We visit the magnificent old capital of Cusco, “a little city of such supreme interest and historical symbolism, of such variety and punch,” Jan Morris has written, “that it combines the compulsions of Stonehenge, a small Barcelona, and a Kathmandu.” We wander the Inca ruins of the Urubamba Valley. And of course we explore Machu Picchu, the crown jewel of the Inca’s legacy (it’s “Perhaps the most startlingly dramatic archaeological site in either the New or Old World,” marveled Sacheverell Sitwell).We experience out-of-the-way delights, like a serene, eco-lodge on an island in the middle of Lake Titicaca, we swoop down to the jungly headwaters of the Amazon, fly over the confounding Nazca Lines, and we trek in some of the world’s most startling mountains, the Andean sub-ranges of the Huayhuash, the Cordillera Blanca, the Vilcanota, and the Carabaya. Our guides are hands-down the best in the region; we visit their homes, swapping experiences and worldviews as with old friends.