Peru: Part 1

It has been our mother’s longtime dream to take a family trip to Peru and go to Machu Picchu, specifically.  After a few years of planning, we finally made the trip and it was phenomenal!

All eight of us (mom, dad, four kids, one boyfriend and one girlfriend) left Cleveland together, bright and early after a wonderful family wedding, and made our way to Puerto Maldonado via a quick overnight stop in Lima.  From Puerto Maldonado, we boarded a riverboat on the Madre de Dios River (a  tributary of the Amazon River) for three nights in the rainforest.

We stayed in these awesome cabanas and went on jungle excursions during the day (and at night – terrifying!).  I’m not sure any of us truly appreciated Peru’s biodiversity before we arrived.

Everyone got real serious about their shoes.

We walked along the tree tops on this canopy walk, which is basically a set of seven hanging bridges at the top of the tree line.

By the time our days in the rainforest came to an end, it felt as though we’d already had quite an eventful trip.  Nevertheless we again hopped the riverboat to Puerto Maldonado and spent the day traveling to the Sacred Valley, in the Andes.  It was quite a change from where we’d been – both in scenery and altitude.

Here we got our first taste of the awe-inspiring Inca ruins.

We checked out the traditional Peruvian dying and weaving process.

And most of us enjoyed a delicious lunch and horse show at an area ranch (a few folks were sadly down for the count at this point).

Next up: Machu Picchu, Cuzco and 5hrs in Lima!  Stay tuned…