Traveling is expensive, so sometimes we need to rely on the entertainment industry to do it for us so that we can see the countries of the world. Were we disappointed with the latest trip during Passport to Love on The Hallmark Channel? Nope. Not even close.
A Machu Picchu Proposal wasn’t what I expected, but it was what I needed. Just like when you go to Target and it tells you what you need, Hallmark does the same thing. It gives you the lessons that you need when you need them.
And hey, lessons about love are everywhere, but you may not always relate to the lessons that are presented.
Katie and Dan are fraternal twins who are opposites, but extremely close. They tell each other everything and rely on each other. Katie (Rhiannon Fish) had planned on spending the summer cooking and creating recipes for the class that she is teaching in the fall. But Dan, well, he’s planned something else.
Dan is in love, and his girlfriend is in Peru. Dan wants Katie to be there as he proposes to Luciana, his girlfriend. He doesn’t want to go without his sister. A mix of nerves and meeting Luciana’s family for the first time – who better to get you through than your twin?
Dan and Katie are type A, and planning a proposal seems like a big task. But with their type A personalities, who is better to plan an engagement than these two? Well, apparently, anyone but them.
Going to Peru is a big adventure for both of them. With so much culture to see and the proposal, Dan is excited. Katie is happy to be there for her brother and offer him all the help that he needs. She just doesn’t know what to do as wrenches are thrown into their plans.
The biggest wrench for Katie is a man named Carlos. Carlos is Luciana’s friend from school and is a charmer. He doesn’t like to live by checklists and rules. He likes to do things as he wants to do them. Making his own rules, being able to come and go as he pleases, and to do things in his own way – it’s the code she lives by.
No surprise that Katie is entranced by this. It’s the exact opposite of who she is, but she’s okay with that. Carlos brings out a side of her that she didn’t know was living inside. Yet, if you think that she’s going to allow that to be shown and not fight it with every inch of what she is, you would be wrong. Type A people do not like change, and Katie keeps repeating that with every bit of who she is.
But when the first proposal at Machu Picchu goes wrong, and then that night she has to stop her brother from getting drunk proposing, everything in Peru gets more complicated. Especially as her brother tries to push her closer and closer to Carlos. Her brother wants her to be happy, but Katie doesn’t seem to think that it is in the cards for her.
Dan convinces Katie to go off with Carlos to try and find a new proposal place. The issue is that she can’t tell Carlos what she’s doing and why. Katie, who isn’t the best liar, but commits her lies, finds herself buckling every time she sees Carlos.
Proposal after proposal goes wrong. Dan just wants to propose, but keeps listening to his sister, who wants him to give Luciana the most amazing proposal ever. I can’t disagree with Katie that every woman deserves an amazing proposal, but what that means is different to everyone. I also can’t disagree with Dan that he just wants to propose, and maybe it doesn’t have to be grand.
It just has to be.
While we’re watching the four of them travel around Peru (looking for the most amazing spot), the viewer can’t help but be entranced by the beautiful scenery. Living in New York, this writer has never seen so much green. There were times when I was ready for the proposal mishaps to stop and for Dan to just ask the question.
Yet, as in all movies, there has to be something that changes everything. It can be something small, and it could be something huge. What matters is that it propels the story forward and that there is some sort of resolution. In A Machu Picchu proposal, a fight between Dan and Katie does just that.
The fact is that siblings argue and will sometimes go for the jugular. They will tear each other down, and they will realize that they were out of line. Katie and Dan do just that. They go for the jugular and somehow, in the end, they are okay.
You see, Katie and Dan have spent so much time going through the motions in life, not knowing where their lists would lead them. They just knew that they would check off another box, and that was okay for them. But this trip, well, it taught them that sometimes not checking things off a list was the best thing that they could do.
Everything does work out for Dan and his proposal. It just took Katie getting out of her own way. That a suspending belief that Machu Picchu was like a hop, skip, and a jump away. Getting up there is not just a blink of your eyes; you are there.
In addition to Dan getting out of his own way, Katie had to also. Admitting her feelings to Carlos was scary, but she did it. She took it from a list and plans to just admit where her heart is. It was a moment that I loved, because I think a lot of us can and do realize that getting out of our own way is something that we definitely need to do.
A Machu Picchu Proposal was different, and that is not a bad thing. The Hallmark Channel continues to push forward with making movies that are different than their normal formula. That’s actually quite beautiful. It feels as though the network wants to go past predictability (and don’t get me wrong, I love predictability) and elevate their movies. With this movie, they did just that, and it’s part of what made me not move for two hours.
Definitely a great watch and worth your time.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- I am impressed with how many changes of clothes can fit into a backpack
- Katie’s shirt switching at the end – I was like, wait. Where is the continuity? And then seconds later, I didn’t care because I loved the proposal
- Carlos is a little too fly by the seat of his pants for me, but I appreciated it
- That super secret food made me wanna vomit
- Luciana is patient.
- Alpaca Milk? I don’t do dairy.
- Why Dan is a glutton for punishment, I don’t get.
- Peru looks so beautiful
A Machu Picchu Proposal is streaming now on Hallmark+.
