cruises and land tours through South America
Arica located in northern Chile offered a different perspective of Chile in contrast to the large city like Santiago. I had not heard of Arica before but of the Atacama desert. I ended up here because it was one of the ports on our cruise itinerary. While driving through the Atacama desert we made a… Read More A stop in Arica, Chile
Disembarked in the port of Salaverry and boarded a bus to take a tour around the city. It’s a fairly modern town and with a lot of activity and quite clean. In a distance there was a pronounced structure hovering over the buildings. Upon arrival at the Plaza De Armas there was the freedom monument.… Read More Visit to Trujillo, Peru
Well we sailed into Puerto Madryn, Argentina. We had the option to take a shuttle bus into the town or walk, we choose walking , a good hike. We strolled around and did a little shopping, got a beautiful leather bag for my mom, a leather cap for my friend while the other members chose… Read More Cruising to Buenos Aires continues
Processing to go aboard did not take very long and we were soon on our shuttle Bus to the ship. Our first port was Puerto Mont a quaint town considered as the gateway to the Andes. Our next stop was Puerto Chacabuco, on this tour we had a trainee guide who wasn’t able to answer… Read More Cruise to Buenos Aires continues
After an overnight flight we arrived in Santiago Chile. I should say this was a few days after there was an earthquake in off the coast of central Chile With a Richter scale of 8.8 causing widespread damage, we thought our trip would have been cancelled. We had enough confidence that GCT our tour operator… Read More Cruising from Chile to Buenos Aires
We experienced a Curandero (healer) ceremony (healing ritual)where the medicine man created a pile consisting of grains, different foods such as rice, vegetables, Inca roots and coca leaves. It appeared he was collecting fruits of the land and he would be sending up prayers. After creating this well formed collection he offered prayers and then… Read More Chinchero to Machu Pichu
This trip just kept getting better as we go higher; you are in for the Chinchero treat. The Chincheros district is 12,345 feet above sea level and the people are indigenous Indians from the Quechua decent. Here we met a group of Quechua Indian weavers who taught us all about the colors we have been… Read More Sacred Valley: Chinchero district
When travelling with Grand Circle tours they generally include opportunities to visit a native home. The idea is to interact with the natives with conversations about their culture and ours. Often we get to participate in the culinary culture whether they prepare an entire meal or visitors participate in the preparation of the meal, all… Read More Sacred Valley continued
Our time was up soon so we used some of our free time to pop into a little shopping area or probably what we might call a mini mall. We would be back in Lima before the conclusion so our visit was just to see what they had. What struck me was how colorful the… Read More Leaving Lima and exploring Sacred Valley
This tour was organized by OATS (Overseas Adventure Travel) an arm of GCT (grand circle travel), which started in Lima. We arrived in Lima on a bright beautiful day. Our tour guide was there to make sure we were settled in then off we went, in walking distance, to a restaurant for our welcome lunch.… Read More Visit to Peru first stop Lima
