Well, I would say that you'll need four days for the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu. This is the main reason that most people go to Peru, and Machu Picchu lives up to the hype -- it's amazing.

You'll also almost certainly fly in and out of Lima (though I flew into Chiclayo), and you'll want to spend a couple of days there.

So, the question is what you do with the remaining four days or so.

The most common answer is the places generally around the bus route from Lima to Cuzco:

1) The desert oasis of Huacachina
2) The "white city" of Arequipa
3) Watching Andean Condors at Colca Canyon
4) Exploring Lake Titicaca

Of these, I only did a little of #4. Out on the lake are the "Uros Islands." These are not true islands, but are instead giant masses of reeds that float and have been used for centuries as homes by the Uros tribe.

Going out to these "islands" and spending a night with the Uros people is now a very touristy experience, of course, but I still enjoyed it tremendously.

The view at night was simply incredible, as the altitude, the clear air, and the distance from city lights made the Milky Way splash across the night sky, and this was my first time to see the Southern Cross.

And the wildlife on the lake is interesting as well, with unique species such as the Titicaca Grebe and the Andean Coot.

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Posted by GOP_Tiger

Baton Rouge

Member since Jan 2005

18065 posts

Posted on 5/19/24 at 5:57 pm to GOP_Tiger

You could also choose to go to Iquitos and spend several days at an Amazon River lodge. If so, then the choice of lodge is critical. Much of that area is not virgin rainforest, and I did not see the level of wildlife that I've seen elsewhere (such as Panama).

But Iquitos itself is fascinating, even if there's little to see and you can see it in a few hours. Iquitos is the world's largest city not connected by road or ocean -- you can fly in or travel on the river -- so there aren't so many cars on the streets, as the only road outside the city goes to the nearby town of Nauta and comes to an end there, so people drive around town in these motorcycle adaptations.

Iquitos became a huge boomtown a hundred years ago, when the areas rubber trees suddenly made some people very rich, like the builder of this mansion.

And the Amazon is so vast. Even so far upriver as Iquitos, it dwarfs the Mississippi -- it's about 4 miles across here.

I saw both the gray and the pink river dolphins, and swimming with the pink ones was nice.

Spending time with the monkeys, toucans, etc. at the animal rehabilitation center was certainly worthwhile.

Certainly, at any lodge, you'll be able to fish with a cane pole and catch some piranha. They are tasty, but you obviously want to be careful taking them off the hook. This little guy was a little small to eat.