September 2012 - A private trip
Lima - Sacred Valley - Machu Picchu - Cuzco - Lake Titicaca - Arequipa - Colca Canyon



No, we are not a travel agency, the name is just a joke. 

In January 2011, twenty of us, who live in Antigua, Guatemala, traveled to El Mirador and thanks to careful planning, enjoyed over 6 hours there and had a fabulous day.  Mirador Travel Agency echoed the NYC transit authority nicely. 

Machu Picchu Travel Agency stretches the analogy a bit, but so what ?

Now we are going on a trip to Peru in September of 2012.  This page is here to communicate plans to those coming on the trip. 

Until after the trip, this page will be protected by a User name/Password combination.  After the trip, there will be photos ...


Emergency phone numbers during the trip.

Those planning to travel:

bulletElizabeth Bell, Antigua, SINGLE, 8 days to Cusco
bulletCynthia Burski & Nathan Liskey, Antigua, all 15 days
bulletDianne & George Carofino, Antigua & Connecticut, all 15 days
bulletBarbara & Tomas Cernikovsky, Antigua, all 15 days
bulletJudy Sadlier & Gene Budinger, Antigua, 10 days up to Puno
bulletDianne & George Carofino, Antigua & Connecticut, all 15 days
bulletNancy Ennis, Barbara's best friend, Houston, SINGLE, all 15 days
bulletLois & Jim Hartstein, Barbara's relatives, Delaware, all 15 days
bulletPatsy & Bill Lawton, Patsy is Nancy's sister, Iowa, all 15 days
bulletSylvia Whitford (also known as Jauregui), Antigua, all 15 days, sharing a double with Suzanne Woods)
bulletLorene (Rene) & Stan Wilbur, Tinmouth, Vermont, 10 days up to Puno
bulletSuzanne Woods, Wisconsin, all 15 days, sharing a double with Sylvia Jauregui)

11.11.11:  We needed at least 10 people to get the group travel and hotel rates that I negotiated in Peru and we have now met that requirement. 
Click to see Climate in Cuzco.    Click to see current weather in Peru. 

Click to see a larger image

June 5, 1988 - Barbara, Tomas, Jennifer and David at Machu Picchu.

The Peru plan so far. The clickable links below show you details of places, hotels, trains and so on, courtesy of the MTA: 

bulletSep 9, 2012:  Arrival in Lima.  Transfer from the airport to Miraflores Park Hotel.  Ocean View Suite.  Internet.
  bulletSep 10: Hotel includes buffet breakfast.  9:30 Orient Express tour of downtown Lima:  Plaza San Martin, Plaza Mayor, the Cathedral, The Government Palace, the Municipal Palace, etc, etc, San Francisco Convent and the Larco Herrera Museum in an 18th Century mansion with treasures from ancient Peru.  A la carte lunch at the stunning "Cafe del Museo" with water, tea or coffee, other drinks available. A tour of the highlights of this spectacular museum is also included.  Rest of the afternoon on your own.  Miraflores Park Hotel.  Complimentary 25 minute massage.  Breakfast included.  The trip includes two nights here.  The evening of September 10, at 6 p.m., we will have a conference room in the hotel to meet each other formally and go over the details of the next two weeks of the trip, also to meet Ursula Tidow, of Orient Express, who has been working on our trip in detail for many months. 
bullet6 p.m.  Briefing: Welcome to Peru!  Meet everyone in the group, review the itinerary in detail, ask questions. 

bullet9/11:  5 a.m. room service breakfast.  5:45 a.m. transfer to the airport.  8:20 a.m. flight to Cuzco on LAN Peru.  VIP lounge at the Cuzco airport, with coca tea, while they collect our luggage.  Wi-fi and oxygen in the lounge.  Bus to the Pisac market.  Lunch and night at the Hotel Rio Sagrado, which is on the Urubamba river, near the town of Urubamba.  Heated wooden floors, breakfast included.  Wi-fi.   The first two days of the high altitude section of the trip drop quickly down from Cuzco (11,000 feet), over 2,000 lower, to Rio Sagrado, in a green setting at about 9,000.  This is about the level to which your long-distance flight to Lima was adjusted, aircraft are pressurized to about 8,000-9,000 ft of altitude, but, I guess on the plane you were just sitting and not walking around.  The first two days offer low-stress outings in the neighboring towns.  If anyone should have altitude adjustment problems, the hotel has oxygen tanks and masks available.  Aside from lots of coca tea, people can simply take it easy in the comfortable hotel to adjust and not go on trips if they don't want to.  Read more about this.

bulletSep 12:  9:30 a.m. trip to the town of Chinchero.  Andean textile weaving demonstration.  A picnic lunch.  Afternoon to Maras ... a town of salt pans.  Hotel Rio Sagrado, breakfast included.

bullet Sep 13:  Train to Machu Picchu.  We will take the the Vistadome train, which leaved DIRECTLY from the hotel, which Peru Rail operates for Orient Express.  We have visited Ollantaytambo before at it is an interesting town.  Entry tickets to the "citadel" ... i.e. Machu Picchu.  Morning guided tour, afternoon on your own.

bullet Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge.  Last time we went, it was called Hotel de Turistas, but now it's an Orient Express property and, same as then, the only hotel at the site.  "Mountain-view room".  We plan to stay one night, seeing the site in the afternoon, after many day-trip tourists leave and probably again very early the next morning, before breakfast, before they all return.  Full board:  buffet breakfast, a la carte lunch and "romantic dinner in your room, with candles", as well as alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks (premium alcoholic brands and special wines will be charged at the menu price).  Complimentary copy of a book of photos of Peru by Walter Wust, a well known photographer and 1 hour of internet.  "English Tea" in the afternoon.  Read Frommers' review of this luxurious hotel.

bullet Sep 14:  Entry tickets to Machu Picchu.  On your own among the crowds, but I recommend you read a recent BBC report on "what most people miss at Machu Picchu".  It seems that 400 tickets a day are sold to people at 5 a.m. to climb Huana Picchu.  The site opens at 6 a.m. (sunrise is at 5:46) and I recommend a visit, because there will be very few people and the site is awesome.  Then breakfast at the Lodge.  After breakfast at the hotel, you can explore Machu Picchu on your own, but I would recommend the 1-1/2 hour climb up Mt. Machu Picchu at the other end of the site, with few people and stunning views may be a much better thing to do  (see the BBC report). 

bullet 5 p.m. bus to the train station way below and an evening train from Machu Picchu to Cuzco.  We will take the very luxurious Hiram Bingham train, which Peru Rail operates for Orient Express.  There is an "elegant dinner" on board with soft drinks, Peruvian wine and Pisco as well as live entertainment.  We arrive in Cuzco after 9 p.m.  Transfer to the hotel.

bullet Hotel Monasterio, built in 1592 as a Jesuit seminary, where we plan to stay 3 nights.  It is 2 blocks from the Plaza de Armas, the heart of Cuzco.  We stayed here in 1988, but it has since been taken over by Orient-Express.  It was luxurious when we stayed there with our small kids, but it seems to have been upgraded since.  Oxygen-added rooms make the altitude feel much lower.
  bullet Sep 15:  9:30 an organized walking tour of the main attractions of Cuzco.  At 2:30, a private vehicle tour of the Sascahuaman fortress overlooking the city. Hotel Monasterio, breakfast is included.

bullet Sep 16:  Hotel Monasterio The second day is free on your own in Cuzco.  Breakfast included. 

bullet Sep 17:  Liz Bell leaves for Lima and everyone else goes on to Puno.  At 7:15, transfer to the other train station.  Train from Cuzco to Puno on Lake Titicaca.  It takes 10 hours!  Bring your Kindle to have something to read!  This train is the Andean Explorer with gourmet lunch on board and live Peruvian music (drinks are not included).  It leaves Cuzco at 8 a.m., makes a stop at the highest point of the trip at La Raya at 4,630 meters above sea level (Cuzco is at a mere 3,300 meters), and arrives at Puno at 6 p.m.  

bulletHotel Titilaka, Puno, luxury on lake Titicaca, which at 3,811 meters above sea level is the highest navigable lake in the world.  All suites have lake views and heated floors, probably a good idea, because at night it gets to about freezing temperatures.  Wi-fi.  Full board.

bulletSep 18: Lake Titicaca.  A wide range of trips are on offer and we should together choose one or two ... one will definitely be a boat ride to the floating Uros islands on the lake.  Hotel Titilaka, full board.

bulletSep 19:  Still at Titilaka hotel.  Those going to Lima can take another hike or a tour in the morning.  The choices are many and when we decide how many are coming, I will give them either to a group vote, or everyone could choose their own.  4 people leave the group at this stage.  Those going to Arequipa and on:  leave at 8:30 a.m. for a pic nic later next to a beautiful lake called Umayo, near Silsutani tombs, "a dream", they say.  3 p.m. flight from Juliaca to Arequipa.

bulletArequipa: transfer to Hotel Libertador, located in the "Selva Alegre" park, walking distance from the center of Arequipa, Peru's second largest city, with a colonial center ..  Internet.  Breakfast included.

bulletSep 20:  Arequipa, They call it the "white city" because of the white stone used to build it.  Hotel Libertador, a

Visit Peru’s White City, because of the white volcanic rock, sillar, used in its buildings; including the Plaza de Armas, the former cloisters of the Jesuire orders and the picturesque suburbs of Yanahuara and Chilina, wth the magnificent views of the Misti Volcano. Continue to the Santa Catalina Convent, constructed to shelter the daughters of the wealthiest families of the city with a religious vocation.

Afternoon at leisure in Arequipa.  Go see Momia Juanita!!!!

bulletSep 21:  Transfer by two private vehicles ... about 5 hours of stunning scenery, to Colca Canyon, which is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon.  Night, at  Casitas del Colca, a luxury hotel, which includes breakfast.  They will make the car/s available for us to go have lunch and/or dinner in neighboring towns.

bulletSep 22: Colca Canyon.  Activities are included with the hotel, from which we can choose, such as condor watching, a cooking lesson, bottle feeding young alpacas, horseback riding, thermal waters, we'll have to figure out how many of us are still left on the tour and what we want to do.  Casitas del Colca, breakfast included.  Latest news, April 2012:  The hotel has been sold to a Peruvian holding company and will be operated by a Colombian hotel chain.  The range of activities has diminished, however, Orient Express will be giving us our own private buses, so we can do some of, such as condor-watching, visits to local villages, etc, on our own.

bulletSep 23:  Morning at Colca, another nearby tour in the morning, early lunch, 1 p.m. bus to Arequipa airport, LAN flight to Lima that arrives at 7 p.m.  Some people are leaving that nights, and using the airport VIP longge, and a number are staying at the airport ho0tel and leaving the next day.

bulletDates/weather:  Read about climate in Cuzco.  Peru's high travel season coincides with the driest months ... May to October, with by far the greatest number of visitors in July and August.  May and September are particularly fine months to go. From June to September (winter in the Southern hemisphere), in the highlands, days are clear and often spectacularly sunny, with chilly or downright cold nights, especially at the higher elevations that we will be visiting.

bulletDetailed itinerary:  Click here to open it in WORD.  Also, go to a detailed document on the next page. Also, there is a page of Terms and Conditions.   Go to the top of the page.

bulletGo to Frommer's Peru 2011 Guide online, click here.
bulletEmergency phone numbers during the trip.

To  contact the author, Tomas Cernikovsky, write to:  cernikovsky@hotmail.com 

This page was last updated on 02/20/19.