Awesome pics!!! We went to Peru in August/September 2010 and saw many of the places you did. Best trip of our lives. I highly recommend Peru to anyone interested in going to South America. Peru is not a large country but it is so diverse geologically with the ocean, desert, jungle, Andes mountains. The climate really changes depending on where you are. Each of those regions are unique in their culture as well.
Parts of Machu Picchu is rebuilt but it is still the largest, most preserved inca city discovered. The other sites are only a fraction of what they used to be - they were all torn down by the Spanish Conquistadors to be used to build their own structures.
Machu Picchu's draw is where it is located. Simply stunning when we saw it. Machu Picchu deserves the hype it gets, but Peru has so much more to offer. On our trip, we were in the jungle (southern Tambopata region), Cusco, Machu Picchu, Sacred Valley, Lake Titicaca (largest navigable lake in the world), and bit of Lima. Every part of the trip was a highlight!
Awesome trip man... definitely want to go back again and see the places we didn't have time to see.
Were you adventurous trying their traditional dishes? Food in Peru is outstanding. We ate a lot of Ceviche (raw seafood marinated in lime juice) and Alpaca... but we were not daring enough to try cuy (guinea pig).
We didn't haggle either. We over tipped heavily if the services we received were good. We were treated very well by the extremely friendly and helpful Peruvian people.
