Susan Solo – Photographer | Traveler | Adventurer

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The Sacred Valley and Lares Adventure to Machu Picchu

Buenas tardes, amigos! Chris and I just returned from a whirlwind adventure in Peru, and I’m still in the process of unpacking my thoughts and all of our stuff, not to mention I still need to go through hundreds and hundreds of photos! But in the meantime, I thought I’d start out by posting about our trekking company and how we decided to book the itinerary we did, since that’s generally one of the first steps for anyone deciding on a trek in Peru.

If you happened to read my post waaay back in 2014 about planning a trip to Peru, you’ll know that we wanted to do an adventure trek that ended up at Machu Picchu and that we had been researching an adventure travel company called Mountain Lodges of Peru. I was sold on MLP for their commitment to eco-friendly lodging in the Sacred Valley and I loved that they partner with the Andean community, but we didn’t get around to booking a trip with them right away because of other travel plans. By the time I was ready to solidify a trip to Peru, MLP had added a new trek called the Sacred Valley and Lares Adventure to Machu Picchu, and I was hooked. Here are our top 5 reasons for choosing/booking the Lares Adventure:

1. Cultural Submersion

The Lares Adventure promised to take us into Andean villages to witness and experience local customs such as weaving, farming, and cooking, and that’s exactly what we wanted. In my research and travel planning, the Lares Adventure seemed to be a favorite for fans of slower travel who wanted to experience the Andean region at a more relaxed pace. This was the perfect combination of nature and culture, with amazing opportunities to get to know the local people.

2. Efficiency

The Lares Adventure started and ended hikes in ideal spots. I really appreciated the idea of getting right to the meat of the hikes, which saved precious time to put toward cultural experiences.

3. Customization

The Lares Adventure was designed to offer a customizable experience for each participant, so every night on the trek our group attended a briefing to go over the activity options for the next day. This flexibility appealed to me not only for the variety of experiences, but also because while I have been blessed with a strong sense of adventure, I am also cursed with an extremely sensitive digestive system. I have a few food allergies and sensitivities, but I still like to try new foods and to experience local cuisines when we travel. In doing so, I worry that I’ll try something new only to find out that I’m intolerant to it.

When I’m in civilization it’s not a big deal, but I haven’t yet taken my sensitive belly on an extended hike combined with unfamiliar cuisine, and I was a little nervous at the thought of the Salkantay Trek’s only option to hike lodge-to-lodge every day. So I liked the idea of the customizable Lares Adventure and having the option to participate in an easier or shorter day if needed, and thus we chose Lares over Salkantay. (And sure enough, there was one day on our trip that my stomach rebelled and I was thankful not to have to do an eight-mile hike.)

4. Mountain Biking

In addition to hiking and cultural excursions in the villages, the Lares Adventure also offered opportunities for bike rides! We love riding the trails at home, so we enjoyed mixing it up between hiking and biking while in Peru.

5. Comfort

I’ll be frank: I immediately fell in love with the idea of MLP for the option to sleep in a bed rather than on the ground as you do with a trekking company on the Inca Trail. Chris would do fine on the trail and with camping the entire time, but when it comes down to it, I’m just not really interested in camping for more than a night or two. Camping every single night for the whole trek simply doesn’t appeal to me. I kind of wish it did, but we can’t all love the same things, right? I’m happy to say the lodges were all gorgeous and comfortable, and they had wonderful, modern bathrooms. One of the lodges even had a hot tub! Post-hike heaven.

And as a bonus sixth reason, the Lares Adventure was a perfectly serene crowd-free alternative to the more popular Inca Trail route. Our hikes only included our group and the occasional local villagers. We walked for miles and miles without seeing another soul, and it was blissful.

We’re incredibly happy with our choice to book with Mountain Lodges of Peru, and I have lots more to tell you about the trek. First though, we spent a bit of time in Lima and Cusco – those posts are up next!

Note: This post is not sponsored by Mountain Lodges of Peru and I did not receive anything in exchange for this post. We just loved our trip with them!

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July 18, 2017
The Great Beer-Off of 2016: Round 2 Germany

As I mentioned in the first Great Beer-Off post, Chris and I had a bit of a theme to several of our 2016 travels: beer. We scheduled a trip to Belgium last year after Chris read a magazine article about Belgium’s breweries. Chris also had Oktoberfest on his bucket list, so Germany was added to the itinerary for 2016. And since Prague isn’t far at all from Munich, I tacked it onto our Oktoberfest trip, giving us a well-rounded sample of Europe’s very best beers: Belgian, German, and Czech.

When I started this series of posts, I imagined I’d wrap it up a little more timely than this, but better late than never, right? So here we are with Round 2 of the Great Beer-Off: Germany! What better place to indulge in a draught or two (or three or more…) than in a country where a multi-week festival is largely centered around the enjoyment of beer.

While we did enjoy brews in a few areas of Germany including Fussen and Mittenwald, the majority of our beer fun took place in Munich during the first few days of Oktoberfest. Before even heading to the fairgrounds to visit the various beer tents, Chris and I spent a good amount of time in the beer halls and cellars around the capital of Bavaria including Hofbräuhaus, Der Pschorr, and Augustiner Bräu München.

The weather did not cooperate for all three of the days we stayed in Munich, but these spots provided the perfect atmosphere and hiding spot from the rain and cold. And I loved having a good excuse for tucking into German comfort food which always paired well with our beers.

From the looks of it, I’m starting to become a real beer fan, right? Truth: I didn’t completely finish any of my beers in the photos. I did, however, manage to drink about one-and-a-half masses total while we were in Germany. I suppose I only made a small dent in the 6 million liters of beer served at Oktoberfest, but for me it was quite an accomplishment!

Despite still not being a true beer drinker, I actually enjoyed the beer in the Löwenbräu tent – it was super easy to drink with a fresh taste and a smooth finish. And what about the real beer fan who inspired this trip? Chris’s official favorite beers from our time in Germany were Paulaner Hefe-Weizen and Hofbräu Original, both for their crisp and refreshing qualities. He was a good sport and happily helped me finish my masses when I petered out.

Conclusions from Germany: I think this trip to Oktoberfest put me one step closer to becoming a beer drinker! I enjoyed trying all of the Oktoberfest varieties, and while I didn’t feel the need to stand on a table and chug a full mass, I was happy to participate as a casual consumer. To complete this series with Round 3, I’ll post next about our beers in the Czech Republic along with my results for the Great Beer-Off of 2016!

July 3, 2017
Happy 20th Anniversary, Harry Potter!

I can’t believe it was 20 years ago that J. K. Rowling introduced our world to the magical world of Harry Potter. Over the past two decades, I’ve read the books and listened to the audiobooks multiple times, watched the movies in theatres and at home more times than I care to admit, and have managed to work several Potter-related places into my travels. I still have yet to ride the train along the Glenfinnan viaduct in Scotland and there are a few other minor stops I’ll probably get to eventually (e.g., a Harry Potter-inspired coffee shop in Nevada or maybe tea at this B&B), but my Potterhead experiences in England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, and Florida are some of my favorite memories!

“After all this time?”

“Always,” said Snape.

June 26, 2017
36-ish Hours in Dubai

When I was selecting flights to the Maldives, the best itinerary for our schedule included a 12-hour layover in Dubai. I pitched the idea to Chris that we could use that half-day to do a quick desert tour outside of Dubai, but once we started looking into it, we realized we’d also like to see more of the city so we decided to stay overnight. With a visit to the Burj Khalifa, the Gold Souk, and a desert tour, we were able to fit a sampler of city life, culture, and nature into our 36-ish hours in Dubai.

Desert Tour

If you only have time for one activity on a layover in Dubai, I can easily recommend doing a desert safari. We booked the Platinum Conservation Drive with Platinum Heritage and had a fantastic time despite the overcast skies and occasional (super rare!) rain. Our guide, Tiago, picked us up at our hotel and drove us (along with two other people) to the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve for an informative overview of the reserve’s history, culture, and ecology.

On the way to the desert, we stopped by the Dubai Camel Racing Club along the way for the chance to see these athletes up close.

Once inside the reserve, we first stopped by a recreation of a traditional Bedouin campsite, which was sort of like an outdoor museum. It’s very nicely done. The site is also used for belly dance demonstrations and meals included in other tours. Tiago helped us to don a Bedouin headscarf to protect our faces from the elements. And to look cool, obviously.

Just outside of the campsite we met these camels who were prepared to give us a ride around the desert even though it wasn’t part of our package, but we passed on it – they looked so happy and relaxed, we didn’t want to disturb them. (Well, besides taking photos.)

While driving around the dunes we were able to spot tons of wildlife, including a heard of oryx. We didn’t do any dune-bashing though, and that’s one of the reasons I selected this tour specifically since dune-bashing is harmful to the ecosystem.

After exploring the desert, we stopped by the Al Maha Resort for a gorgeous breakfast spread that regretfully I didn’t photograph. We also had the opportunity to try freshly brewed Qahwa (or gahwah), traditional Arabic coffee served with sweet dates.

Old Dubai

I can’t pass up an opportunity to visit the old town part of any city for a glance back in time. Chris and I stayed in Old Dubai for the proximity to the old souks and a view of the water. We wandered up and down the Dubai Creek, and eventually made our way to the gold souk.

Walking through the souk is one of the most overwhelming shopping experiences I’ve ever had – we were practically pulled in twelve different directions by various vendors as soon as we entered, and I’ve never felt more popular. I ended up buying a pashmina (which I had planned on buying) and some cumin (which I had not planned on buying). Their sweet and persuasive tactics are hard to resist.

We originally thought we’d hit the gold souk, then the spice souk, followed by the old souk, but the gold souk wore us out! Thankfully we saw a bit of everything at the one souk.

Dubai Mall & Burj Khalifa

Ordinarily I would rather avoid a shopping mall at all costs especially while traveling, but I admit to being curious about the famous Dubai Mall and we needed to go there anyway to enter the Burj Khalifa. And I found out they had a Magnolia Bakery. And we couldn’t imagine the sheer size of a place that housed so many stores, restaurants, an aquarium and an ice skating rink, so we had to see for ourselves. Verdict: it’s impressive. And our cupcakes were delicious.

Also impressive: the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. But ugh, the crowd was unbearable. We purchased tickets in advance for nighttime to try to avoid the biggest surge of people (typically before and during sunset), but the amount of people on the observation deck still made this sort of an unpleasant experience. I’m glad we went up and saw the view, but we didn’t stay more than ten minutes which made this just sort of a check-the-box kind of experience. The performing fountain outside was pretty cool though.

And that was Dubai for us! I’m not going to do a snapshot post for Dubai since we didn’t even stay for two full days, but I’m so happy we were able to get a taste of this fascinating city.

June 23, 2017
Maldives Snapshot

I’m posting this wrap-up a little later than I intended, but it has been fun to relive a few Maldives memories while writing this snapshot entry. It is also making me want to go back to the atolls sooner rather than later. Chris and I celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary this year and we have talked about going back for another big milestone anniversary like our 20th, but I don’t know if I can wait that long!

Best Moment

I’m hard-pressed to think of a best moment when every single day it felt like we were living inside of a postcard.

Worst Moment

It rained one afternoon? And we didn’t get to do a few of the things we originally planned because it was oddly windy (which made the water too choppy for going out on a boat to look for manta rays), but I actually don’t think we encountered any drama or major bummers on this stretch of the trip.

Funniest Moment

We had some really great moments interacting with the amazing staff at Komandoo, and our new friend, Ali, in particular had us in stitches! He was an absolute delight to talk to, and we all had a good laugh together when he told us that President Barack Obama worked at the resort…and a few moments later he fetched a co-worker/friend who did look amazingly like our 44th president! I wish I had a photo to show you.

Best Meal

Chris and I don’t tend to gravitate towards fine dining too often while traveling since we’re usually more than happy to eat at hole-in-the-wall gems, in-demand food stands, and local casual favorites. And we truly enjoyed all of the food at the Komandoo restaurants, Falhu and Kandu. But our lunch at 5.8 Undersea Restaurant knocked our socks off because it was such an experience. I mean, just look at my sea bass! It’s a work of art.

Something We Learned

I re-learned how to play chess, but this time in giant form.

We’re Thankful We Packed

I was happy to have a wide-brimmed sun hat to protect my face. Chris was less happy about that hat every time it flew off my head into the water and he had to retrieve it. (He is my hero!)

We Didn’t Need To Bring

Shoes (we only packed flip-flops). What I do wish I packed is some kind of floatie. I had visions of getting onto a float and drifting down the island toward the bar. Not sure it this would have worked in execution, but it seemed like a good idea. Might try it next time.

Trip Regrets

We arrived to Komandoo on a Saturday and left on Friday, but because of the amount of travel on both ends, we only ended up having five full days on the island. I think at least two more days at the resort would have been a better plan.

Reasons To Go Back

The weather seemed so perfect to us, but the high winds made it impossible to do a few of the off-island excursions we wanted to do. I’d go back in a heartbeat, even if we still didn’t get to do any excursions!

Favorite Photos

I love this fun photo that Chris took of Eagle Ray 9 from the water. We used a dome housing for our GoPro to get these kind of half-over-half-under shots.

And I couldn’t get enough of photographing the gorgeous sunsets on the island.

June 22, 2017