Andean Wedding “Arac Masin”
Awaken romanticism with this Andean ceremony, where the couple is united for a lifetime with the blessing of the Inca gods in a mystical setting.
This ancient ritual consists of a spiritual affirmation that harmonizes a couple’s union with elements of nature, invoking the Apus, or spirits of the mountains; Pachamama, or Mother Earth; Mama Koka, or Mother Coca; the chaskas, or stars; the Aukis and Achachilas, or light; and Willka Nina, or sacred fire; It is a shaman who directs the ceremony.
All these to make their relationship a duality that will traspass eternity.
Summary
DAY 01 – Welcome Lima / Overnight Lima
DAY 02 – Lima Colonial City Tour, Larco Museum & Dinner Show / Overnight Lima
DAY 03 – Peruvian Paso Horse Show / Overnight Lima
DAY 04 – Cusco Archeological City Tour / Overnight Cusco
DAY 05 – Yachaq’s Textile Cultural / Overnight Cusco
DAY 06 – Full Day Sacred Valley / Overnight Cusco
DAY 07 – Hiram Bingham Train + Andean Wedding – Dinner & Musician / Sumaq
DAY 08 – Machu Picchu Citadel Excursion + Hiram Bingham Train / Overnight Cusco
DAY 09 – Full Day Rainbow Mountain / Overnight Cusco
DAY 10 – Maras Moray Tour & Transfer out Cusco and flight back Home
DAY 01 – WELCOME TO PERU
Upon arrival in Lima, you will be met by our representative and a private driver and will be transferred to your hotel.
Our representative will assist you with check-in procedures and provide you with a detailed itinerary, vouchers covering all the services included in your tour and additional information on the organization of your Peru trip.
Meals Included: None
DAY 02 – LIMA COLONIAL CITY TOUR, LARCO MUSEUM & DINNER SHOW
Get ready for a busy morning, starting with a guided sightseeing tour to the most attractive and important sites in Lima, the “City of Kings”. The tour includes Lima’s Historical Center, Casa Aliaga, passing by Plaza San Martin, Plaza Mayor, the Government Palace, the City Hall, the Cathedral and its Religious Art Museum, as well as San Francisco Monastery and its famous underground crypts are known as the Catacombs.
We continue to the Museo Larco a housed in an exquisite 18th century vice-royal mansion, built over a 7th century pre-Columbian pyramid and surrounded by beautiful gardens. The museum’s galleries exhibit the finest and most magnificent gold and jewelry treasures from Ancient Peru and the renowned erotic collection, one of Peru’s most celebrated attractions.
Then, spend a night out at La Dama Juana Restaurant, where you’ll enjoy a tasty Peruvian buffet and folkloric dancing.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner
DAY 03 – PERUVIAN PASO HORSE SHOW
Then head to private Hacienda (ranch) located in the Southern Valley of Lima, a place devoted to breeding of the traditional Peruvian Paso Horse. Relax in contact with nature and learn first-hand about the history of this particular type of horse and its characteristics. Admire newborns, horses being trained and adult horses showing off all their qualities in their luxurious “apero” outfits, ridden by our “chalanes” in typical garments. Enjoy the opportunity of riding the smoothest horse in the world and feel the elegant “paso” walk that resembles a dance.
Lunch will be served at the restaurant and you will enjoy typical Peruvian cuisine.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner
DAY 04 – TRANSFER IN CUSCO + ARCHEOLOGICAL CITY TOUR
Upon arrival at Cusco Airport, you will be met by our representative and transferred to your hotel. Our representative will provide you with a detailed itinerary, entrance tickets covering all the services included in your tour, and additional information on the organization of your Machu Picchu experience.
Half-Day Archeological Cusco City Tour
This afternoon you’ll enjoy a guided sightseeing tour of Cusco, with your guide to the first ruin site (Tambomachay). As you walk to and visit each archaeological site, your guide will explain the history, architecture, and local traditions. The four sites are Tambomachay, Puca Pucara, Q’enko, and Sacsayhuaman. After exploring the last ruin site, you will walk down to the Plaza de Armas in Cusco City. With examples of Inca history and architecture. Visit the city’s most important historical monuments that reveal the influence of different cultures: The Plaza de Armas, the Cathedral dating from Spanish vice-royalty times, built with great slabs of red granite renaissance style in contrast with the baroque style silverwork of its interior and, the Santo Domingo church built upon the foundations of the Inca temple Qorikancha, dedicated to worship the Sun God.
Meals Included: Breakfast
DAY 05 – YACHAQ’S TEXTILE CULTURAL
AMARU COMMUNITY – PISAC
Experience the magic of authentic Andean weaving, from the shearing process of the llamas and sheep all the way to the final product, the vivid colors of the clothing worn by the villages of Amaru come from natural dyes extracted from plants and other organic elements. The weavers create fantastic geometric shapes that enclose ancient Inca codes. The communities knit their identity, customs and desires – creating a conversation with them by means of visual patterns. The Amaru villagers will teach you how to speak this language through textiles as you build your own design with their help.
You will be greeted by an amazing community reception with traditional music and beautiful Incan flowers (kantu). After the welcoming ceremony, you will begin “Decoding the Andean Textile” this starts with an explanation of all the different organic materials use to make the natural dyes – which plants they come from, what is their symbolism, and what other uses they have (many have medicinal qualities as well). The second activity is the shearing, cleaning and the coiling of the sheep or alpaca wool that is used in textiles – followed by a demonstration of how the wool is dyed by boiling. The iconography that is used in the textiles is extremely important to the villagers of Amaru – and through the duration of this activity, a local guide will explain the most important motives of each symbol that is weaved in the textile. Once the demonstration is concluded, you will get the chance to purchase beautiful, local textile all locally made and authentically (table runners, scarfs, purses, belts, bracelets, etc).
After, you will have an amazing lunch consisting of local cuisine prepared fresh with local ingredients.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch
DAY 06 – SEDUCTIVE DAY IN THE SACRED VALLEY
Start your exploration on the way to the Sacred Valley visiting Awanacancha, an Andean textile center whose key objective is to maintain the wealth of Incan textile art and keep their traditions alive.
Then head to the town of Pisac, famous for its ruins which lie atop a hill at the entrance the valley and separated along the ridge into four groups: Pisac, Inti Watana, Q’allaqasa, and Kinchiraqay. Visit the Inti Watana group which includes the Temple of the Sun, baths, altars, water fountains, a ceremonial platform, and an inti Watana – a volcanic ritual stone used as an astronomic clock or Inca calendar to define the change seasons.
Continue to the Pisac Markets, which was the place of reunion for all artisans of the region to get together and exchange or buy and sell their products.
After lunch, we will travel to the ruins of the Ollantaytambo fortress to continue the tour. These spectacular ruins were constructed during the time of the Incas.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch
DAY 07 – ARAC MASIN – Andean Wedding
Travel back in time aboard the elegant Belmond Hiram Bingham Train, enjoying the Ultimate in Luxury Train transportation aboard the train’s richly appointed 1920s Pullman cars to enjoy fabulous views of the Andes, white tablecloth dining and high-end wine. Dine and dance your way between Cusco and Machu Picchu aboard this enchanting Luxury train.
Andean Wedding
The Andean wedding is the symbolic Andean ceremony for couples those looking to express their love for each other or renew vows. It is a unique experience with unparalleled
Andean mysticism and spirituality
Continue with a private ancient ritual in the terrace of the hotel and is decorated with flowers, andean cereal and coca leaves. Led by a shaman, this mystical scenario calls
upon the Incan gods to guide your relationship to last eternally.
The Ceremony includes:
- A shaman
- “Aqlla” or ceremonial assistant.
- Private interpreter
- Flower arrangements: floral arch and carpet of flowers.
- Bouquet
- Typical Andean attire for the bride and groom.
- Sparkling for toasting
- Special gift for the bride and groom.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
DAY 08 – SUNRISE MACHU PICCHU CITADEL EXCURSION
You will leave your hotel after breakfast and board a bus that will take you to the entrance gate of the citadel of Machu Picchu.
Machu Picchu is one of the most-visited sites worldwide. Machu Picchu dazzles all who visit it with its beauty and mystery. You will follow in the footsteps of the ancient Incas as you explore this magical citadel along with your local and experimented tour guide.
After the tour, you will stop at a local restaurant for a buffet lunch.
Afterwards, you will have a little time to explore the town of Aguas Calientes before boarding your train back to Cusco.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch
OPTIONAL HIKE UP TO HUAYNA PICCHU, the mountain behind Machu Picchu. This hike is strenuous and recommended only for travelers comfortable with heights and who have a good fitness level.
A fair amount of climbing is required. Get fabulous views of Machu Picchu from the top. Total time for this excursion is 2.5 hours. You may want to extend your hike and go to the Moon Temple as well, which is close to Huayna Picchu. This adds an extra hour total to this excursion. Total time for the Huayna Picchu visit, including the Moon Temple, is 3.5 hours. (This hike requires advanced reservations.
DAY 09 – FULL DAY RAINBOW MOUNTAIN
This morning we will head to the south of Cusco, a trip that will take approximately 3 hours to the starting point of the excursion. Once we arrive in the community of Chilca we will have breakfast followed by an information session that will be provided by our guide.
The hike will take between 4 to 5 hours (normal – slow rhythm) with the first part ascending gradually until the control point.
From this point, the trail will ascend sharply by 45 degrees until Vinincunca. To have an even better view, we will climb up a small mountain, which is found at the Forefront of this natural wonder, and see how fascinating this área is. We will be here for about 40 minutes and then return to the camping área for lunch where a departure time will be confirmed for the return trip back to Cusco.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch
DAY 10 – MARAS MORAY TOUR & TRANSFER OUT CUSCO AND FLIGHT BACK HOME
Today you will set off in the direction of the Sacred Valley to the town of Chinchero, an authentic Andean village with lots of character, where we will find the colonial church that houses a large collection of painting from the Cusqueñan School of Art.
Next, continue to the salt fields of Maras and its seemingly never-ending terraces, where salt extracted from springs is stored. The use of Maras Salt dates back thousands of years and is inherited from generation to generation and managed communally.
Continue your excursion to admire the Moray terraces, believed to be a former gigantic agricultural laboratory, an astronomical observatory or a place of worship, or maybe all three. It is thought that Moray was used for plant adaptation to new climatic environments thanks to its circular terraces in immense cone-shaped depressions of 47 to 84 m that resemble giant fingerprints or contour lines.
At the scheduled time you will be shuttled from the hotel to the airport to board your flight back to Lima. Our representative will assist you with check-in procedures and then to your connecting flight back home.
Meals Included: Breakfast
