Adventures By Disney - Peru - Final day, final thoughts, new friends, lasting memories....
Today was our final day in Peru, the plan was catch a one hour morning flight to Lima, have a final lunch with the group at one of the oldest homes in Lima, do a quick walk around the main square, check into our hotel and then my roomie Kathryn and I were going to head to the beach for a few hours (and of course do a little shopping on the way back!) before our late night flight back to JFK.
A Hidden Mickey in Peru!!!
Things started out well on our final morning, our bags were placed outside the door of the hotel room and magically wisked away, next time we will see them is in our hotel room in Lima. We got to the Cusco airport and it was time to say goodbye to our van drivers. Abel, who was the driver in our Mercedes van, could have drove in the Lemans Grand Prixe! He was fabulous, he negotiated hairpin turns, drove up and down mountainous dirt roads with no guard rails, passed cars at lightening speeds, and always kept us entertained with Andean panpipe hits of the 60's and 70's. He also was one of the most courteous drivers I have ever met in all my travels and always kept us safe. As with all things Disney, Chris and Ernesto, our guides, already had our airline boarding passes available for us, so all we had left to do was pass thru security. Unfortunately our flight was delayed, first for 1 hour, then for 2 hours and finally after more then 3 hours we boarded our flight to Lima. Immediately upon landing we were escorted to a big bus that held our entire group and off we went to downtown Lima for our final luncheon.Our luncheon was held at the House of Aliaga.
This house was constructed in 1535 on a pre-Columbian sanctuary. It is still inhabited by the descendants of the first proprietor, Jerónimo de Aliaga, standard-bearer and exchequer for Francisco Pizarro. This home is the oldest mansion of the city and faces the government palace.
We were treated to music, coctails, mocktails and hor's douevres in the foyer. We then were able to take a quick self guided tour of some of the public rooms in the mansion. There was alot of ornate woodwork and grand entryways, heavy mouldings, beautiful carved chests, stunning artwork and finally a 2 story courtyard, which is where we ate lunch.
Coffee, and my final cup of coca tea, was in the drawing room where Chris and Ernesto asked us to share some final thoughts on our Peruvian Adventure. Words such as amazing, adventure of a lifetime, fantastic, fabulous, were all thrown about. One of my fellow travel agents summed it up so perfectly " I have been on many trips around the globe, nothing compares, or even comes close to this adventure. Thank you Disney for showing us Peru in such a magical way." That statement really resonated with me. I was in a room of all travel agents, travel writers, food writers - people who are all well traveled and we each felt the same way. We did not have time to go to the beach it was getting late and after a very brief stroll around the central plaza we headed to our hotel to freshen up (yes a room is reserved for the night , even if your flight does not leave the next day. The entire group was leaving that evening but it was great to be able to have a hotel room even for a short time. We tried to say our goodbyes in the hotel, in the bus, in the Lima airport and at JFK - but we didn't have time to connect with everyone. The great thing is that many of us are now connected on facebook and via email. We have shared photos on a shutterfly account set up just for the trip, plus our guides took a ton of photos along the way and we will soon be receiving in the mail a disk with their photos on it. We have been keeping in touch and some of us will even get to see each other on Disney's newest ship in the fleet, the Fantasy, at the end of March. We started out a group of strangers and quickly became friends who have wonderful memories of this shared experience.
If you are considering taking a trip of a lifetime, having a shared experience with your family or friends and making marvelous memories the best way to do it is with an Adventure By Disney! Call your LBAC Travel Dream Vacation Maker to make this a reality.
Post Script: I am posting this blog page almost 3 weeks after my return from this amazing trip to this beautiful country. I continue to talk about my trip daily and sometimes multiple times each day - it had that much of an impact on me. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a vacation so much. I chalk it up to the outstanding tour company I traveled with, the beauty of Peru, the fabulous archaeological sites, and the new friends I made. I recently finished the book Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time by Mark Adams. It was recomended by my fellow traveler Tom. I am so glad I waited until I returned from my trip to read it because it was like re-living my grand adventure. I have been thinking quite a bit about returning to Peru, perhaps next summer, to attempt hiking the Inca Trail. I hope my family is up for that adventure!
Safe and happy travels my friends.
Things started out well on our final morning, our bags were placed outside the door of the hotel room and magically wisked away, next time we will see them is in our hotel room in Lima. We got to the Cusco airport and it was time to say goodbye to our van drivers. Abel, who was the driver in our Mercedes van, could have drove in the Lemans Grand Prixe! He was fabulous, he negotiated hairpin turns, drove up and down mountainous dirt roads with no guard rails, passed cars at lightening speeds, and always kept us entertained with Andean panpipe hits of the 60's and 70's. He also was one of the most courteous drivers I have ever met in all my travels and always kept us safe. As with all things Disney, Chris and Ernesto, our guides, already had our airline boarding passes available for us, so all we had left to do was pass thru security. Unfortunately our flight was delayed, first for 1 hour, then for 2 hours and finally after more then 3 hours we boarded our flight to Lima. Immediately upon landing we were escorted to a big bus that held our entire group and off we went to downtown Lima for our final luncheon.Our luncheon was held at the House of Aliaga.
This house was constructed in 1535 on a pre-Columbian sanctuary. It is still inhabited by the descendants of the first proprietor, Jerónimo de Aliaga, standard-bearer and exchequer for Francisco Pizarro. This home is the oldest mansion of the city and faces the government palace.
We were treated to music, coctails, mocktails and hor's douevres in the foyer. We then were able to take a quick self guided tour of some of the public rooms in the mansion. There was alot of ornate woodwork and grand entryways, heavy mouldings, beautiful carved chests, stunning artwork and finally a 2 story courtyard, which is where we ate lunch.
Coffee, and my final cup of coca tea, was in the drawing room where Chris and Ernesto asked us to share some final thoughts on our Peruvian Adventure. Words such as amazing, adventure of a lifetime, fantastic, fabulous, were all thrown about. One of my fellow travel agents summed it up so perfectly " I have been on many trips around the globe, nothing compares, or even comes close to this adventure. Thank you Disney for showing us Peru in such a magical way." That statement really resonated with me. I was in a room of all travel agents, travel writers, food writers - people who are all well traveled and we each felt the same way. We did not have time to go to the beach it was getting late and after a very brief stroll around the central plaza we headed to our hotel to freshen up (yes a room is reserved for the night , even if your flight does not leave the next day. The entire group was leaving that evening but it was great to be able to have a hotel room even for a short time. We tried to say our goodbyes in the hotel, in the bus, in the Lima airport and at JFK - but we didn't have time to connect with everyone. The great thing is that many of us are now connected on facebook and via email. We have shared photos on a shutterfly account set up just for the trip, plus our guides took a ton of photos along the way and we will soon be receiving in the mail a disk with their photos on it. We have been keeping in touch and some of us will even get to see each other on Disney's newest ship in the fleet, the Fantasy, at the end of March. We started out a group of strangers and quickly became friends who have wonderful memories of this shared experience.
If you are considering taking a trip of a lifetime, having a shared experience with your family or friends and making marvelous memories the best way to do it is with an Adventure By Disney! Call your LBAC Travel Dream Vacation Maker to make this a reality.
Post Script: I am posting this blog page almost 3 weeks after my return from this amazing trip to this beautiful country. I continue to talk about my trip daily and sometimes multiple times each day - it had that much of an impact on me. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a vacation so much. I chalk it up to the outstanding tour company I traveled with, the beauty of Peru, the fabulous archaeological sites, and the new friends I made. I recently finished the book Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time by Mark Adams. It was recomended by my fellow traveler Tom. I am so glad I waited until I returned from my trip to read it because it was like re-living my grand adventure. I have been thinking quite a bit about returning to Peru, perhaps next summer, to attempt hiking the Inca Trail. I hope my family is up for that adventure!
Safe and happy travels my friends.
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