If you’ve been keeping up with my blogs, you’ll know I have been recapping my recent trip to Peru. Now it’s time for Day Five.

Since we arrived at Inkaterra Hacienda Urubamba at night, I was excited to see all the mountain views the hotel had to offer in the morning. I was not disappointed. We were surrounded by mountains, and the views were unbeatable.

Our morning started with a bird-watching walk around the hotel’s property. We all had our own binoculars so we could see all the birds our guide spotted. We saw some exciting, unique varieties; my favorite was the giant hummingbird! I love seeing hummingbirds at home, and typically they are tiny, so it was cool to see a much larger one.

After bird-watching, we had a small break before heading back out for a hike up Challa Huasi Mountain on the property. With the elevation, the hike was a little challenging — we did have to stop a couple times to catch our breath — but once we reached the top, the views were worth it. We took some pictures and heard a little more about the local town from our guide before setting back down for lunch.

We had a very busy day, so once we were finished with lunch, we set back out to head to a different part of the property to learn how to make the ancient ancestral Chicha de Jora beverage, a corn beer made by the Incas. It was interesting to learn the process of creating it, the rituals the drink is involved in and seeing the final product after all the hard work that goes into it. We were able to have a little taste of the beer, and it was sweeter than normal beer but good!

I used a short break in the schedule to shower, relax and take in the views from my room before it was time for our next adventure. That night we headed back out on the property to go on a twilight walk at sunset. We also had the perfect viewpoint for stargazing. Unfortunately, it was a little cloudy that night, so we didn’t get to see all the constellations, but we did get to see the Southern Cross.

We arrived back at the property for a very fun create-your-own personal pizza dinner. I love brick-oven pizza, so I was excited. We were able to choose from three different crusts and could add a variety of toppings. I went for pepperoni and peppers — it was delicious.

We decided to end the night after dinner because we had to get up early the next morning to travel to our final destination. Stay tuned!

— Mary Melnick, social media & editorial manager