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Rio, was good, very good; just as well as this (7 days) is the longest we have ever stayed in any one place. We were a little worried at sharing a room in a large apartment with the owner along with the comings an goings of relatives and friends etc. but need not have been; we were made very welcome and very much left to ourselves to come and go as we pleased. There are certainly some fringe benefits from living with a local; you get the good oil on what´s good and not, where to go and not. The location was ideal; (Aproador) squeezed between Copacabana and Ipanema we were spoilt for choice with beaches although they still can´t top those in Aus. We arrived on a weekend with 30+ temps and the beaches very ... read more

Another 600 metres or so higher than Cusco, altitude sickness again dogs Lesia but to a lesser extent. Top front seats in the bus afforded great views of the Andes country side and Lake Titicaca on arrival to Puno. Our fast boat tour of the lake and Uros floating reed islands was good; very touristy but good. The native people there reminded us strongly of the Hammong (mountain people of North Vietnam around Sapa. I found the history and construction of the floating reed islands fascinating. A trek across one of the Islands (yes there were lots of steps) and a locally prepared lunch also featured to round out the tour out. A 9.30pm overnight sleeper bus return to Cusco completed a very long day. A life saver was our Puno Hotel lodging who allowed us ... read more

We over-nighted at Aguas Calientes which I understand to be Hot Water - a bit of a mis-nomer as this turned out to be in short supply at our lodging; definity not what I was looking forward to at the end of our trek - we slept very soundly non the less. Hard to believe no Hot Water with the amount of hydro electricity in the area. Interesting place with a train line and frequent service running right through the centre of the town. A fleet of buses seemingly run non stop ferrying passengers to and from Matchu Picchu over a narrow gravel switch-back track.... read more

Despite preparing with altitude sickness tablets Lesia was unwell puting our Matchu Picchu trek in jeopardy. With Lesia laid-up for a day I scouted the town to finalise our trek, procure onward bus tickets to Puno and organise some local currency. The city of Cusco has many very narrow cobbled streets which are heavily congested. The road rules as far as I can discern are, keep to the right and protect yourself at all times. The main city square (Plaza de Armes) features the Cathedral and the Compania de Jesus among other things. After our pre trek de-brief, couldn´t pass up dinner at Jacks.... read more

Stayed at an Otterman themed hotel - very nıce - staff couldn't do enough or be more accommodatıve. Took ın a half day guıded tour of Troy and Gallıpollı - both good. There ıs somethıng reverent about Gallıpollı - couldn't help but be a lıttle moved. The 5.5 hour bus trıp back to Istanbul was very tyrıng although I dıscovered that Elvıs ıs alıve and lıvıng ın Turkey. Must be from the phone calls people were takıng on the bus and all the Ah huh - Ah huh's goıng on.... read more