A Botanical Journey of a Lifetime
DAY 1: April 5, 2019
We will travel from the airport in Cusco to Chinchero for a textile demonstration then on to Ollantaytambo for lunch at Inka’s tower.
After eating we will proceed on a short hike and conduct an opening circle. Then we will have dinner together and have space for town exploration and free time.
DAY 2: April 6, 2019
We begin the day with an adventure. Puma Marka, a lesser known pre-Incan temple site, is our starting point. Puma Marka is a small building complex with a vast vista! It is just a few miles up a narrow river canyon from Ollantaytambo.
This is a great place to tune in, and get a quiet sense of the power of the Sacred Valley! Here we can connect as a group, as well as touch down to the spirit of Pachamama, the Mother Earth.
From here we embark upon a trek of a few miles accompanied by local plant specialist Wither who will help us become acquainted with the flora of the Andes! We will have a picnic lunch on a local farmstead en route.
DAY 3: April 7, 2019
We will start this day out with a morning exploration of the fabulous ruins in Ollantaytambo. While not as extensive as those of Machu Picchu, they are as equally exquisite!
Lunch will be followed by a trip to the circular Incan garden formations at Moray and a hike through the salt flats of Salinas.
An exceptional walk, from high in the mountains, back to our home on the valley floor we will take in different ecotypes and reflect on the incredible resilience of the people who have inhabited these areas for generations!
Tonight you have the option to search out the archetypal Chicha, a fermented corn beer. This a favorite drink of the Andean people, who brew it and share it with great joy and reverence!
Lots of different flavors of Chicha are crafted from place to place and village to village. This exploration gives us a chance to explore concepts of agrobiodiversity and how we can maintain such options in our places back at home.
DAY 4: April 8, 2019
Today we leave Ollantaytambo in the early morning by a chartered van, climbing thru an Andean glacial pass to descend into the Peruvian cloud forest!
Upon arrival be will embark on an exciting botanical hike along the tropical jungle stretch of the Rio Urubamba!
By late afternoon we will have reached our lodging at Los Jardines de Mandor, a botanical reserve at the foot of Machu Picchu! Here we will have dinner and listen to a presentation about local history and conservation initiatives.
DAY 5: April 9, 2019
After a jungle breakfast, we will be guided through the Mandor gardens. Subsequent to that we begin the ascent to Machu Picchu, The Lost City of The Incas.
After an afternoon visit to the incredible ruins, we will return to Los Jardines de Mandor for a home cooked meal and our familiar beds!
DAY 6: April 10, 2019
The Sacred Valley still has much to explore! The old Incan town of Pisac is our next stop as we make our way back to Cusco.
En route we will have lunch at Tierra Cocina Natural in the town of Urubamaba and visit the local art gallery Ceramicas Seminario and Kaia Sharanam Eco-store.
Upon arrival participants will have free time and the option to check out the local Choco Museo and/or explore the town.
DAY 7: April 11, 2019
In the morning we will check out the Felipe Moreno Botanical Gardens…
…and its attached Potato Museo.
After that, we will have lunch on our own and then in the afternoon head up to the Pisac Ruins.
DAY 8: April 12, 2019
First, we will visit the Tawa Apu Kuntur Apothecary and Pisac museo optionally.
After lunch, we will travel to the impressive ruins of Sacsayhuaman and finish in Cusco.
DAY 9: April 13, 2019
This day we head out to the San Pedro market and the Jardin Botanico in Cusco.
After lunch, we then go to the beautiful and informative living history museum/botanical gardens known as the Qolqanpata Inca Park. This will be followed by free time and dinner.
DAY 10: April 14, 2019
We start the day by heading to the Natural History Museum, Koricancha/Iglesia de Santo Domingo and Centro de Textiles Tradicionales de Cusco.
After that, we will have lunch on our own and the opportunity to check out Museo de la Coca or other Museos.
DAY 11: April 15, 2019
We finish off our experience with free time for final Museo visits and getting gifts.
In the afternoon we will have a closing ceremony followed by a final dinner at the well-renowned restaurant, Pachapapa.
What’s Included
- Cost covers entry into all the basic tours, events, transportation, lodging and most breakfasts.
- Lodging will range from deluxe to rather simple and rooms will tend to be shared. At times options for single occupancy can be accommodated if necessary for an extra expense.
What’s Not Included
- Participants will be responsible for paying the cost of transportation to Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ) on or before 4/5 and wherever they are departing to after 4/15.
- Meals will cost between $15 – $25 per day.
- At times options for more deluxe tours of certain places may be available that are not covered.
- Desires for single occupancy will potentially cost more as well.
- No alcoholic beverages are covered.
What You’ll Discover
- Learn the major neotropical plant families
- Increase familiarity with major medicine and food plants
- Gain knowledge of indigenous Quechua and develop ways to give back and support them
- Collect common names of plants and connect these to scientific names
- Pick up new points for the Plant Allies Network (PAN) map
- Have a fun safe adventure that feels mutually beneficial to all involved
So What Does It Cost?
Total Trip Cost: $2,280
Availability: Only 2 places left!
“There were just so many takeaways from this trip that I will relive again and again as some of the best travel moments of my life. Marc and Turtle’s (Sky) stewardship over us explorers and the botanical tour they retraced was very pleasantly balanced. What a blast. Tapping into their vast experience felt like opening a great book that you can’t put down.
Going to another country can be challenging logistics wise. PHI crew is such a treasured link to beautiful Peru. Everything from the transportation to the sleeping arrangements was fantastic. Friends and cultures they have befriended over the years they passed on lovingly to us students. Leaving this incredibly enriched feeling that at the very least, you’ve made friends for life. Also, how amazing it was for me to see familiar plant “faces” from back home here in the high Andes. Or to splash in a bit of some of my favorite tropical fruits fresh from the tree! They really have roots laid in the Sacred Valley which means this trip offers a lot more than what a conventional trip to Peru might look like.
This tour really nails in the anthro-ethno-eco-botanical culture of the sites we visited. Even for the seasoned plant nut, Marc can not just keep up but even outpace inquiry. A true joy of a conversationalist. Combined with Turtle’s cultural, historical, mathematical welding of insight that takes the tour on a path less traveled and into places of deep meta-physical substance …. just wow. Chris as well as his beautiful wife really solidified the deep need to preserve so much of what we saw and heard, to preserve these ancient insights. PHI crew, thank you so much, I look forward to our next expedition!” – Ryan Pirault
About Your Peru Botanical Trip Team
Marc Williams
Marc is an ethnobiologist. He has studied the people, plant, mushroom, microbe interconnection intensively while learning to employ the different kingdoms of biology for food, medicine, and beauty.
His training includes a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies concentrating in Sustainable Agriculture with a minor in Business from Warren Wilson College and a Master’s degree in Appalachian Studies concentrating in Sustainable Development with a minor in Geography and Planning from Appalachian State University.
He has spent over 15 years working at a multitude of restaurants and various farms.
His travels include adventures through 29 countries in North/Central America and Europe and all 50 of the United States.
Marc has visited over 200 botanical gardens and research institutions during this process while taking tens of thousands of pictures of representative plants.
He is also Executive Director of Plants and Healers International plantsandhealers.org and on the Board of Directors of the Appalachian Institute for Mountain Studies.
He has taught hundreds of classes and thousands of people about the marvellous world of plants, people and their interface while working with over 60 organizations in the last few years and online at the website botanyeveryday.com.
Marc’s greatest hope is that his efforts may help improve our current challenging global ecological situation.
Turtle Sky
Turtle is a PHI Board Member currently living in Peru. He first visited the country with ethnobotanist Frank Cook in 2002.
Over several visits to both the Amazon Basin and the Andean Mountains, he began to formulate a vision incorporating principles of permaculture, health, nutrition, herbalism, alternative economics and community empowerment as tools for organizing peoples around the common goals of food security and cultural longevity.
His role in our trip will connect us to the larger picture of how the human/plant symbiosis has unfolded in The Sacred Valley, and where that is leading the peoples of today.
His time and experience in the areas we will be visiting will help us ground and be able to see the finer details going on all around us.
Mark St. James
Mark St. James grew up on a farm, living off what they grew. He learned how to can, ferment, dry or freeze for the winter. Also taking care of many farm animals, fowl and bees.
He was president of his 4-H club, entering produce and craft items.
After being an accomplished High school runner, he was able to choose the Medical Field as a Navy Corpsman. Wanting to see the world, he requested overseas, which brought him to Japan. Running, he was All Military silver in the 10K and gold the next year. Doing his own training for the Hawaii Triathalon. Also Coaching the High school Cross Country/Track team, he met Frank, his best runner. Together they toured and ran Japan. Later Frank invited him to Duke, where he passed up a coaching position. He was also awarded a Navy/Marine Commendation medal for saving a civilian life. Nominated as Sailor of the year.
Mark went on to pursue his Nursing degree while working as an EMT and also as a Licensed Vocational Nurse. He has worn many hats as a 22 year Registered Nurse including Emergency, Critical Care, Pre-op/Post-op, Psych, Same Day Surgery, Ortho, Urology and Urgent Care clinics, Gastroenterology, Charge RN, Preceptor, House Supervisor, CPR/1ST Aid Instructor. He keeps his Nursing license active, doing at least one medical mission a year to a foreign country.
Part of his self-medical education was Wilderness Medicine with learning what plants he could survive on. With many country backpacking trips, he could carry fewer foods. You could say he was a self-taught botanist. Later he did go on to get his Master Gardener’s certification thru OSU. Through that process, he worked on mentoring students in their school garden.
His zone 9 organic yard/garden has many unique plants. The Master Gardener students tour his ocean hillside terraced yard. The space is also nationally registered as a Monarch Way Station. He practices permaculture, keeps bees, quail, doves, and bonsai. He also works on stained glass is a published photographer and a semi-pro century bike rider. He is always striving to learn more of what Mother Earth has to offer us.
Anna Claire Lotti
Anna Claire is a holistic clinical herbalist and medicine maker living in the mountains of Western North Carolina, by way of the beaches of South Carolina. From an early age, Anna Claire was inspired by and in awe of the natural world. She attended the University of South Carolina, earning a BS in Marine Science, with an emphasis on biology and marine mammals. Her studies next led her to explore graduate coursework in human nutrition, and finally, to the path of the plants.
Anna Claire is a graduate of the Holistic Herbalism and Advanced Clinical Herbalism programs at the Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine, and she also completed a 450-hour herbal apprenticeship with CoreyPine Shane, RH (AHG).
The quest for knowledge is an unending one, and continuing education in the plant realm is no exception. Anna Claire continues to enrich her herbal knowledge by attending (and sometimes organizing!) herbal events around the country. Anna Claire is the founder of Dancing Sage Wellness + Apothecary, where she works one-on-one with clients and provides a bevy of herbal creations and custom formulas.
When not found meandering the luscious wilds of Appalachia, brewing up potions in the apothecary, or whipping up new recipes in the kitchen, chances are you can find Anna Claire with her nose in yet another herb book!