As women, we had traveled with our families, or for reasons that were need based. This was the first occasion when we decided to travel to a place of our choice, in our group of girls, and to celebrate 50th birthday of one of the women! It gave us so much joy, time to bond, and help discover beauty and freedom!!
On 29th sept as we boarded the flight, for the big adventure together, we were so excited! There was so much we had heard about Machu Pichu, our expectations were sky high, it was natural for us to be nervous about the experience but we were so pleasantly surprised every day of our ten day stay. Travelling with Friends can be soul stirring.
What worked well for us?
1. Getting a Travel Agent : Having had a tour provider make arrangement for us made our experience free from worries about logistics. Trip advisor was a great resource, before we embarked we had multiple discussions with the Tour operator Divine and had details to the last level of detail if possible. Make an high level itinerary if this is your first time.
2. Acclimatization at Cusco on the way to Machu Pichu
3. Sequencing of the trip: There is so much to see and pick from, it is really important that the sequence matches the level of acclimatization and well being. One of the things we did was go to Rainbow mountain before we went to Machu Pichu. It helped us get acclimatize to the higher heights.
4.Food Culture: Peru has one the best food culture in the world. We tried food at small cafes and fancy places, and oh my god it never disappointed us. A few of us are vegetarian in the group, and we found the most delicious food! We discovered culinary delights like never before.
5. Local experience matters: Explore the local markets and if you have a local the experience is different, On our last day we spent time with a local in Lima and the food and restaurants we discovered was the highlight of our trip.
6. Getting around with the language: We discovered Google Translate - works pretty well. It was an eye opener how tech savvy the cab drivers were and how considerate and welcoming they were!
What we would add on if we did again..To be continued