Peru

	Shooters has planned a non-ski trip to ……
	Machu Picchu

	August 6 – 15, 2009 $1,800* per person “Land Only” (excludes international airfare and excludes transportation to/from the airport and hotel) $2,550* per person including international airfare (**price includes estimated airfare cost; price may be slightly higher)
NOTE: This trip is limited to a maximum of 14 participants. This trip will be physically demanding, therefore, you should consult your doctor before signing up. A Yellow Fever inoculation is required for the Amazon portion of the trip. The Yellow Fever inoculation takes 10 to 15 days before it becomes fully effective.
Sign-up! Trip Flyer	Be sure to read the “Read This” page; This trip imposes strict conditions and requirements. A signed travel acknowledgement/waiver form is required from all trip participants. Please print and submit the “Travel Waiver” form along with your sign-up form and $600 deposit.	Must Sign. Travel Waiver

What’s included with both price packages:

· All air travel within Peru (domestic air travel)

· 4-Star Hotel Boulevard in Lima (2 nights)

· 4-Star Hotel San Agustin Internacional in Cuzco (2 nights)

· Explorer’s Inn Lodge in Puerto Maldonado (2 nights)

· Camping along the Inca Trail (3 nights), all meals provided

What’s included with the airfare package ($2,550 per person):

Round-trip air travel between LAX and Lima, Peru and ground transportation between airports & hotels

Brief Description of Travel Itinerary
Details on the Itinerary Page

Aug 6	Travel to Peru	Aug 11	Day 1 – Hike Inca Trail
Aug 7	Day 1 in the Amazon	Aug 12	Day 2 – Hike Inca Trail
Aug 8	Day 2 in the Amazon	Aug 13	Day 3 – Hike Inca Trail
Aug 9	Day in Lima	Aug 14	Machu Picchu
Aug 10	Day in Cuzco	Aug 15	Travel Home

Peru
Peru is roughly the size of Alaska (496,200 square miles) and has perhaps greater diversity than any other country in the world. Peru’s western coast is a thin ribbon of desert giving way to the Andes Mountains. The Andes begin to rise close to the coast, sometimes as close as ten miles from the ocean. The Andes, known as the backbone of South America, run north to south through the country and are the second highest mountain range in the world. The eastern slopes of the Andes are skirted by rainforest, the beginning of the Amazon basin. Of the world’s 103 categorized ecological zones, scientists have identified 83 within Peru’s borders. Peru also has the world’s driest desert and the richest rainforest on the face of the earth. It is in the midst of this harsh, seemingly impassable land that several great civilizations, even empires, flourished.
Built as a “royal estate” for the Inca emperor Pachacuti, Machu Picchu is an astounding and perennially mysterious climax to one of the world's most famous journeys: the Inca Trail. Perched high above a sinuous bend in the Urubamba River, Machu Picchu has lured explorers, poets and pilgrims to its mist-wreathed ridgetop ever since its discovery by the American explorer Hiram Bingham in 1911. No one lived here before the Incas.
Those mighty empire builders from Cusco discovered this extraordinary place, finding it rich in natural features sacred to their religion. Both inspired and humbled by its dramatic natural beauty, their answer was to create on a vast scale one of the planet's most sensitive and harmonious works of art. The aesthetic genius of its layout and architecture coupled with the durability of its brilliant planning and engineering have given us today this finest of jewels among the UNESCO world heritage sites.
Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

The Inca emperor Pachacuti built a mighty royal highway to link his capital Cusco to his secluded sacred center at Machu Picchu, taking an awe-inspiring route over high mountain passes. He followed the way of the Apus, the snow peaks sacred to the Incas which dominate the scenery, vanishing and re-appearing around curves and over ridges as we follow this most astounding of treks. At points along the way Pachacuti built small, exquisite settlements clustered upon jagged outcrops, always with sweeping views of the stunning landscape.

Amazingly, all of this survived the Spanish conquest and the hundreds of years of abandonment and neglect that followed.

Today the area is a UNESCO World Heritage site and a Peruvian government protected reserve of immense archaeological and environmental importance. For this spectacular route is both a journey through Inca history and a dazzling sample of Peru’s incredible biodiversity. We will take this challenging trek across high, treeless passes up to 4,200m (13,776ft), and down through multi-layered zones of cloud-forest, culminating at the threshold of the Sun Gate where we face the final unforgettable view down to Machu Picchu and the Urubamba river.