Latin Venus

LATINVENUS

ISSUE JAN-FEB

BELIZE BOLIVIA COLOMBIA COSTA RICA ECUADOR BRAZIL PERU

72 HOURS IN PERU

HIGH-END TRIPS FOR LOVERS TICKET TO LOVE 1

Would you like to discover a If you visit Latin America, you romantic honeymoon in Latin will experience adventure and excellent tours during your stay in America? many places that offer the chance Latin America is an incredible to combine several activities. destination that exposes travelers to a vivid experience full of endemic Diving, swimming, snorkeling in species, natural environments and turquoise waters surrounded by tropical fish, relaxing in paradisiac protected ecosystems. beaches with beautiful endemic Visiting countries like Peru, birds flying over the horizon; and Ecuador, Brazil, Costa Rica, Belize hiking through long trails among or Colombia for a wedding vacation unique environments or a honeymoon celebration, brings lovers close encounters to unique SANTIAGO PAZ Y MIĂ‘O MAGAZINE MANAGER spots.

2

3

ECUA

4

ADOR

5

ACHUAR WED Get marriied at the Amazon Region and live the best experiene with an indigenous community family that will open the gates to their home and also to their souls. The shaman will be guiding the whole wedding ceremony with a cleansing for the couple. The next day the married couple will be ale to drink guayusa an ancient beverage in order to make the Achuar leader interprete their dreams.

6

DDING

7

BELLAVISTA CLOUD FOREST LODGE AND RESERVE Is a 700 hectare private reserve at the top of the deeply-forested Tandayapa Valley near Quito, Ecuador, within the “nucleus” zone of the recently-declared UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Reserve “Andean Choco of Pichincha”.

We offer overnights with three meals, and a variety of packages that include transport service, guides, overnights and meals. For enthusiastic naturalists and birders, we offer tours deeper into the northwest of Pichincha.

Bellavista is 4-star rated, offering seventeen comfortable rooms, all with amazing views. Visitors choose from traditional standard rooms (half-timbered, or bamboo houses) or from our four superior rooms, with 2 double beds or one Queensized bed.

For nature lovers of all ages and all pockets, we also offer camping options, and a simple “hostelling” option, great for student groups.

Wildlife means a birding hotspot, where hummingbirds sometimes literally perch on your fingers! And also perhaps the All 2 meters long for our tallest clients! We best place to see the “Olinguito” a species have a 700 hectare private reserve, with of mammal in the broad raccoon family, an extensive network of trails, for in-depth first described to science in 2013. cloud forest discovery. Transport offered Bellavista awaits – you will not be disapfrom Quito city/airport. pointed!

8

9

10

AMAZING ECUADOR Day 1 : Quito + Churches Route + Museum Guayasamin Breakfast and Visit the Churches: Plaza de la Independencia, Sagrario, Compañía, San Francisco, Panecillo and Basílica. In the course of these visits we will make a stop, to have lunch.

We will have the opportunity to visit also the Guayasamín Museum. In the evening we will return to delight us with a delicious dinner in URKO restaurant. Lodging at Quito Center Hotel Day 2: Middle of the World. We will continue to Pululahua Crater, home of small agricultural communities and we will enjoy our lunch at Crater Restaurant. After lunch we will visit the Equator monument. We end our tour at the Intiñan Museum. Here you will be able to participate in a series of experiments that can only be done at Latitude 0° Lodging and Dinner Day 3: Chocolate Route visiting Pahuma and Mindo Cloud forest. Breakfast and departure to Pahuma Reserve, in the magnificent cloud forest, blanketed in spectacular flower and plant life, such as various species of orchids, mosses, bromeliads and ferns complimented by three calming waterfalls. You are able to enjoy a variety of trails leading through the reserve, of which some differ in the length and difficulty. Visiting Mindo’s butterfly farms and continue to Quetzal Mindo, where you can see our process and learn how chocolate is made from “bean to bar”, includes lunch. Continue our route to Bellavista Cloud Forest http://www.bellavistacloudforest.com/ for observation of hummingbirds. Drive back to Quito, Dinner at Vista Hermosa Restaurant. Lodging Hotel Quito Center.

Day 4: Cotopaxi National Park Breakfast and departure to enjoy a day trip to Cotopaxi volcano, in Cotopaxi National Park. Departing from Quito, we can admire the beautiful Andes mountain range and enjoy a day away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Tour includes: Lunch Box, transportation and a professional guide. After lunch we will return to Quito. Lodging and Dinner the Casa of Hacienda la Jimenita.

Day 05 - 06 - 07 - 08- 09: Galápagos Underwater Visit to Galápagos Islands (Attached the itinerary).

Day 09- 10: Hacienda San Juan & Otavalo Indian Market Out Our driver will direct you to the airport to get your flight back to home.

11

PER

12

RU

13

GO OFF THE BEATEN PATH AND VISIT THE MYSTERIOUS NORTHERN PERU

“Journey high up into the clouds and visit the fortress of Kuelap.

This settlement built in the 6th century AD is also known as Machu Picchu of the North, and will be worth the trip up the cable cars provided to reach the peak.

The Chachapoyas culture offers a lot of interesting sites along the path. The sarcophagus of Karajía and the Mausoleos of Revash, virtually hang on the cliffside and can be reached along trails with breathtaking views.

One is also likely to trek to the Gocta Waterfalls measuring up at 771 metres high, it is sure to be a picture-perfect spot for anyone wanting to visit.

South of Chachapoyas you will find the smallvillage, Leymebamba, which houses more than 200 mummies that have been found around the Condor Lagoon”

14

Peru, being one of the most highly visited countries in Latin America, has many unique destinations to offer tourists, and Peru’s Northern region is at the top of the list.

the tombs of Moche kings and priest with impressive amounts of jewelries and other funeral offerings, which were discovered intact and untouched in 1987 and are now exhibited in the museum Tumbas Reales.

Head closer towards the Pacific Ocean to Chiclayo and start the Moche Route where you will find one of the largest group of pyramids, Tucume, made up of 26 truncal pyramids and plazas in between them, that cover 540 acres of land.

In the outskirts of the colonial city of Trujillo the temples of the Sun and Moon lay waiting to be explored.

Being part of the Moche period these temples are 700 years older than Chan Chan and are quite astonishingly These pre-Hispanic formations are found preserved. around the sacred La Raya Mountain and It is thought that the Sun temple (Huaca near La Leche River. del Sol) was an administrative centre The road to this historical past doesn’t whereas the Moon Temple (Huaca de la stop there. Continue and it will lead you Luna) was a ceremonial centre. to one of the most important discoveries, the Lord of Sipan. This name was given to

15

16

Witches, wizards, healers and shamans alike have stepped foot in the religious centre of El Brujo, a complex in the Northwest of Trujillo where many travelers have also visited the complex to learn more about the rich and mysterious history of the area.

Towards the end of the Moche Route one can stop to take a dive in Huanchaco, a popular beach town where riding on Caballitos de totora (reed watercrafts) is a must-try to complete this adventurous experience.

Before ending the wonderful and mysterious adventure of the North, visiting the monumental capital of the ChimĂşs, Chan Chan, in the coastal desert is greatly advised. Lined with adobe details Chan Chan was named a UNESCO World Heritage site and the mud brick city was once one of the largest in the preColombian era in South America.

17

18

19

20

21

MARAS MORAY

After visiting the salt mines near Maras, we continue on a short distance to the Moray ruins. The ruins are composed of three coliseums, which are thought to have been used by the Incas as a sort of open air crop laboratory. The coliseums consist of several enormous terraced circular depressions, the largest of which is about 30m/98ft deep. The purpose of these depressions is still uncertain but their depth and orientation with respect to How it works: The highly salty water wind and sun creates a temperature difemerges at a spring, a natural outlet of the ference of as much as 15 °C/27 °F beunderground stream. The flow is directed tween the top and bottom. into an intricate system of tiny channels constructed so that the water runs grad- This large temperature difference was ually down onto the several hundred an- possibly used by the Incas to study the cient terraced ponds. The water, which effects of different climatic conditions on is exposed to the sun, leaves salt on the crops. The terraces are arranged in conland. Viewed from the peak, the myriad of centric circles and are reminiscent of an rectangles look like an enormous painting ancient Greek theatre. In the afternoon, designed by nature we will return you back to your hotel in Cusco.

We leave from Cusco at 9am. Our first stop is Maras, from which, we can get to the salt mines. The salt mines display a bizarre spectacle of beauty. Located on a wide-open hill above the Urubamba Valley, a natural salt water stream runs underground. In pre-Incan times, they have been evaporating the salty water from this stream in order to obtain the salt that gets left behind.

22

23

COSTA

24

A RICA

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

BOLI

34

IVIA

35

36

37

COLO

38

OMBIA

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

58

59

60

61

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

75

76

77

78

79

80

81

82

83

84

85

86

87

88

89

90

91

92

93

94

95

96

97

98

99

100