Amazing 6 day trip in Cusco!

Peru | Jul 7 - Jul 13, 2024

The trip in Cusco was well planned. We appreciated the logistical planning for transport and the guided tours in English. The travel agency in Cusco set up a what's app group and Jime was very prompt in her responses in the what's app chats. She was also very helpful and would provide exact and accurate instructions for each day's activities. In particular, we want to thank our tour guides (Edilberto Huamani in Sacred Valley and Cusco archeological sites tour, Fatima in Machu Picchu and Ketty in Rainbow Mountain tour) for giving us excellent overview of the history of Cusco. They were very kind and enthusiastic in sharing their knowledge with us. They spoke English very well and we could converse easily with them.

For the trip to Pisac, we had a Spanish speaking guide with a translator who seemed like an intern with the tour company. It was unfortunate that we realised the Spanish guide had a lot of information to share but the translator did not manage to translate the information accurately. For example, the Spanish guide spoke for 1 minute regarding the archeological sites in Pisac, and the translator followed up with 1-2 sentences which did not appear to represent what the guide had wanted to convey. The translator did not have very good command of the language as well. Although we enjoyed the sights in Pisac, we thought we would appreciate the sites further if there was a good English speaking guide with us.

The rainbow mountain tour allowed us to appreciate the beautiful scenery but I suffered from altitude sickness. It was also very cold in the mountain with strong wind, and we were unprepared for the weather. Jime had mentioned that it was very cold in the rainbow mountain the day before the trip, but we had not packed thick jackets for our entire trip in Cusco. I will suggest that the tour company should warn the participants regarding the weather and give the temperature ranges in the mountain, and also give warning regarding possible altitude sickness + give information regarding the altitude and how strenuous the activity may be, so that the participants can gauge if this tour is suitable for them.

Overall, we still enjoyed our trip and will recommend other tourists to consider booking the tour with this company, especially for English speaking visitors. The itinerary allowed us to experience many aspects of what Cusco has to offer, and we understood more of the Peruvian/Incan culture from our trip. Thank you Martina for planning this.