Archeological Legacy of Peru

Arrival at Jorge Chavez Lima airport, meet and transfer to the hotel per respective category selected. Rest of the day is free at leisure for independent activities.

Breakfast at the hotel. Afternoon excursion to Pachacamac Ruins, considered by many to be the most important archaeological site near Lima. Four hundred years before the Incas, the Ishmay culture developed a major ceremonial center, featuring streets, dozens of temples fitted with ramps and the Painted Temple, evidence of their sense of religious urbanism. When the Incas overran the valley in the fourteenth century, they built the Temple of the Sun, the Acllahuasi (House of the Virgins of the Sun), the Pilgrims; Plaza and other palaces whose painstaking reconstruction gives visitors an idea of what the site looked like 500 years ago.(B)

After breakfast, early departure to Caral, The Oldest Citadel in the Americas. Much earlier than the Incas flourished, the city of Caral, located north of the city of Lima, was built. This was the first American expression of a Pre-Ceramic urban settlement with monumental architecture in an area greater than 10 hectares. Caral features pyramid temples, an amphitheater as well as housing complexes. Continue your trip and cross the Peruvian Central Andes to arrive in Huaraz, also known as the Peruvian Switzerland for its magnificent landscape. Box lunch is included. (B,L,D)

After breakfast you will enjoy a tour through a marvelous winding road passing through dense eucalyptus forests and breath-taking vistas. The ride will provide an unforgettable experience of the spectacular and contrasting vistas of Huascaran. Along the way you will see beautiful views of the Cordillera Blanca, with its impressive snowcapped peaks. Arrive at your destination, with the views of the Chinancocho and Orconcocha Lakes greeting you with their intense green and sky-blue colors. Take a mental picture and feel inner peace. Box lunch is included.

(B,L,D)

After breakfast, explore the wonders of Chavin, a great religious center built more than 3000 years ago and one of the greatest examples of architectural ingenuity in the world. The advanced Chavin architecture with its impressive homogeneity, technical development, functional value and equilibrium of shapes, mathematical complexities, astronomical and geometric principles and the remarkable magnitude of construction still mystifies and captivates architects, archaeologists, and visitors alike.
The complex includes ceremonial rooms and pyramidal structures built of massive stone blocks. The Old Temple has a group of subterranean galleries that open an access way to the Room of the Lanzon, an impressive stone knife-like sculpture. This sculpture is 4.5-meter high (15 feet) and has been carefully carved with feline, bird and snake patterns, characteristic of the Chavin iconography. Box lunch is included.. (B,L,D)

After breakfast, morning departure to Sechin Archeological Site. This adobe and stone ceremonial center belonging to the Sechin Culture (1800 B.C.-800 B.C.) features a wall covered with carefully carved stones outside of the entrance and a painted wall on the inside. The museum offers information about the main pre-Hispanic cultures that settled in the region like the Moche, the Wari, the Chimu, the Casma, and the Inca; it also displays the objects found during the excavations on the archeological sites of the Casma Valley, especially ceramics. Continue to Trujillo. Lunch en route. (B,L,D)

After breakfast, visit Chan Chan, the former capital of Chimu Empire, which reached its peak in the 15th century, not long before falling to the Incas. From Chan Chan you will visit the seashore village of Huanchaco, known for its totora seahorses – a typical
small reed boat used for fishing. Then visit one of the most important centers of the ancient Moche. This pre-Inca civilization, a warrior culture, once dominated the valleys of the northern coast of Peru. Experience the amazing adobe engineering of the
Temple of the Sun (Sol), the tallest pyramid in the Americas at a height of 157 ft., which is estimated to have involved over 200,000 workers in its construction and over 140 million adobe bricks. Steps away is the temple of the Moon (Luna), the Moche
political center where recently uncovered friezes of mystical images are believed to belong to a divinity of sacrifices.(B,L)

Breakfast at your hotel. Transfer to Chiclayo. In the fourth century AD, the Moche people buried one of their greatest warlords. He was buried with his head pointing south, his nose and ears covered with gold relics and his feet clad in silver. Also known as The Lord of Sipan, he was accompanied by his sacrificed subjects; women, children and llamas, similar to the way the finest warriors of the era accompanied their overlord on his voyage to the Afterlife. Visit the complex of Huaca Rajada, which comprises two huge pyramids made of adobe mud in front of which there is a platform wit two royal mausoleum. The intact remains of this important Mochica ruler were discovered here in 1987. Continue to the Royal Tombs of Sipan Museum, rated as one of the most outstanding archaeological museums in South America, the building is modeled after an ancient pyramid of the region. Here you can find a reconstruction of the Tomb of Sipan, dubbed the “Tutankhamen of the Americas” because of the golden splendor of hundreds of pieces of pottery and exquisite gold jewelry found at the site. Late afternoon transfer to airport for your flight to Lima.(B,L)

After breakfast, early morning transfer from the hotel to the airport for a short but spectacular flight over the snowcapped Andes to the oldest inhabited city in the hemisphere, Cusco, at an elevation of 11,440 feet. After arrival, enjoy a tour visiting important landmarks such us Cusco’s Cathedral, Santo Domingo Church, Plaza de Armas and Koricancha “The Temple of the Sun”. This tour of the oldest continuously inhabited city in the western hemisphere also includes the nearby ruins of Kenko, Puca-Pucara, Tambomachay as well as the Sacsayhuaman fortress, an imposing example of Inca military architecture. Tonight enjoy a dinner and show.(B,D)

After breakfast, enjoy an excursion to Chinchero, Pisac and Ollantaytambo in Urubamba, The Sacred Valley of the Incas. Departure to the unspoiled Andean village of Chinchero for a spectacular weaving demonstration by Nilda Callañaupa. Nilda learned to weave as a child while tending the flocks in the fields of her village. Nilda offers an indigenous, multi-faceted perspective on the arts, as well as excellent facilitation and communication skills. She is truly a one of a kind artist. She will lead a relaxed, fascinating workshop on traditional back strap weaving techniques and a discussion on the role of weaving in a contemporary Andean culture. Continue to the Spanish Colonial village of Pisac where an Indian Market takes place today (Tue). After lunch the tour continues through the sacred valley of the Incas to visit the town of Ollantaytambo and the imposing Inca Fortress. Return to Cusco. Lunch is at a beautiful country estate on the shores of the Urubamba River.(B,L)

After breakfast enjoy a full Day Excursion to Moray, Maras Salt Pools and Authentic Quechua Village. Morning departure to the Inca agricultural experimental center of Moray, famous for its sunken amphitheater, made up of four circular terraces, which appear to disappear into the earth like an artificial crater. Continue to the impressive Maras Salt Pools formed by water emerging from a lake inside a mountain in the Urubamba Valley. Enjoy an amazing view of evaporating ponds. Learn about ancestral techniques, which are still used, in agricultural, irrigation and salt-recollection tasks, as well as in Andean festivals and rites. After lunch, visit an authentic Quechua Village to feel the way of life of the Inca’s ancestors. The Inca himself was a noble Quechua. They live off the land and are always wearing their colorful ponchos, see Quechua children scamper about while woman are weaving their family’s clothes. A meaningful experience! Lunch is served at Casa-Hacienda Huayocari – The most ‘s lunch will be a remarkable event. (B,L)

After breakfast enjoy a full-day excursion to Machu Picchu aboard the Orient Express Luxury Train “Hiram Bingham.” Morning train ride aboard the most luxurious railway service in South America to enjoy the unbelievable sights of the “Lost City of the Incas,” Machu Picchu. Perched 8,200 feet above the valley, it was hidden by mountains and semi-tropical jungles for 400 years until discovered by Hiram Bingham of Yale University in 1911. Archaeologists believe that the Inca “Virgins of the Sun” took refuge from the Spanish Conquistadors here. Guided tour of the Sanctuary and plenty of free time to study the mysterious site. (B,L,D)