Redefined Timeline

Almost two years behind posts, I am walking on my treadmill at my standing desk (fitness junkie in me coming out) wondering how on Earth I am going to organize this trip where we revisited Cusco, Peru and the Inca Trail each for the second time. This revisit was because of a tour G Adventures had emailed their VIP travelers about – The GX Travel Summit, the first ever held in September of 2023 in Peru.

G Adventures is a tour company I have personally traveled with over a dozen times to Central America, South America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. I cheat on them from time to time using other tour companies, but I tend to come crawling right back to G. Anyway, the Hubs and I got invites to attend this conference in Cusco. We mulled it over repeatedly until days before the cutoff for sending them our hard earned money. My years of traveling have unquestionably taught me that I have poor impulse control when it comes to exploring the world, especially in the arena of booking said trips on a whim. That said, we booked the trip. I guess we’re going to Peru! Again.

This travel summit was kept largely secret from us lowly travelers until we arrived in country. We had a vague itinerary, nothing like the usual G Adventures detailed outlines. A few definite’s we did know:

• A gold outfit was a non-negotiable requirement
• A passport was necessary
• An actual conference was to be held with unknown presenters
• Getting to hike at least part of the Inca Trail (again)
• There would be a lavish party involved

Gold attire was obtained from King Amazon, I already possess an insanely well used passport that is nearly full, I know I can handle the hike again, and who doesn’t like extravagant parties you don’t have to plan or (mostly) pay for? Plane tickets obtained, time off work secured, dogs pawned off on friends, and off we went.

Landing in Cusco was much like I remembered… hugging mountain peaks, an incredibly hilly city surrounded by lush landscape, and a runway with a laughingly unsecured fence line. We were ferried from the airport by transport arranged by G Adventures NOT for an extra cost this time, and then deposited at a much swankier hotel than I was expecting. Is G going fancy on me, or did I overpay? Maybe on one, probably on the other.

Cusco sits at 11,152 feet of elevation as the once Incan capital snakes through the Peruvian Andes Mountains. The month was September, so the temperatures were nicely moderate with evenings being a tad chilly with days warm and sunny. Be prepared for some cardio walking through town. Since it’s at elevation, walking it can be more strenuous than you may think with so much less oxygen floating about for your lungs to consume. The husband and I wandered for hours amongst the ancient town squares and streets, in and out of dozens and dozens of shops, up hill after hill after hill, and into various restaurants to sample different versions of our new favorite drink, the chilcano. Last time we were in Cusco was in 2017, and we were not able to explore the city much at all. That part of the tour was basically a day attempting (and failing) to get acclimated to the altitude. I rather enjoyed the quaint, ancient city.

Cusco is a bustling place, the streets were always littered with pedestrians, who were often clad in winter attire even when the afternoons were sunny and sixty degrees. Much of our exploring was sans group, but we did partake in a few group walks. We ate more scrumptious food than my belly was prepared for, wandered through Mayan ruins just outside downtown, were regaled with stories of the Peruvian people, and made life long friends from around the world.

GX Summit Peru 2023 was the first international travel summit held by G Adventures. It consisted of a conglomerate of travel professionals, writers, travel agents, and us lowly just travelers. Bruce Poon Tip, the founder and CEO of G, was present and even took the time to meet with us travelers during the busy week. The conference was held in Cusco’s town hall on World Tourism Day, September 27th, with Jessica Nabongo, the first female to visit every country in the world as a speaker.

The week culminated in an enormously extravagant Gold Party (as one would expect, everything was gold and blingy). G Adventures rented out an entire sun temple in Cusco for an ostentatious, glistening, and boisterous bash. There was a DJ, live entertainment, a show, and the entire event was catered with many open bars. An awards ceremony of sorts was held with prizes getting doled out to a few lucky winners. The CEO was clad in a shiny, gold track suit. Even the hors d’ouevers were gold.

If you thought this was enough, well… you would be wrong. From there, private transportation ferried us to a club that had also been rented out for a private show with the original members of the actual Village People. There was enough hype at this club to even make the husband dance. The white boy does not dance, very well or just ever. G Adventures knows how to throw a good party!

As has become a common-ish theme when I travel, I fell ill just before we were scheduled to fly home. I was plagued by a sore throat, congestion and a fever. Google showed clinics just behind the hotel where I could go without health insurance (unheard of in the States) for a consult and treatment. Time for an emergency visit because flying with my head in a vice of sinus congestion would be absolutely miserable. The appointment was conducted in broken English and Spanish, along with a few assists from Google Translate. Even Hubs’ Spanish skills could not tackle medical terms. An hour and a half and $85 USD later, I departed the clinic with antibiotics, decongestants, and a steroid shot in the ass.

Most of my life revolves around physical activity, as most people that know me and/or read my blog are aware, and you may be wondering why I would mention the Inca Trail without so much as a photograph of it in this post. Never fear, a post dedicated to the one day hike versus the four day hike is incoming! I can hear my husband’s eyes rolling around in his head, knowing I’ve been incredibly slow at preparing and publishing posts these last couple of years.

September 2023