Vacations are wonderful departures from the everyday routine, but they also require a good amount of preparation prior to boarding your plane bound for paradise.

In this series we will explore various tips for packing, overcoming jet lag and things to know before you go.

Over the next two weeks we invite you to join us as we discover how to handle luggage restrictions, carry-on limits, and international requirements.  A little legwork now will help you have a better time relaxing and enjoying the sites on your vacation or escorted tour.

In today’s post we will day a trip south of Peru into Chile to tour the beautiful vineyards of this region.

International wine-lovers should raise a glass to Chile’s freakish geography: Thanks to the country’s isolation at the southwestern fringe of South America, its vineyards played an unexpected part in saving the wine industries of Europe.  Production first began with the Spanish conquistadors, who planted the first vines from the pips of raisins they had carried in their pockets from Spain.  The fertile valleys around Santiago proved ideal for agriculture, and soon immigrants from Germany and Switzerland, who felt at home in the gentle alpine climate, were bottling excellent vintages for local consumption.  Then, in the 1880s, a visionary landowner named Don Silvester Ochagavía decided to improve the standard by traveling to Bordeaux in France and bringing back vine cuttings for Sauvignon Cabernet and Sauvignon Blanc.  It was a fortuitous move.

Not long afterwards, the vineyards of Europe were struck by a plague of the insidious phylloxera insect, which chews away at the roots of the parent stock.  The invasion wiped out production in much of France, Italy and Germany.  But Chilean vineyards were protected by nature: the central valleys of this spaghetti-like strip of land, 2,700 miles long but never more than 110 miles wide, are shielded from vermin and disease by the Pacific Ocean on the west, the towering Andes on the east, the world’s driest desert, the Atacama, in the north and the wilds of Patagonia to the south.

Soon it was the European producers who imported the untouched vines back from Chile, grafting them back onto their own stock and slowly recovering their footing.  It was a close call for wine lovers, who might have lost some of their most beloved varietals.  Today, Chile boasts many of the world’s oldest continually growing vines, some over a century old, which are now being hand-crafted into succulent wines that rival anything from France or Italy.

In 1939, an American scientist studying irrigation systems in Peru was flying a light plane along the arid coastline near the village of Nazca when he made a startling realization.  The lines carved into the earth over a fifty mile distance were not the remains of ancient waterways, as he had assumed, but enormous artworks.  When seen from the air, the lines formed precise geometric shapes that numbered in the hundreds, as well as seventy figures, which included a monkey, whale, a hummingbird, a shark, spiders and plants.  But why would the ancient Nazca people, who thrived in Peru from 200 BC to 500 AD, have created illustrations that could only be seen from far above the earth?

It’s a puzzle that has kept archaeologists – and science fiction writers – speculating ever since.  The most notorious suggestion came in 1968 from pop-scientist Erich von Däniken, who declared in his odd-ball bestseller Chariots of the Gods that the lines were space ship landing pads made by extraterrestrial beings, using their superior technology.  At the time, scientists declared the idea absurd and proved that the lines could have been created using simple tools and surveying equipment available to the Indians.  But the motive is still unexplained.

Do the lines indicate points on the horizon where celestial bodies rise and fall?
Are the figures artistic reflections of constellations, or part of the Nazca astrological system?

Today, the enormous artworks are off-limits to foot traffic in order to protect the engravings in the delicate soil, but hundreds of travelers a day get a chance to speculate about the ancient gallery for themselves, on a 45-minute aircraft flight.

Continuing our post from yesterday, here are 7 more Peru must-see sights to make your vacation to Cuzco more memorable.

Huayna Picchu
When visiting the Machu Picchu ruins, don’t let the climb to this scenic outcrop deter you—it’s not nearly as steep as it appears.

Inka Museum
Cuesta del Almirante 153 – Raised on Inca foundations by Admiral Aldrete Maldonado in the early 17th century, this home has a magnificent baroque doorway emblazoned with the admiral’s coat-of arms, a large arched patio, and salons with coffered ceilings. It exhibits keros (carved ceremonial goblets), weavings, mummies, and silver and gold figurines, as well as Inca weapons, tools, and ceramics.

Museum of Popular Art
Founded in 1937, this museum houses a fascinating collection of masks and other carved items as well as a large and interesting display of dolls.

Quinta Eulalia
Cuzco’s version of the sidewalk café is the quinta, an open-air restaurant with affordable Peruvian fare. Quinta Eulalia is Cuzco’s oldest quinta, offering a little history with a lot of food.

Restaurante Illary
Restaurante Illary offers a fine dining experience in the Hotel Monasterio. Savor the alpaca tenderloin in the sacred setting of this former monastery.

Seminario Ceramic Studio – Urubamba
Pablo Seminario has been dedicated to the discovery of the techniques and designs from ancient Peruvian cultures. He presents a new art expression, providing continuity to these cultural inheritances.

Tambomachay
Cuzco may be the gateway to Machu Picchu, but there are smaller ruins you shouldn’t miss. Water still flows over a system of complicated canals at this amazing site, also known as the Inca Baths.

We hope that these Cuzco, Peru must-see sights will help you get more vacation from your vacation.  Make your trip even more unique and use our South America travel planning resources to help get your dream vacation underway.

When traveling to Cuzco here are some of the must-see sights of Peru:

Andahuaylillas
A pretty town 35 km (1 hour) south of Cusco along the paved highway to Puno. Its unique Church, San Pedro de Andahuaylillas, is the biggest attraction for visitors.

Artesanias Mendivil
There are many handicraft shops in Cuzco. This one is known internationally for its saint figurines with elongated necks.

Awanacancha
Visit the place where South American camelidae are bred. Learn about the llamas’, alpacas’, and vicunas’ superb fibers, as well as the ancient weaving techniques still in use.

Barrio de San Blas
If you can make the steep walk from the Plaza de Armas to this charming neighborhood, you won’t regret it. Panoramic views of the city can be seen outside the artists’ workshops that line the streets of this picturesque area.

Café Ayllu
This bustling coffee shop is famous for its ponche de leche, a beverage made with milk and a shot of pisco, and its lenguas, a flaky pastry with a crème filling.

Carlos Chaquiras
Handmade silver jewelry is an excellent purchase in Cuzco. If you want to know the name behind your special find, purchase a piece from this local craftsman.

Check back on Friday for Part #2 of our Cuzco, Peru not-to-be-missed sights. Start planning your South America vacation today!

Any vacation to Peru isn’t complete without a tour of the country’s most famous site, Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Incas.  Here you can discover the lasting impact of the Incan civilization during this exciting travels in Peru.

It now seems straight out of Indiana Jones.  In the summer of 1911, a dashing American explorer named Hiram Bingham led a Yale University expedition through the jungles near Cuzco to discover an unknown ruin perched on a spectacular Andean crag – the “lost city of the Incas.”

Adventurers had been searching for the site for centuries, although nobody had been sure of its existence.  News of the romantic find spread around the world, and Bingham would go on to become a US Senator.  But the 1911 “discovery” was actually less heroic than it sounds: Bingham had actually been led there by a local farmer named Melchor Arteaga, whom he had met while camping on the Urubamba River.

Far from being “lost,” the Peruvian peasants of the area had always known about the site, and gave it its name, Machu Picchu, which means Ancient Peak.  Still, to modern archaeologists, Machu Picchu raises more questions than it answers.  About 1000 people once lived there, in around 200 structures – but why was the spectacular citadel built?

Bingham himself threw out wild theories: At first, he thought he had found the last refuge of the Incas who held out against the Spanish, Vilcabamba.  (In fact, he had already come across the real ruins of Vilcabamba, which lay 60 miles to the west, and he had found them unimpressive).  He then decided that Machu Picchu was the last holdout of Cuzco’s sacred Virgins of the Sun, who had fled the marauding conquistadors – and for want of another theory, this has certainly held the popular imagination.

A century later, archaeologists are still arguing about the city’s true purpose.  Most agree that it was an religious center for the Incas.  Beyond that, speculation reigns.  Was it part of a province wiped out in a rebellion? Or a royal estate supplying Cuzco with coca leaves?  One thing hasn’t changed since 1911: Everyone’s first glimpse of the city poised high above the jungle-covered ravines is one of the most majestic images in South America.

All over the Andes, Spanish colonial buildings are supported by the foundations of Inca masonry, relics of the bloody conquest that shaped Peru’s fate.  It remains one of the most astonishing acts of bravura in military history.

On September 24, 1532, a haphazard group of conquistadors – a mere 106 foot-soldiers and 62 cavalrymen – landed on the Pacific coast, at the edge of the powerful Inca empire, led by an illiterate pig farmer named Francisco Pizarro.  Their timing could not have been better.  The sprawling empire had recently been weakened by civil war and a smallpox epidemic transmitted by the first European explorers, and the new arrivals boasted metal armor, gunpowder and horses, all unseen in South America.

In the faraway capital of Cuzco, the Inca ruler, Atahualpa, assumed that the mysterious new arrivals were possibly of divine origin.  Not realizing how bloodthirsty and ruthless the Spaniard could be, he agreed to meet Pizarro in Cajamarca surrounded by thousands of guards.  But within minutes of the encounter, the conquistadors seized the Inca king in a surprise attack, using blasts of gunpowder and cavalry to terrify the vastly superior Inca forces.  The Spaniards then threw Atahualpa into a cell with a chain around his neck.

During his imprisonment, the Inca observed that the Spanish were obsessed with gold.  (He assumed they must eat it).   So he offered to fill his cell – about 90 cubic yards – with the precious metal as a ransom.  Pizarro eagerly agreed.  But no sooner had the room been filled than the greedy conquistadors double-crossed the Inca.  He was put on trial and executed by strangulation.  Pizarro then marched on capital Cuzco – called by Incas “the navel of the world” – where they looted such wonders as the Temple of the Sun and melted its fabulous gold artifacts into ingots.  The greatest empire South America had ever seen was defeated, although its culture, language and traditions would survive in its people – the living foundations of Peru.

We leave behind the cosmopolitan cities of Beijing & Hong Kong, as well as the magnificent Great Wall of China, as we travel to Peru, the third largest country in South America.

During our series over the next three weeks you will explore the ancient ruins of Machu Picchu and take in the sights of Lake Titicaca, the highest commercially navigable lake. You’ll also have the chance to take in the nightlife of Lima as we visit a local disco or try your hand at bartering for an alpaca sweater.

So sit back and enjoy a pisco sour or an Inca Kola as we begin our South American vacation.