Luxury Travel Advisor - September 2007 - (Page 16) INKATERRA URUBAMBA VILLAS (Villa Sonia is shown here) have fireplaces and offer 24-hour maid service. where we took up residence at Inkaterra Urubamba Villas (ask Inkaterra to arrange the transfer; in Puerto Maldonado, we hopped a 50-minute flight to Cusco and were transferred via private car to the villas, a 40-minute drive). Tip: The scenic drive from Cusco between the massive, soaring mountains is enchanting, but a few fun stops along the way only add to the experience. Ask Inkaterra to schedule a visit to the Awanakancha Alpaca Farm (www.awanakancha.com), where guests hand-feed alfalfa to the frenzied creatures before perusing a pristine boutique stocked with alpaca clothing, textiles and toys. (Serious shoppers will want to pick up vicuña products; they’re the softest and of the highest quality.) Just down the road, the village of Pisac is home to an artisans’ market that’s teeming with typical Peruvian goods like alpaca sweaters, hats and scarves. Clients are sure to be awe-struck upon entering the secret-garden-style grounds of the Inkaterra Urubamba Villas. In the tiny hamlet of Higuspucro, the five adobe, Andean-style villas nestle among technicolor flowering shrubs and meticulous, emerald-green lawns at the base of a skyscraping mountain. Inside our villa (nicknamed Berta after its charming mistress, who tended to our every need), we cozied up next to a crackling fire nightly and felt perfectly at home in its three bedrooms—one features two sets of bunk beds, perfect for kids, while the master has a queen-size bed and its own bathroom. Neighboring Villa Sonia has two bedrooms and a terrace with an outdoor grill. Guests in both villas enjoy 24/7 maid service, though a private car with driver/guide and nanny and in-house spa services can be arranged via housekeeper Angel Caceres (51-84-9837-3602) or with the Inkaterra main office when the reservation is made. Meal time here is truly a treat; we awoke daily to find Berta toiling away in the kitchen, preparing fresh, hot coffee, a spread of cereals, fruit and cheese and, our favorite, quinoa pancakes. For dinner, we sat down to meals of savory soup, fish and risotto. When your clients finally decide to extract themselves from the cozy comfort of their villa, suggest they explore the valley’s wonderful offerings. We elected for a visit to the magnificent, ancient salt mines in the nearby town of Maras, and, in Moray, a descent into the massive, circular agricultural terraces built by the Incas in natural sinkholes on a limestone plateau overlooking the Urubamba Valley. Note: Witnessing local culture in the Sacred Valley is a special experience; its population largely comprises half-Incan, half-Spanish mestizos who still honor traditional dress and rely on the land for sustenance and income. Advise clients that while capturing snapshots of this local way of life is generally accepted, it’s respectful (and often expected) to thank anyone whose photo they snap with a few coins of the local currency, the Nuevo Sol. We capped off our morning in Maras and Moray with a lively lunch at Los Tres Keros (Avenida Sr. de Torrechayoc No. 1; 51-8420-17-01), where proprietor and sometime chef Ricardo presents an array of home-style dishes. Be sure to advise clients who desire a truly local-style gourmet experience to try the roasted guinea pig, a Peruvian staple. The third and most highly anticipated leg of our journey took us from the town of Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley (a 30-minute drive from our 16 LUXURY TRAVEL ADVISOR | September 2007 http://www.awanakancha.com
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