Crash A Boda - The Neil GT Photography Studio Blog

We spent much of the month of December on the road traveling in the Peruvian Andes and Amazon River Basin.

Our first stop was Cusco, an amazing colonial city tucked high in the Andes Mountains, where we explored centuries old spanish churches built atop even more ancient Inca foundations and bustling local markets full of colors and traditional clothing.

Plaza de Armas - Cusco

Street Scene - Cusco

La Catedral - Cusco

Inca Stonework - Cusco

Central Market - Cusco

Moto-Taxi - Ollantaytambo

After traveling through the small towns along the Urubamba River, a train ride from Ollantaytambo brought us through the cloud forest to the ruins of Machu Pichu, where we hiked through Inca houses and temples before climbing to the summit of Huayna Picchu, the steep mountain towering behind Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu

Inca Ruins - Machu Picchu

Leaving at 5:30 am we retraced our steps, traveling by train back to Ollantaytambo and cramming into a crowded colectivo for the drive back to Cusco, once there we headed straight to the airport where we caught a flight to our next destination. The mountains dropped away from beneath the plane into what looked like a green ocean of trees and soon we were landing in Puerto Maldonado, deep in the Peruvian Amazon. We met our guide Luís at the airport and after a short drive boarded a longboat and began our journey downstream through the brown water of the Madre de Diós river. Eventually the boat pulled up along alongside a trailhead at the entrance to the Tambopata Wildlife Reserve, leaving our boat behind we donned our mud boots and trekked two hours straight into the jungle until we reached our final destination, the glassy calm waters of Sandoval Lake, where we paddled canoes across to our lodge in the forest.

Lago Sandoval - Tambopata Reserve

Boats on Rio Madre de Dios - Puerto Maldonado

Amazon Rain Forest - Tambopata Reserve

Gecko, Caiman, Weevil, Tarantula - Tambopata Reserve

Kapoc Tree- Tambopata Reserve

Squirrel Monkey, Yellow Bellied Macaw - Tambopata Reserve

Sunset - Lago Sandoval

From the high plains city of Puno we set out by boat on the incredibly blue Lake Titicaca, the highest lake in the world at almost 12,500 ft above sea level. After a short visit to the Uros Islands, a strange "Disneyland" of of tiny floating islands built out of totora reeds, we continued on for hours to Amantaní Island where we stayed the night with Anselva, Caisín and their family in a local island home. From Amantaní Island we continued on to Taquile Island where we hiked through small villages on our way to breath-taking 360 degree views of the lake and the snow-capped mountains Andes Mountains in Bolivia.