Of course, we marvelled at Machu Picchu on a recent foray to Peru. After all, the Lost City of the Incas is the type of eye candy to warrant being named to the New Seven Wonders of the World list and snag UNESCO World Heritage Site status.
But in all honesty the best part of the trip was spending time with my 20-year-old son Alex.
You see, Alex won't travel with me anymore unless the destination is "epic."
So Machu Picchu turned into a father-and-son trip of a lifetime.
In fact, on the week-long journey Alex and I spend more time together, talk, laugh and experience more than we have in the entire three months prior that he's been at home for the summer from university.
In what might seem like an odd choice for a dad and his 20year-old, we make this journey with Adventures by Disney.
Now don't get Adventures by Disney mixed up with the Disneyland and Disney World concepts of rides and posing with Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
It's a family-friendly group tour company that packages up bucket-list itineraries around the globe utilizing the quality "Disney Difference," according to Kitty Phillips of Disney Destinations.
"Adventures by Disney groups are always small and have two guides, one from the U.S. and one local expert," she explains.
"We also go the greatest places, stay in the best hotels, take care of all the logistics for you and by special arrangement by-pass all the lineups. It's like your own personal Fast Pass around the world" (in reference to Disney's line by-passing Fast Pass system at its amusement parks).
By the way, Adventures by Disney also does tours of Egypt and the Great Pyramids, safari in South Africa, Australia, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands and Cambodia, Vietnam & Laos.
Now back to Machu Picchu. It comes on day five of a week-long trip so that it arrives like a crescendo after a long tension-filled build up by both the tour guides and the amongst-thegroup chat.
Our gang is quiet on most of the bus and train ride up to Machu Picchu because it's early morning.
But the buzz picks up again as we make the final approach.
"You are so lucky to be going here," says guide Ernesto Ore by way of understatement.
"Machu Picchu is a pilgrimage - a spiritual journey - that most Peruvians only do once in their lifetime."
Fellow guide Rudy Chalco is less heavy when he tells us he calls it "Machu Picture" because it's one of the most photographed places in the universe.
We've already heard all the Machu Picchu facts and figures - built about 1440 as a showpiece Inca royal city in the Andes Mountains with religious, agricultural and astronomical importance, it was abandoned for unknown reasons around 1530 and forgotten until explorer Hiram Bingham discovered it again in 1911.
The jungle was cut back to reveal well-preserved ruins with agricultural terraces, food warehouses, temples, plazas and homes.
After going through the front entrance there's a big wall and then you turn the corner for the big reveal.
The Machu Picchu ruins lay on the valley floor with the distinctive twin peaks hovering in the background punctuating the view.
Initially, we're speechless and then the fawning starts.
To start with, it's unoriginal "wows" and then we start articulating that it's exactly how we imagined it or it's not at all how we pictured it.
The quintessential Machu Picchu view is right there so everyone poses for their marquee photos. It may be unoriginal, but everyone is smiling.
For the rest of the day we wander the ruins, complete with roaming llamas making cameos, and hike part of the Inca Trail to Sun Gate enjoying the spectacle and the sunshine.
We don't even mind when the Andes' notoriously fickle weather sees the clouds roll in the late afternoon and it rains a little.
Precipitation is seen as a blessing of the gods.
Machu Picchu is at a relatively low (for the Andes) 2,438-metre elevation. At certain points on our itinerary we're as high as 3,810 metres.
While we've heard a lot about altitude sickness (dizziness, headache, stomach upset and worse) we avoid it by drinking coca tea, lots of water, eating and drinking alcohol lightly and getting lots of rest.
Machu Picchu is certainly the highlight of a trip to Peru, but there's lots more to do.
So we white water raft on the Urubamba River; check out the wares at the Centre for Traditional Textiles; visit other Inca ruins; watch Peruvian dance and Paso horse shows; and eat and drink our way through Peruvian cuisine ranging from ceviche (raw fish salad) and alpaca stir fry to fresh white wines and pisco sour (the local liquor mixed with lime juice, egg whites and sugar).
IF YOU GO
- Entry requirements: Passport must be valid for at least six months beyond the date of your expected departure. Travellers are given an Andean Immigration Card upon arrival. This card must be presented prior to departure from Peru.
- Currency: Nuevo sol. Recent exchange rates: $1 Cdn = 2.6453 PEN 1 PEN = $0.3780 Cdn
- Adventures by Disney does eight night itineraries in Peru under the Sacred Valleys and Incan Cities banner seasonally from March through December. Package includes an overnight to explore megatropolis Lima, all activities, admissions, hotels, meals, ground transportation, guides and internal flight from Lima to Cusco (the launch pad for Machu Picchu). Cost is $3,439 US for adults and $3,269 US for kids. Check out AdventuresbyDisney.com.
- Getting there: Air ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ flies three times a week non-stop to Lima from Toronto. Or Canadians have to connect through an American city such as New York, Miami, Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles or San Francisco.
- General information at VisitPeru.com.
- The Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs has compiled travel advisories for countries around the world. For details, go to: voyage.gc.ca/index-eng.asp
