Sorry in advance for the very long post. I know that when I’m looking at booking trips, I like to have all of the details so I’m hoping that this will help some of you with your choices.
We booked the 3 day/2 night Chinchero Sacred Valley premium hike & Machu Picchu tour with Machulas Journey and were not disappointed. First, prior to booking, I had a lot of questions because there were so many tours to choose from and we wanted to make sure that we were picking the best one for our group. I emailed the tour company and got a response immediately from David Herrera (who ended up being our guide). We went back and forth via email multiple times. Each time, the response was quick and they were very accommodating. They offered to customize to meet our needs (for example - we didn’t really want to stay in a tent the first night so he found a hotel for us along the route we would be hiking and we stayed there instead. The hotel he recommended was amazing – more info below on the hotel).
I got connected to David via “WhatsApp” and that’s how we stayed in touch. When we arrived in Cusco, he met us at our hotel 2 days prior to our journey and gave us the overview of the 3-day trek so we would know what to expect each day. This is when we realized that it was a PRIVATE TOUR just for the 4 of us. I didn’t realize that when we booked but we were so happy to find this out! He brought each of us a duffel bag to use to pack what we needed for the 3 days. The driver, Marco, would be bringing those duffles in the van for us to use each night. During the day we had what we needed in our day packs. The hotel we were staying at would keep our larger suitcases for us until we came back to Cusco (this is very common there).
On day #1, David and Marco picked us up at our hotel at 5am and we drove to Chincheros where we had a gourmet breakfast made by our personal chef, William, and sous chef Porfirio. It was unbelievable the amount of food that was prepared for the 4 of us. We didn’t have any dietary restrictions but if someone does, they will accommodate you. After breakfast we visited the textile ‘factory’ (for lack of a better word) where the ladies showed us how they clean alpaca fur, how they get the various colors for all the garments (using all local natural ingredients) and how they spin it into yarn. A few of the ladies spoke English very well which was really impressive for this area. They also had a good sense of humor. While there we also got to see how they make the table runners on a loom and learn the difference between the quality of alpaca, baby alpaca and llama wool in the garments. Afterwards we got to shop in their stores. The prices were great and we knew we were getting garments made with real alpaca wool (as opposed to buying at the various stores in Cusco where they may TELL you it’s real, but it may not be).
As soon as we left this market, we started our hiking. Note that we were at just over 12,000 feet and would be hiking down to just over 9,000 feet on the first day. We started at some ruins in Chinchero in the main plaza where a lot of people were gathered for some kind of celebration. As soon as we left that main area and started down the Inca trail, we didn’t see another soul until we stopped for lunch. The hike was truly amazing and David gave us a lot of historical information along the way. We were hiking on the original Inca trail. How amazing is that?! We passed a 150 ft tall waterfall that was beautiful and walked along a river among eucalyptus trees for most of the day. It was so serene and peaceful.
We stopped for lunch in a town called Urquillos where we had another gourmet meal prepared by our personal chef. It started with homemade chicha morada, a guacamole starter, followed by a huge bowl of quinoa soup, then the main meal consisting of fried trout, chicken, rice, rosemary potatoes, causa, and a huge vegetable tray. How anyone can eat that much food is beyond me. We tried…
After lunch we continued our hiking for another 2.5 hours or so until we reached the town we would be spending the night at - Yucay. As we were walking thru town I was a little worried that maybe we did the wrong thing by requesting a hotel instead of a tent. The town was a typical one for this area but we’re accustomed to staying in fairly nice places and I was worried about what the hotel might look like. However, when we turned into the driveway of the Sonestas Posada hotel in Yucay, we were all super excited to see a little oasis in the middle of this town. It was so perfect. In fact this was probably our favorite hotel of the whole Peru trip! The cost of the hotel was not included in the tour but we were ok with that. For $123, we got a very uniquely decorated room with a king size bed and a balcony that overlooked the gardens. They also had 2 restaurants on site along with a fancy bar so we didn’t even have to leave for dinner.
The next day we woke up refreshed and ready for some easy hiking to our next destination, Urubamba, where we stopped for lunch. Along the way we toured the local farms that were all along an original Incan waterway. It was amazing to see all that is grown in that area. In Urubamba we also got to tour some of the local markets and get a feel for the shopping experience and how everything is so fresh. Since David lives in this city, he served us lunch at his mom’s house in her front yard under a tent. We again had another gourmet meal. A few of us had requested to try cuy so that was one of the items prepared by the chef today along with 7 other dishes (in addition to the soup and appetizer). I couldn’t bring myself to eat the cuy but others tried it and said it tasted like chicken. After lunch we said goodbye to our chef and sous chef and our driver Marco took us to Ollantaytambo where we visited more ruins before hopping on the train (Expedition train via Peru rail) to Aguascalientes where we would spend the night prior to going to Machu Picchu the following day. We rode the train at night so we didn’t get to see our surroundings but would be able to on the way back the following day. After 1 hour and 50 minutes we arrived and David showed us to our hotel - the Jaya international boutique hotel. This was included in the price of the tour. This hotel was also super cute and has a jacuzzi tub in every room.
After a good night’s rest we got up and took the bus for a 25 minute ride up the windy road to the entrance of Machu Picchu. Our tickets were for between 8 and 9 am (meaning we had to get in between those times). Everything was really well organized. Once we got in and around the first corner, we were in awe of the views. It’s just like all of the pictures you’ve seen but better because you’re standing in the middle of it all. David made sure we had enough time to get all of the pictures we wanted in every area of MP. He knew where to get the best shots and took pictures for all of us all along the way. We meandered thru MP for about an hour until it was time for us to climb Wayna Picchu. This ticket was not included in the tour price but it was well worth it. I would suggest it for anyone who is in good enough shape to climb some steep stairs and fit in small places. It took us about 50 minutes of hard hiking to reach the top but the views were great once you got there. We had to stop to catch our breath quite often due to the altitude (still over 8,000 ft). If you’re wondering what this was like, you should look at some videos from other people posted on you tube before deciding if this is for you or not. The hike down the mountain was much easier and took approx 35 min to complete.
We walked around MP for another hour or so once we got down, and heard more stories from David about the conquistadors and how the Inca empire fell. We caught the bus back to town around 12:30 so we could get lunch before hopping on the train back to Ollantaytambo where Marco would be waiting to pick us up and drive us back to Cusco.
This time we got to see the scenery along the train route.
Marco was there to pick us up as soon as we disembarked. We hopped in the van and headed back to Cusco where David walked us back to our hotel (the van couldn’t make it on the tiny street).
It was really sad saying goodbye to David. He was a really great tour guide. He answered all of our questions, provided us with a lot of historical information, and really made the trip so enjoyable. I would highly recommend this company and David if you’re contemplating a trip to Peru. I think I only have one complaint to mention. The description of this trek says that the amount of walking that you will do is approximately 7 miles in total (4 on the first day and 3 on the second day). And David said it was easy and downhill. While it was mostly downhill, it wasn’t all downhill and it wasn’t super easy on the first day. It was fairly technical and I would highly recommend using hiking poles to save your knees and keep you from falling. They can rent you the poles if you need them. And the amount of hiking we did on the first day was 11 miles, and almost 9 miles on the second day. While in Machu Picchu I think we hiked approx 4.5 miles. Some of the additional hiking was because we chose to stay in a hotel rather than the tent (so we went slightly off course for that). While this was ok for our group, it may be too much for others.
Overall this is a 5/5. We were treated so well. David told us so many times how much he appreciated that we booked with his company. We really felt special. He called us his ‘family’ and said he would not forget us. We won’t forget him either. Thank you David, Marco, William, and Porfirio for making this the trip of a lifetime. I don’t know if we will be going back to Peru again but if we do, we will definitely be booking with them again.
PsychPATraveling
01 Nov 2021
David made sure our travel to Peru was wonderful! He was punctual, friendly, and so knowledgeable of his country. We saw and experienced so much...I would definitely suggest choosing Machula's Journey for anyone traveling to Peru!! Absolutely loved the Harmony Hotel we stayed at in Urubamba, so unique!! The culture experienced in Peru from the food to the history and sites and people, will forever be in my memory.