Peru Tour

Students taking the tour for academic credit will attend classes on the Monday and Tuesday after May graduation.

AU bus to the Airport for our flights to Lima, Peru. Evening arrival and transfer to hotel. Overnight in Lima.

Included Meals: Dinner (in-flight)

Breakfast at the hotel before heading just south of Lima to the Archaeological Sanctuary of Pachacamac. Pachacamac was a religious and administrative center for pre-Incan cultures, then the Incas, before being largely destroyed by Spanish settlers. Returning to Lima, we will see some key sites in the city such as the San Francisco Convent, Plaza de Armas and the Lima Cathedral.

Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Breakfast at the hotel before an early flight to Iquitos. After a drive through the city of Iquitos, the gateway to the jungle, we will be taken by boat down the Amazon River to our Jungle Lodge. Lunch will be served at the lodge followed by an afternoon hike in the rainforest surrounding the lodge before heading back for free time and dinner. After dinner, we will do a night walk or boat ride to see how the jungle changes at night. Overnight in the Jungle Lodge.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner

Breakfast at the lodge followed by a day exploring the jungle. In the morning, we'll go looking for local birds, take a boat to try and spot pink dolphins, and learn about native fishing techniques. After lunch at the lodge, we'll head out on the boats to see the unique Victorias Regias - a large water lilly up to 10 feet wide. Dinner and a night walk in the area surrounding the lodge before free evening time. Overnight in the Jungle Lodge.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner

Breakfast at the lodge then a visit to a local village to learn about the history, culture, and the customs of the people who live by the river. Participate in a blowgun demonstration, learn about hunting, fishing, and farming techniques, talk about cultural practices and more. Overnight in the Jungle Lodge.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner

Breakfast at the lodge and a visit to an artisinal sugar cane mill before heading back up the river to Iquitos and our flight to the city of Cusco. Overnight in Cusco.

Meals Included: Breakfast & Lunch

Breakfast at the hotel. Walking tour to the Cusco Cathedral, housing priceless pieces of colonial art with origins during XVI century, Koricancha, an Incan temple repurposed by the Spanish conquerers, San Blas a district with a unique blend of colonial and indegenous art and architecture, the twelve angled stone and more. In the afternoon, we will have free time to explore the area in smaller groups. Overnight in Cusco.

Meals Included: Breakfast & Lunch

Breakfast before heading into the Sacred Valley. Our first stop will be at Sacsayhuamán, a ceremonial fortress with colossal construction surrounded by beautiful lanscapes just outside the city. Then, we'll stop at Qenqo, a temple with unique stone carvings, before heading on to the Puca Pucará military outpost and Tambomachay, with it's aqueducts, canals, and waterfalls. Finally, we'll head farther into the Sacred Valley to the town of Pisac with it's beautiful archaeological site overlooking the colonial town and free time to explore the handicraft market. Overnight in the Sacred Valley.

Meals Included: Breakfast & Lunch

Breakfast at the hotel. First we will visit the archaeological complex of Moray, built by the Incas as a botanic laboratory. The circular terraces offer different temperatures due to their depth, design, and orientation creating 20 different microclimates. Then we will stop at salt mine in Maras. Developed in Pre-Inca times, each pond is run by local families who use the developed channels to direct the underground salty stream into the ponds before blocking it off and letting the water evaporate in order to harvest the salt. After Lunch, we will visit Ollantaytambo, an Incan royal estate turned stronghold for the Incan resistance of the Spanish conquest. Overnight in the Sacred Valley.

Meals Included: Breakfast & Lunch

Breakfast at the hotel before taking the train to the town of Aguas Calientes, the gateway to Machu Picchu. Running along the banks of the Urubamba river, the panoramic train windows offer spectacular views of the sacred valley. Disembarking at the end of the line, we'll board the bus that will skillfully navigate the narrow road up the mountain to the entrance of the archaeological site.

No written records exist of the site, however Machu Picchu is believed to have been built by the Incas around 1420 AD. It is commonly believed by archaeologists to have served as an estate, based on physical evidence at the site, before being abandoned around 1530 AD due to the Spanish Conquest or because most of the inhabitants died from smallpox. After some free time in the town of Aguas Calientes, we'll board the train which will take us back to Cusco. Overnight in Cusco

Meals Included: Breakfast & Lunch

Breakfast at the hotel before traveling to the city of Puno, gateway to the highest navigable lake in the world. Along the way, we will enjoy views of snowcapped mountains and Andean towns. We will stop at the Church in Andahuaylillas, nicknamed the Sistine Chapel of the Americas because of the amazing beauty of its frescoes. Next, we'll stop at the archaeological complex of Raqchi, a Wiracocha Temple. A brief stop at La Raya, the highest point on the route at 4,325 meters above sea level, followed by visiting Pucara and its lithic museum that houses ceramics and sculptures which are part of the legacy of the Pucara culture that developed in the Andean plateau. Overnight in Puno.

Meals Included: Breakfast & Lunch

Early breakfast at the hotel, then we will head by boat to the floating islands, inhabited by the Uros people who build their islands out of totora reeds harvested from nearby reed beds. Their main activities are hunting and fishing, but they also trade with people on the mainland, sell crafts at local markets, and earn much of their income from tourism and sharing their cultural traditions. In the afternoon, we'll board the bus to drive to Chivay. Overnight in Chivay.

Meals Included: Breakfast & Lunch

Early breakfast at the hotel. Today we will tour the Colca Canyon, one of the deepest canyons in the world, starting at the Condor Cross, an observation point for the canyon and a popular place to see Andean Condors in flight. Afterwards we will stop at the towns of Maca and Yanque, and the Antahuilque viewpoint then wind along the canyon on the drive to our hotel in Arequipa.

Meals Included: Breakfast & Lunch

After breakfast at the hotel, we will tour Arequipa's sites such as Santa Catalina, a convent and a walled citadel; The Catedral, built in 1656 in the Plaza de Armas; La Compañía de Jesús, a Jesuit church built from white sillar volcano rock and full of ornate carvings; The Chili River, and the Carmen Alto Viewpoint, offering impressive views of the valley and the district of Yanahuara. In the evening we'll fly back to Lima before heading on to our international flight

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch

Flights from Lima to Chicago and transfer back to AU

Included Meals: Breakfast (in-flight)