 |
| Friendly looking little fella! |
It's getting close to time to throw a few clothes in a small suitcase (carry on, of course) or a backpack and head out again. The next adventure is actually going to be three unique and different experiences rolled into one trip.
Next Thursday morning we'll be driving to Miami to catch a flight to Lima, Peru. It's a direct flight and fairly short by Tucker standards ( a little over five hours) and only one time zone different than Florida........should be a piece of cake!
After one night in Lima we'll be catching a short flight to Cusco and transferring to our hotel in the Sacred Valley (Tambo del Inka). We'll be spending five nights in the Sacred Valley area and using it as a base for a one day trip by train to Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu is often thought of as being at a high altitude. At 7,972 feet above sea level it is considerably higher than Anna Maria Island (3 feet above sea level). However, compared to Cusco (11,152 feet) and the Sacred Valley (9,514 feet) it's fairly low. We'll have a few days to get acclimated at the higher altitude of the Sacred Valley before visiting Machu Picchu and finishing off this first adventure spending the final day touring Cusco. Hopefully we won't find the air to be too thin.
 |
| Machu Picchu |
From Cusco we'll fly back through Lima to Iquitos, Peru to spend five days in the Amazon. Iquitos is the sixth largest city in Peru. It is somewhat unique because it can only be reached by boat or plane. It's also known as the gateway to the Amazon Rainforest. Once we land the adventure begins with a four hour boat ride on the Amazon River to reach our generator powered lodge deep in the forest. The only air conditioning at the lodge comes from the rain and any portable fan you bring with you (we've been to Wal-Mart). Also the showers are "cold water only" which we have been told we will really appreciate. There's guided hikes and boat excursions deeper into the jungle, visits to local villages and schools and even a chance to fish for piranha on the agenda. The piranha should be fun to catch, but I'll bet there is a trick to getting them off the hook!
 |
| Tahuayo Lodge |
The third part of this adventure is a visit to a handful of the thirteen main Galapagos Islands. There are a couple of ways to see the islands. There are cruises on small boats and ships or land based tours. The cruises look interesting but they are also pretty expensive, so we'll be staying a few nights on two different islands and doing day tours that include snorkeling and hiking. We're looking forward to the up close experiences with animals including a bird common to the islands with a pretty interesting name.........blue footed boobies!
 |
| Blue Footed Booby |
Of course I'll be blogging when I can but from what we've read the connectivity in some of these places may be limited or nonexistent. Should be a doozy and I look forward to sharing stories as we explore these parts of South America.
