We allowed ourselves a little sleep-in, then rugged up in all our winter gear again and trundled down to the coldest breakfast room ever. Telling you what, Hotel Sol Inka really needs to invest in some heaters cos we basically breathe frost each time we try take a bite! We got ourselves all packed up and dumped our stuff down at the hotel reception and took a quick wander up town for an early lunch. We settled on the little bakery we had lunch at the first day we were in Cusco before the Jungle Trail. Before we knew it, it was approaching noon and we had to get back to our hotel, grab our bags and flagged down the nearest cab, a shady looking little hatchback; the boot only big enough for Rach's bag with ... read more

Today had some high points and low points, literally and emotionally as we tackled our biggest hiking day yet up to Machu Picchu. Olly broke out in song the second earliest all trip, 3:55am!! I sprang out of bed in anticipation for the adventures ahead. Rach on the other hand didn't share my excitement, moving about the hotel room like a Galapagos tortoise. We had a carbo loaded breakie of muesli bars, bananas and a yoghurt drink and met the rest of our tour group at the hotel reception at 4.30am. We walked down through the town and along the river, joining fellow trekkers in the dark as we walked towards the entrance point. It was pitch black so we were guided by ... read more

We were awoken by heavy footsteps pounding away on the floor above us at 5am. Together with everything Rach mentioned last night, this would have to be our worst accommodation so far this trip. We didn't sleep too bad considering except I woke up a bit stuffed up and with a sore throat. Think the Canadians have kindly given me their cold. We met for breakie at 630am, cold pancakes with banana and bread rolls with jam. It was ok and we carbo-loaded for our big day of trekking. We jumped onto a waiting minibus that drove us down to the river and through the 'old town' of Santa ... read more

We were awoken by a group of drunks getting home at 5.30am. Whilst I have no problem with fellow hostelers staggering back at all hours, they could at least not sit down right outside our bedroom door and chatter at the top of their lungs. To make matters worse, they were American...typical. Thankfully the 24 hour receptionist moved them on before I started yelling abuse like an old man telling the neighbours' kids to get off the lawn. We rose for breaky at 9am and braved the 'breakfast included' option that our hostel provides. We went for yoghurt, fruit and cereal. 2 out of 3 wasn't bad, except the cereal tasted a bit funny. It filled us up though and at least it was free (have to get something out of this crap hostel). We ventured ... read more

Olly strikes his cord at 4.21am (cos Rach needed that extra minute) and we stubble out of bed, shove some clothes on for our travel day to Cusco. Our shuttle driver is waiting for us at 4.45am and we head off to the Aeroporto. It was a good idea staying out in Tababela near the airport cos exactly 8 minutes later we had arrived and were strolling into the departures area. We got ourselves checked and went through to security and then onto find some breakfast. Although the Quito International Airport is brand new, they certainly know how to charge exorbitant prices for things. We settled on getting fruit and yogurt, a bagel and couple of coffees for breakfast and we didn't get much change from our last USD$20. It filled us up though and Rach ... read more