Country: Peru
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Morning at Mirador Cruz del Cóndor
Early in the morning you meet the guide and drive to Mirador Cruz del Cóndor, one of the best viewpoints over Colca Canyon and home to the condors that soar on its thermal currents. The road passes picturesque villages and pre-Inca ruins with the Ampato and Hualca glaciers visible in the distance, and from the viewpoint the canyon stretches nearly 4,000 ft below. Condors are characteristic of the viewpoint rather than guaranteed — the morning's air decides.
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Calera Hot Springs
A short ride from Chivay, the Calera Hot Springs are known for the therapeutic effects of their thermal waters. You can take a dip in the natural baths or simply sit and take in the scenery — an unhurried pause after the pass.
Read MoreColca Canyon Scenic Drive and Patapampa Pass
The road leaves Arequipa after an early breakfast and climbs through landscapes of snowcapped volcanoes and quaint Andean villages toward Colca Canyon. Crossing the Reserva Nacional de Salinas y Aguada Blanca, the drive passes wild vicuñas — smaller cousins of the llama — and viscachas, small chinchilla-like rodents, before reaching Patapampa Pass at 15,300 ft (4,820 m). From the Mirador de los Andes the view takes in the volcanoes Hualca Hualca, Sabancaya and Ampato, and the descent toward Chivay runs past the pre-Inca agricultural terraces that characterize the canyon landscape.
Read MoreArequipa City Tour
The afternoon city tour begins in the Monasterio de Santa Catalina, framed by the source as an escape to the past, then continues to the Baroque Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús with its colorful Cupula of Saint Ignacio. Arequipa's Main Square and its Neo-renaissance Cathedral follow, and the tour finishes in the traditional Yanahuara district, whose plaza looks out over the volcanoes Misti, Chachani and Pichu Pichu. The evening is free at the hotel.
Read MoreFree Day in Lima: Suggested City Exploration
A free day in Lima, taken on foot in the city's breezy Pacific air. The source repeats its Day 1 suggestions — the historic center and 16th-century Cathedral, Casa Aliaga, the Larco Museum with its pre-Colonial gold and silver and its pieces of erotic art, and Love Park in Miraflores at sunset — with downtown mingling and award-winning restaurants again part of the framing.
Read MoreSandboarding the Dunes of Huacachina
After the flight, the day turns to Huacachina, the desert oasis ringed by rolling sand dunes. On a sandboard, the larger dunes give the afternoon a physical, playful counterpoint to the morning's archaeology.
Read MoreNazca Lines Overflight from Pisco
A 90-minute flight in a 12-passenger Cessna Grand Caravan passes over the sprawling Nazca Lines, where the figures of a hummingbird, a dog, a tree, a whale and a lizard appear among the geometric lines. The longest figures measure about 1,200 ft (370 m); they were made by removing the top layer of iron-oxide-coated pebbles to reveal the lighter clay underneath, and the stable desert environment has preserved them remarkably well.
Read MoreSunset at Love Park in Miraflores
In the evening, the eclectic Love Park in upscale Miraflores pairs a huge kissing statue with beautiful mosaic walls on the cliffs of Chorrillos. It is a calm place to watch the sun go down over the Pacific, with a nightcap at an open-air cafe in Miraflores as the suggested close of the day.
Read MoreVisit the Larco Museum in Pueblo Libre
The Larco Museum is a privately owned museum of pre-Columbian art housed in a restored viceregal mansion built over a 7th-century pre-Columbian pyramid. Its collection holds a vast array of pre-Colonial gold and silver artifacts alongside pieces of erotic art.
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