It wasn’t all that long ago that we posted a story about cruising the Amazon of Peru with Aqua Expeditions. They were taking passengers into the jungle in a ship far fancier than anything else on the water.

Now they’ve upped their own ante and launched the M.V. Aria, pictured above. One of our writers just got to spend a few days experiencing the great cuisine and basking in the experience of watching the riverbanks go by while lying in a comfortable bed in air conditioning. Step onto the deck and here’s what you’ll find:

“They’ve created a swanky sundeck complete with loungers, towels, cold water service, and Pisco Sours on demand. Think of a more intimate version of the poolside setup at your favorite five star hotel placed on the bow of a small ship. In the middle of the Amazon jungle. If you’re about leisure, relaxing and Vitamin D, it’s a lovely touch.”

With a well-known chef from Lima putting the menu together and fine South American wine at the ready, it’s hard to imagine a nicer way to get from place to place in what can be an inhospitable part of the world.

See our full story on Cruising the Amazon on the Luxurious M.V. Aria.

I mentioned Hotel Paracas in my last post as this was my base while exploring the Ballestas Islands nearby and the Nazca Lines a bit south of there by Cessna plane. (See the tour story on Ballestas and Nazca here.)

You often see luxury hotels referred to as a jewel, a diamond in the rough, or an oasis. It happens so often that in travel writing classes they tell you to avoid these terms altogether at the risk you’ll sound like a hack. But if I were to use those terms, this fine resort, run by Libertador, would fit the description. Here’s a video tour so you can get a feel for the place. For more details, see our review of Hotel Paracas.

Most travelers to Peru are on a well-worn path, often trying to do too much in too little time. Those who take the time to go slower, however, soon find out that there’s more to Peru than one wonder of the world. The country has incredible diversity in climate, landscape, and attractions.

We just posted a travel story on one side tour that only a fraction of Peru’s visitors experience, but is definitely worth doing if you can fit it in: the Ballestas Islands by boat and the Nazca Lines by air. You can do all this from Paracas (and stay at the striking Hotel Paracas as a base). That town is only three hours south of Lima. Few people want to spend more than a couple nights in Lima anyway, so this is a good trip to do at the beginning or the end.

The Ballestas Islands can be visited in the course of a couple hours. It’s a collections of islets and rocky outcrops in the sea, with nearly every semi-flat surface covered with wildlife. Photo ops galore. You can go on a group boat, which is fine, and it’s a bargain. To do it in style though, visit the tour office in Hotel Paracas and charter their yacht to take you there on your schedule.

That company will also arrange a Nazca Lines tour, leaving from the nearby airport in Pisco. Again it’s about two hours: flying time to get down there, an hour seeing the lines from the air, then the trip back. It’s a bizarre landscape down below even before you get to the lines, the kind of place where you look down and think, “If I got dropped off there, I’d die in no time.” A far cry from the lush Andes or the jungle.

These strange lines have been here for some 2,300 years, but the reason they’re so fascinating is that you can really only see them from the air. So nobody could check the progress as the work was going on. This one pictured here is kind of crude, but some of the others are incredibly intricate and well-designed.

See the full story here: Touring the Ballestas Islands and Nazca Lines of Peru

You want to support local artisans when you buy souvenirs, but getting all that stuff home can be a pain. Baggage restrictions and the risk of breakage in transit are serious detriments to bringing back that special piece of pottery, the hand-blown glass, or that intricate wood carving. If you order things online though, it doesn’t have the same impact as buying it where you visited.

Over the years I’ve found a middle way that doesn’t completely solve the problem, but it comes close: Novica.

Novica sells quality handicrafts direct from artisans keeping their craft alive, whether in the Andes Mountains of Peru or the pueblo workshops of Mexico. They’re a benevolent middleman, marking the items up enough to cover costs, but not the 3 or 4 times you often see from retailers. The craftspeople make a living wage for their work, but you get to use a website that shows off the products beautifully. They’re a part of the National Geographic Society umbrella of companies, so I feel like I can trust them.

I’ve ordered multiple times from Novica over the years, getting exotic jewelry for my wife or picking up decorative masks to fill out our collection on a wall. I didn’t want to lug back a set of eight of those thick Mexican glasses when I moved back from there, but through these guys I can order good ones online for a price that’s not too hard to stomach. Considering all the hassles involved in international shipping and customs, their rates are a bargain.

For Latin America, follow these links to see products Novica sells from artisans working in Brazil, Mexico, the Andes region, and Central America. (Of course I’m not stopping you from loading up on unique items from India or Thailand…)

I don’t talk about specific e-commerce companies on this luxury travel blog very much, but Novica is doing good work and helping a lot of people, while at the same time helping us get some of those things we couldn’t cart back home after our trips. Happy browsing.

We just posted a new luxury travel tour story we’ve had in the works for a while: Cruising the Peruvian Amazon on the MV Aqua. (Click the ship photo on the left if you just can’t wait to read it.)

To say there’s no other ship like this cruising the Amazon River would be an understatement. This is not just a step above what else is out there, but a Superman-sized leap.

It was designed by designed by famed Peruvian architect Jordi Puig and it only has 12 suites, each at least 230 square feet. As a point of reference, that’s pretty close to the average size of a typical chain hotel room. Naturally the service level is top-notch as well, with the crew serving a maximum of 24 guests.

Last, you will not be eating typical group tour food on this trip, our writer says:

“One of South America’s two greatest chefs that use Amazonian ingredients, Lima’s Pedro Miguel Schaiffino, has designed a menu for the Aqua that could rival a Michelin one-star restaurant. While breakfast and lunch mostly alter between international-style meals (with a few local fruits and ingredients thrown in) and Asian and Amazonian influenced ones, dinners range from five to seven Amazonian based courses and are executed brilliantly.”

Follow this link to read the full story: Cruising the Amazon with the Aqua in Peru