How much should you pay for your trek to Machu Picchu?

February 27, 2015October 28, 20154 Comments

Arrival at the camp on the first day of the Salkantay trek

For many travellers to Peru, the trek to the inca site of Machu Picchu is the highlight of their trip to Peru. Many prepare it many months in advance, but many arrive without anything booked. In Cusco, the old capital of the inca empire and departure point for the mythic ruins, trying to choose a tour operator for what shoud remain as a once in a lifetime experience can be quite overwhelming. Hundreds of agencies are lined up on the streets and where you can’t walk around without being shout at by some dynamic “Machu Picchu? Tourist information?“. The situation gets even more tricky once you realize that, for what seems to be the very same experience, prices of a trek can vary from $195 to $600 (or even $2000 if you don´t want to camp). In this jungle of offers, how to choose?

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Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu: it’s like Peru in a nutshell

February 12, 2015October 28, 20156 Comments

With this 5 days trek, you leave from bursting Qosqo (Cusco) to start hiking into a fantastic valley, you will pass amazing snow y andean peaks, admire glaciers and lakes, cloud forest and humid jungles before ending up at the amazing archaeologic site of Machu Picchu.
The trek brings you in the steps of the chaskis´ steps, the inca messengers. Thanks to a vast network of inca trails which was connecting Cusco, mountains and the jungle and a system of relay, a message could reach Machu Picchu from Qosqo in only 5h. For you, it will be in 5 days, on one of the world´s top 25 treks, according to National Geographic.

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Is Machu Picchu really worth the hype?

October 2, 2014October 28, 20152 Comments

Few sites convey as much hype and expectations as Machu Picchu. The site, one of the new 7 wonders of the world, brings every year hundreds of thousands of tourists curious to explore the most vast testimony of the inca civilization and one of the world best known archeologic site. But is Machu Picchu worth the hype?

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The salineras of Maras, an other inca heritage site you should visit

September 28, 2014May 4, 2015Leave a comment

There is more than Machu Picchu as Inca ruins you can visit in Peru! Just 40km north of Cusco, in the middle of the Sacred Valley, lies the Salineras de Maras, another demonstration of the Incas’ agricultural and engineering skills. For thousands of years, locals have harvested the salt of a mountain stream via traditionnal evaporation method on 3000 salt pools.

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Tip to get a stunning view from Machu Picchu

September 22, 2014October 28, 20152 Comments

For almost every traveller to Peru, a visit to the mythic Inca city of Machu Picchu is a must. Are you planning to visit the ruins? Make sure your ticket includes the entrance to Machu Picchu mountain, the little hidden gem of the most popular archeological site of the continent. It´s from there you will get the most spectacular views.

View from Machu Picchu montana: the ruins and on the left Huayna Picchu!

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A taste of peruvian gastronomy at Mistura food festival, Lima

September 10, 2014April 12, 2015Leave a comment

If you are in Lima this week (5-14 September 2014), you shouldn’t miss Mistura, the biggest food festival of South America! Mistura is the perfect place to try many local specialities -included the famous guinea pig!- on a budget.

Here is what we tried when we visited the fair (I must admit, everything was really tasty!).