About Me

Yieber hails from Maras, which he jokingly deems the “center of the world.” It’s a small agricultural town famous for its salt mines about 45 minutes from Cusco. Yieber started in the tourism industry as a porter carrying heavy loads on the Inca Trail. He later trained to become a camp chef, and he eventually decided to pursue his passions at the university level obtaining a degree in tourism. He slowly climbed the ranks from assistant guide to lead guide and then decided to ultimately use his experience and passion to start his own company. He’s been in tourism for about 15 years. He and his wife Carolina are a huge part of our trips along with his sons Ignacio (Nacho) and Mayu. They will treat you as if you are family. While he is not a photographer, he is incredibly patient and provides further opportunities for us to capture more authentic cultural moments. Yieber’s infectious personality lights up everyone around him. His laugh is one of a kind, his knowledge and passion for his home country are one of a kind. We are so fortunate to have Yieber provide a deeper connection to all of the places we visit.

As your flight meanders through the high Andes, you’ll suddenly make a sharp turn flying up a stunning valley right before landing in the Incan capital city of Cusco. You’ll be met at the airport by Ryan and Yieber. We will be transferred by private shuttle to our hotel in Cusco a short 15 minute drive away. We’ll have a bit of down time to settle in. We are now in rarified air at over 11 thousand feet, so we want to make sure to take it nice and slow and hydrate.

In the late afternoon, we will take a leisurely stroll to the historic city center to get a pulse for Cusco. There will be some photo opportunities along the way, but we are mostly just enjoying our welcoming to this beautiful new city. We will enjoy a welcome dinner at the delicious Cicciolina restaurant in the city center. A short walk back to our hotel after dinner to get some much needed rest.

Today, we will spend our time exploring the Incan capital city of Cusco. We will spend the morning walking to various vibrant places in the city center. These will include exploring the famous San Pedro Market, the central plazas and meander the cobblestone streets of the bohemian San Blas neighborhood. We will be focusing on street photography and cultural offerings today. I will provide techniques and insight on how to navigate these busy environments, how to find interesting compositions and color combinations and how to approach people respectfully. I'll share with you the ways that I connect with what's around me and to feel into the place.

We’ll have incredible opportunities to capture the vibrant foods and vendors in the market, the beautiful buildings in the city center, and the incredibly romantic and alluring cobblestone street scenes in San Blas. We will be treated to wonderful local restaurants for lunch and dinner.

We will enjoy breakfast in our hotel and then check out. We will be picked up by our private van and head towards the Sacred Valley. About 45 minutes away from Cusco, we will stop in Chinchero. We will visit a local traditional weaving demonstration. This will be a great opportunity for us to capture some wonderful cultural photos of the women working on their textiles and showing us their natural dying processes.

I will teach you how to further your creative compositions and capturing authentic moments. We will wok on focusing and portraiture. After the demonstration, we are able to buy weavings directly from the women. They are some of the most beautiful, intricate and authentic textiles you will find during your entire visit.

Next up, we will head over to the incredible Incan archeological site of Moray and explore this amazing ancient terraced experimental growing lab. This will provide a unique opportunity for some really cool landscape shots and interesting archeological compositions.

Next, we will enjoy a special lunch before making our way to the town of Maras notable for it's intricately carved doors and picturesque narrow streets. Afterwards, we will make the short drive over the famous Salt Mines of Maras. The afternoon light makes for incredible photo opportunities of these beautifully terraced pools. I will help you on working with natural light glistening off the salt pools and various exposures. Here, you can purchase some of the best salt in the world here as well!

We will end the day with a drive down to the Sacred Valley to our hotel where we will have dinner and a restful evening.

We will enjoy breakfast at our hotel, load up our things and hop on our private transportation. We will make our first stop at the Mercado de Urubamba. This market is full of incredible energy, color and photographic opportunities. We will spend some time walking around looking for beautiful images, conversations and learning/ tasting some of the local fruits and foods.

Afterwards, we will head back to our private shuttle and make our way towards the ancient city of Ollantaytambo.

Along the way, we will stop at a chicharia (home bar which makes and sells corn beer). We will learn about the production of this famous Andean staple drink, and have the opportunity to try it as well and take photos of the fermentation process.

We will hop back on the shuttle for a short drive to Ollantaytambo, the oldest inhabited Incan town. Here, we will check into our hotel and head out for lunch.

After lunch, we will spend time wandering the incredible cobble stone alleys and Incan ruins. You'll come away with wonderful opportunities to capture life in this ancient city. We will head back to our hotel where we will enjoy a beautiful dinner with ingredients grown right in their own small farm.

We will enjoy breakfast at our hotel and then board our train for Machu Picchu. There are two options which we will discuss to tailor to each group's desire.

Option 1. We take the train for roughly an hour descending down into the cloud forest along the Urubamba River. We will get off at KM 104 and begin our one day Inca Trail Hike to Machu Picchu. The hike is 12km in distance and takes roughly 6 for most groups. The total ascent is 1800 feet and descent of 820 feet. This is an incredible way to enter Machu Picchu from the Sun Gate and explore the cloud forest. We are sure to see some wonderful orchids, birds, greenery, a waterfall and the Incan ruins of Chachabamba and Wiñay Wayna.

Option 2: We take the train directly from Ollantayambo to the town of Aguas Calientes. The rain ride is roughly an hour and a half and a beautiful ride as the high Andes give way to the cloud forest and we follow along the Urubamba River the entire way. In the afternoon, we will take a 20 minute bus ride up to the Machu Picchu ruins and tour/photograph the site.

With both options, we will tour Machu Picchu in the afternoon and then have a nice hotel in Aguas Calientes with a group dinner in the town. If you decide to do the one Day Inca trail, it will be an additional $375 to the listed itinerary price.

We will have breakfast at our hotel and head over to the train station to catch our train back to Ollantaytambo.

We will arrive in Ollantaytambo after our hour and a half train ride. Our private shuttle will pick us up, and we will drive 3-4 hours to Chonta. We will have snacks on too. Along the way, we will stop for some incredible views and photo opportunities. Chonta is a typical Andean community where we will have intimate access to the people who call this place home. Our accommodations will more basic here, and we will also have a chef with us to prepare all our meals.

We will spend the late afternoon wandering around the community and experiencing and capturing life at a slower pace. We will most likely see people returning home from their days on the farm.

At night, if it's clear, we should have wonderful access to the stars and have a great opportunity for some astrophotography.

Group dinner and then time to get a good night's sleep!

We can rise early with the sun and walk around the community capturing moments of everyday life in the Andes as people rise early and get ready to tend to their duties including taking the sheep out, checking on the cows, working their small farms and catching up with one another.

Today, we will have a Pachamanca. This is a wonderful treat. It's at traditional community feast, where we will cook our food in a traditional oven and share it together with people who'd like to join us. There will be some incredible photography opportunities as we harvest all of the food, build the stone oven from the ground up and then celebrate a beautiful meal together.

In the late afternoon, we will gear up for about an hour hike our to an incredible canyon above the Apurimac River. This place is absolutely incredible for at sunset with the light and layers. We will also surely see Andean Condors catching the thermals and hugging the cliffs. You are sure to come away with some truly special photos.

We will make the hour hike back and enjoy a fresh dinner prepared by our chef. Again, we will have a chance to check out the night sky and capture the milky way.

We will have breakfast and say goodbye to Chonta before we make the 3.5 hour drive on our private shuttle back to Cusco. We will make a few stops along the way to stretch our legs and for photo opportunities and lunch as well. We will We will have the afternoon to recharge a bit and you can get some shopping done and wander around on your own.

In the evening, we will have a group dinner at a great restaurant in Cusco.

We will enjoy breakfast at our hotel and gear up to catch our 45 minute flight to Puerto Maldonado in the rainforest. An incredible flight as we cross over the glaciers and descend down into the lungs of our earth and meandering rivers.

When we arrive in Puerto Maldonado, we will be picked up by our local rainforest guide and bus at the airport. We will be transported to a boat dock, where we will then make our way along the Tambopata river to our lodge nestled deep within the rainforest. The lodge is sure to impress! You'll find yourself saying, I can't believe I'm here in the middle of the rainforest!"

We will check-in and have a welcome chat from our local guide about the upcoming available activities over the next few days. In the evening, we will go for a night walk in the rainforest trying to spot all kinds of insects and animals.

Dinner will be provided as a buffet style by the lodge featuring many fruits and foods typically found in the rainforest. There's also a bar where you can order drinks and hang out and listen to the incredible night sounds of the jungle.

We will spend our days with our local guide in a variety of activities from hikes, boat rides and visiting famous clay licks experiencing the splendid biodiversity and magic of the rainforest. We will encounter lots of birds including macaws, parakeets and toucans along with a variety of monkeys and caiman, capybara, other mammals and if we are lucky...a jaguar!

All meals will be provided by the lodge, and we will have lots of time to enjoy the wonderful lodge setting and sights and sounds of the jungle from the comfort of our rooms and hang out areas.

This is the change to use that big lens you lugged all the way with you. You'll come away with greater skills in capturing wildlife including birds in flight, and we will have wonderful opportunities to capture beautiful sunrises on the river.

We will enjoy breakfast and head back to Puerto Maldonado on our boats and then bus to the airport. We will catch the quick 45 minute flight back to Cusco, where we will have one more afternoon and evening in the city to explore and celebrate a wonderful trip.

We will have a final dinner together, share images and lots of laughs and lifelong memories and new relationships.

We will have breakfast at the hotel, say our goodbyes and provide private shuttles to the Cusco airport to catch your flights back home!