2025 could change. They usually publish something official in the local press as well as the website.

I have posted my Pisac experience elsewhere here, but noting again I really thought the hike down to the town was a trip highlight, perhaps more enjoyable than Machu Picchu, although it took 3-1/4 hours and I thought we were fairly good shape. (A travel blogger said they went up in 2 hours and down in 1, only a trail runner in top shape could make time like that.). Having the most sacred part of the site entirely to ourselves at midday was an incredible experience (I’m thinking that that part of MP is roped off, but it’s so crowded there and tour leaders stop their groups in the worst places to impede circulation and distract others from enjoying the site, I might have missed it). Remember that overweight people would not be able to do this hike due to tunnel halfway down.

Taxidatum offers 2 Pisac day tours, one with the full walk down, the other with just the top/back of Pisac then the 3-4 other boleto sites on the way back to Cusco. An early start and youthful energy and you might be able to do both in one day for an extra fee, if interested in a combination put your requirements in the comments section on the booking form.

I also enjoyed that Pisac walk all the way into town. At the time I could squeeze through the tunnel. I paid a local a little bit of cash so that I wouldn't get too lost, glad that I did that. When I went the local authorities were helping tourists with arranging taxi rides up to the top. When I went to MP you could stay as long as you wanted and l could walk up to the Sun Gate on your own. Now a lot has changed and you cannot walk up to the Sun Gate from the main site.

Getting perhaps too detailed and personal, I am 6’-2” and 200 lbs, and still got through the tunnel just fine, brushing the sides but not really that close to having to turn around. There’s a short ravine right after that where I did have to remove my day pack to pass through that.

I mention this because after 4 weeks in Peru where people are mostly slender (and short), during the 6 hours we spend in the American lounge in Miami, I was transfixed by the size of some Americans, amazing large in some cases.

Thats a lot to haul around at altitude, LOL....

"Get to O early enough from the airport to pick up one or both ruins. If you need to buy your tourist ticket in O it's cash only, 240 soles."

It looks like the ticket is actually 130 Soles even if purchased in Ollantaytambo.

So far I know that I am fine with elevations up to about 7,500 feet because I didn't notice a problem in Mexico that I could attribute to the elevation. I thought I was out of breath just once in Mexico City, just briefly, after going up a flight of stairs fast enough to keep up with a group tour but the problem might have been imaginary. Mexico City is about 7,350 feet (in the center or wherever that was measured). I suspect that I am one of those people who doesn't notice elevation related problems. If I spend 2 nights in Arequipa before Cusco, wouldn't I already be acclimated to at least the elevation of Arequipa, about 7,661 feet, when I arrive in Cusco? My apartment is only 642 feet; my parent's house is approximately somewhere between 890-900 feet. Cusco is about 11,152 feet. Ollantaytambo is about 9,160 feet. Wouldn't I want to be close to a fancy medical facility for at least a day until I prove that I am surviving the elevation?

As for Pisac, would I be missing anything major if I go to the Incan fortress only and skip the town, assuming the only reason tourists go to the currently inhabited town is for the market but my interest in gawking at products I don't need is low?

Sorry, I misremembered the price. I bought 2, but now thinking at the time that I needed to see 2 of the 3 main ruins to break even, and those are 70 soles each. So the 130 must be correct.

Pisac is a bit confusing because the ruins flow across the top a mountain ridge for 2 miles south of the drop off down to the town of the same name. We skipped the town.

Here’s a trail map but the green trail is washed out so you need to follow the high trail, the dashed line with the camera icon, just to the left. Bring a hiking pole and a gallon of drinking water. Best months to hike trail listed are wrong.

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/peru...uinas-de-pisac

If there is a bag storage place before the entrance to Machu Picchu and if I bring a smallish backpack with some food, could I leave my bag with the food at the baggage storage place so I could eat it Later, or would they still make me throw the food away?? Would Machu Picchu be like what happened at the Chicago Institute of Art, where they wouldn't let me enter with food but they also wouldn't store my bag at the bag check either if the bag had food in it and they induced me into having to throw a package of dates away that cost $5.99 but they smiled their rear ends off and acted like it was my choice whether I threw the dates away so that they would block themselves from appearing to be responsible for making me waste $5.99 so that any belief about the situation would be supposed to be coming from me and not them??

edit: Yeah I know you guys don't appreciate my food related comment or question; the action of communicating that I perceive restaurant food as junk food would be construed as insulting your choice to eat restaurant food. I am considering health effects not costs. If I save money by eating little restaurant food, the money I save will be just a coincidence or side effect.

I'm not a medical expert and so will offer no comments about adjusting to altitude. Instead, I would recommend that you consult the information to which crellston directed you in post # 3. Or to other authoritative resources, such as the CDC website: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowb...titude-illness

I don't believe you ever consulted my trip report, mentioned in post # 2. If you did, I believe you would realize that Pisac has (or at least had) an unusual set of local traditions associated with Sunday mass that I found particularly impressive and worthy of a side trip. I have no idea if you will be there on a Sunday (the day of the market) or not.

One other comment, FWIW: I'm sorry you became ill while in Spain, but the fact is, you got better quite quickly. Some might say there's a lesson there: Maybe you don't need to be so afraid of getting ill. JMO.

And one other comment: It was well within the Art Institute's rights to refuse to let you store food in their facilities. It was, in fact, your decision.

I wasn't raised catholic. Now I don't even observe the religion I got taught. I still irrationally go into some churches or other religious buildings when traveling if they are suggested in guidebooks or other places but just to see the architecture or artwork not to pray or for services. I can skip churches when short on time.

Sorry you had a bad experience at Miami International Airport. I was there twice. I didn't perceive the airport to be more of a problem than any other airport I have been to.

The staff were evil and unethical to refuse holding my bag if it had food and inducing me into having to throw the dates away and acting like throwing them away was "my choice".

Observing the ceremonies in Pisac does not require even entering the church; it certainly does not require any religious belief on your part -- again, as described. Don't go if you don't want to go, but don't ask if there's anything you're missing and then object that what you're missing doesn't interest you.

If that's your definition of "evil and unethical," I think you are going to have a very difficult life. Or rather, CONTINUE to have a very difficult life.

BTW, if you actually read my TR, you'd realize that my comment about Miami's airport was a minor throw-away. Certainly not anything worthy of comment. YOUR comment simply shows how little you read. Which is fine -- no need to read the TR. But again, my advice would be that you shouldn't ask for help and then complain when you don't get what you think you want or need without taking advantage of the input you do get.

Best wishes.

Machu Picchu doesn’t have bag storage facilities. You may carry in water and food inside a bag, but don’t eat the food at the ruins. There is a picnic spot a few yards down the hiking trail that goes down the mountain. We had food in our packs, you won’t be searched, and ate after leaving the ruins.

If you have the time to walk down, bring a hiking stick for all the stairs. It’s not particularly a pretty walk, but the rest of your Peru trip is in arid areas so the jungle here may be of interest.

You have never been at the elevation of Cusco so it's harder to predict how you will react. In my own personal experience Arequipa did not fully prepare me for Colca Canyon (same elevation as Cusco). I found over multiple trips to the Peruvian Andes and Bolivian Altiplano that the best way to adapt is to sleep at a lower elevation and plan my itinerary to ascend gradually, and most importantly to take it easy on the first day, something that you seem unwilling to accept.

The elevation of Cusco and more so Puno is when many people do start to feel headaches, nausea, sleeplessness as well as more typical reactions such as being out of breath on exertion. It can take a day for the lack of O2 to really hit home.

Feel free to consult your doctor and read the expert websites referenced by others.
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Supposed itinerary unless persuaded differently, giving myself just one day for museums in Cusco, getting transportation straight from the airport in Cusco to Ollantaytambo, Manchu Picchu as a day trip from Ollantaytambo, still going out of the way for a flight over the Nazca lines even though you guys skipped it and didn't perceive that it should be special enough. As for opening times, I checked google maps. I realize this itinerary is just approximate; I figure that I will first buy a ticket to Machu Picchu just to make sure it is included in my trip, then find make a reservation for a flight over the Nazca lines including figuring out whether the reservation includes somebody driving me to the little airport the flights starts and ends at; then I will get round trip tickets to and from Lima, and then I can fill in the two major bus trips and 2 extra plane trips within Peru. Also I realize that the exact order of museum visits or whether I even go to every one I listed isn't likely to be exactly as I wrote; this is just a supposed way to see how I am likely to fill up my time.

Starting on the 4th week of June, my anniversary date at work, I get 10 paid days off work in addition to 6 paid U.S. federal holidays including July 4th. Should I use the power of U.S independence day, July 4th, as a way to give myself an extra day of travel, or plan so I travel after July 4th?

Saturday: flights to Lima. Arrive about 9 to 11pm. Sleep in Lima. 1st night
Sunday: Museo Larco? (9-7pm?), and/or various monuments; grocery store and/or a market? Bus to Nazca leaving about 5 to 6pm, arriving about 12:30am. Sleep in Nazca. 2nd night
Monday: flight over the Nazca lines. If extra time, guided tour to other sites. Bus to Arequipa leaving at 8:59pm, about 10 hours 15 minutes. 3rd night on the busTuesday: drop stuff off at hotel. Guided or unguided tour, or: Museo de Arqueologia de la UCSM (8:30-4), Museo Arqueológico UNSA (8:30-1pm or 2-3:30)?, Museo Santuarios Andinos (Inca mummy, 9-6pm), Casa Tristán del Poso? (9-6), Plaza de Armas, Basilica Cathedral of Arequipa? (until 6pm, ticket sales stop at 5pm). Mirador de Yanahuara. Sleep in Arequipa. 4th night.
Wednesday: Monasterio y Museo de la Recoleta (includes Amazonian artifacts 9-1:30pm or 3-5pm), Monasterio de Santa Catalina (9-5), Sleep in Arequipa. 9th night. Sleep in Arequipa. 5th night
Thursday: Plane to Cusco leaving about 8am. Bus, taxi, or colectivo to Ollantaytambo. Sitio Arqueológico De Ollantaytambo. (7-5pm). Sleep in Ollantaytambo. 6th night
Friday: Train and bus to Machu Picchu. Bus and train back to Ollantaytambo. Sleep in Ollantaytambo. 7th night, 2nd night in Ollantaytambo
Saturday: Taxi tour of El Valle Sagrado? (Moray {terraced depressions}, Salinas de Maras? {Maras salt pans, 6am-6pm}, Centro Arqueológico de Chinchero {7-6pm}. Sleep in Cusco. 8th night
Sunday: Taxi tour of Pisac ruins, Pisac market and the 4 Cusco ruins (Sacsayhuamán area, others, see taxidatum.com). Sleep in Cusco. 9th night. 2nd night in Cusco
Monday: Qorikancha (Inca temple ruins 8:30-5:30), Museo Inka? (9:15-4pm), Museo Histórico Regional de Cusco? (8-5), Museo de Arte Precolombino (8am-10pm), Sleep in Cusco. 10th night. 3rd night in Cusco
Tuesday: Plane to Lima. If time, Museo Central – MUCEN (art museum, 9-5). Sleep in Lima. 11th night, 2nd night in Lima (1st night of trip was in Lima)
Wednesday: Museo de Arte de Lima (10:30-6pm), Museo Nacional de Antropología, Arqueología e Historía del Perú (9-7:30). Sleep in Lima. 12th night, 3rd night in Lima
Thursday: Huaca Pucllana Inca site (9-5, ticket includes required 1-hour guided tour), AMANO - Museo Textil Precolombino? (10-5), Museo Pedro de Osma? (10-6). 13th night
Friday: Santuario Arqueologico de Pachacamac (9-5pm, 44 minute drive south of Huaca Pucllana), Museo Oro del Perú y Armas del Mundo? (10-5pm), or other museum 14th night
Saturday: Flights back to Detroit

If you don’t want to follow rules, then please don’t go to these places and certainly don’t complain about being found out and resort to insulting people that are merely doing their ( lowly paid and thankless ) jobs.

Rules are there for a reason. Imagine if everyone brought food into Machu Picchu, a World Heritage Site and ecology sensitive area. The litter problem alone would be horrendous. Hiding food in backpacks is simply unacceptable, whether on a plane or at Machu Picchu.

Try doing it in Australia or New Zealand and see what happens.

To paraphrase Zebec, I am done. I really cannot be bothered responding to an individual who, most of the time, doesn’t have the good grace to even acknowledge or accept advice they he has asked for.

I never wrote that I would actually eat within the site of Machu Picchu. All visitors to the site will eat on the day of their visit. Unless somebody skips eating that day, which is unlikely. Most will eat restaurant food, before and/or after their visit. I only was speculating on whether I could eat something I bought at a store on the same day as my visit, for example after exiting the site before getting back on the bus and or train, instead of resorting to eating restaurant food. Taking food into a site is not the same thing as actually eating it in the site. Taking food into a place is so I would eat it after the place, not in the place. I ate food I had bought at stores on every plane flight I took in my life that was more than about 4 hours. I brought pear and water into Teotihuacan in Mexico (I had cut the core out that morning and put the pieces in a reusable plastic container). Yeah I know people are taking offense at something I put above, probably my implying that restaurant is junk food, like something I put has to be construed as an insult to you for eating restaurant food. Yeah I know I am nuts compared to other travelers for trying to avoid or minimize eating restaurant food.

But thanks for all the other replies above. Now if we can quit talking about food, is my re-edited itinerary I lasted posted logistically doable? Did I gave myself enough time in Cusco?, and so on.

Your reaction to the Art Institute was the straw that broke this camel's back.

I think you have a good plan.

If just staying the first night (1) in Lima and leaving via Cruz del Sur, San Isidro might be a good location vs the usual tourist places. The Holiday Inn Express is recommended, breakfast included, very professional front desk. A person could walk to Cruz del Sur from there but it would be big busy streets. The Museo Larco is slightly closer to here than the usual tourist places.

Machu Picchu bans hard soled shoes and clapping and singing. They also ban hiking poles but lots of able-bodied people use them anyway. Reading the food ban it’s focused on banning picnicking (eg plates and cutlery are specifically mentioned). Guides are required but lots of people ignore that rule.

Some blogs mention a place to check bags but I didn’t see it.

I traveled solo to Peru, starting in Cuzco to adjust to the altitude. I found that it helped to get acclimatized before heading to other spots. In Lima, I explored the museums and monuments, but I didn’t feel the need to spend more than a few days there, so I trimmed it down for extra time outdoors.

As for the Nazca Lines, I debated taking the flight but ultimately skipped it due to time constraints and cost. If you’re pressed for time, it might not be worth it.

and yes July is fine for Peru—just keep in mind that the days are shorter, but the weather's great for trekking, especially around Machu Picchu.

I’d forgotten a money saving tip. For domestic flights the LATAM USA website charges substantially more than any other national site. I used the New Zealand site to get lower prices

https://www.latamairlines.com/nz/en

it saved up to 30%. You can get SkyMiles for these flights, although only premium economy nets over 450, regular economy yields very little.

It looks like since July 2017, the government of Peru wishes visitors to Machu Picchu be accompanied by a guide; as of this year there were not enough guides to go around and the supposed rule on needing a guide wasn't being enforced.

Should I reserve a guide in advance if such a thing exists?
Should I arrive with no guide and get a guide if I happen to see a free guide?
Or would I be fine unguided with just background reading and a map?
Did I make a mistake going into Teotihuacan in Mexico without a guide? There were available guides at the entrance, for about 55-60 U.S. Dollars.
I am mainly an English speaker but I tried teaching myself Spanish for about 3-4 weeks before I went to Spain, using books from the library. I did the same thing again before I went to Mexico. It made me feel smart and I know its overkill compared to most tourists. I am good at pronunciation and phonology, and I might understand some words and phrases, but I am not really a competent speaker as of now.

My guidebook from July 2024 also claims that you get one re-entry and that there are no baños inside the site, only outside the entrance. I find it too good to be true that you would get a re-entry.

If I brought a miniature backpack and foam cushion onto the train leaving from Ollantaytambo, what are the chances that the staff (on the train, the bus, or at the site) would induce me into having to throw one or both away? If you bring the wrong items to the entrance, do they automatically refuse to let you in or do they give you the option of throwing your items away?

Some of this is speculation for specific incidents, but there should be an onsite guide for hire in the unlikely instance of a guide requirement. I just threw myself into the views and experiences and realized most (nearly all) of what guides say or what is in a guidebook is speculation. There is no onsite explanation or ID of anything. Guidebook map paths may not coincide with current layout. Guidebook highlights may not be open.

I would not bother with carrying a seat cushion. Don’t count on re-entry, seems unlikely. Don’t worry about too many details.

What is the purpose of the seat cushion? You can't bring anything inside other than the small backpack and your camera. Bring insect repellent or wear long sleeves and pants. There are tiny biting midges during some seasons, possibly not in July since it is dry season then. Especially likely to get you if you think sitting is a good idea.

Do not bring any metal tipped poles. They may allow a soft tipped hiking stick if you look infirm. Or you may have to leave it outside the entrance.

These rules are to protect the site from damage and trash. No disposable plastic bottles for example (a huge problem). You are allowed to bring a refillable one but not sure if plastic is allowed.
If guards see you eating inside, you will hear a whistle.

I didn't use a guide either time I went. You will be confined to a prescribed path and direction. If you want to re enter I think you need a second ticket but no experience under the new rules. You are going in high season. There may be a limited number of tickets to go to the Sun Gate (Intipunku) but the route is completely different. The official website has videos and maps of each circuit.

Website can be a little touchy for buying tickets on line. May work better in Spanish.

"What is the purpose of the seat cushion? You can't bring anything inside other than the small backpack and your camera."
My rear end hurts if I sit too long on a hard surface. Yeah I could leave the cushion in my hotel room.

"Bring insect repellent or wear long sleeves and pants."
I am going to dress like I have on other trips, with close toed shoes, long hiking pants, long-sleeved shirt with a collar, and a sun hat. Hopefully I won't have a problem with mosquitos, ticks, bees, and so on. I haven't worried about bugs so far.

"Do not bring any metal tipped poles."
I have never used hiking poles. As of now I am in probably in average to good health.

"If guards see you eating inside, you will hear a whistle."
You aren't supposed to spend more than 4 hours inside the site. Guided tours take about 2-1/2 hours. You can't spend long enough in the site if pissing in the site is not allowed. For sure I will be back to the exit after 4 hours, probably after 3 hours.

I searched for tickets on the official Machu Picchu website. It looks like tickets for 2025 are not for sale yet, or at least I wasn't able to select any dates after December 25th.
Is there a big risk of missing my time slot for the Machu Pichu site because the line to get on the bus in Machu Picchu Pueblo was long too long and by the time I arrived at the site I had missed my time slot?

"Be sure to look at LATAM flights JFK or ATL or MIA to Lima, you don’t have to fly to Lima on Delta from Atlanta. There are many SkyTeam possibilities."

Yes you are right. LATAM has a trip leaving Detroit at 10:15am, arriving at JFK, leaving JFK, arriving at Lima at 9pm.
LATAM has another flight leaving Detroit at 8:25am, arriving at Miami, leaving Miami, arriving at Lima at 9:40pm.

It seems strange that LATAM is selling trips cheaper than Delta even though LATAM's trips will be partly on planes operated by Delta.