Peru: Machu Picchu and the Amazon

Meet up with your group at a pre-selected location at your home airport. Once everyone has arrived, check your bags and go through security as a group. From here you will board your flight and depart for your international flight to Peru.

This first day is counted as a full day of travel because the standard travel time to this destination exceeds 12 hours. This may change depending on your departure location.

Flight Details: Rustic Pathways will be happy to book your flight as an add-on service.

Arrive at Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima (LIM) and meet your program leaders who will be with you for the duration of the program. Head to the hotel and settle in, relaxing after your long flight. Join the group for an orientation discussion and an introduction to the local culture. Decompress from your international flight and get some rest before an early flight to the Sacred Valley tomorrow morning.

Overnight: Hotel, Lima

Wake up and take a bus back to the airport for your quick flight to the Sacred Valley and Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport in Cusco (CUZ). This flight will only be about an hour. Make sure to look out the window as you descend into the ancient capital of the Inca Empire in the Andes Mountains! Leaving from the coast, the group will fly high into the Andes to the historical capital of the Inca empire. End your day in a comfortable hotel in the heart of the Sacred Valley of the Incas.

Overnight: Hotel, Ollantaytambo

Get set for a day at Peru’s most famous site. The day starts off with a picturesque train ride to Aguas Calientes, the base town of the Machu Picchu ruins. Enjoy a guided tour to learn About the Inca site’s history. Explore the intricate stonework of this magnificent structure and views of the perched terraces.  Afterwards, we’ll have some time to explore the town before our afternoon train back to Ollantaytambo.

Overnight: Hotel, Ollantaytambo

Enjoy a mix of the past and present as we explore Cusco’s 16th-century cathedrals, ancient Inca temples, and colonial streets at this UNESCO World Heritage site. Then visit the Chocolate Museum and make your own handmade chocolates from Peruvian cacao.

Overnight: Hotel, Cusco

Head into the heart of the Amazon jungle. Wake up early and fly to Puerto Maldonado, our gateway to the Amazon. Upon arriving, head up the river to our secluded jungle lodge located deep in one of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems. Upon our arrival at the lodge, get settled into our accommodations. The lodge accommodations are basic but comfortable, and the excellent staff makes sure we’re well fed with amazing buffet meals. Relax and listen to the sounds of nature as we prepare for our first excursion. After dinner, we’ll head out on a guided tour in search of the forest’s nocturnal life.

Overnight: Jungle lodge

Over the next two days you’ll learn about many of the complex issues that threaten the Amazon.

Stay at an education research center in Peru’s only Amazonian national park. This protected jungle area is home to some of the Amazon’s most threatened species. Start each day with an excursion into your jungle surroundings. At midday return to the lodge to get cover from the heat. In the afternoon and evening, head back out for a glimpse of nocturnal animal activity. Each day, go on a walking safari to see different endemic Amazonian animals. Visit a salt lick where macaws flock for their mineral nutrition, hike through the understory to spot families of monkeys, and boat along the river to see caiman and capybaras.

Optional Activity:

Spend an overnight on a jungle platform that is the only legal structure in the entire national forest. After paddling on the lake that’s home to many rare animals, sleep in the open air under mosquito nets for a once-in-a-lifetime night in nature.

Customized jungle itinerary: 

Focus on deforestation and conservation in the Amazon. Learn about the consequences of cattle farming, gold mining and lumber poaching. Meet the rangers working to protect the jungle and learn about the complexities of economic development and conservation.

Excursions and activities can include visiting a salt lick to spot macaws, going to a local cacao farm where locals are learning to live sustainably within the forest, day hikes looking for the families of monkeys, night walks to see nocturnal animals, and nighttime boat rides in search of caiman. During the hottest part of the day we will take a break from the heat and relax in the hammocks and review any interesting camera trap footage that has recently come back to camp.

On your last evening, students reflect on their experiences during a closing discussion and the traditional Rustic Ties ceremony. This unique and powerful activity allows students to capture their memories and contemplate ways to share what they’ve learned with their communities back home.

Overnight: Jungle Lodge

Pack up and say goodbye to your friendly jungle staff before boarding a boat and returning upriver to Puerto Maldonado. Once in Puerto Maldonado, take a quick tour of the city before catching a plane back over the Andes to the Peruvian capital of Lima. After arriving in Lima, enjoy a last dinner together as a group before catching a night flight home. Adios!

Flight Details: Rustic Pathways will be happy to book your flight as an add-on service.