I arrived in Lima shortly after midnight where I had a reservation at the very nearby Ramada for a few hours of sleep. After a short walk across the parking lot, I arrived to find a very friendly staff and clean, nice hotel. Although I was there for less than seven hours, first impressions are important…I was pleased things were off to a good start.
I caught an early morning flight to Cusco and arrived at my hotel to find the rest of my group, including another guy who signed up late. After our guide introduced us and outlined our afternoon city tour he gave us a quick run down of things to watch for – signs of altitude sickness and stomach troubles. However, I had started taking Diamox, to prevent altitude sickness, a couple of days before and knew my bag was well stocked with a multitude of medicines to relieve stomach issues, so I wasn’t worried. Then he left us to rest for a couple of hours.
Unable to sleep, I freshened up a bit and hit the streets to exchange money and find something to eat. The hotel offered to exchange money, with I took them up on; I’m sure I could have gotten a better exchange rate at the bank, but the convenience was worth the few dollars. The hotel recommended a restaurant called “Witches Garden” and gave me directions. It had a very hip vibe with mystical décor and chill out electronic music playing in the background. Being advised to eat light the first day I had sweet potato raviolis…yumm.
The afternoon was spent seeing ruins in Cusco and visiting the textile factory. It was very interesting to see how wool is dyed using things from nature, and then to watch the women weaving. Weaving is a very complex process of pulling threads through one another to create patterns, but I honestly don’t know how they do it…the detailed fabrics are truly amazing. Left on our own for the evening, a couple of us went to the folkloric show and dinner. Although the sun had been extremely warm during the day, the temperature at night dropped dramatically and by my Southern California standards, it was freezing! It was only when I noticed the locals wearing hats and gloves that I realized it was truly cold. But I could only call it a night after I blended into the plaza crowd to listen to a Brazilian Cumbia band.
Adventure Life is my favorite travel company due to their genuine care for their customers. They make every effort to ensure a wonderful travel experience for you. Their personal touch really gives the customer a lot of confidence with their travel plans and the trip leaders are always outstanding. They are truly consistent and accountable with the great service they provide. I can't thank Adventure Life enough for the incredible trips I have enjoyed thanks to them and their attention to detail.
Tim Duffy
1 day ago
Kevin Moore working with me and providing very timely answers to all my questions.
Sharon Worsham
1 day ago
Adventure Life coordinated all our domestic air travel in Argentina as well as
Multiple tours in four cities. Every thing went perfectly smooth. All the local companies were on schedule and very professional. We will surely use Adventure Life on future travels.
customer
2 days ago
Franny helped us put together a great itinerary, was very responsive and so helpful. We ended up not being able to use Adventure Life for our trip, but would definitely use them in the future.
Sara Grosch
2 days ago
Jess H helped plan an incredible holiday to Costa Rica for us. She was great from the start, she really listened to what we wanted from the trip and took into account mobility issues by arranging different excursions. The whole planning process was easy and stress free even with us being in the UK and them being in the US. I would highly recommend using Adventure Life to anyone thinking of planning a trip. They are also priced very competitively which made it even better.