Machu Picchu
It's hard to know where to even start with Machu Picchu . My sister lives in Lima, Peru, so it was definitely about time to get to Machu Picchu. I scoured the web pages and honestly, it seemed difficult to get there for under $350 USD per person. Perhaps as a visitor I was seeing the tourist prices, but I had a hard time seeing how to do this "on our own" for less. For example, the ticket to MP is ~$45 USD, the bus ticket up and back from Aguas Calientes was ~$30 USD (x2) each way and the train each way was ~$120 USD (x2). The bus company has a virtual monopoly and the hike really didn't seem worth it. It is not a pretty hike, it is fairly steep and there is altitude (although not as high as Cusco). We ended up booking a package through our hotel using their preferred travel agent, Venturia. Honestly, we were not very impressed with them. The initial few itineraries only left us two hrs at Machu Picchu. That seemed ...