I fly from Richmond, Virginia to Lima via Newark. The flight from Newark to Lima is long but it arrives on time at 10:30 pm local time. Fortunately, my hotel which is just across the street from the terminal. I meet my roommate Andrew when he arrives shortly after I do. We are both pretty exhausted and go right to sleep.

Andrew and I are on an early flight on LAN to Cusco. We are picked up at the airport in Cusco and whisked to our hotel. We soon meet our guide Vidal who takes us to the Plaza Del Armas where we meet up with some of our fellow travelers who had arrived a day earlier. We take a tour of the basilica and then grab some lunch. Then its on to …

We are driven out of Cusco toward the Sacred Valley for a morning of whitewater rafting on the Urubamba River. The river was not running as fast as I had expected it would be, but we still some pretty good rapids towards the end.
We had a nice lunch at small place along the river and then drove to Ollantaytambo. The ruins at Ollantaytambo are …

We meet up with our mountain biking crew in the Ollantaytambo's main square and then begin the drive up to Malaga Pass. The views of Victoria and Wakaywillca Peak along the way were incredible. We stopped and got on our bikes just past the top of the pass (almost 14,000 feet). It was a fabulous ride. The weather was perfect and the scenery …

After a night camping out, we were treated to breakfast al fresca complete with a birthday cake in honor of one our fellow travelers. Then it was off to the jumping off point for a hike on one of the old Incan Trails. The view along the trail was once again spectacular. As before, I'm impressed by the Incans – they were able to carve …

Change of plans. Vidal asks the group if, instead of the planned hike, we would like to go straight to Aguas Calientes and have an extra afternoon to explore Machu Picchu. Being flexible and adventurous Adventure Lifers, we all gladly jump at the idea. The new plan was to drive to near the hydroelectric plant on the west side of Machu Picchu …

We head up to Machu Picchu early in the morning to beat the crowds. Machu Picchu is one of those special and mysterious places that is difficult to describe – I certainly can't do it justice and won’t even try. All I can say is that my favorite spot was the Gate of the Sun. I think the view from that spot is one of the most unique …

I'd been kind of dreading the next leg of the trip – an all day bus ride from Cuzco to Puno. But it turned out to be a wonderful day. The bus was nice and it made several stops to see visit some ruins, churches, and (of course) markets. Lunch was excellent. The scenery was very beautiful as we moved up onto the altiplano. The company …

A very busy day: we start off with a bike taxi ride down to the docks to our boat, then we visit the floating Uros Islands, followed by some kayaking on the lake. The lake is beautiful, of course, and the water is incredibly clear once you get away from Puno.

After kayaking, we were back on the boat and headed to Ticonata, which was one of my …