Inti Raymi celebrates the ancient Inca ceremony for winter Solstice and is the biggest festival of the year in Cusco. Peruvians come from far and wide to see this representation of their ancestral culture.

Sacsayhuaman is the most sacred Inca site in Cusco and the most impressive. Often incorrectly labeled a fortress, this was a massive temple where the Inca made sacrifices and where the Inti Raymi festival is still celebrated today.

The Ruta del Sillar is a popular half day tour that starts in Arequipa. It takes you to both a quarry and a small canyon with pre-historic petroglyphs. Most tour agencies in Arequipa offer this route, so it’s easy to add to your trip.

A short walk from Cusco takes you to the Incan ruins of Inkilltambo, built as a ceremonial site for the Inca Wiracocha. It’s an easy half day visit, perfect during the rainy season when you need to get back to town by early afternoon.

Surprisingly close to Cusco, and yet so unknown that many locals have never heard of these mysterious Inca ruins.

How badly do travel agencies take advantage of the families on Amantaní Island? Here’s the rest of the story that I couldn’t fit in the Fodor’s article. The impact goes deeper than you could imagine.

At Maras, a salty spring has been channeled for hundreds of years into small ponds to evaporate the water and harvest the salt. Each pond is owned by a family and has been passed down through the generations.

The Greenhouse of the Inca! Archeologists have found seeds and soil samples from all over the former Incario. This is likely where the Inca hybridized most of their crops.

The Battle of Sangarará in 1780 was Peru’s first triumph in the fight for independence from Spain. The Spanish recorded losing the battle to Tupac Amaru, though my research revealed that they erased Tomara Tito Condemayta, the woman who led the battle. Read more on the BBC

Inti Raymi 2021 is the celebration of the Incario during the year of the bicentennial of Peruvian independence from Spain. Continued post-election drama also plays a big role in the ceremonies today.

Amantani is one of the islands on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca. It’s a beautiful escape from. both the city and the pandemic.

The Huacarpay Marshes are only an hour from Cusco and you can see dozens of species in the rainy season.

The Monkey Temple is easy to miss, since from the trail it just looks like a jumble of rocks. Get closer and you’ll see that the boulders have been carved with flat walls, tables and niches. Walk down through the stones and you’ll see the carved heart and snake.

A short walk from the center of Cusco takes you up to the Temple of the Moon. A pre-Inca site, likely made by the Killke people, the top has been badly weathered by the centuries but the cave underneath is just as mysterious as when the Inca found it.

The four day trek around Mt. Ausangate takes you to 5,200 meters, 17,000 feet above sea level. You walk by colorful lakes, some with water so clear its turquoise in the shallows and black at the depths. Other lakes have milky glacial minerals making them shades or blue and red. You are with glaciers every day on the circuit around the mountain, walking near them and camping where you can hear and see avalanches. It’s a truly spectacular trek!

Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail have reopened with new Covid regulations, after being closed for most of 2020. The global pandemic has changed almost every aspect of the visit and I was fortunate to be able to visit with my friends before the crowds return.

The Piquillaqta archeological site was first constructed by the Wari people and later used by the Inca. It is about an hour south of Cusco.

The Inca ruins at Huchuy Q’osqo are beautifully preserved, easy to get to and never have the crowds of more well known archeological sites in the Sacred Valley.

A short trip to Paracas is perfect for both the National Paracas Reserve and the Islas Ballestas. You can see it all in a weekend!

This trek gave me my first intimate visit to traditional Andean homes in a spectacular mountain valley.