Why Not Peru? Why Not Now?

Raise your hand if you’ve ever been to South America! My wife and I can finally say “me too!” We were recently invited to spend a few days in Peru with the Explora Expeditions. We were pleasantly surprised to find our visit to Peru was one of the best trips we’ve ever taken and now holds the place as one of our favorite destinations!

We have 6 wonderful surprises we experienced to tell you about.

Getting to Peru & The Sacred Valley

Our first surprise in Peru started as our flight left Lima and began to approach the city of Cusco. The mountains outside the airplane window were stunning and they were everywhere! We were blown away! Coming from Salt Lake City, Utah, that’s really saying something! When we landed in Cusco, we had an incredible scenic 2-hour drive to the Sacred Valley. Then we had surprise number two! Our Explora Lodge was nestled in the beautiful Sacred Valley of the Urubamba River surrounded by the most stunning views of the high Andes Mountain range. The two most prominent peaks being the Sahuasiray and Veronica. Outside our lodge was the unobstructed breathtaking view of those beautiful mountains! The Explora Lodge is on acres of farmland with no other buildings blocking this incredible view from the dining room to all other rooms and suites. It was special to wake up to this incredible view every morning.
In Andean culture, the Sacred Valley not only carries a spiritual connection, but the surrounding mountains are revered as “Apus”, sacred beings who symbolize protection and guardianship. The view of these mountains from anywhere in the valley are amazing

The Explora Lodge Experience

One thing we loved about the Explora Lodge was every night after dinner we gathered with our local guides and discussed excursion options we had for the next day. This was surprise number three! We had no idea we were going to be able to discuss what we wanted to do and pick many options.

Explora provided maps and expert information on where we could go and what we could do with a guide that the hotel provided. We could custom plan how we wanted to spend each day. All we needed to understand was the elevation concern for the different activities so we could anticipate how long we could stay in those areas since elevation sickness can be an issue. We were advised to keep drinking water throughout the day, but if we were to visit a site with a higher elevation, then we would only spend a certain amount of time there, considering which altitude we were at.

From the Sacred River Valley there are an array of places to visit including small farming villages, archeological sites, small industrial towns, and schools or instructional textile tours. At the Explora Lodge, we were treated to a 5-star dining experience. The Lodge had an amazing chef, and we were impressed with every meal. We could select what we wanted from a menu of options. The staff members are delightful and professional. In addition to the guided tours, the excellent views, the great food, comfortable rooms, everything ran smoothly, and our excursions were stress free!

Ollantaytambo

Our first excursion was to the quaint town of Ollantaytambo. We visited the home of a local family who lived there. We watched them feed their guinea pigs they raise for food and shopped the products they make from alpaca and llama wool. We visited the famous archeological site in Ollantaytambo and hiked up the terraces to see the view change before us. Our guide explained the history of the great Incan Emperor who colonized the town and explained the battles they commonly faced along with the challenges of every-day living.

Salt Mines of Moras & the Terraces of Moray

Later that day we visited the famous Salt Mines of Moras and the Terraces of Moray, another archeological site. This was surprise number four! We were mesmerized by both those locations and had no idea either of those existed in Peru. Our guides spoke perfect English, were very knowledgeable, and had a great a sense of humor. They took us to stops along our drive to shop for souvenirs & chocolate, a must in any country. We were continually reminded to drink small amounts of water throughout the day, which is paramount in avoiding altitude sickness. The local people were happy to have tourists visit and enjoyed explaining their heritage, their history, and their lifestyle. The Peruvian traditions are still alive, and you can tell the people are proud of their culture. Many men and women continue to wear traditional clothing, including hats. Locals say they can tell where a person is from and how old they are by the hat they wear. We wish we could have seen more in the Sacred Valley region, like the archaeological site of Choquequirao or Pisac. But maybe that will be a trip for the future.

Machu Picchu

Of course we were fortunate to have planned a visit to Machu Picchu! If you book the train to Machu Picchu from Ollantaytambo or Cusco to Aguas Calientes you want to arrange your tickets ahead of time through Peru Rail or Inca Rail. Then you will purchase your bus ticket for the half hour ride up to Machu Picchu from Aguas Calientes. 

Some choose to stay in the town of Aguas Calientes which is a fun tourist town at the base of the mountain to Machu Picchu, with tons of restaurants and souvenir shopping. Explora provided a guide who was with us from the van ride to the train ride to Aguas Calientes where we had a lunch reservation in town at a beautiful hotel. Our day was stress free! The train ride was a great adventure as well! The seats were comfortable with windows covering the ceilings & sides of the rail car and the views through the Amazon rain forest were stunning! 

And Machu Picchu was amazing and did not disappoint! 

Our guide stayed with us on the bus to Machu Picchu, and then she led us up through the terraces of Machu Picchu to the famous viewpoint where we stopped for photos. We had 3 hours there and she led us through the entire site and explained the history of the structures all along the way. We loved hearing about the culture, the history of the centuries of people, and the obstacles of the surrounding landscape. We were lucky the rain disappeared, and the mountains had only mists of clouds that floated along their peaks. It was a magical site to see, one of our most favorite experiences of all time! Surprise number five wasn’t just how amazing this day was at Machu Picchu it was how easy and comfortable the whole day was!

E-Biking The Sacred Valley

One of our favorite excursions was surprise number six! We were offered the opportunity to ride through the Sacred Valley via e-bike, provided by Explora and led by another one of their experienced guides. We started out the morning and headed straight from the lodge up a dirt road along the Urubamba River. We couldn’t ask for better weather and the river was beautiful! The scenery changed around every turn. As we passed through small neighborhoods, dogs ran out to the road to see who we were. We smelled the scent of morning cooking, we watched neighbors working in their yards or were just leaving for work. We passed by small gardens of corn, potatoes, lettuce and tomatoes. We drove past large fields of farms and passed neighborhoods of small homes and communities. Mountains and hills continued to move slowly past us. The breeze carried the scent of clean laundry, dirt roads, swaying trees, and the running river. Conversations whispered past fences. Smelling the scents, watching the river roll, feeling the breeze, seeing the people in their communities, being in the middle of it all, this was one of our favorite tours! We rode for almost 4 hours and traveled over 20 miles of sacred valley country along the beautiful river.

Last Thoughts

Peru was an unforgettable, stress free trip with surprises around every corner. We hope we can return and experience more of this wonderful country! A special thanks to Explora for making this possible and helping us have an amazing trip!

Brent & Nikki Jenson