re: 9 days in Peru - highlights, pics, etc.

Well well well. My wife with no vacation time slotted out a few days in July. I was limiting my search to South America essentially since we have only about 5 days on the ground factoring in flights. Screw it, found some business class seats to Lima, and booked my tickets from there to Cusco for a few hours later.

Plans are to fly AUS-IAH-LIM-CUZ then get a ride to the valley. Spend all day at the hotel/village getting used to the altitude. MP the next day heading back to Cusco that night. Then spend 2.5 days in Cusco and back to the US.

It's a little tight but you only live once.

I'd love to see condors but we will be on and around the Amazon for most of the trip and condors are only in the high mountains. We will see toucans, parrots, macaws, hummingbirds, owls, antbirds, tanagers, cotingas, ... probably at least 400 species. And very few of them are seen in the US. I'm going to spend more time studying for this trip than most college classes I took. We are also hiring the best birding guide in the Iquitos area.

There will be a lot of other critters as well. Monkeys, sloths, snakes, spiders, frogs, piranhas, lizards... The lodges are mostly in virgin rainforest and accessible only by boat on the Amazon and Napo rivers.

BTW - I just checked on where Condors are seen in Peru. You have a small chance in Cusco but a pretty decent chance at Machu Picchu.

GREAT photos! Looks amazing. I hope to go one day.

I went to the Amazon in May -- you're going to love it. Everyone should visit at least once in their life. Incredible. Try and set up some visits to visit some tribes.

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Plans are to fly AUS-IAH-LIM-CUZ then get a ride to the valley. Spend all day at the hotel/village getting used to the altitude. MP the next day heading back to Cusco that night. Then spend 2.5 days in Cusco and back to the US.

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Jealous -- you'll have to do a write up when you get back. GF is from Ecuador so we're planning a trip there soon. I want to rent a car and drive to Peru.

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Before I go through some googling, how did you find this 1.5 hour option? 

I don't want to go up in busses but don't have 5 days either. With all the little different "special steps" involved with MP depending on what type of ticket you want, permits to trek, etc, I don't want to flub that.

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Machu Picchu mountain is a separate mountain top once you get inside the actual Machu Picchu "park". You can find tickets to it on the same website you buy your main Machu Picchu tickets. You'll see two "extra" hike options, Huana Picchu and Machu Picchu mountain.

Huana is the more popular of the two, probably because it's easier and shorter, but Mountain is much higher with a better view. If you decide to do either, book at least a couple of months in advance. They only allow a certain amount of people and will sell out

We took busses up to the park itself because we wanted to conserve time. You can hike from Aguas Calientes up to the park itself. Many people do this, it takes an hour or two, and you don't need any special pass. Just follow all of the other hikers.

But I'll warn you, hiking up both in one day will probably wear you the frick out. Those steps are no joke.

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If I understand your itinerary correctly, it looks like you'll be in Cusco for one day, then head out to Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu the next day, and to return to Cusco that night?

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No, we land in Lima at 1:30AM. Plan to just stay at the airport and take off for Cusco at 4:30AM, so we'll be getting to Cusco still very early and then head on to the Valley from the Cusco airport by car (1.5 hours) spending the whole day in the valley. We'll do MP on the next day as a full day. Still some debate if we'll head back to Cusco after MP that night or come back the next morning. Basically its either 2.5 days in Cusco after MP or 1.5. I'm thinking by the time we get to the Valley we'll be pretty drained, and my wife seems interesting in the ATV stuff there, so we may just relax at the hotel/town Day 1, MP day 2, ATV tour Day 3 and head back to Cusco. Day 4 in Cusco and morning in Cusco. Head home.

My wife and I have done our fair share of ancient/tourist sites, we're somewhere between fast and quick when it comes to them. That isn't even a time constraint issue, just a style

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and then head on to the Valley from the Cusco airport by car (1.5 hours) spending the whole day in the valley.

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What do you mean by "the Valley"? The Sacred Valley, like Ollantaytambo?

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Is the MP mountain you talking about Montana or however its spelled?

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Yeah, Machu Pichuu Montana (mountain in Spanish).

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No way we're doing both mountains, my wife would die.

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Yeah, I wouldn't even attempt that and my Gf and I are both fitness junkies.

If you're only going to do MP for one day and you want to do MP Montana, I'd probably book the earlier entrance time (8 am I believe), because it will take up at least 3 hours of your day, if not more depending on how fast ya'll do it. Not to mention it will be cooler (prepare to sweat!) Then you could reserve the afternoon for exploring the main area.

We got a private guide for the main area, which I'd recommend. You learn some interesting tidbits and history. It's not too expensive and I don't mind helping out the locals. They need that money more than I do.

Looks like a hell of a trip.

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I was planning on going balls deep and climbing both HP and Montana. the Peruvian chick we hired said I wouldn't be able to, im taking that as a challenge. 

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It's definitely doable if you're in good shape. It'll be a workout though. The only question will be if you want to commit almost your whole day at Machu Picchu to those hikes since you'll only be there one day.

That's up for you to decide, but if it were me I'd pick one and explore the rest of Machu Picchu. There's so much to see and being rushed just takes away some of the awe IMO.

We took advice from previous travelers and did 2 days in Machu Picchu (really a day and a half), and I'm very glad we did so.

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4th day return to cusco and kayak/zipline 
5th day is a day trip to rainbow mountains. 
6th day we will fly back to lima early and spend the day and night there 
7th day check out some sea lion island then soccer game at night(all in lima) 

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All of this is out of my wheelhouse. It sounds fun though.

This was our itinerary - with prices:

**Sun - 5/08**: Arrive in Lima 9:50 pm (overnight Lima)

* Staying at Wasi Aeropuerto B&B ($75)
* Hotel providing transportation to and from airport ($20 total)

**Mon - 5/09**: Early flight to Cusco, spend day/night in Cusco (overnight Cusco)

* Staying AirBNB Maya's Apt ($55)
* Yanina providing transportation from airport ($10 total)

**Tues - 5/10**: Spend day/night in Cusco (overnight Cusco)

* Staying AirBNB Maya's Apt ($55)

**Wed - 5/11**: Early train to Aguas Calientes, day at Machu Pichu (sleep Aguas Calientes)

* Staying at Panorama B&B ($85)

**Thurs - 5/12**: Sunrise at Machu Pichu, evening train back to Cusco (overnight Cusco)

* Staying at Mirador de Santa Ana ($40)

**Fri - 5/13**: Early flight to Lima, spend day/night in Lima (overnight Lima)

* Staying AirBnB Barranco Apt ($50)
* Pam providing transportation from airport ($20 total)

**Sat - 5/14**: Spend day/night in Lima (overnight Lima)

* Staying AirBnB Barranco Apt ($50)

**Sun - 5/15**: Early bus to Ica/Huacachina, dune boarding and bugging (overnight Huacachina)

* Staying AirBnB in Ica, Family Home ($44)

**Mon - 5/16**: Early bus back to Lima, spend day in Lima til 10 pm flight (overnight flight)

Looks fun. If I had even more time I'd like to see the Nasca Lines and Tititaca, but some other day I suppose.