Marcahuasi Hiking in Lima

What an awesome experience! I was in Lima for a week for work and wanted to book a trip outside of the city. I looked into a few of the more popular day trips, but all of them seemed to lead to other crowded/hectic experiences. I love hiking in the PNW and stumbled upon this opportunity to explore a lesser frequented hike in the Andes. The trip starts off early and Carlos picked myself and another solo traveler up for the 2+ hour journey out of the city. As the other reviews mentioned, driving in Lima/the Andes/Peru is an experience of its own, so just trust the process and snuggle Cusi (not sure if that's spelled correctly), his pup that came along on the journey with us and loves to curl up in your lap. We stopped at a roadside stall for a quick breakfast then made our way to the entrance of the park. Carlos has worked on building a relationship with local community and it was really cool to see how invested he was in their success. We arrived early, which was great as it was warm out and we saw only 2 other people the entire hike (when we got back down a tour bus was arriving!) The hike itself was stunning - really short actual hike, but the elevation can definitely impact you if you're not used to it. Carlos took the time explaining the cultural significance behind the Stone Forest, pointing out the faces/characters in the rocks, and you could feel how excited he was to share this area with us. He was also a great photographer! Travelling solo frequently, I often forget to get pictures of myself and he was awesome at asking us for our camera so he could get all the good angles :). He led us through the 'forest' and we encountered a bunch of grazing cows where we stopped for some snacks. Overall, a really chill experience and it felt like I got to see a very unique part of Peru, Highly recommend to anyone visiting!

This was a great way to get outside of Lima. The trip out there takes a while and includes several hours on a winding dirt road, but the journey was well worth it. Our guide Rodrigo was fantastic. He did a great job explaining things along the way and sharing his knowledge of the local culture. He was patient as we struggled to get up the hills in altitude, and made sure we felt okay throughout. He was also a fantastic driver and despite the dirt roads with steep drop-offs, I never felt scared once as we made our way up and down the mountain.

I had to catch a flight at 3:55pm the day i took this tour and in order to take the tour and make my flight we had to leave earlier than normal which was not a problem for our tour guide Carlos! He was amazing! He was personable, knowledgeable, patient, and funny! After we got back into Lima we actually got lunch together which was nice. If you take this your choose Carlos you won’t regret it! Also, he was very gentle taking the mountain which is important cause i was scared for my life.