Transcontinental Expeditions

ture by donning helmets, gloves, elbow pads, knee pads and goggles. Following a 20 minute briefing by our experienced tour guide the fun commences: 70 km (42 miles)…and 3000 meters vertical distance… freewheeling down quiet but challenging roads, past changing landscapes and dramatic ice-capped mountains of the Andes, you will not want to catch your breath until the first pit stop in Alfamayo, some 30 km. Here we will enjoy our first hot lunch while taking in the endless panoramas. This scenic and delicious meal is provided by our personal private chef who is coming with us preparing our meals throughout this amazing adventure. After a quick change and a dab of insect repellant, it is onwards and downwards towards Huamanmarca, the site of a recently discovered archaeological Inca ruin. The tour guide will provide the historical background on this site while sharing his deep knowledge of the local Inca culture. Then it's back on our bicycles, descending to 1500 meters, while the jungle´s edge rears up and the small but charming town of Santa Maria looms on the horizon. Once in Santa Maria we'll enjoy a cold beer before taking a hot shower at a family lodge. The house is very comfortable and you can sleep in either single, double or three bed rooms. Here also we are going to have our dinner with the specialty of our chef in Peruvian novo andina (modern Peruvian cuisine)... delicious and healthy food! The lodge staff will serve as our private stewards and butlers, attending to our every accommodation. In case any of our group don’t want to do the bicycle ride they can do a bird watching tour in the area around our lodge which is located into the collpa area (mineral area ) which attracts a lot species of birds. The riding takes a total of 4 to 5 hours and we'll use full-suspension mountain bikes like Specialized, Kona, Giant. Day 2: Santa Maria...Rafting/Zip-Line...Santa Maria. Wake up early to enjoy the finest indigenous coffee prepared by a landlady in a demonstration of the process of organic coffee for breakfast. Breakfast is a delicious meal served hot to jump-start this day. After breakfast we'll enjoy some Class II and III Whitewater Rafting on the Urubamba River (aka the Vilcanota River), home to some of the best whitewater sports in the Western Hemisphere! This is a very exciting adventure lead by very experienced whitewater guides and accompanied by a kayak-guide. After we break for another delicious lunch feast we'll visit the fantastic Canopy Peru zipline! Be ready for an exhilarating and unique experience as we fly through the air over the breath-taking Peruvian landscape!! Then it's back to our private lodges in Santa Maria for the gourmet dinner feast and an evening of star-gazing under the Southern sky. DAY 3 : Santa Maria.....Hike Inca Trail.....Santa Teresa. Wake up at 6.00am, shake off your weary limbs and again enjoy the finest indigenous coffee prepared by our landlady . Under dawn skies you will begin your walk, which gets progressively steeper, until arriving at the welcoming family house in Santa Rosa small Andean community , where you can relax in hammocks, admiring the coca plantations and take on refreshments while being entertained by the family monkey. After a short while you will reach the real Inca Trail, which winds around precipitous slopes and sheer drops for approximately half a mile. Be warned this is not for people who suffer from vertigo! The descent continues for just over two hours until you reach Qellomayo, a small cloud-forest pueblito, where our chef will again be waiting with a hot lunch served in another family house of this community. Make sure you have saved enough energy for the final stretch, a riverside walk beside the Rio Vilcanota until reaching a natural hot springs where we can enjoy the thermal-medicinal hot springs! After that we´ll get to the charming lodge of Santa Teresa that we have adapted to a high standard of comfort. Here you should sleep well after a good dinner prepared by our chef, adult beverages (or hot chocolate), and more spectacular star-gazing. DAY 4: Santa Teresa...Hike Inca Trail...Llactapata (archeological site)...Train to Aguas Calientes. Awake up at 7am, have breakfast before taking private transport to Lucmabamba village, the entrance to another Inca Trail, which was discovered just a few years ago. This trail used to connect the villages located in the mouth of the rain forest with the Incan Capital,Cusco, passing by Machu Picchu. We are one of the very few companies that walk this part of the Inca Trail, so for three and a half hours you will feel like Adam and Eve walking amidst parrots in this tranquil Garden of Eden. You will be rewarded for your efforts with a view of Machu Picchu from the top of Llactapata, flanked by the grotesque peak of Salkantay. Your picnic here is unlikely to be forgotten for a while, Then it is only about a two hour walk down to the Hydroelectric train station where the train departs to Aguas Calientes, the base town of Machu Picchu where we`ll check into our hotel ( Inka Terra hotel ). NOTE: Inka Terra Hotel is one of the finest hotels in all of Peru! A Truly Spectacular Accommodation!! Day 5: Machu Picchu tour.....then Train.....to Cusco. An early wake up today, as you will take the first bus to Machu Picchu at 5.30am, reaching Machu Picchu at 6am, which with luck will coincide with a beautiful sunrise! Your guide will leave no stones unturned, but feel free to challenge their knowledge of Inca history. Afterwards you have free time to dally with the llamas, find a secluded corner and soak in the ambience of one of the 7 Wonders of the World, or show off your photographic skills. Those who still have the will (and stamina!) can tackle Wayna Picchu, which actually looks down on Machu Picchu. A frequent bus service takes visitors back to Aguas Calientes, where you will catch the train to Ollantaytambo and then the bus to Cusco. NOTE ****This year only 400 persons a day are permitted onto Wayna Picchu so we need to book the Machu Picchu ticket with Wayna Picchu ticket together for any of our party who wish to summit this peak...we cannot get them separate. Also, in the INKATERRA Hotel we have also included dinner service.****