10 Days | July/Aug 2006 | Parents 6, 8,10 year old kids| Exploration
Average Reviews
Trip Overview
Our family of 5 (parents and boys age 6,8,10) went for 10 awesome days to Peru. There were three main sections of our trip. We started our trip in Paracus, on the coast of Peru, then traveled to the Sacred Valley/Machu Piccu, then a tributary of the Amazon called the Tambapata via the town of Puerto Maldinado, and then a few days in Lima at our friends' home. We joined two other families for the Amazon portion.
Full Itinerary
Days 1-2
Hotel Paracus -(NOTE: hotel has been rebuilt since our visit as there was an earthquake after our visit which destroyed the hotel.)
This area is very unique in that it is one of the few places in the world (like Namibia) where the desert touches the ocean. We hired a driver to drive us down the coast, past the lean-to settlements and the dry, desert area of Peru. Paracus is known as the ‘poor man’s Galapagos’ as you take a boat out to some islands which are home to millions of birds. In the olden days their guano (‘poop’) was a huge export for Peru. We took this boat tour from the hotel and it was windy but terrific. We also took a dune buggy ride out in the dessert. This dune buggy ride was a highlight for the kids as we were taken up and down huge dunes and also sandboarded down the dunes. We heard however that the following week a child was killed doing this…so do it at your own risk. We wore out seatbelts and didn’t have the driver take us down the steepest hills (we got out and watched him which was scary enough).
Days 3-6
Sacred Valley
We based our trip in the Sacred Valley out of the hotel Hosteria Rumichaca. Camino antiguo Inca Urubamba Ollantaytambo | Rumichaca Baja No. 118, Urubamba, Peru Carlos, the owner, helped book our driver, our train tickets etc etc and was super helpful. We stayed at his brother in laws hotel in Cusco as well. After flying to Cusco we were met by a guide who showed us some of the ruins and got us a bit used to the altitude by eating chocolate. It is very high. We then drove down toUrabamaba in the Sacred Valley which was our base. We stayed at a hotel/home run by Carlos (but I need to find the name…) which was tucked behind a big gated wall in the middle of a little village. From here we visited the marketplace nearby, the ruins in Ollantaytambo, visited a guinea pig ‘farm’ and played the game of Sapo and more. We took the train to Machu Pichu and spent a night there so that we could spend more time visiting the amazing spot, and my husband and one child went back up for the sunrise and hiked up Waynu Pichu. It’s worth spendinga night Aguas Caliente to explore the town and to have access up early in the morning. Spent the last night in Cusco (battleing stomach ‘issues’ before departing on an early plane the next morning.
Days 7-10
After flying from Cusco to the small town of Puerto Maldinado we spent a night in Puerto Maldinado where we met up with two other families we were traveling with for this portion of the trip (one family of which were expats living in Lima who had organized most of our trip for us). The following morning we boarded a small boat with an outboard motor for a 5 hour trip upriver to a Wasai lodge in the Amazon (http://www.wasai.com/tambopata_amazon_tours_alto_tambopata.html) . Along the shore we saw some animals, saw people mining for gold and beautiful jungle and forest. Once at the lodge we settled in, had dinner and went on a night walk in the jungle – many large spiders and creatures! There was not electricity so it was so dark at night that you couldn’t see your hand an inch from your face – literally. One son fell out of a top bunk so we were lucky as he narrowly missed hitting his head on a night stand and there was no medical help for at least a 5 hour canoe ride away. The next morning we set out early to have sunrise down river at the salt licks where we got to experience the parrots swooping in to lick the salt next to the river – beautiful! We also walked to some waterfalls and went swimming in a side river where they swore there weren’t piranhas! A bit scary and we had some tingling but no bites! After a second night at the lodge we headed back upriver to the lodge. Some of the group did a trip that afternoon to another part of the amazon involving a long hike. Then another night at the hotel in Puerto Maldinado and on to Lima the next morning.
Day 11-12
We then spent two nights at our friends home in Lima, where we swam and played tennis and hung out. We didnt’spent a ton of time in the city except one trip to do a bit of visiting sites. Then headed home!