Jose Luis Borges Ways (from Cuzco)
Jose Luis Borges Ways (from Cuzco)
Jose Luis Borges Ways (from Cuzco)
24 Days Starting in Cuzco, Peru and ending in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Visiting: Cuzco, Puno, Luquina, Copacabana, La Paz, Sucre, Potosi, Uyuni, Villa de Candelaria, Polques, Atacama, San Pedro de Atacama, Salta, Puerto Iguazu, Buenos Aires
Tour Overview
Embark on an unforgettable journey from Cuzco to Buenos Aires passing through the breathtaking Iguazu Falls, the immense Uyuni Salt Flats, magnificent Lake Titicaca and the awe-inspiring Machu Picchu ruins!
Highlights
Itinerary
Day 1: Cuzco, Peru
Location: Cuzco
Day 1: Cuzco, Peru
Location: Cuzco
Located in the central square of the Incan capital, it features the only gin bar in the city as well as on-site restaurant— a culinary hotspot for locals and travelers alike. Head to San Pedro Market, just a 5 minute walk away and browse alpaca sweaters, palo santo, and rare medicinal herbs. Back at Selina, enjoy daily yoga, meditation, and aromatherapy at our wellness center. Plus, make the most of our fully-equipped common kitchen, read up about Incan history in the library room or unwind with a Pisco sour at the bar.
Day 2: Cuzco, Peru
Location: Puno
Day 3: Luquina, Peru
Location: Luquina
Depart Puno for the Uros Floating Islands, Taquile Island & Luquina Homestay (D)
You will be picked up from your hostel between around 7:10 am and transferred to the port of Puno, where you will meet your guide and board the motorboat. The first stop will be the Uros Floating Islands, where you will spend about one hour. There are more than 90 floating islands and you will get the chance to visit two of them. On the first floating island, your guide will explain to you about the people who live on the floating islands. Then you will have some free time to walk around, visit the small huts made from reeds, take some pictures and buy a souvenir to support the people of these islands if you wish.
After this visit, you will continue on with a boat ride to Taquile Island. The people who live on this island are very famous because they are considered “the best weavers of Peru”. There, you will go on a beautiful hike for about one and a half hours to admire the panoramic of the lake. On your way, you will get the chance to visit a local family home where you will learn more about the famous textile from the island. You will then head towards the town square of Taquile and visit the handicraft shops to see the typical weaving. The square is also the highest point of the hike (3950 m or 12960 feet). You will finish the hike going to the second part of the island and take off in a boat (35 minutes of navigation) that will lead you to the Luquina community where you will overnight. Your host families will wait for you at the port of Luquina and will take you to their house. You will enjoy a delicious dinner with the local family before going to bed.
Day 4: Puno, Peru
Location: Puno
Luquina community & Return to Puno (B)
Start the day quite early with a tasty breakfast with the family before getting the opportunity to participate in their daily activities such as sheep grazing, working in the crops, or even learning how to milk a cow. You will then enjoy a delicious lunch before saying goodbye to the family and leave the community. You will take the motorboat back to Puno, finishing the tour around 3:45 pm.
Day 5: Copacabana, Bolivia
Location: Copacabana
Day 6: La Paz, Bolivia
Location: La Paz
Day 7: La Paz, Bolivia
Location: La Paz
Get into the heart of La Paz with your experienced local guide who will take you around to the best highlights of the city and show you what real life is like for most Paceños (La Paz residents). Begin the day at Plaza Murillo with its beautiful architecture for a perfect introduction into Bolivia’s history and culture. Learn about the current social and political situation in Bolivia as we walk by Murillo Square with the Presidential Palace and House of Parliament. We will be stopping to sample a traditional mid-morning snack.
Next, we will visit the outside of San Pedro Prison from the book “Marching Powder” with your local guide who will explain why this prison is so famous and will also share a few strange bone-chilling stories about this infamous prison. After walking by the prison walls we will then head towards several local markets to learn about Bolivian staple foods and exotic fruit from the rainforest which you will get to taste.
Next, you will jump into a local transportation to head towards an unknown, but spectacular viewpoint. Take a moment here, to enjoy the life happening bellow you in La Paz, enjoy the slow rhythm of the place you are at the moment. And once you have taken all the photos you want you will jump back in the local transport to reach the local witch market. Take a walk through the market and maybe you can find a magic spell you have been longing for!
You will have an exciting return back to La Paz on a cable car; be sure to capture the views! We will be stopping by another market where you will have time to buy last minute souvenirs if you wish. Your exploration of La Paz will end upon our return to Plaza Murillo (around 12:30pm). We wish you safe travels onwards!
Day 8: La Paz, Bolivia
Location: Sucre
Day 9: Sucre, Bolivia
Location: Sucre
Sucre, the capital city of Bolivia, provides a warm welcome to all visitors who want to get to know this beautiful city. A memorable experience awaits you! A local guide will accompany you during this walking tour, sharing his/her knowledge with you as you make these following stops:
1 -Main Square Plaza 25 de Mayo: You will see the main buildings around the square and your guide will explain to you the history of each place and why it is called May 25th square.
2 -After our visit to the main square, we will go to the local market where we will have a traditional and delicious “Tojori” breakfast (a very traditional drink made out of corn, it is hot and filling).
3 -Following our visit we head towards the Obelisk and then to the Bolivar park, a beauty among the plazas. It was once a private garden of the richest man in Sucre and it is now public and considered as the most beautiful plaza in Sucre.
4 -“Kinder Park”: This is a place where you will have an experience that you’ll never forget. Sucre is known for having dinosaur tracks all over the place, it is so trendy to name everything after a dinosaur that this park is all about dinos.
5 -After our visit to the Park, we will take local transport to go to a viewpoint from where you can see the majestic Sucre. Overlooking the city of Sucre, La Recoleta is also a place where history and tradition blends.
6 - Now time to take a cab that will take us to an unusual place: the cemetery. “Today us, tomorrow you” reads in the incriptions at the entrance gate. The most beautiful place of all Sucre, this is a unforgettable experience in which our visitors can see how rich people were back in the 1800's in South America.
7 - Your walking tour will come to an end in the main square.
Day 10: Potosi, Bolivia
Location: Potosi
Day 11: Potosi, Bolivia
Location: Potosi
Day 12: Uyuni, Bolivia
Location: Uyuni
Day 13: Villa De Candelaria, Bolivia
Location: Villa de Candelaria
Uyuni - Colchani - Incahuasi Island - Pia Pia Island - Candelaria (L/D)
Your tour will begin at 10:30 am, at the meeting point. The first stop will be Uyuni's 'train graveyard', to see the first locomotives in Bolivia. You’ll then visit the small settlement of Colchani (salt miners’ workshops next to the salt flats). Here, you’ll see handicrafts made of salt, and textile art made of llama and alpaca fiber. The tour will continue onto the Great Salt Flats of Uyuni, which are at an altitude of 3650m. Take photos as you cruise along the vast white expanse of salt, see Los Ojos de Agua Salada (‘saltwater eyes’) and then visit a hotel made completely of salt! This amazing place currently serves as a museum.
Following this jam-packed morning, after lunch, you’ll carry on to “Isla Incahuasi” (Fish Island), where you will have time to take a hike to the top of the island to see giant cacti, and rock formations made of petrified coral. Make sure you and your group pose for some fun perspective- and proportion-distorted photos, taken against the backdrop of the striking white surface of the salt flats.
Then, we’ll head to Pia Pia island, to see the beautiful sunset over the salt flats. Finish off at the village of Candelaria, and enjoy the unique experience of spending the night in a hotel made almost entirely of salt.
Accommodation: Salt hostel "La Escondida" in VILLA CANDELARIA - double rooms. The rainy season (from January to April): Hotel in Culpina or other location (No access to the Salt Hostel during these months). If you want a private room for the 2 nights you have to pay an extra cost of 250 BS/36 USD per person, and it's subject to availability, we recommend you to pre-order.
Day 14: Polques, Bolivia
Location: Polques
Chiguana Desert - Lagoons - Eduardo Avaroa National Reserve - Red Lagoon Sol de Mañana Geyser (B/L/D)
Start the morning off at 7:00 am with breakfast, before going to visit the Chiguana Desert, located on the south side of the Uyuni salt flats. It is surrounded by volcanoes, such as the Ollague Volcano (5840m), one that is still active, and that can be seen from the lookout.
Next, we’ll continue along a rocky road - Pasito Tuntun - to the beautiful Andean lagoons, inhabited by 3 species of Andean flamingos. Marvel at three lagoons on the way: ‘Cañapa’ where you’ll spot the first pink flamingos, ‘Hedionda’ where lunch will be served, and ‘Chiarcota’ where you’ll see a wider variety of birds and altiplanic fauna.
We’ll then enter the Eduardo Avaroa National Reserve, and visit the Desert of Siloli, at 4550m (the highest and driest desert in the world). Make sure you take a photo next to the 'Rock tree', a lava rock formation. Before arriving to your final destination of the day, we will stop at the viewpoint by the Red Lagoon, where you can spot more pink flamingos in their natural habitat, and admire this intense, red-colored lake. Stay the night at a shared family lodging, "HAYLLAJARA".
Accommodation: "HUAYLLAJARA" basic lodge (dorm of 6 beds shared bathroom. If you want a private room for the 2 nights you have to pay an extra cost of 250 BS/36 USD per person, and it's subject to availability, we recommend you to pre-order). There is no electricity (only for 3 hours, 18:00 hrs to 21:00 hrs)
Day 15: Atacama, Chile
Location: Atacama
Dali Desert - Green Lagoon – Uyuni(B/L)
Have an early breakfast at 5am (depend on the season) and start your tour day with a visit to Sol de Mañana Geyser, at 5,000m. You’ll walk alongside fumaroles, and steaming craters filled with boiling pots of mud at 150-200 Cº. Continue to the open air hot springs, and take a bath in 35ºC water.
The first place to visit is the Dali Desert, where Salvador Dali found inspiration for his work from the scattered boulders in the middle of the desert. You’ll then see the Green Lagoon - toxic copper water at the foot of the big Licancabur volcano, which sits at 6000m, a few kilometers from the Bolivia-Chile border.
Finally, you’ll head back to Uyuni, passing beautiful scenery along the way, and eating a picnic lunch next to the roadside. You’ll go by the Valley of the Rocks, the Alota settlement, and the San Cristobal Village.
We’ll get back to Uyuni by 6:30 pm. For those that wish to finish at San Pedro de Atacama in Chile instead of coming back to Uyuni: Guides will assist with your border crossing at 10:30 am, and you should arrive in San Pedro at 12:00 pm on the third day of the tour. The drop off is at San Pedro de Atacama’s main square.
Day 16: San Pedro De Atacama, Chile
Location: San Pedro de Atacama
This trip is going to take you to see the salt and clay formation in the ¨Three Marias¨ area, where you can witness unique natural shapes created in the desert in one of the world´s driest zones, the Atacama Desert. Here you will be able to observe and appreciate the powerful and delicate forces of nature that have carved and molded this landscape over thousands of years from the Mirador Cordillera de la Sal. Take amazing photographs and contemplate life as you explore this remote desert on a nature walk through Valle de la Muerte.
Enjoy an exciting excursion through salt caves where you will see new and different salt formations hidden in this mountain range. Visit Tres Marias and Gran Duna, some of the most spectacular places on Earth. Watch the awe-inspiring sunset in the Valle de la Luna over the desert sands with the Licancabur Volcano in the distance as the landscape turns brilliant shades. This trip is an experience that will surely be one of the most amazing highlights of your trip.
We recommend bringing drinking water, sunblock, sun hat, hiking shoes and jacket to wear after sunset.
Day 17: Salta, Argentina
Location: Salta
Day 18: Salta, Argentina
Location: Salta
Visit some of the most breathtaking sceneries around Salta, La Quebrada de las Conchas and ancient picturesque villages along the way. Pass through the tiny towns of Cerrillos, Chicoana, El Carril, and the Vineyard in the Lerma Valley, an agricultural region where the production of tobacco is one of the main sources of income. While passing through these places you will see houses that were built back in 1800 and still standing. Go back in time to see the farmers cultivating their crops and caring for their livestock. These villages are known for their traditions and popular festivals such as Cerrillos carnival.
The ride will turn to Route 68, where you can see olive and walnut plantations in the town of Colonel Moldes. A little further you can see the waters of the Dique Cabra Corral, the reservoir that generates electricity. As you continue driving the landscape will start to turn reddish and that is a sign that you are closing in the impressive Quebrada de las Conchas - it received its name because millions of years ago it was under the sea. One can still find fossilized shells and formations dating back to those times.
Let yourself awe at the beautiful colors and impressive rock formations such as the Devil’s Throat, The Amphitheater, The Yesera, Parrot’s House, The Castles, The Medanos, The Fraile, The Obelisk, The Windows and many more inside the Quebrada de las Conchas. Upon arrival to Cafayate, take time to have lunch on your own (please bring a box lunch or extra money to buy lunch in town) and walk around town. Cafayate is known nationaly and internationaly for the production of Torrontes wines and for its folk serenade that brings artists from all over the country, On our way back to Salta we will see the region from a whole new perspective as the sun goes down beyond the mountains.
Day 19: Salta, Argentina
Location: Puerto Iguazu
Day 20: Puerto Iguazu, Argentina
Location: Puerto Iguazu
Day 21: Puerto Iguazu, Argentina
Location: Puerto Iguazu
A visit to the Argentinean side of Iguazu Falls is a completely different experience than the Brazilian and deserves a whole day's worth of your time. Walk along the man-made platforms and bridges that follow the contours of the river taking you right up next to hundreds of waterfalls covering a 4 kilometer stretch.
Iguazu falls were created approximately 200 thousand years ago by a geological fault where the Iguazu and Parana Rivers come together creating an 80-meter high cascade named "Garganta del Diablo" or Devil's Throat. The falls stretch over 3 kilometers wide making them taller than Niagara Falls in North America and wider than Victoria Falls in Africa. The average flow of water passing over the falls is 1,500 cubic meters per second and depending on the water levels you can observe anywhere from 160 - 260 falls. The intensity of the falls produces a permanent fog, where sunbeams form multiple rainbows of incredible beauty.
Start off by walking down around the Circuito Inferior where several bridges take you right up next to the falls where you can stand and be soaked by the spray in seconds. Take the train to the "Devil's Throat" main falls where a man-made walkway leads you out over the river to experience the once-in-a-lifetime thrill of looking down into the Devil's Throat itself, a 90-meter-high cascade over which 13,000 cubic meters plunge per second.
Taking an optional boat trip (you may purchase this additional activity upon arrival), rafting or hiking in the park is another way to enjoy the day in nature and appreciate the falls from a different perspective.Don't forget to take your camera, rain gear and sunblock. Bring your own snacks and water to avoid paying high prices in the park.
If time allows on your way back to Puerto Iguazu, you may have a chance to stop at the 3 frontiers overlook point where you can see Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil at the convergence of the Iguazu and Parana Rivers. A blue, green and yellow obelisk represents the national colors of all 3 countries. This is also a great place to grab some last minute souvenirs from Iguazu Falls.
Day 22: Puerto Iguazu, Argentina
Location: Buenos Aires
Day 23: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Location: Buenos Aires
Day 24: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Location: Buenos Aires
The night starts with a tango lesson, where a professional instructor will teach you the traditional steps of this historically rich and sensual dance. Afterwards, you will enjoy a delicious traditional Argentinean dinner with an open bar while watching a thrilling and interactive Tango Show.
Tango is undeniably Buenos Aires' and Argentina's most recognised contribution to music. Its most famous melodies and the life of the Porteño (the traditional name for a Buenos Aires inhabitant) are impossible to separate. That is why we invite you to discover its essence and charm with us. Our course will cover the sounds and icons of the first black tangos in the 1850s, to the most modern expression of Argentina's popular culture and the people's renewed interest in tango in the streets today.
What's Included
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Accommodation
See full inclusions for details
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Transport
9 Transfer
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Meals
4 Breakfast(s), 5 Lunch(es), 4 Dinner(s),
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Guides
Some of the activities
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Activities
6 Excursion
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Extras
Handy extras and accessories
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Experiences
What's Not Included
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Small gift for the host family to show appreciation (can be purchased in Puno on the morning of departure)
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Personal expenses
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Other Meals/Drinks
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Transfers from hotels located out of the city (Libertador, Eco Inn, Casa Andina Private Collection, Posada del Inca, Mirador del Titicaca, Taypikala, Yacht, Jose Antonio)
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Evening refreshment (7 Bs = $1 USD)
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Tips for guide and driver (In Peru & Bolivia it is common to tip your tour guide if you feel he/she provided you with good service. It is not obligatory but it would be a nice gesture)
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Lunch (between 30-70 Bs = $4-10 USD)
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Local transport & taxi to cemetery (please bring about 18-20 Bolivianos to cover these costs)
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Entrance fees to Isla Incahuasi (30 BS)
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Tips for guide
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Toiletries (towels, toilet paper, soap,etc)
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Entrance fee to the Open Air Hot Springs (6 BS)
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Entrance fee to Reserva Eduardo Avaroa (150 BS, you have to pay it the first day of the tour)
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Other meals & drinks
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Toilets along the way (20 BS)
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Hot shower (10 BS)
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Travel insurance
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Transfer to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile (must be booked in advance)
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Tips for guide, driver and cook
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Torch/Flashlight to use while trekking
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Entrance fees
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Lunch
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Bottled water
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Lunch (please bring a box lunch or extra money to buy lunch along the way)
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Lunch (Bring extra cash to purchase lunch in the park or take a box lunch or snacks with you)
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Tips
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Other meals and drinks
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Tips & transfers
Reviews of this Operator
Book with Confidence
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Free Date Changes
Bamba Travel allows you to make 2 free date changes, as long as the change is made at least 60 days before the start of the tour.
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Transfer as credit to Future Tours
Bamba Travel allows you to transfer existing payments to a future tour to avoid cancellation fees if you can't travel and inform bamba travel, 60 days before departure.
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Low Deposit
Bamba Travel requires a minimum deposit of 20% or the full booking value, whichever is less, with the final balance not due until 30 days before departure.
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Cancellation Policy
We don't charge a cancellation fee, here is a summary of bamba travel charges.
Up to 60 days before tour starts: Forfeit 100% of deposit.
At 30 days before tour starts: Forfeit 50% of booking price.
At 15 days before tour starts: Forfeit 100% of booking price.
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