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Classic Peru
4.8
“Classic Peru” is genuinely a “highlights” tour of Southern Peru and what we saw was truly epic; a fascinating blend of Inca history & culture, the stunning scenery of the Andes and the Andean wildlife.
The 2 top highlights, for me, were a) entering the site of Macchu Picchu, shrouded in cloud, only for the wind to gradually blow that cloud away for the dramatic “reveal” and b) to see 5 or 6 Condors (adults & juveniles) gradually rise up the Colca Canyon, on the morning’s thermals, until they were soaring over our heads!
Lima is often written off but is worth a look and we arrived one day early (on Saturday) and visited the Centro Historico on Sunday morning. We were rewarded with a front-row view of the city’s own “changing of the guard” in Plaza de Armas.
The food on the trip is excellent in general and very good value. Our guide, Hector, was also excellent and very focussed on keeping us safe and in good health (managing the gradual increase in altitude, as much as possible); he’s especially knowledgable on all things culture and history.
For me, the only two negatives in the trip were:-
a) the overnight stay on Taquile Island - by all means visit the island but the poor accommodation overshadowed the stay and
b) the misleading advice in the pre-trip literature about currencies and exchange - Explore imply it’s ok to buy Peruvian Sol at Lima airport; DON’T - the rate is terrible. They also say “take US$ because the rate for the GB£ is poor”; ignore that too as the local rates (in forex bureaux) were almost entirely equivalent, so buying US$ in the UK is just a waste of money.
I’m sure Explore can quickly rectify these two things in an otherwise excellent tour.
