Blogs from Cusco, Cusco, Cusco, Peru, South America - page 10

Day 8: Saturday, August 18th, 2012 Today is the official start day of our Intrepid Inca Trail Express tour. We started the tour at a different hostal because apparently the hostal that we were staying at was overbooked. At the last minute they must have changed hostals again because the hostal on the vouchers they gave us was incorrect. We finally ended up in the right hostal after contemplating whether we had a place to stay and two taxi cab rides later. I did not understand why Intrepid could not inform us before hand that they changed hostals, instead of us making an unnecessary stop which cost us an extra 5 soles. They were pretty disorganized and I was not impressed. At the Hostal Buenovista, we met Fernando, our tour guide and the rest of the ... read more

Hi All, Been in Cuzco for a week can't believe how quickly time is going its almost time for me to pack up and fly back to Lima to start my G Adventures tour. I arrived at 9am last friday after getting up very early for my flight and made it to the girls orphange. There are 13 girls of various ages all with different stories as to why they are there. Its the school holidays here so the girls have the days free. They love to sing and dance the youngest girl is 4 and the oldest 17. Their are lots of volunteers ranging from 17 - 40 in age, they are all lovely and have made me feel very welcome and at ease for the rest of my trip. The weather here is crazy ... read more

On the TACA flight from Lima to Cusco, I (Greg) pondered why I ended up with this wanderlust. Perhaps spurred on by the impending completion of another of my bucket list entries (Machu Pichu, after Galapagos) I thought about those things prior to entering university that really whetted my appetite: once uni started there were a hundred things. I came up with three things that my parents provided: the Time/Life series on countries; Sir Francis Chichester’s book on circumnavigation; and repeated entreats to “see the world before settling down”. Catherine remembered her Father always encouraging her brothers and sisters to look for what is “just over the hill” rather than sticking on the main road. The flight was packed with tourists. Many – probably most – were significantly younger than we four. We flew past a ... read more

Hi Everyone, Well I have made it to Cusco and the girls orphange, after 3 flights and some interesting taxis rides. Cusco is beautiful it is really warm in the sun and cold in the shade I haven´t explored much at the moment but looking forward to walking round the old inca buildings. The orphange has 14 girls of all different ages they are on scholl holidays at the moments so just playing games and keeping them entertained. The other volunteers are lovely, really friendly so have made me feel very welcome. Some of them hae been to the areas I´m visiting on my trek and it sounds amazing. only a short on today as I have no photos and not much has happened yet. xxx... read more

Now that i'm with Sofia (hooray!) we often lament about the price difference between here and Asia - I have been pissing money away. Not that I regret splashing out a few more soles on trying cerviche the other day- it was a bloody bargain away for the huge pile of seafood i got, but i maybe regret a little staying in such fancy expensive hostels, and getting fleeced by every taxi driver I come across. Well no more! We are feeling poor and have pledged to do better. The poverty may have been inspired by splashing out On a more expensive (well, mid-range) Salkantay trek... But you know what, I don't like being cold and i want a blow up mattress damn it! And an energency horse. I really really wanted an emergency horse included ... read more