CUSCO and MACHU PICCHU




Voted one of the new 7-wonders of the world, and you can see why

Paul would like to take this opportunity to apologise to his friend Raj for all the abuse he gave him for taking the train to Machu Picchu instead of walking the Inca trail. This apology is genuine and heartfelt and is in no way prompted by the fact that we are so sick and tired of hiking that we bailed on doing one of the worlds most famous and beautiful treks and instead took the train too...

WHERE: CUSCO

not quite sure what these kids were celebrating but they seemed to be enjoying it

WHERE (less detailed): south Peru



a word of warning, there are quite a few of these pics

WEATHER IS: still hot, although pretty cold at night.

a rare pic that doesn't feature Mount Wayna Picchu (the steep mountain at the back)

PEOPLE ARE: unable to walk down the street without bumping into Rhaani. Hilariously o-one else seems to suffer.

Rhaani makes a new friend

FOOD IS: very good. We opt for an awesome local Nandos-style place and a remarkably good Chinese.


and we're back to MP, this time from Machu Picchu mountain

A MEAL COSTS: £3-4 a head

a welcome (for the male readers at least) change of scenery

A BEER COSTS: £2 for a large Indian restaurant sized bottle.

Rhaani and the ruins

HIGHTLIGHTS/LOWLIGHTS: Cusco, a strange city, within four blocks and it goes from being a dump we have to get out of now to a beautiful old colonial gem ... Paul fires himself up with righteous indignation before going to demand our £400 Inca Trail deposit back, despite cancelling with only 36hrs notice ...

MP from the Sun Gate

...amazingly, and through no credit to Paul we receive a full refund, minus a £25 administration fee ... walking to the town square and seeing an awesome parade of uniformed and flag waving school children ... Rhaani and Julie scour the town in search of a bar that opens at 3:30am and is showing the royal wedding... unsurprisingly they return disappointed ... Paul spends 90mins at the post office and has his fingerprints taken as he sends his hiking boots, Rhaanis sleeping back, our winter gloves and some table clothes home - £35 for 5kg ... Paul opts against a 4am royal wedding viewing ... Paul stumbles upon the Miss teen South America pagent ...

we definitely still going to Ecuador aren't we? asks Paul

...the amazing local arts and crafts markets seem to stock the exact same locally produced goods as we saw in Bolivia ... Macha Picchu, there are few sights that would excuse a 3:30am wake-up call ( a royal wedding not being one of them) but the hugely impressive MP ruins are one of them, not so great once you're in and around it, but a spellbinding sight from the hill ...

Julie and.. yes I think it's the ruins

...while some North Carolinian grandma's feed Paul on the train on the way back from the ruins Rhaani finds the cure for asthma after sitting next to a Japanese doctor ... the train staff put on a bizarre fashion show on the way back ... after a long long day we arrive back in Cusco and head straight to the English themed pub for a Sunday roast with Yorkshire puddings!

the theme continues..

UP NEXT: ICA, literally an oasis in the desert and home to more sandboarding and dune buggy adventures.