Peruvian home in the mountains - on the bike rideToday we modified the original plan for the day....in the morning we decided to try the zipline in Santa Teresa. It's called Cola de Mono (or Monkey's Tail). There are 6 lines and some of the longest ones I've ever been on. The longest was 1,500 feet and across the Urubamba river at least 750 feet up above it! This was such a treat for us - we had a blast. I even took a video of myself going across the zip line.
After that, we chose to walk/hike to Aquas Caliente from the train station in Santa Teresa (instead of taking the train there as originally planned). It was a nice hike along the river and the train tracks. A bit easier than the originally planned hike and I throughly enjoyed it. Marco is also an avid bird watcher and botanist of sorts - he pointed out many birds and plants along the way. I'd like to note that Marco spoke perfect English and in fact at one point was telling us about a bird we had just seen - he gave us 2 Latin names for the bird and one more common name - all of which we had never heard of - at that point he said that he only had those THREE translations for us - I guess he knows more English than we do - at least words for birds and plants!!!
We also got to see Machu Picchu from the back side which was interesting -- then when we were up there we could look down and see where we had been walking! It was a long, intense walk of approximately 3 1/2 hours - it was a real treat once we could see Aguas Caliente come into view. A nice reward at the end of the hike. We checked into the lovely El Mapi hotel (what a great treat after 2 days of camping), then we had dinner and got to bed early so that we could get on one of the first buses up to Machu Picchu.
We've used Adventure Life for several trips in the past and have always been very pleased with them. The staff is personable and professional at the same time. Erin put this trip together for us in just a few days, and it has everything we were looking for! I recommend them without hesitation.
benn
3 weeks ago
I served as the person responsible for planning a trip to Galapagos and Machu Picchu for a group of 14 people. Jane with Adventure Life was very helpful throughout the process. Making suggestions, offering insight, and in the end helped me overhaul an initial plan into something even better. Also, Jane makes all the plans including the flights within and between Peru and Ecuador. Thanks to her this is going to be a stress-free adventure. After making the final decision about the trip, Jane gathered the contact information for all the travelers and sent out the details to each traveler individually with links to pay deposits, upload passport info, and personal preferences. She also ensured a group email was sent out to the entire group welcoming us to the trip preparation process. Our trip is a year from now and we are excited to make this once in a life time trek. I am happy to have organized things through Adventure Life. However, two small issues came up that were a little off putting. First, Adventure Life adds $50 per person to the cost for each traveler as a donation to a Galapagos conservation fund. I think this should he offered as something that can be added at each traveler’s discretion. Instead, it is automatically added, and each person must ask to have it removed if they do not want it included. Second, although the trip deposit may be paid with a credit card without incurring an additional fee, the balance must be paid in another way to avoid a 3% credit card fee. Maybe this is standard with all travel agencies. In the end I would definitely go through Adventure Life for the next big trip.
Brenda Nielsen
1 month ago
I think it was very helpful that Franny and I spoke on the phone. I think she had a better idea of what we were looking for, and she planned a great itinerary for us!
Elizabeth
2 months ago
My representative Kevin was very responsive generally and in crafting our itinerary to our specific priorities.
Rocco Labella
3 months ago
Easy.
Great work on the follow up and details by Waru.