The second stop on our 3-week Peru adventure was Cusco, headquarters of the Inca Empire and gateway to Machu Picchu. We set up base camp for the next eight days since numerous other excursions we had scheduled began here.

The city sits at an altitude of over 11,000 feet above sea level. We expected chilly nights and packed accordingly. High altitude also meant thin air, but since we live at 8,400 feet and do cardio several times a week at the gym we thought, “No problem breathing there for us.”

Wrong.

Somehow our research overlooked the fact that while the historic downtown area is relatively flat, the surrounding neighborhoods rise up dramatically.

And in the area where we were staying, the sidewalks and streets are perilously narrow. Walking at night was not a relaxing stroll.

When we returned to our Airbnb the first evening after going down, down, down one of these former donkey paths to dinner, Cynthia became so winded on the way back up we had to stop at a hotel to let he...

After months of research and planning, at the beginning of September we set out on a 3-week adventure to Peru. We had put off going there for years because of its proximity to Ecuador — adjacent to the east and south. Finally, the time had come to visit the home country of Machu Picchu we had heard so much about.

Our first stop was Lima, Peru’s massive coastal capital with a population of 11 million (roughly equal to Los Angeles).

We knew the country’s coastal areas were dry, but we weren’t prepared for the barren terrain seen from the plane as we approached the city’s brand-new airport.

Since we were only in town for three days, we booked a private room through Airbnb in a beautiful apartment in Lima’s most fashionable neighborhood, Miraflores.

Our choice was rewarded with an incredible view of the lushly landscaped malecón that runs along the cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

We like to join a walking tour in cities we have never visited to get an overview of the hist...