I loved, loved, LOVED this trip! I've always considered myself a "close to the ground" traveler - though the sights may be spectacular, I go to experience the culture and meet the people. To that end, I have equated spending less, to avoiding chain hotels and Americanized food. I chose this trip for 4 reasons: 1) Level of activity and adventure (experiences), 2) It was all inclusive, 3) I wanted to travel with a small group, and 4) Active Adventures has excellent customer ratings. I was NOT disappointed, in any way. We stayed in very nice (much better than my usual), locally owned and managed hotels. We ate delicious local food. I met the local people, and learned about the culture. Every day was filled with discovery, excitement, and activity. I was never bored AND I was never stressed. Someone else - one of the my fabulous guides - always took care of all the details. Gustavo, our primary guide was fabulous! His charm and sense of humor are natural and delightful. He seemed to anticipate our needs, before we did. We were family (in a really good way). A truly amazing guy. Puma, my Inca Trail guide was incredibly experienced and knowledgeable. He is a wealth of information about Peru, the people, the history, and Incan religion, culture, and architecture. I learned so much from him and enjoyed countless hours of conversation. As someone who has limited knowledge of other languages, I was absolutely amazed at the fluency of our guides. Both Gustavo and Puma had superb English. Of course, their Spanish was flawless as well. In the case of Puma, who's native tongue is Quechua, I was dealing with a true multilingual. It was quite a kick to offer up a new word or slang phrase. He took pleasure equal to mine in learning something new. Although I didn't take this trip anticipating that it would be "the trip of a lifetime", it truly was. Many thanks for an amazing experience!

| January 1970