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Peru - Land of the Inca
May 8 - 15, 2012
Your Day-to-Day Itinerary
Day 1 - Tuesday, May 8. We will gather at Miami International Airport in the early afternoon in order to depart for Lima, Peru. We will fly pretty much directly south to Peru, a beautiful mountainous country of the Andes. We arrive about at Lima's Aeropuerto Internacional Jorge Chavez Airport. Lima is Peru's largest city, founded in the 1500s by conquistador Francisco Pizarro. Upon arrival, transfer to Hotel Melodia in Lima.
Day 2 - Wednesday, May 9. We will have breakfast at Hotel Melodia, and then go back to Lima's Aeropuerto Internacional Jorge Chavez Airport for our flight to Cusco. We will transfer to Royal Inka I, not far from the main square. Cusco was once the capital of the Inca Empire, and is a metropolitan area that has an altitude of 11,400 feet. This afternoon we will visit La Cathedral, one of the city's greatest repositories of colonial art, then on to Sacsayhuaman, perched on a hill overlooking Cusco. It still remains unfathomable how and when this fortress of gigantic stones - with some blocks weighing more that 350 tons - was built. We will also visit Qenqo and Pucapucara, and then on to Tambomachay, where we can see llamas and alpacas. On the way back to our hotel, we will ascend the mountain and take pictures of the gargantuan White Christ, an exceptional statue and art piece given in 1944 by the Palestinian community who used to live in Cusco. The community now lives in Lima. Then it's back to our Hotel Royal Inka I. For those not beat from the day's travels, it's a great experience to walk around town and observe the night life.
Day 3 - Thursday, May 10. After breakfast, we board our bus and visit the Sacred Valley of the Incas as we head toward the Pisaq Colonial Market and Inca ruins. We will have the opportunity to spread out through the native market to find some souvenirs typical of Peru. We will stop for lunch at Urubamba, and then visit Ollantaytambo, a major Inca site. The Incas consider this place as a temple, but the Spanish, after defeat, called it a fortress. The stone used for these buildings was quarried from a mountain about four miles away! In the evening we will board the train heading for Machu Picchu and stay at Aguas Calientes, a small village just below this famous site.
Day 4 - Friday, May 11. This morning we will have a guided tour of the sacred refuge of the mysterious Machu Picchu, "The Lost city of the Incas," high above the steep valley overlaid with a dense tropical jungle. This site is truly amazing, and defies description in words. Machu Picchu is a granite mountain, 400 square kilometers of granite! There are at least 101 terraces. We may experience a number of llamas and alpacas, roaming around on the beautiful grounds - tourists have had the chance to give these beautiful animals their loving pat! Apart from a few locals, nobody knew of Machu Picchu's existence until American Hiram Bingham stumbled upon it in 1911. Machu Picchu was declared a Peruvian Historical Sanctuary in 1981 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. In 2007 Machu Picchu was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. On the way back to board our train, we can continue some shopping in one of the many tourist shops. (Oh, if you want a Machu Picchu stamp in your passport, make sure to have your passport with you). Then we return by train back to Cusco.
Day 5 - Saturday, May 12. This morning we head southeast of Cusco, observing the picturesque countryside along the way as we go to a little-known Inca site, Tipon. In this area are multiple wide terraces used for agriculture, with an irrigation system all from Inca times. As we travel we observe the small towns and scattered simple homes and people going about their everyday activities. Some miles from Cusco is a place named Andahuaylillas, which we will be our next site to visit. It is famous for its beautiful 17th-century church, comparable to the best in Cusco, and attractive colonial houses. We may have lunch along the way as we return to Cusco. The afternoon is free - we can relax at the hotel, or go shopping at the shops in this part of town, of which there are many! Or we can take a guided walking tour within downtown Cusco, noticing its 400-500 year-old architecture, and seeing the wonderful paintings, richly carved altars, and sculptures inside these old cathedrals. For dinner we will find a great restaurant around the center square for delectable Peruvian cuisine - how about a guinea pig meal?
Day 6 - Sunday, May 13. Today we will have the privilege of attending one of the churches that has been started by Eastern Mennonite Mission (EMM) workers in the area of Cusco. We will divide up into several groups and visit San Jeronimo, Huacarpay, and Lucre churches. At noon we will come together to visit the trout farm and have lunch at the restaurant that the pastor at Lucre has established. John Kreider, an Eastern Mennonite Missions pastor, will share with us the history and present-day outreach ministries of EMM missionaries over the last several years. This evening we will have the opportunity to attend a performance of a Folklore Dance and Music of the Andes in Centro Qosqo.
Day 7 - Monday, May 14. After saying good-bye to our fine hotel personnel, we will have an early morning departure on our motor coach as we head for the Cusco airport, and arrive back in Lima, Peru’s capital, home of over nine million people. Today we will board our bus and take a city tour of Lima. Hopefully, we can grab some lunch in the Miraflores area, which is on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. We will see the Park of the Lovers, with its statue of the Two Lovers. We will also visit the Gold Museum, which has a wide range of artifacts, such as necklaces, funerary masks, scepters, nose rings, earrings, and idols. A very interesting site is the Iglesia de San Francisco, a colonial architectural complex which includes a monastery. We can see there the Museum of Religious Art and the library which possesses 25,000 books of different languages, many of them very ancient. This complex was built over underground galleries or catacombs which were used as cemeteries at one time, where more than 25,000 people are buried. There we will see the skeletal remains, with skulls, as well as arm and leg bones all laid out in diagrammatic fashion. Then it’s back to Hotel Melodia for overnight.
Day 8 - Tuesday, May 15. As we say good-bye to our brief visit to Peru - Land of the Incas, we will board our plane mid- morning, and arrive in Miami in the late afternoon, hopefully with enough time to catch our flights back to our hometowns in good ole' USA.