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Machu Picchu and Sacred Valley Tour


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Executive summary:

My wife and I arranged a 5-day, post-cruise tour of MachuPicchu and the Sacred Valley with Kuoda Travel based in Cusco, Peru (www.kuodatravel.com). The choice of Kuoda was based on acombination of on-line reviews and, most importantly, the recommendation of Oceaniacruisers who had used them before. In a nut shell, Kuoda fulfilled our wish listof things to see & do as well as the style of touring that we like. Thedetails of this trip were so well covered we always felt at ease.

 

The logistics of the entire 5-days were arranged impeccably!Each and every step of the way was covered down to the finest detail and therewas only one very minor delay (it did not affect our tour). In fact, at the endof the tour we had a – what could have been – a severe problem with PeruvianImmigration. Kuoda provided a manager tohelp us solve that problem leading us through the bureaucracy every step of theway.

 

We would not hesitateto use Kuoda again (we are in the nascent stage of planning a trip to theAmazon and the Galapagos Islands) and would strongly recommend them to anyone who travels to SouthAmerica. They may be a bit more expensive than others but the added cost iswell worth the comfortable feeling that you have knowing that you and wellprotected in all phases of a wonderful trip. As Mery, the owner, describes it “…Luxuryis not defined by expense or excess. Luxury is about helping you to have the experienceyou crave and taking care of the nitty-gritty logistics so all you need toconcern yourself with is enjoying your trip”. That was absolutely fulfilled on ourtrip!

 

A huge THANK YOU goes out to the entire Kuoda team. But a special thanks goes out to those withwhom we had direct contact:

Jesus Ramos, Alex Baca, JasonAyerbe and our guides and drivers: Ophelia & Eberth (sp??), Lillian,and Manuel. (Sorry, but I’ve forgotten some names)

 

Details:

We started our conversation with Jesus Ramos (see “Meet ourTeam” on their website): https://www.kuodatravel.com/about-us/meet-our-team/)

22 months before our cruise. Jesus was always prompt and complete with his responses, requests andquestions. After responding to hisrequest for information about what we were looking for and how we liked totour, he gave us two quotes differentiated by the quality of the accommodations(3 & 4 star hotels). With minor tweakingto the itinerary we accepted the 4-star quote. Full information about all ofthe aspects of the tour (suggested clothing; packing for the final leg to MachuPicchu and even suggested tipping of the guide and driver) came to us withplenty of time to ask questions for clarification. Jesus made some suggestions for restaurantsand even guided us on key phrases in Spanish. A few days before the trip started we got an email with contact informationfor two of the staff that would be available 24-hours a day as well as the nameof our guide for the Lima legs (outbound and inbound) and the main tour, Cusco,Machu Picchu and back to Cusco.

 

Arrangements were made to meet us on the pier in Lima’s portof Callao at 7AM to be taken directly to the airport for our flight to Cusco. Manuel,our guide, had our flight reservations and tickets and escorted us into theairport, guided us to the correct check in desk and stayed with us all the wayup to the security gate. A nice touch by Miguel was diverting us from a verylong check-in line to a priority desk and then convincing the airline’sreservationist to allow us to check in there. Saved a long wait in line! Manuelgave us complete instructions on where to go beyond the security check and whatto look for inside. He also gave us arunning commentary about Lima on the way to the airport. (An aside: I applaudthe security at the airport! There werethree security check points: Driving onto the airport property (U.S. should dothis!!), the normal body/bag security check and a final bag check beforeboarding the plane.)

 

Upon arrival in Cusco, we were met by Ophelia holding a signwith our names on it. From then onOphelia was our guide, advisor - andsoon became our friend. Ophelia’s amazingbreadth of knowledge (she has a Masters in Ecology) spanned all of thedisciplines of history, nature, civics, government with all of that wrapped in awarm smile and a great sense of humor. Opheliawas with us for the next 4 ½ days sharing all of her vast knowledge, answeringquestion and allowing us a peak into her family life. Her love of country wasevident and she exuded a desire for Peru’s improvement.

Naturally the entire 5-days was well planned with alllogistics taken care of down to the minutest detail. The day we arrived inCusco, those plans were jumbled into chaos as drivers in the city were to puton a work stoppage strike basically shutting down the city roads for at leastthe next day. Lynda and I never felt aripple of concern from either Ophelia or any of the Kuoda team. The schedule was rearranged quickly with are-issue of all travel arrangements – bus and train tickets. We did not miss one site or event of ouritinerary! Fantastic work!

 

Ophelia was in control of every possible situation. At one point we found that there was a fairlyserious problem with our immigration into Peru which could have delayed ourexit. Ophelia immediately notified theoffice and steps were taken to rectify (more later).

 

Whenever we stopped in a market or store to buy souvenirs,art (we are collectors of local art), etc. Ophelia was our “agent” and was thekey to our getting some very nice bargains. We said goodbye to Ophelia after a wonderful tour of Cusco and both ofus were sad to see her leave.

 

If you do decide to tour with Kuoda, you will do best byrequesting Ophelia as a guide. (A couple we had met on the cruise was alsousing Kuoda and we often crossed paths during the tour. At one point they said to us, “Your guide isgreat!”)

 

Our driver during this time was Eberth (sp?). While the language barrier prevented most directcommunications, we found that he had a wonderful sense of humor, always had asmile and was a fantastic driver (Peruvian traffic is nutsy!!)

 

Eberth met us the final morning in Cusco to drive us to theairport. He was joined by Jason who madesure we made it safely onto the airplane to fly us back to Lima.

 

In Lima we were met by Lillian and our driver who finishedour Kuoda tour leading us through immigration and then escorting us to ourhotel in Miraflores. This is where Kuodashowed that they ARE determined to ensure that all goes well with your time inPeru – they stayed with us during the entire process of correcting our passportproblem even though it was not caused by them.

 

Here’s what happened:

Our cruise ship’s first stop in Peru was the port ofSalaverry. Since this is a small city, the immigration department handtransposed our passport information into their database. Unfortunately, they mixed up our names(instead of Keith & Lynda we became Christine & Alexander). It wasn’tuntil the second hotel that the mistake was noticed. While it seemed to us a careless yetinconsequential mistake, Ophelia and the hotel staff understood that there wasa mix up in the immigration department’s database. That meant that we would not have be allowedto leave the country without rectification of the error. Ophelia notified the home office and thewheels were set in motion. The onlyplace to resolve the error was in Lima upon our return from Cusco. Our plane, originally due to leave Cusco at10:30 was delayed 1 ½ hours and we finally made it to Lima about 1:15. Gathering our bags, Lillian whisked us to theairport immigration office only to find that our problem could only be takencare of at the main office in town. Ourdriver raced to the office and we arrived about 90 minutes before closing. Asour flight was leaving the next day at 7:30 AM we needed to get this errorcorrected NOW. Lillian led us through typical bureaucracy using her bestSpanish to get us through this malaise in time. Finally, less than 30 minutes before closing time, we were notified thatthe problem had been solved. Lynda and Ibreathed a lot easier on the final leg of our journey heading to our hotel forthe night.

Remember, this was not a fault of Kuoda and they had noobligation to help solve it. But therewas NO hesitation in accepting the responsibility to help us solve a problemthat would have taken us at least another day (and much additional cost!)

THANK YOU KUODA AND LILLIAN!

 

One last thing – on the way to the airport we received acall from Mery Calderón, the founder and president of Kuoda Travel. Mery apologized for not being able to meet usin person and wanted to say hello and ensure that we had a great time. Mery, without a doubt, your company and theproduct and services that it gives, is a model that all companies shouldemulate.

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Thank you for your info on Kuoda. How was the tour itself? How long did you spend in Machu Picchu ? Any other details on the tour?

Our tour spanned 5 days. We had not only asked to see all of the "must visit" sites but wanted time enough to do some people watching and get a feel for the local environment. (As you have undoubtedly seen on other posts, those who have done a tour in 3 days think that it was not enough time to really enjoy it to the max)

Day one was meet us at the pier (not at the entrance to the port!), drive us to the airport, lead us all the way through to the security check. A guide, Ophelia, and driver met us at the baggage claim. Off to the Sacred Valley with a stop for a delicious lunch and then to the Living Museum of Awanakancha (we got to feed the Llamas and Alpacas!). After that it was off to the hotel, Sol y Luna Lodge Relais & Chateau in Cusco - what a beautiful place with very good food.

Day 2 was visits to Pisac and Ollantaytambo for a culture, history, topographical and shopping trip.

Day 3 Train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes and bus ride to Machu Picchu. The morning was spent in touring the lower terraces of MP with the afternoon on the upper. Lunch was at the Sanctuary Lodge - great buffet.

Over night at the Sumaq Machu Picchu Hotel - another WOW. Dinner was great and the bartender introduced us to Yuca chips. One taste of those and we were ready to move to Peru!

Day 4 Back to Machu Picchu with an adventurous trek up to Huaynu Picchu Mountain. One thousand feet up climbing very narrow and slippery steps. Beautiful view and even though arduous the view DOWN at Machu Picchu was special in spite of the heavy clouds. Back to Ollantaytambo by bus then train and a drive back to Cusco. Dinner at a local restaurant with local foods - delicious (we were very pleased with all the meals we had in Peru!)

The bed was very welcoming that night at the Aranwa Cusco Boutique Hotel (an historic site itself)

Day 5 was tour of Cusco in the morning and an afternoon to ourselves. (We were sad to have Ophelia leave us!)

Day 6 was the flight back to Lima, getting our passport info corrected and then driving to Miraflores to our hotel.

The tour and the care given was impeccible!

If you have any specific questions to ask feel free to email me directly keithrodwell(at) iCloud (dot) com.

BTW - I noticed that you live in South Carolina. We live just outside of Charleston.

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