Blogs from Cusco, Cusco, Cusco, Peru, South America - page 55

After a very early morning call (04:00am) we caught the transfer to the airport. Unfortunately for us the transfer decided that we need to be there already at more or less 5:30am. So, we’ve had over 2 hours of time to kill before our flight started boarding. Thank god for the business lounges... In Lima we’ve had to go through the Passport control and the customs. The later has made us laugh - as usually you have to fill out the declaration. But then, once you submit that, you have to press a button which decides if you will have to go through the full check or not...¨:-) Already the flight into Cusco was impressive. The plane has stayed quite low the whole flight (or maybe it just looked like that, since the mountains below us ... read more

Its very difficult to sleep beyond four in the lodge as the nosie of the jungle starts up. I wake with pain in my stomach and find myself visiting the toilet far to often. I could pass the contents of my guts through the eye of a needle. The parrots squark is murderous. We take a trek through the jungle fishing taranchula out of there holes with sticks. The Guide tells us all about the plants and trees. It is fasinating especially the Justice tree (more on this later) I sleep through lunch in the afternoon my stomach still in a right mess. We go piranha fishing in the afternoon no one catches anything but Dave, one of the irish lads, falls in which provides some light relief and a good laugh (more on this later) ... read more

Phew! We have returned, tired but very relaxed and happy, after our three night Inca Trail to the ruins of Machu Picchu. It was just awesome and we are really looking forward to our next "big walk" when we reach Milford Sound in New Zealand. We were amazingly lucky as we were the only two people to reserve with the tour operator, so had the guide, the enthusiastic and ardent Marco, all to ourselves. This meant we could take a break when we wanted (very important on the second day where you climb to Dead Womans Pass at 4,200m!) and had time with Marco to really get to know about both the Incas and the modern Cusquenian way of life. We were very surprised at the food on the trek, something we had not given much ... read more

Hey all!! Just arrived back yesterday from the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu!! It was an absolutely amazing adventure. Friday we took a trip to the Sacred Valley, stopping at lots of old Inca ruins on the way, abley guided by one Julio Cesar!! He was our guide for the Inca Trail too. We started off at Sacsaywaman above Cuzco, which was cool. Cuzco was built shaped like a Puma (one of the old Incan animals for strength, representing the land) and the ruins are at the head of the puma. They were an old Incan fortress and it was here that the Spanish were nearly (but not quite) routed from Peru. It was built over three levels and the stonework at the bottom was absolutely massive, and very cleverly carved lined up so that there ... read more

More pics from around the city.... read more