PERU:  
     SACRED LANDSCAPES and ENDURING MYSTERIES

DR. JAMES KUS and ANANDA ASPEN

our trips are private tours

(that is, not sponsored by any organization or university)

anyone is free to join us!!!

Our 2012 tour will be in

late May and early June, 2012


UPDATE   ...   UPDATE   ...   UPDATE   ...   UPDATE   ...   UPDATE   ...   UPDATE   ...   UPDATE

It has taken a bit longer than anticipated to update this website for our 2012 tour, but we finally have everything set (note, however, that we have sometimes made minor adjustments to our itineraries because of new opportunities, flight schedule alterations, etc. -- if you are on our email contact list, we'll keep you informed about any changes to the itinerary). 

This year's tour will run a bit earlier than in past years, departing the U.S. on Saturday, May 19th, and returning on Saturday, June 2nd (or the 5th if you choose to add the extension to Arequipa and the Colca Valley).  We've selected this schedule so that we will be in Ollantaytambo during their Senor de Choquekillca festival, which will certainly be one of the highlights of the tour.  Check out the "Serendipitous moments along the road" link below for photos of this traditional festival.

As usual, our tour is completely independent of any organization, business, or other group.  We will help you purchase air tickets to Peru and all arrangements in Peru will be made through well-established Peruvian travel agencies.  We do this so that we can provide the best possible experience at the lowest possible cost.  Please contact us if you have any questions about this year's tour (or about travel to Peru in general).

In recent years, Jim has also spent considerable time in southern Chile (Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego).  In the near future, he plans to organize tours to that area as well -- please contact him if you are interested in travel to the southern reaches of the Western Hemisphere.

Please contact Dr. Kus for info about the 2012 trip at 559-325-8020 or at:  jamesk@csufresno.edu                                                                                                                                                                updated January 23, 2012

 

Once again, Dr. James Kus and Ananda Aspen will be leading a tour to Peru in 2012.   The focus of our trip will be on archaeology, geography, and history -- our two leaders, both specialists in their fields, will provide you with an exciting and fascinating adventure in the Andean highlands along with a brief introduction to Peru's capital, Lima.  We use very nice hotels on our trips (although not the most expensive!), which makes for a great experience in terms of comfort and convenience, while still keeping costs at a reasonable level.  Check out the rest of this website to learn more about our great tours....

Highlights of our tour will include a number of great lunches and dinners at some really nice restaurants in Cuzco and Urubamba, as well as intimate visits to a weaving center in Chinchero and to a Peruvian family in Ollantaytambo (and we will be in Ollanta during their annual religious festival -- the link to "Serendipitous moments along the road" below).  We will have special guided tours at several museums and at all archaeological sites that we will visit.  Our optional extension to the Colca Valley in southern Peru will provide an opportunity to see (and photograph) llamas, alpacas, vicunas, and condors in the wild.  In sum, this will be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to visit Peru "up close and personal."

 

The trip organizer and tour guide will be Dr. James S. Kus, who recently retired from his position as Professor of Geography at California State University, Fresno, after a forty one year career in higher education.  Dr. Kus has spent more than eight years in Peru and has directed several archaeology projects there as well as serving as a visiting professor in archaeology at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica in Lima (Peru's leading university).  He has published extensively about Peruvian archaeology (click here to read his Encyclopedia Britannica article on Peru) and has led more than two dozen tours to various parts of Latin America since the early 1970s, including very successful tours to Peru in 1982, 1988, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 (for private groups, California State University, Fresno, the Fresno Art Museum, and the Archaeological Institute of America).  In recent years he has presented lectures on Peruvian archaeology at several universities in California and in Oregon, Virginia, New York, Ohio, Illinois, Georgia, Florida, and Texas as well as at the University of British Columbia.

Co-leader for our trip will be Ananda Aspen, autism specialist for the Central California Diagnostic Center (part of the California Department of Education) and director of Early Childhood Education at Fresno Pacific University.  Ananda first traveled to Peru more than thirty years ago; since then she has traveled numerous times to various parts of Latin America (and lived for extended periods in Mexico).  She has made ten trips to Peru in recent years to study Special Education and has provided inservices for teachers working with students with autism in Cuzco.  Ananda is currently completing her Ph.D. in Special Education.

 

We will also be joined on this trip by Natividad Zevallos Sisa, a young Peruvian tour guide who is a native of the town of Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley.  Naty has worked with us on previous tours and is an absolute delight -- her knowledge of the people and culture of Peru will be a major addition to this trip, and we are sure that you will fall in love with her.  She spent the 2005-2006 academic year at California State University, Fresno to improve her English proficiency.

After our tour, we will be offering an add-on extension to the Colca Valley -- please contact us for more details about this part of the tour (or check out the link below).  

The links below will lead you to:

  Here are a few photos of our Peru tour groups in previous years:         

                         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This website was created by Dr. John Cagle of the Speech Communications Department at Fresno State.  Revisions for the 2012 tour, continual updates, and any errors are the sole responsibility of James Kus.