CAPTURING THE HEART OF OUR AGENCY SALES MANAGER

By Greta Stonestreet

As we entered the ‘Lost City of the Incas’ it was as if someone said “the Bales Group is here, take the covers off” and as if by magic, the clouds lifted and there it was... Machu Picchu in all its glory.

Capturing the heart of our Agency Sales Manager

The purpose of my recent journey to Peru was to host 9 of Bales’ Top Travel Agents on a familiarisation trip, to give them the opportunity to experience one of our journeys of a lifetime and pass on that experience to our mutual customers. Myself, nor any of the agents, had visited Peru before, so in order to cover as much as possible we followed a similar itinerary to our ‘Highlights of Peru’ tour and added Puno and Lake Titicaca as an extension.

It doesn’t matter how much you hear about Machu Picchu, Cusco, The Sacred Valley and Lake Titicaca, you cannot fail to be overwhelmed by what confronts you. Cusco is a Peruvian Town with so much heritage from the Cathedral to the Classic Temple of the Sun, with the ruins of Sacsayhuamen just ten minutes away. The stunning scenery of the Sacred Valley is captivating, as are the people who live very much as they did hundreds of years ago when the Incas were so dominant in this region. Ollantaytambo is not spoken of as much as Machu Picchu and yet there are some amazing ruins to visit as well as strolling around the meandering streets of the main town.

Everyone anticipates their arrival in Machu Picchu to be breathtaking. Well the journey along the Urubamba River by means of the Vistadome Train was a fantastic prelude, and the scenery was incredible. For us the anticipation was excruciating as it was raining and potentially we could have arrived and seen simply cloud. However, like magic, the rain stopped, the clouds lifted and the sun came out. We were so lucky with our guide Julian, who gave us the benefit of his knowledge on the Incas and how they lived in this incredible place. There’s a lot of climbing here but you can take it at a very relaxed pace and really soak up the ambience and the outstanding scenery before you.

Our journey from Cusco to Puno and Lake Titicaca was by the Andean Explorer, a ten hour journey through the stunning scenery of the snowcapped Andes. First class travel on this train is very comfortable with snacks and lunch served throughout the journey, there is also some unique Peruvian entertainment which was unusual but fun. At the highest point of the journey, La Raya, we stop to stretch out legs and have the opportunity of buying local ware (mainly Al Paca goods) from stalls set up beside the track.

Our hotel, the Libertador del Lago, is situated right on Lake Titicaca and all rooms have panoramic windows with magnificent views across the lake. In the morning following hotel inspections, we headed off to the lake for one of the Reed Islands, Uros, and were greeted by the headwoman ‘Olga’ who through an interpreter took us through a history of their people and how they live today – very much the same. Although today they have found a way to bring electricity onto their islands and many have TVs in their huts. But they still rely on fishing to eat and as a main source of income, tourism also is heavily relied on here as in all parts of Peru. We were all captivated by a little boy called ‘Wilson’ whose playful antics charmed us all.

From Uros we decided to venture further out into the lake and visited the island of Taquile. This journey takes about an hour in each direction and really does give you a sense of the true size of Lake Titicaca – the area of lake around the bay of Puno is only 1% of the lake itself. Taquile is an inhabited island with farmers growing corn and other vegetables as their main crops. It again is very reliant on tourism and we climb to the very top of the island (over 14 thousand feet). The views across the Lake are fantastic.

From Puno we returned to the buzz of city life which is Lima and it is here that you realise the diversity of this country, and there is still a lot more that we didn’t get to see – maybe next time. Yes, I will definitely return.

I have been asked several times since I returned what I thought was the highlight of our trip and I have to say “all of it”. Machu Picchu was always going to be special, but everything else exceeded my expectations and the people of Peru especially captured my heart.