Blogs from Machu Picchu, Cusco, Peru, South America - page 12

I have to admit, this is the last entry of our southern hemisphere summer school holidays. For those who follow us....be happy, the emails will not come anymore on a regular basis over the next few months....but trust me, the trips are not over, and yes, we still have a lot of adventures planned ahead of us for the coming months. First act was July to December 2012 in Buenos Aires. Second act was that crazy adventure from December till mid-February around South and North America. Tiffany and Leslie have been back for nearly a week in Buenos Aires, and for them today is the first day of a new school year. On my side, I have finally reached Congo...this time was even more "interesting" than any time before...and quite on the challenging side... So to ... read more

Dinner in Aguas Calientes. Well....I think we went in there while they had the closed sign up, interrupted his families dinner, made the guy go to the diary as we had ordered a beer and he didn't sell any (the beer he came back with was 1.1L). A bit of an experience. And gave the guy a tip as we felt bad. But was very funny at the time! :) After a night of very heavy rain we decided to set 2 alarms for the morning, one at 5am and one at 7am. We were heading up to Machu Picchu but thought if it was still pouring with rain then would go up later. Anyway first alarm went off and weather was perfect! Got to Machu Picchu about 7ish. Such an amazing place!!! I have uploaded ... read more

Having fortunately escaped Ecuador in one piece, we had a beautiful flight over the Andes into Cuzco, Peru. Cuzco After basically spending six months at sea level the altitude and temperature of Cuzco was a bit of a shock, but also a pleasant change. The city is packed nicely into a beautiful valley at 11,200 ft. The little hostel we found was just outside the city center and up about 100 steps, which kicked our asses and left us breathless during our first few ascents. There is a tremendous number of amazing Inca historical sites to see in the city itself and the nearby Sacred Valley and we hit just about everything prior to embarking on our Inca Trail hike. I read a great book titled, "The Last Days of the Incas" over the previous few ... read more

Day 3 of Team Norway's Machu Picchu trek dawned with a cloudless sky and glorious sunshine leading to an earlier than normal thermal breeze gusting through the Rio Urubamba valley. Normally this would not have been a problem but today was different, today was zip lining day. When the Norwegians asked me if I was interested in zip lining on the Inca Jungle trek “sure” I replied, “I do it all the time in London”. To be honest I had in mind a long, leisurely, controlled descent over jungle trees and vegetation perhaps 30 meters above the ground. I was wrong, as this was set to be a truly terrifying experience. After putting on our harnesses and getting a bus to the top of the mountain it suddenly dawned that whilst trees were involved they were ... read more

Cusco Cusco is 3500 metres above sea level and situated in the southern Peru boarding the valley of Urubamba in the Andes mountains. Cusco was the historic centre of the Inca empire in the 13 th century 1532. According to legend the city was built by Sapa Inca Pachacuti, he was the man who transformed the quiet city of Cusco into the vast empire of Tahuantinsuya. The first Spanish to arrive in Cusco was in 1533, they soon pulled down most buildings and then built on top of the Inca Foundations. The Spanish built many churches in order to convert the Inca's to follow their faith, they also built the cathedral, convents and a university. There was a major earthquake in May 1550 this caused localised damaged in Cusco. However the Inca buildings and foundations were ... read more