For years I'd had this dream of one day visiting the Land of the Incas as I've been fascinated with their history and amazing architecture. But, as with many of our "wants", a trip to Peru always appeared several items down on our "To Do" list. Then one day last fall as Judy and I were browsing the web, we came upon a web site, Peru Tourism , which immediately grabbed our attention. We thoroughly searched the Peru Tourism web site and came upon a package which was exactly what we wanted, "From the Andes to the Rainforest". To quote the description: "Enjoy a 16 days assisted tour visiting the mountains and the jungle of Peru, from the City of the Kings, Lima, to the capital of the ancient América, Cusco, with its enigmatic citadel of Machu Picchu."

We contacted the agency with some trepidation, but were soon satisfied that everything was OK. Our wonderful agent, Maria Nunez, efficiently answered all our questions and provided excellent information concerning our trip. We actually extended the trip by one day in order to meet our flight requirements ( Air Canada's direct flights from Toronto to Lima), and this was fortunate as I developed some medical problems and we lost one day in Cusco (I'll discuss this later).

To describe our trip here on our home page, I intend to follow the itinerary and cover each area separately. Hopefully this way won't challenge the memory of older computers with an overload of information all in one fell swoop!

First, a simple map at right to show our travels.

Our evening flight from Ottawa to Toronto was uneventful, but when we arrived in Toronto, we were told the flight to Lima had been delayed until the next morning due to fog. Air Canada put us up at the Airport Hilton, and we finally headed down to Lima the next day. The following photo is of the Andes on our approach to Lima.

Fortunately this delay did not affect us as we weren't scheduled for a 'formal' tour that day. A tour representative met us with a van and driver at the airport, and escorted us to the hotel. Later in the day, our agent Maria arrived and gave us all the info, tickets, etc. that we required plus nifty 'belly packs'. I'm wearing mine in the top photo of us at Machu Picchu - very handy!

- After our delayed arrival at Lima, we had the opportunity to get back on schedule. This included our own wanderings and, of course the formal tours. I've also included our delayed tour in Lima at the end of our itinerary. For our Lima adventures, just click on the Lima Coat of Arms at left! 

- From Lima, we traveled to Arequipa, then Puno, Colca Valley and finally Lake Titicaca. In the Colca Valley we viewed the Condors in flight. On Lake Titicaca, we visited the floating reed islands, and also Amantani Island where we had the added opportunity of visiting their school. Just click on the Arequipa Coat of Arms at left.

- Cusco - "The Imperial City", "Capital of the Inca Empire". Click on the Cusco Coat of Arms at left to view our wonderful time in this enigmatic city.

- MACHU PICCHU - "The Lost City of the Incas."

The experience of a lifetime for me!!! Click on the pic!

- Puerto Maldonado and The Amazon Rainforest - click on the graphic at left to view our amazing Amazon jungle journey.

We sincerely hope you have enjoyed looking at our photo log of our wonderful trip. Yes, there were a bunch of photos, and it probably took a considerable amount of time to load on your computer, but I don't think I could have done justice to our trip otherwise! I honestly feel that Peru is a 'best kept secret' for tourists. There is so much to do and see in this enigmatic country of friendly, hardworking citizens and incredibly varied sites.

Finally, a huge "Thank You" to our wonderful tour guides and associated staff, in particular, Maria Nunez our dedicated agent in Lima who arranged our trip.