Review: Peru tour, Lima, Cusco, Amazon, Lake Titicaca, Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, Local Food, Culture & Shopping

Between the Amazon forest, the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, and Lake Titikaka we found it impossible to identify a favorite or most enjoyable part of the trip.  Each site offered unique opportunities to learn about the culture, behold the local beauty, and meet several exceptional people from Peru and other tourists.  Perhaps what surprised us most was the exceptional quality of the food in Peru.  They use organic foods and are exceptional chiefs. Each area we went to tended to specialize in different dishes.  Some say Peru produces the best chocolate in the world, we certainly don't disagree with that, and highly recommend you have a local hot cocoa when you're there.  Perhaps most enjoyable or memorable part of our trip was the time spent with our travel guides.Our guide in the Amazon forest was simply an amazing naturalist who gave a much greater appreciation of the biodiversity in the region and how that ecosystem functioned.  His passion for the area was contagious. Our host from Venezuela did a great job of managing the lodge at Lake Sandoval.  What a beautiful location.  Our visit to and tour of the Sacred Valley was outstanding, followed by a visit Machu Picchu.  You will not only be awed by the beauty of landscape, architecture, and history of Machu Picchu, you'll be awed by the fine tuned machine that the locals run that facilitate an average of 8,000 visitors to the region a day.  Our next stop was a couple of days in Cusco, a beautiful city where my wife knocked out most our shopping, and great place to do laundry (you pay a small price per kilo at the various laundry services outside the hotels).  We really enjoyed the Inca museum and other historical sites we visited. Our guide in the Sacred Valley and Cusco really enriched our visit to both locations by providing fascinating information on the history and culture of the region.  We finished our trip at Lake Titikaka where our guides led us through the region to include a visit to the floating islands to see how they were constructed and how the people lived there.