After a seemingly extra-long and dreary Winter in the Great White North, and a month straight of painting the house we decided it was time for a break and quick one week escape to warmer climes...islands in the Caribbean are typically the easiest/warmest spots to get to from where we are, but as we are not all that keen on the whole "all-inclusive" scene we turned our gaze a little further south to Central America...and after a bit of research discovered this little town on a peninsula in southern Belize called Placencia...okay! So away we went...both the Lovely K and I had been to CA before and really liked it, so a great opportunity to check out another part...my experiences had mostly been on the Pacific side and interior (Nicaragua/Costa Rica) so was looking forward to ... read more

October 1, 2012 Starting Elevation 2680m (8792ft) 4th Camp - Cusco!- Warm Bed and Shower Well here it was, the day we had all been looking forward to: Day 4 Inca Trail and time for some Machu Picchu action! During the briefing the night before we decided to get up even earlier than we had been, 3:30am if memory serves me correctly...the deal with this day is to reach the Sun Gate by sunrise, and with this only being about a 4km hike it wasn't going to take long...plus everyone in the camps is thinking the same thing; dreading the thoughts of traffic jams on the trail for this final leg... So we were up and doing our final packing, saying goodbye to our porters and tents before making our way down to the checkpoint...it was ... read more

September 29, 2012 Starting Elevation 3000m (9842ft) 2nd Camp Elevation - Pacaymayu Alto - 3600m (11811ft) Highest Point - Dead Woman's Pass - 4215m (13828ft) Distance Travelled 11kms Well, after a surprisingly decent sleep I awoke to discover that I had NOT shaken whatever was ailing me the night before...popped whatever medication I had and joined the group for breaky, a little concerned to say the least about what was to lay ahead that day (Day 2 is considered the hardest day, with a 1200 meter ascent to the highest point of the trek-Dead Woman's Pass at 4215 meters-followed by a 600 meter descent to our next camp...). Don't recall eating much of anything at breakfast, just a bit of tea and it was off and running...our guide liked to get out early on the trail, ... read more

September 27th, 2012 Elevation 2800m, 9186ft After an amazing time in Puno and Lake Titicaca it was back on a bus and heading to Cusco, launch point of the Sacred Valley and our final destination before the Inca Trail: Ollantaytambo... Took the better part of the day to get from Puno to Cusco, with a stop along the way at the highest elevation of the tour, 4338m (14232ft), hard to believe...it was a brief stop in Cusco, spent a number of days there after the Inca Trail so will talk more about it in a future post...basically arrived, got some laundry together, grabbed a bite to eat and a couple of pints and that was about it... It was this night that we first met our guide for the Inca Trail, David. Seemed very knowledgeable and ... read more

September 23rd, 2012 Elevation 3830m, 12565ft After getting all the formalities out of the way in Lima it was now time to begin the adventures with a quick flight from Lima to Juliaca, and then on to our first stop: Puno! Gateway to Lake Titicaca, we would have three days to explore the region, including visiting the floating reed islands of Uros, the island of Taquile and a homestay with a local family, couldn't wait! Landed in Juliaca to a beautiful day, mindful that this was my first time in altitude and certainly curious as to how I was going to react...I opted not to take any altitude medication, bit of a risk but wanted to see if I could handle it on my own without the aid of pills, and for the most part I ... read more