Budapest - The City of Spas

Budapest was the next trip off the block, and the only trip in the month of March. Budapest managed to make its way onto the itinerary after some cheap Malev tickets came into being in or around January. Return tickets for £88 sealed the deal, with much of what was to happen being decided after I bought the flights. A wonderful trip, and a nice relaxing getaway - didn't have massive expectations and I would have to say that Budapest impressed me.

Friday afternoon it was off to Gatwick. First trip to Gatwick and it was pretty simple to get to. Strangely enough I bought a one-way ticket online via The Train Line - and the best place for me to catch the train to Gatwick from work would be to make my way to Elephant and Castle. Righto. Quite a straight forward process getting to Gatwick - First Capital Connect train takes you right to the Southern Terminal. The only thing I didn't know beforehand was that Gatwick had two terminals - a North Terminal and a South Terminal. Thankfully I wasn't pressed for time, so I made it all with plenty of time to spare.


Checking in at the airport was easy. Hand over the passport, hand over the confirmation, and sure enough a boarding pass follows shortly after. This was the case for me. Unfortunately this did not apply to the elderly woman next to me. I saw the lady hand over both her confirmation and passport... shortly afterwards she was denied boarding. Her passport expired 2 weeks ago. The look of shock and then disappointment was quite heart breaking. She was packed and ready to go, was probably her holiday for the year, and she was stopped at the check-in counter. She was directed to the booking counter so that she could rebook her tickets, so I hope that she'll be able to get to Budapest in the near future!

Upon arrival in Budapest it was a simple matter of hopping onto a shuttlebus to our hotel and getting rest for the weekend ahead. Accomodation was in town in a place called the Hotel Mamaison Andrassy, via a deal. Normally I wouldn't go to an upmarket place due to the prohibitive costs - yet this place was a steal for 30 odd quid a night inclusive a small bread and croissant breakfast delivered to the room each morning!

Saturday was a day full of walking. The day started off with a walk down to the Metro. As we weren't sure how far it was into the city we decided to head down the "yellow line" all the way to Vorosmarty ter, the start point of the Free Budapest Walking Tour.(Thankfully the Hotel is right near a Metro stop on the Yellow Line).

The Free Budapeset walk was great - the tour was led by a bubbly local guide, Anges.We started off in the Square then moved along to the River, walked across the Chain Bridge, trekked up to the Hungarian Eagle perched near the entrance to the Palace Museum, to finish up by the Fishermans Wharf. The walk itself was pleasant but Agnes just made the walk so much more interesting. She provided a touch of historical background without boring you and was quite honest about her thoughts - particularly about the modern Hungary. Very refreshing. It also helps that she was animated, passionate and keen to mix with all the tourists.

Getting around Budapest by foot is simply the best way to go. There are plenty of hop-on-hop-off bus stops around Budapest but you might not get to soak in everything unless you take it slowly. I found that some of the best parts of the walk were the view of the Palace from the Pest side (near the Princess statue), and the view towards Parliament House from the Chain Bridge. Now, the walking tour only really covered the Castle Hill site of Buda and the area around Volosmarty Square in Pest. That's plenty for a 2.5 hour walking tour though.

Once the walking tour was complete it was off to have a bit of a break in a nearby shop... hard to describe what it was - it was a little corner store on the bottom, bordering on a mini-supermarket, and upstairs it was a small cafe. Don't remember the name of the place, yet they served up some great hot chocolate... although that may have been due to the fact that I was a touch cold after walking around in the open for so long.A small group of us chilled out upstairs for a while before heading down to the Jewish Quarter by foot for some lunch (quick lunch at a place called Koleves Pub, where I had some goulash - soup-form).

The tour for the afternoon, the Communist Walking tour, was just simply amazing. As a tourist you could wander around, look at the sights, be happy with what you've seen and be done with it. However, one of the things you don't always get... is a sense of how those in other countries live or have lived. This tour was extremely informative, and I thoroughly enjoyed it - i'd even go so far as to rate this tour above the standard sightseeing tour.

Some of the interesting tidbits of information that was passed on was the fact that travel beyond Hungary is more expensive since the fall of Communism - travel to Soviet bloc states used to be extremely cheap, as the Soviet nations subsidised travel. Another interesting fact was that there were two passports under Communist Hungary - a red one for travel within the Soviet Union and a blue one for travel outside the Soviet Union! Obviosuly the blue ones were not something which would be available to many Hungarians.

Tales and facts weren't just the only thing that was great about the trip. One of the unplanned features of the walk was the sight of dogs frolicking in a grassy area in front of Liberty square, with a no dogs sign in plain sight. Policemen were standing nearby chatting away happily. Quite entertaining, and quite post-communist. Finally, at the very end of the tour was a bit of a show and tell and the thing I liked most out of all of the pieces on display was a board game - "How to be a a loyal farmer". Classic!!

Once the tour was done it was time for some dinner. We were recommended a place called Frici Papa. After being given some verbal directions we got totally lost. Not ideal. A quick search on google gave us some phony addresses... with an alternative search finally getting us to the place that we wanted to go. The search for dinner wasn't entirely a disaster as we worked up some hunger, ate a hearty meal (goulash again, non-soup form), and it was cheap as chips!

The evening was spent at Bar Instant. Quite an interesting place with some bizzare decor - an open (internal) courtyard with a top floor, plenty of rooms, low lighting, sports on the big screen television, and a school of fish floating around by the ceiling in the middle of the courtyard. The place was packed full of locals as well as a smattering of tourists... and the drinks didn't cost too much at all (although it could very well be expensive for Budapest, I wouldn't know!).

The remaining full day in Budapest was designed to be more pedestrian, as it incorporated a trip to one of the baths. As the Szechenyi thermal baths were the closest to the hotel, at a few minutes down the road by foot, that's where three of us ended up all morning. After stopping over at Heroes Square for a short time we arrived at the thermal baths. We were there for a good few hours. 

After getting changed and moving into the first few rooms I must admit that it was a little uninspiring - just looked like a big bathroom with a few pools (all with slightly different temperatures ranging from 30 degrees to 38 degrees Celcius). However from this low initial impression things definitely got better, we moved out to a larger inside pool which sported some sparse decor before hitting the outside baths - which were awesome. This was where the party was at! A couple of large, attractive outdoor pools teeming with people. Was a treat to be outside in a warm pool with the sky above. The whole experience was thoroughly enjoyable.


The trip to Szechenyi was a real high point of the day, and the afternoon paled in comparison - a quick lunch stop, a visit to the Terror House, and a break at Gerbeaud Gasztronomica. The Terror House was informative as it detailed the nastier side of life under both a Nazi and Communist regimes. What was most shocking about the whole thing was the guestbook - written in Chinese was a comment along the lines of... Terrible, all lies. Talk about an intense comment!


As the flight back to London was Monday morning there was one more evening left in Budapest. Nothing was planned so a walk along the River Danube and back along the Chain Bridge was in order. It was a lovely, albeit cold, night to be out. As there was plenty of time to kill I spent some time mucking around with my camera... as i've not really had the opportunity to use my SLR at night thus far. Taking long exposure photos in the evening was actually quite fun - little did I know that I was out for over an hour just taking photos!

That's all there is for Budapest. Back to the hotel to get some rest, up early for a morning flight (which was delayed)... followed by a pleasant flight back to London!

Costs Snapshot

• Return Economy Flights with Malev - £88
• Walking Tours - Free* (if you're happy with what they provide you can tip, I sure did!).
• Frici Papa (Dinner) - 4375HUF for 3 (~£14 for 3)

Tips

• Gatwick has 2 terminals, North and South. Trains take you to the South Terminal! You can check which terminal that you need to go to so that you can plan accordingly.
• Make sure your passport is valid for travel - you may laugh, but it may cost you!
• Small change is required for the Metro - ATMs give big denominations, you'll need small change for the Metro.
• Book early to get massages at the Spas.
  

Scotland - The New Years Adventure (Part 2)

The first few days of 2011 were spent roaming around Scotland - the 1st of January in Edinburgh, the 2nd of January roaming the highlands, and the 3rd of January visiting the border and Roslyn Chapel. Quite the beautiful place, although it would be even more so in the summer! Due to the lack of forward planning, the exploration of Scotland was done via a pairing of tours (with different operators).

1 Jan - Arthurs Seat

Woke up late this morning due to being out and about through to the early morning. Manged to get up at 11, meaning that there were a few hours of rest. It's always quite rushed when it comes to holidays - no time to waste. First order of business was to get some brunch - so we went over to a pub down on Grassmarket.

Ordered a hearty big breakfast with juice. I didn't quite read what was included in the big breakfast, just assumed that it was the usual sausage, bacon, eggs, tomatoes, and toast. All of what I listed was included with one more delicacy - haggis! Time to try the national food of Scotland. Haggis wasn't really for me, to be frank. It's quite solid and hearty, packs quite a punch when it comes to flavour - i'm sure it's not the healthiest either... but it's just not for me. I'm glad I tried it though.

Whilst the original plan was to wander around Edinburgh and then visit the castle, we change the plan to visit Arthurs Seat. An awesome change of plan. Arthurs Seat is located in Holyrood Park and is a nice little trek. The incline up to the top is a gradual one, yet chilly without a proper windcheater. I didn't really know what to expect from Arthurs Seat, yet the views were quite majestic. At 251 meters above the city the vantage point provides views out into the far distance in every direction!

The Seat was such a lovely place we ended up staying there for quite some time, the locals that we befriended the evening before came out again to provide some local pointers. Unfortunately there aren't alot of daylight hours in the heart of winter so by the time we got back it was getting dimmer and dimmer. Not much opportunity to see some of the other sights such as the Castle.

We all popped into a local pub for a drink once we got back into Edinburgh proper. There was where the decision was made to do a ghost tour - the Mackenzie Poltergeist. The ghost tour started off well with a bit of information about a little dog called Bobbie who came back to his masters grave every day after he was buried - so the story goes. Next was a stroll around the graveyard - with stories of how many dead rested beneath us, how bodies were taken for the local medical school, and how people were buried alive... starting a nice trade in bells attached to the internals of coffins - resulting in the phrase "dead ringers".

Onto the main part of the tour. The tour guide was actually very good and we all knew that something big was coming up when we crowded around one of the buildings. Multiple warnings were given to us about not to be too silly and not to try and frighten eachother. Apparently Mackenzie comes out and either leaves marks on the victim or victims and feeds on negative emotions. Rightio. So in we all go into a dark, dark, building - a wannabe mausoleum. The tour guide continued as we were all in total darkness. As opposed to feeling scared and uncomfortable, I was assaulted by foul body odour instead. Gross. After a while some dude in a ghost suit popped out from behind the tour guide and yelled out. Since I saw the 'ghost' approach I wasn't surprised by him... however I did feel the push of people backwards as others reeled in shock.

The group scare marked the official end of the ghost tour, and the end of our day. One of the more interesting tidbits of information - was that apparently Mackenzie has tweaked a nipple, yes, tweaked a nipple.

As with all of my trips - there's nothing like a good story. This one about attempting to sleep at night in a hostel dorm. So after the ghost tour it was straight to bed. Nothing special about that. I was awoken during the night by one of the other occupants in the dorm coming back to rest, male. Not a big deal as people come back at different times. I settled in to sleep... however approximately 10 minutes later there was a knock on the door. The dude that just came back opened the door and in came a girl. No prizes for what was going to eventually happen next. Now, the couple settled into bed and didn't make a noise - which I thought was great. Then things changed. Rustling of the sheets, the odd creak of the bunk bed, and the quiet muffled breathing made for a restless evening.

2 Jan - Lochness, Urquart Castle, and the Highlands

An early start to the day this morning as we were scheduled to go on a Timberbush tour - Lochness, Glencoe and the Highlands was the name of the tour. The start point of the tour was along the Royal Mile - and once we got there, at about 8am in the morning there were stacks of people! There must have been at least 3 busloads of people hopping onto the Timberbush buses. Talk about a gravy train! It could very well be that there wasn't really much else to do on the 2nd of January.

Once everyone was aboard the bus we were away! One of the first things that I noticed was that there was a large group of Italians at the back, chatting away. Quite loudly, in fact. Not a problem straight away. However, I knew it was going to be a long day when they just kept talking through the security announcement from the bus driver at the front - who kept plugging away even though there was commotion at the back. How to evacuate the bus and the emergency door/window at the back made a mention... so if something happened... we were all as good as dead. Heh. I'm front loading this mention as they were really quite atrocious, I wouldn't pick Italians as being terrible tourists - and i'm sure it's not representative. However, it was one of the big negatives of the day.

Ignoring the obnoxious Italians at the back, the journey was actually quite pleasant. I knew that Scotland was a beautiful place to visit, yet I was still pleasanly surprised. It's really a place worth visiting - the New Zealand of the North... apparently. Scotland would be even better in the summer, so it's one place that i'll definitely end up visiting again. Through the day we ended up in the Scottish Highlands, stopping at the Lochness, and visiting Urquart Castle. After that, it was on the way back to Edinburgh.

The highlight of the tour was being at the Loch at Urquart Castle. Why? Well, it could be the fact that i'm partial to castles, ruined or not, or it could be the calmness of the place. The great thing about the visit was that the lake seemed so still, and the air so crisp - "fresh", as it were. The experience could best be described as uplifting, whilst also clearing the mind. Good times!

One of the great things about the bus tour is that it was choc full of information. Whilst it's not everybody's cup of tea, I quite like learning bits and pieces of history and culture wherever I go. I learnt about the kilt, how the traditional Scot would carry two knives (one in his sock), the Massacre of Glencoe, the Jacobite uprising, and the number of random bits and bobs as we made our way through the Scottish north. The coach driver was extremely knowledgable, just talked all day!

Back at the hostel by midnight. New tenant in the room this night. Female. No special guests, got some sleep. Nice.


3 Jan - Scottish Border and Roslyn Chapel

The last full day in Scotland was quite relaxing. Another tour, yet in the other direction - down to the Scottish Border and back via Roslyn. This tour involved visiting the Scottish Border region, and the Roslyn Chapel. The last feature of the day was to catch a train back to London.

So the tour - it was quite a laid back tour. There were only a dozen or so tourists on the coach, and it was nice and quiet. The highlights of the tour were the visit to Scott's view and Rosslyn Chapel. Clearly the big ticket item of the tour was Roslyn.

Rosslyn Chapel, for those who aren't aware, has been popularised by Dan Brown's book The Da Vinci Code. Visitors to the chapel have exploded from several thousand a year, to tens of thousands a year! If the numbers aren't correct - the order of magnitude is.

Unfortunately the chapel is undergoing reconstruction work, and will be doing so for some time. Not only is it an admirable chapel it's got a marvellous history... as well as some mystique. A few quick points - The chapel was incomplete and was intended to be much, much grander (I would really love to have seen the place if it were completed in it's original form). The Chapel was shut down during the English Reformation - the St.Clares of Roslyn were one of those that held out practicing Catholicism well into the Reformation until they were told to shut up shop. There's also a great story surrounding the master stonemason and the apprentice, but i'll leave that for the experts to tell - great story.

So after the tour was completed there was some time to kill before we needed to head back to London. One of the ideas, admittedly not my own, was to visit a Comedy Club. Fantastic idea. Into town we went and it was immediately obvious that we were at the right place. A quiet street, residential feel, long queue. Once the doors opened the line gradually thinned. Unfortunately as we reached the front door the remaining 2 dozen people left lining up were told that the venue was full. Aww :(.

So fast forward to the train trip back from Edinburgh Waverly back to London Euston. Now, I thought that this would be a great opportunity to get some rest. I couldn't have been more wrong. First of all the legroom that I normally would have had available was cramped by some lady bringing along something like 3 bags. That wasn't the worst of it. Some time during the night I could hear a mobile phone conversation. From what I could hear at the beginning of the conversation it wasn't going to be a short one. The jist of the whole scenario was that the girl in the carriage was on the phone with her cheating boyfriend. The conversation went on and on - "why are you doing this to me? why did you run off with some Spanish trash?". This went on for a good 20 minutes or so before one of the other passengers told her to take it outside.

As I was near the front of the carriage I could still hear her conversation after she moved passed the sleeper carriage door. The conversation went downhill very quickly, with a solid sprinkling of swearing and name calling. "You are the devil" she yelled, "don't say that to me - you ran off with that Spanish sl*t and visited her family!!". Ouch. Not the easiest to be upset by her keeping me awake knowing that she's just been cheated on. Finally the phone conversation ended and she went back to her seat, tears streaming down her face. Rest did not follow as she sobbed and cried her way back to London.

Scotland - The New Years Adventure (Part 1)

Scotland was where I spent New Years Eve and the first couple of days of 2011. Glad I did it. I haven't really seen much of the Northern Hemisphere since arriving in London, but this is the primer which will hopefully open the door for the year ahead! Edinburgh was recommended as a place to celebrate the new year, so that's where I went - with a couple of pals of course.

The transportation mode of choice was the train. Popping onto The Train Line website makes purchasing train tickets quite simple. Next, to celebrate the New Year one can't go past the Hogmanay - Edinburghs way of heralding a new year... unfortunately I wasn't going to be there for the torch procession from the Castle! The hardest part of the whole enterprise was finding accomodation - with less than a moth to go, every single place that I found was booked out and/or required a minimum stay (of 3 to 4 nights stays). After hours of searching I eventually found a hostel a short walk away from the action - just about the last place I could find (Budget Backpackers) - great name, I know. At 50 quid a night each for a 4 person dorm, not what i'd call budget!

So New Years Eve, Kings Cross Station, 2pm. Onto a First Capital Connect train bound for Edinburgh. Now for some reason I thought that seats weren't allocated, this is probably based on my experience in the UK 5 years earlier - where I had a BritRail pass and just hopped on to trains wherever and whenever I wanted. It was not the case this time. Allocated seats was the name of the game, with ticket stubs on each seat outlining who should sit where. My distant memory seemed to recall plenty of little tables on the train in four seat blocks. Wrong again! Anyway... back to the main story... as the train travelled 200kph time passed quickly as I took the opportunity to catch up with my co-travellers as well as fit in a quick nap in anticipation of the long night ahead!

The three of us arrived in Edinburgh Waverly Station and quickly disembarked and headed for our accomodation for our stay in Scotland. Unfortunately for us, the most direct route available to us was closed - due to the Hogmanay, perhaps. So, out the side entrance of Waverley we went and headed on down to Cowgate. We checked in, dumped our bags, and quickly headed out again - 4 person dorm, the three of us plus one random (who wasn't in at the time).

The first order of business was to get a bite to eat before joining the rest of the revellers at the street party. We were told of a few places to eat by the hostel reception and made our way to a couple of them. It was almost 9pm, yet the kitchens for just about every pub we went to was closed! I would have thought business would have been good. Nevermind, an Italian restaurant was open on Grassmarket - so that's where we ate, with a few ciders to get the night started!

We eventually arrived at the street party at 10:30pm. We walked past the police cordon and security check... inside! Once we passed the security checkpoint two things were immediately obvious - the amusement park rides (for example... a Ghost Train) and a small music stage. I was expecting the music stage, but not the rides! The most popular of the rides was the reverse bungee, crowds gathered around the ride to watch people get flung into the evening sky. I ended up going onto a ride, but not the reverse bungee - not sure what it's called but it was a swing which also rotated - not the best thing to go on after a few mulled wines!

As midnight approached the volume of people seemed to jump. After doing a tour of the street party boundaries it was time to camp out and find a spot to watch the fireworks. The most popular place seemed to be just down the road from the Edinburgh castle, and that's where we stayed. Whilst waiting for the fireworks to start a few random local students decided to have a quick chat with us. Each of us were approached differently but mine went something like this:

Male Student: "Hey there, yea you - can I ask you a question?"
Mark: "Sure, go ahead"
Male Student: "See this girl over here, name is Julia, what do you think of her?"
Mark: "Sorry? Not sure if I heard you correctly"
*Male Student taps girl on the shoulder and she turns around*
Male Student: "Julia here, what do you think of her?"
Mark: "She's great!"
*Julia, Male Student, and Male Student's mate all have a bit of a laugh*

Very random indeed.

Next, the fireworks. The fireworks were nice, and the crowd were very much behind the display infront of them. I liked them, although I must admit... nothing on Sydney. Perhaps i'm a little biased, but i've been hard pressed to find something better than the New Years Fireworks in Sydney. There was a variety of fireworks - bright and colourful, sprial and whiney, fizzy and glittery - it was all there (clearly my descriptive skills leave much to the imagination!).

Once the fireworks were over it was time to hit the music stage - as there was only the one hour left before the street party festivities were set to close. So up we went to mingle in with the crowd, straight into the middle of the mass of people crowding around the stage. Bright lights, dancers, it was all there. The singer could have been a somebody, I wouldn't know. Whilst we were dancing in the middle some old middle aged guy appeared and started dancing closely to any young person he could find. Very creepy. Eventually he made his way near us and hovered close, as there was a cluster of young girls not too far away from us. Extremely creepy. After a while we got chatting to a few locals, as the creepy old guy was a primer for conversation.


Meeting up with a couple of local Scots was great. Always great to meet new people. After the street party finished up we headed on over to the Doctors pub. Now this pub got its name due to it's location - the old hospital (a.k.a. the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh) used to be located just about across the road. So it's not too difficult to find out where the name comes from! Fortunately Doctors was still open for a while, so we all sat down and had a few drinks. Good times. Now would be a great time to add that I was picked up at the bar... but that's a total lie.


We eventually got kicked out of Doctors pub as it was closing time. Not quite finished yet. For a little while longer we continued the festivities at a local flat. Some strange gingery drink from M&S seems to jog my memory somewhat... but I have no idea. Finally ended up getting to the hostel (in the rain) close to 7am in the morning. Rest quickly followed.


So Hogmanay was decent - something that's worth doing with friends, not exactly party-party-party. As it turns out it's a great way to meet some locals! I was quite surprised that there weren't lots of people wandering around drunk - but that's probably because the lines for alcohol were so long... one would sober up just getting to the counter. More food and more music would be good... although I must admit I didn't sign up for one of the concert/street party combination tickets. Next time, perhaps.


That was part 1... in part 2, more Scotland! ... and some travel quirks.

Inca Highlands Day 8 - Maccu Piccu in all it's glory!

An extremely early start this morning, after a rainy night. 3:45am was the wake-up tim to ensure that we were packed up and ready to go by 4:30am. A difficult start to the flagship day. The reason for the early start was due to the fact that the porters needed to catch their only train out of Maccu Piccu town. Ensuring that we were fully packed and ready to go by 4:30 would enable them to load up, run to town, and catch the train with a little bit of time to spare. Missing the train would mean that the porters would have to stay overnight in the town - not exactly the most desirable result for them.

Breakfast was brief, once that was done we waited in the hall of the Winay Wayna campsite - waiting for the opening of the final track of the Inca Trail to Maccu Piccu. The wait was uneventful - plenty of tired faces about. As the opening time drew closer we all started to gather at the checkpoint (as the path was shut at night) and continued to wait.

The moment the gates opened a small cheer went out and people began to stream through the checkpoint. The pace wasn't exactly cracking as there were several people along the way wanting to be first, yet were far from quick. For those that wanted to blitz their way to Maccu Piccu they simply reverted to calling out 'porter' and bolting through as people made room. Efficient.

The first hour of the walk was mostly uneventful, the scenery from the prior day was tough to beat. Eventually I made it to what has been labelled 'the gringo killers'. Though I didn't realise it at the time. For those that are unaware the gringo killers is a series of steep stairs that only last a few minutes... so long as you're able to keep going. I powered up the 50-odd steps, passing countless people along the way (who were clamouring up using their hands and knees). I was totally focussed on getting to Maccu Piccu that I didn't realise the obstacle was over. Continuously moving is the key!

Just past the gringo killer steps lay the Sun Gate - the first place that you can get a panoramic picture of Maccu Piccu. I didn't really know how large Maccu Piccu was going to be, so I was somewhat surprised at the awesome size of the complex. Unsurprisingly, plenty of people were milling about taking their photos of Maccu Piccu. It wasn't actually the easiest to take photos of the complex as clouds continually rolled in and out (just like the Cloud forest, the day before).

Another half hour or so later we were at the outer terraces of Maccu Piccu. We were allowed to take a few happy snaps overlooking the main complex before we were instructed to head down to the official Maccu Piccu ticket gates to check-in with the authorities - another immigration-like checkpoint.

Speaking of immigration we were all entitled to a Maccu Piccu passport stamp. Awesome, just what I wanted! Quite a few tourists had lined up to the little office behind pseudo-immigration to get the coveted stamp. One of the ladies in the tour managed to get a hold of the stamp and provide her own imprint... albeit with one major exclusion... the shillouette of Maccu Piccu (the top half of the stamp). That's bad luck. It was soon my turn - as opposed to doing it myself I had to give my passport up for it to be stamped. I pointed to where I wanted my passport stamped. Boom, boom. Maccu Piccu stamp, followed by a date stamp. I was pleased... until I had a look at my passport. Problem. The text below the Maccu Piccu shillouette was missing. Nooooo! All this way, all of the kilometers walked, all for a fail stamp. The minor consolation was that the two imperfect stamps could join to make one whole stamp. Frustrating!

There's much to learn about the Inca by examining the site of Maccu Piccu. Furthermore, there's much more that's left to learn about the Inca... as nothing has been recorded in writing. Throughout the morning we heard about how Maccu Piccu was left undiscovered by the conquering Spanish centuries ago. We learnt about how an American came to find the site of Maccu Piccu (Bingham) in the early 20th century. In addition to a history lesson we also got a spiel about the Inca themselves, their beliefs, and their architectural achievements.

One of the more interesting things that I took notice of was the statement that Maccu Piccu was only built a century before the Spanish arrived. Bizzare. I would have though that Maccu Piccu was around for ages. Just makes you think what made the Inca disappear considering that the Spanish never found the place.

Another interesting tale that was mentioned through the morning was that there was an Inca civil war immediately prior to the Spanish arriving in the region. More tidbits of information that i'm sure most of the general population wouldn't be aware of!

All of the above was mentioned on the tour provided by the trail leader Liborio. However, not everything was so smooth in the complex as a whole. As we were walking past the entrance to Huayna Piccu (a tough hour or so climb that affords an alternate view over Maccu Piccu), a man collapsed. As soon as the man collapsed a woman (perhaps his wife?) cried out. People suddenly rushed to the incident and started crowding around. As the tour group continued on - I was at the back - I left the scene to rejoin the group.

Upon the conclusion of the guided component of the tour, capped off by a group photo, we were left to our own devices. Before the guides headed off they left a few notes on how to get to lunch in the town below. Several of us were quite tired after all of the activity over the past few days so we chilled out on the terraces.

There was more to see in and around the Maccu Piccu complex, such as visiting an Inca bridge, but relaxing on the terraces was what we did. The more hardcore trekkers would have trekked up to Huanu Piccu for an additional challenge. Not this time. Nothing wrong with chilling and snacking.

As for my favourite bits of the complex itself - the view from Funerary Rock (although I didn't go to the rock, just took a photo from a rough approximation), Intiwatana (a rock pillar that pointed to the four cardinal directions... showing that they knew of astronomy and could predict solstaces), and the Sacred Rock (putting on display some of the finer features of Inca architecture... with the principal temple being nearby).

One of the stranger things about the local Peruvians was their interest in Asians. At some point during my time at Maccu Piccu I needed to use the bathroom. There was only the one. Upon leaving the bathroom and about a minute into my journey back to the group I was stopped by a pair of Peruvian girls. They beckoned me over and showed their digital camera to me, and one of them asked "photo?". I assumed that they wanted me to take a photo of them. Wrong. Once I reached for the camera the girl holding her camera shook her head pointed at her friend and said "No. You there". I obliged. (It's not like I haven't asked to be in a photo with others before!) The girls swapped - another photo. Totally bizzare. It also happened to some other asians in the group as well.


Back at the terrace, munching away at some Peruvian Chocolate. Inca Chocolate, I think it was called. Yuck. Wasn't quite for me. That's probably because it was too rich... or just too bad. Hard to tell. To pass a bit more time there was a quick photo session of "Whrere's Mark", where i'd run down to a crowded area in my yellow Gore-tex jacket mingle into the crowd and photos were taken. Nice.

Whilst we were on the terrace we got a glimpse of the fate of the man who had collapsed earlier in the day. It was not good. A stretcher was being carried by four gentlemen with the man that had collapsed (or at least that's who I thought it was) resting on the stretcher with a white blanket over him. Whilst the stretcher runners jogged through back towards the entrance an arm popped out and flopped about. The prognosis looked grim indeed.

Once our time was up it was time to start our long journey back to Cusco. First up it was a bus ride down to Aqua Galientes town, where we had our last lunch with the trekking guides. Followed up by a several hour train ride (which consequently took us back through Kilometer 82) to Ollantaytambo. The last leg back to our hotel in Cusco was by coach. The major drawcard for coming to Peru had now been conquered! Some well earned rest this night, that's for sure.

Inca Highlands Day 7 - Inca Ruins Galore

Waking up and extracting myself out of the sleeping bag on the morning of the third trail day was tough! Tough because of the ardurous day prior, and tough because it was early in the morning - 5:30/6am start. Some advice for people doing the tour... stretch. It really helps in the long run.

We were told that today was going to be another long day, 16 kilometers horizontally, wildly differing altitudes - "Peruvian flat" one of the tour guides joked. This was mostly true. Long, yet definitely not as tough. The great thing about the third day of the trek was that there was quite a bit to see!

The journey to the third and final peak began after another solid breakfast. The first sight of the day was only a short stroll away, the Inca guardhouse called Runkuraqay. As it was relatively early in the morning still, it was a quick fly by. That decision was primarly driven by the promise that there was plenty more to see.

The journey up to the peak of the second pass at 3,800m was steep due to the fairly large steps on the way up. Whilst the stairs were steep, the journey up to the summit seemed significantly easier. It's possible that the body was getting used to the tough inclines.

After a short stop with a bunch of the tour group it was time to move onward. The section to follow was the one between the second and third pass - this proved to be one of the most fun parts of the trail. The section consisted of a significantly steep descent, a block of Peruvian flat in the middle, followed by a moderately steep incline up to the third pass.

This section of the track was quite beautiful. The main reason for this being that it is the section that provides a view of the majestic Cloud Forest. Lush, fertile jungle speads ownwards as far as the eye can see at the bottom of a valley, accompanied by a fluid rolling mist that hovered just above. Photos that I took definitely couldn't capture the majesty of the place.

Along the way there was a significant Inca landmark for us to view, Sayacmarka. Sayacmarka was a large monestary-like building that was dominantly perched overlooking the cloud forest. As the mist was quite heavy I decided to skip the detour up to the ruin and continue onward.

Travelling down to Sayacmarka was highly entertaining as some of us were trying to get down at pace. Skipping through sections of steps seemed to be what the porters were doing, so this is what some of us attempted to do - with varying degrees of success. At several points along the trail I would let a porter pass through and I would attempt to follow them down as far as possible. One attempt of mine was even caught on video! As I had a yellow windproof jacket tied to my backpack I looked like a bit of a chicken waddling down the Inca trail.

After passing Sayakmartha we descended down lower into the Cloud Valley. Along the way, approximately 5 to 10 mintes onwards, there was another small outpost. Perhaps another guard post. Perching up on top of the walls of the little guard post proved to be an interesting rest point, as I could observe the other members of the group pass by the trail path just underneath.

Lunch was served just prior to the Phuyupatarnarka Inca site, at approximately 12:30pm. Originally we were meant to eat earler at the Chaquicocha campsite, yet this was moved further on as we were progressing quite well as a group. Lunch was another pleasant one... salad, soup, a particularly satisfying chicken drumstick, Inca version of fried rice, and a few salads. Yum, yum.

After lunch it was time for another Inca lesson, this time at the Inca site Phuyupatamarka. Here we learnt about the fundamentals of the Inca religion and the level of knowledge that the Inca had of astronomy. Impressive considering that the Inca had no formal standard of writing. Unless of course the whole talk was BS. Hah.

The cloud forest walk continued, not terribly difficult. The walk was quite leisurely with the guide Liborio accompanying us for a fair section of it - highlighting particular flora and fauna of the region along the way. Very interesting, although I struggle to recall much of it!

From Phuyupatarnarka there was approximately an hour or so descent followed by a choice marked by an electric power pylon. The quicker path lead to the Winay Wana campsite, the other would lead to the same campsite via the awe-inspiring views provided by Intipata. The Intipata route was chosen.
Plenty of mischevous snaps were taken at Intipata - including the Jestar starjump, a machete fight, and contemplative seated yoga poses. Intipata provided sweeping views of the river below and the towering land masses perched on each side.

Once we were over taking photos it was finally time to check into the campsite at Winay Wana. Campsite 2 to be precise. There was the option to do a further walk (not too far away) but just about everyone decided to stay at camp. The reason for this was that the rare commodities of hot showers and cold beer were available at the campsite!

I decided to make the 10 minute trek down to Winay Wana itself, rather than kick off my boots at the campsite. Unlike the some of the concave terraces seen along the Inca trail so far, the terraces of Winay Wana were convex. Not only were there terraces to be seen, but there were also well preserved buildings on display (missing their thatch rooves). Very green and very neat. The third trekking day was definitely jam packed full of visual treats.

I thought that the line to the showers was long, wrong! Once I got back from my trip to Winay Wana there was an extensive queue. As disgusting as it may sound, I avoided the shower for one more day. Instead, I opted for a cold water head bath - alternatively known as putting my head under a cold water tap.

Dinner was quite a feast - consisting of pasta, lasagne, jelly, and a birthday cake for one of the trekkers in the group. The chef came out with quite a nice orange zest cake. Impressive given the lack of proper utilities out in the middle of nowhere.

There was much entertainment to be had next, with regard to the cake. In a strange turn of events the birthday boy was tasked with cutting his own cake. Unfortunately for him the knife and the scoop were in the wrong hands. The result of this were diabolical pieces of cake. Admittedly the cake was on the crumbly side, so it was probably inevitable anyway.

To make matters worse (or funnier, depending on your perspective) a female member of the group offered to cut the remainder of the cake. Made sense. However, one of the other guys in the group decided that it would be a good idea to affix a headlamp to the girl cutting the cake. Fail. The headlamp fell onto the cake. Haha! A true comedy of errors.

The third evening would prove to be the last one on the trail. The next day would see us on the grounds of Maccu Piccu itself! As it was the last evening for all of us (i.e. with the porters and the chef) it was time for us to present a few gifts and say a few parting words. A sad evening.

Inca Highlands Day 6 - Steep Climbs on the Inca Trail

After a rainy evening with a reasonable amount of rest I was awoken at approximately 5am by roosters. Yes, roosters. This was the surprise that the tour leaders alluded to last night. Roosters were milling around the campsite signalling the dawn. It was actually quite entertaining hearing them cluck and crow as they waddled around just outside of the tent.

Hot cocoa tea was brought to our tents shortly after the roosters quietened down. The delivery of the tea set the clock ticking. We had thirty minutes to pack our bags and be ready to leave the tent. Quite the struggle for me as i'm generally quite a slow packer of bags - evidenced by my near-miss with the initial flight down to South America.

One of the frustrating things that I realised in the morning was that I left my pants resting against the side of the tent, as I had changed to shorts for the evening (sleeping bag). The side of the tent became moist overnight as a result of the evening rain. This meant that I had the pleasure of starting the day with wet pants! Not the best start to the day, that's for sure.

This morning was a bright and lovely one. As it was such a nice morning the mess tent was put away so that we could have breakfast with the blue sky in clear view. Breakfast out in the open was hearty and refreshing. Omelettes, banana pancakes, bread with jam - much needed fuel for the day ahead.

After everything was packed away it was time for a meet and greet - where all of the trekkers, porters, and guides would all say hello to eachother. A good idea since we would all be spending several days with eachother. This greeting was quite a large affair as there were 13 trekkers, 3 guides, 1 chef, and 18 porters!

This would have normally have been an event free affair, yet for this trip the introduction proved to be very entertaining. The porters went first, and it was clear that most of the porters had come from the nearby Sacred Valley - the Anta region, to be specific. The porters weren't all young, with ages ranging from the early 20s right up to the late 40s. Unexpected for some. The usual occupation of the porters, their day-job, was farming.

Thanks to the introduction I got a good sense of the organisation required to ensure that we would all have a resonably comfortable trek to Maccu Piccu. Each day porters would have to carry cookware, cutlery, tents, stools, our duffel bags, food, supplies, and their own daily items (clothing, toiletries, etc). Not a trivial logistics operation!

It was the trekkers to introduce themselves after the porters had done theirs. When it was my turn I tried my best to inject some Spanish into the introduction. I didn't manage much - most of what I could come up with was something like "Hola, Buenos Dias Muchachos, mon nombre es Marko". Don't even know if that's correct.The rest of my introduction was in English - which was subsequently traslated by one of the trekking guides.

The most entertaining segment was to come. It was time for one of the ladies in the group to perform her introduction. After a brief introduction she was asked if she was single or attached (a question that all of the younger ladies was asked). She stuttered and eventually answered that she was single. The porters all seemed entertained and one of the younger single porters was being ridiculed by the other porters. The trek guide grabbed the single porter and I grabbed the single girl and we brought them together. The porter passed on a peck on the cheek and that was it. After the incident I was politely told "Mark, i'm going to kill you". Hillarious!

Onto the trek itself. The second day of the trail walk was said to be the hardest by the guides, and there was no reason to dispute this. The journey from Wayllabamba to Paqaymayu was indeed ardurous, as it had involved a particularly steep and extensive climb of 1200m in its first phase before a shorter yet equally steep descent.

The uphill leg was tough, yet the previous day's walk helped me understand how much weight would be ideal for carrying. I carried much less on my back on the second day of the trail than the first - dropping at least a litre of water and a couple of items of clothing. It was not as cold as some claimed that it would be!

The experience of the climb changed as the altitude increased. The initial phase of the climb was mostly warm and humid, with trees and foliage providing a shade from the sun. The climb was made more difficult thanks to the heat and humidity, yet the streams that ran close to the stony path upwards provided a useful cooling function.

The latter parts of the climb to the peak of the second pass were quite different. Vegetation was sparse, the stream was nowhere to be seen, and the sun was able to bear down on me with no problems - having said this... it was cool. Not cold, just cool. The steepness of the climb was similar, the environment was quite different.

By the time I made it to the peak of the second pass I was a little tired. A break was in order. The peak provided a sweeping view of the climb just completed with snow capped mountains as a backdrop. I took the opportunity to rest up,take some photos, and chat with som members of the tour group. More importantly, I was starting to get hungry and lunch was nowhere in sight. Lunch was to be a couple of hours further on, at Pacqaymayu.

Half an hour passed and it was time to move onto the last segment of the day - the descent leg. I felt that the descent leg was tougher than the ascent leg. Why? Most likely because I was hungry, I wasn't fresh, and nature was calling. Having said this, the descent was much easier after making a slight detour off the well warn track. I wasn't the only one who made a temporary diversion though, everyone does it!


Through the second day I noticed something different with the Maccu Piccu trek when compared to the Everset Base Camp trek in Nepal - the method in which the group as a whole travelled. In Nepal we effectively had 2 groups, a fast group and a slow group, and stops every 30-45 minutes or so - regrouping at key places. In Peru, people are allowed to go at their own pace with guides towards the back and someway towards the front. An interesting contrast.

At 3pm I stumbled into Pacqamayu Camp #5, lead to the specific campsite by our chef Cesar. Boy, was I glad to see camp. After quickly selecting a free tent it was time to head to the mess tent for some well deserved lunch! I was starving! Lunch was fantastic, although that could have been because I was very hungry. Cevice (fish) salad was the starter, followed by a prawn soup, finished off by an alpaca, plaenta, and rice dish.

Pacqamayu camp was the site of the evening camp, so thankfully no more trekking was planned for the day. Due to the lateness of lunch, it was only an hour and a half or so left remaining before afternoon tea was scheduled. There was the option to stay and have some afternoon tea... but I passed. I took the opportunity to rest up and napped until dinner time. Popped out for dinner and a quick chat before it was back to bed again (with nothing leaning against the side of the tent).

Inca Highlands Day 5 - The Trek Begins!

Today marked the first day of the Inca Trail leading to Maccu Piccu! Exciting. We departed from our hotel early in the morning. The group was hearded onto a coach bound for a place called Kilometer 82. Now I don't know why someone would call a place Kilometer 82, but at least it's a unique name!

First up, a bit of administration was required. The morning was a bit of a rush as we had restrictions on what we were allowed to bring along to the trek. A 5kg duffel bag (which was weighed) and whatever I could carry on my back was all that was permitted. The rest of the luggage would have to be left at the hotel.

Initially I thought that it would be quite warm and therefore packed light - only using up just over 3 of the 5kg allocation. Others in the tour used up their entire allocation, citing the extra clothing that they intended to pack. Taking this on board, I threw in some warmer clothing... bringing my duffel bag up to 5kg.

We arrived at Kilometer 82 by the mid-morning and it was a bustling place. Coaches, minibuses, porters, guides, trekkers, and locals filled the little bus compound. After a quick introduction to our trekking guides Liborio and Tina we were handed a little snack pack. Some biscuits, a few little sugar lollies, and a banana. Then we were off! We had commenced our our 4-day journey to Maccu Piccu.

The first stop of the trek was literally two minutes away by foot - a group photo under the "Welcome to the Inka Trail" sign by the railway line. Everyone looked quite happy and excited. I remember thinking that it would be interesting to see both the before and after shots! Once we had taken a good set of photos (as everyone had a camera) we were off to passport control.

Why is there passport control? Now that would be a very good question. Technically speaking the whole Maccu Piccu National Park area is another country, or so we were told. Perhaps something was lost in translation there... maybe it's akin to the Vatican and Italy.

All of us needed to provide our passport and entrance pass before being allowed though the checkpoint and across the footbridge on the other side. The interesting thing about the whole process was that we had to line up in particular order - simpler administration. No matter, one more stamp on the passport and away I went - at a start altitude of 2450m.

The late morning consisted of a nice gradual walk towards our lunch stop - a 2 hour walk away. It was a pleasant walk. We passed along the Urubamba river and observed a track section of the recently rebuilt railway line that connects Cusco to Maccu Piccu.

On the way to lunch we came across a very well preserved Inca settlement called Llactapapa. The distinguishing feature of this particular Inca site was that it seemed to follow the undulating stream as it snaked through the valley below. Furthermore, many of the structures remained intact (minus the thatch rooves). Something that I wasn't expecting!

Unfortunately for us it began to drizzle as we were peering down at Llactapapa, getting an explanation of the importance of settlements like Llactapapa for the Incan economy. The rain wasn't too heavy at this point. The 3 soles poncho that I bought the day before was well worth it!

Lunch. I knew that we were going to get food made for us along the way but I didn't quite know what to expect. Pleasantly surprised is one term i'd use for the lunch provided, excellent is another. First up, the trekkers and guides were all seated in a large mess tent.

With the rain progressively getting heavier we were served both our first cup of hot munja tea (munja being a herb) and a fantastic guacamole entree. Next was a hearty chicken and vegetable soup. The series of dishes was rounded out with an apacca, corn puree, and rice dish. The series of three dishes were easily some of the better meals that i've had so far in Peru! If the chef were to publish a cook book, I would buy it in a heartbeat.

A few more hours of gentle walking under light drizzle brought us to our first evening campsite - Wayllabamba, situated at 3,000 meters. It was fairly obvious that we reached our campsite as there was a row of bright red domes set against a lush green backdrop.

As soon as we entered the campsite we were told of the location of the toilets and then were assigned our tents. One thing i'll say about the tents provided are that they're quite spacious. The tents can quite comfortably fit 2 people. The tents were also provided with air matteresses for extra comfort. Handy!

At approximately 5:30pm we were called out for a treat at the newly erected mess tent. The surprise was afternoon tea! Cocoa tea and popcorn. Yummy. Definitely something unexpected. We were warned not to spoil our dinners, yet the two platters of popcorn were finished.

Dinner was served shortly after afternoon tea, 6:30pm. With people given free time to either sit in the mess tent or head back to the privacy (or relative privacy) of the sleeping tents. Another fantastic meal was served up by the chef before we all went to bed. On the way out we were promised a special surprise in the morning, and with that idea in our minds we went back to the tents to snooze.

Inca Highlands Day 4 - The Sacred Valley

Not too early a start this morning, especially when compared to the previous one. A more reasonable 8am was the time in which we were to all assemble. Breakfast in the Cusco accomodation was adequate, with bread and condiments being made available. There was some Peruvian cereal on offer (with pinkish milk), but I didn't take any. Playing it super safe.

The Sacred Valley tour started off with an introduction by the guide for the day (Roger), who subsequently introduced the driver. Once the introductions were done, we were off to our first stop - a small market approximately 40 minutes out from Cusco.

As I irresponsibly failed to bring a hat along to South America, I went searching for a hat in the markets. I found an interesting hat reminiscent of the good, the bad, and the ugly (in black) but it didn't quite fit. No purchase. The trip to the market wasn't completely fruitless though, as the highlight was just in front of the market proper.

In front of the market proper was a small llama and alpaca pen, inclusive of an aged shepard. The people on our tour bus, as well as tourists from another van, flocked to take photos of the various four legged animals. Obviously, I joined in. There was this cute little llama wandering around just in front of the pen, which was open. Some of us got the opportunity to feed the baby llama before the shepard shut up shop. Clearly wasn't getting as many soles as he was expecting. For taking photos, I provided a small donation.

Once we had spent 30 minutes at the market it was time for us to move on to our next location, an Inca site close to a village called Pisac. We all quickly hopped onto the bus and we were off. En route to the Inca site we stopped along the side of the road for a few happy snaps - very picturesque, with the clouds floating above and the mountains encircling the valley below.

The Inca site near Pisac consisted of well preserved terraces as well as a few intact buildings. There were approximately two dozen terrace levels spanning the face of one of the mountains, and just about all of them were still standing. The guide assured us that only a small percentage of the free standing terraces had to be explicitly restored (due to terrace walls eroding and collapsing). It's clear that the agricultural knowledge of the Inca was quite advanced.

At Pisac the tour group learnt about the rise of the Incas - which included the subjugation of the local populations, the gradual spread of the Inca empire over time, and the importance of the Andean Cross. Whilst the historial and cultural aspect of the tour was not everyone's cup of tea I definitely found it interesting.

By the time we finished the Pisac ruins it was off to lunch - as it was late afternoon we stopped at a small village nearby. Unfortunately for the village and its occupants a mudslide had hit the area and caused a significant amount of damage... with approximately 100 families losing their livelihood due to the destruction of their homes and land.

Lunch was a buffet lunch at a place called Inca House. Given that we were in the middle of nowhere, it was quite nice. We were advised in Lima to avoid buffets, but down in the Sacred Valley with a different tour guide... it was a different story. The lunch was quite pricey, at 35 soles, but it did the job. The lunch also included a complementary glass of Pisco Sour (a popular local alcoholic drink).

On the way to our next location we learnt a little bit more about Inca textile skills. There was a particular segment on how the Inca used to colour their fabrics. All of the colours that the Inca created were natural, which would turn out to be dull in appearance (so if colours are bright - they're synthetic). Different colours required different ingredients and techniques. For example, to get red you had to harvest tiny little insects and squash them and use their blood. Simple enough. Other ingredients used to obtain different colour palettes included herbs and even human urine!

The next stop on the Sacred Valley tour was an Inca town called Ollantaytambo. Apparently this is the oldest Inca town that is still inhabited - with many of the buildings and infrastructure that were in place during the age of the Incas still intact. The locals still live here just like they did in ages past, with a few extra modern luxuries.

One of the highlights of Ollantaytambo is the nearby unfinished temple - a substantial monument that is still surviving to this day. The ingenuity of the Inca was obvious - huge slabs of rock that must have weighed tens of tonnes formed the structure of the temple. Not only was it amazing that they managed to lug the masses of granite hundreds of meters uphill... they were able to build walls made of these hulking stones without the aid of mortar or adhesive material. Quite impressive.


The visit to the temple at Ollantaytambo was not without incident. Humour always seems to creep into holidays. The tour group was on its way out of the temple complex via a narrow path, we paused at a junction that provided a great vantage point for photos. We all took our time taking pictures and were prompted to move on when another group of tourists appeard behind us. Some of the members of the tour group were resting up on the slope of the mountain, as others in the group were actively taking photos.

Now, one of the ladies in the group behind us wanted assistance taking a photo, with the lady in front and the temple as the backdrop. One of the guys in our group hopped down and almost fell off the side of the track - due to the momentum of hopping down. There was a moment where everyone gasped. He didn't fall off, although it was a long, long way down to the bottom. The photo was taken without any further dramas. Many jokes followed afterwards about how 'mamacitas' can inspire guys to do crazy things!

A sleepy bus ride back followed the Ollantaytambo city visit. I did buy a small hat with llama images on them in the Ollantaytambo market on my way out - which would come in handy for the Inca trek itself. Once we were back in town we all split up to do our own thing. For me and a couple of others, it was back to the cafe for some safe food. Carbo loading for the big trek ahead, which was to start the next day. Avoid Spaghetti Bolognaise.... it's just different. Carbs are carbs, I guess. Anyway, an early evening followed dinner and that ended the day.

Inca Highlands Day 3 - Arrival in Cusco

The morning began with a 5am wakeup call. This wasn't organised by me, it was organised by the tour guide - and it came as a bit of a shock. For a minute there I thought that work was calling me up, wanting to discuss an issue! Not only was the wakeup call totally unexpected, it was half in Spanish. Did the job though. The reason for the call was due to the fact that we had a 7:20am flight to Cusco to catch. After showering and packing the bags it was down for breakfast. Breakfast was the same breakfast as the morning I arrived in Lima - scrambled eggs, ham, cheese, juice.

A transfer bus to Lima airport (Aeropuerto Internacional Jorge Chavez) was arranged by the tour, we arrived at the airport with no incident. Everyone on the bus was in high spirits, considering that it was still early in the morning. At the airport we were handed our e-tickets and proceeded to check-in. Nothing too special so far - except for the fact that the Gate number that I had on my ticket differed from others in the tour. Turns out that they just print any old number when they haven't assigned a gate to a flight. I must say, it would have been much easier to print nothing and tell us to monitor the departure boards!

Whilst the scheduled departure time of the Lima to Cusco flight was 7:20am, we didn't depart on time. The plane (Peru Airlines) set out for our next destination at 8:00am instead. The journey only took an hour, I slept. I woke up fairly tired - that could have been due to the early morning start or the impact of altitude... as Cusco is roughly 3300m above sea level. We were met by our guide, Belge, after we picked up our bags and left the terminal building. There was only time for a quick hello before we were whisked away to our accomodation.

The hotel in Cusco was pretty good. The room was clean, the bathroom was nice, and the shower did it's job. What more could you ask for? As for the negatives - the room was a bit cold and the key to the room did not snugly fit the lock. Getting into the room always took a few tries. All good.

The first day in Cusco was quite light - as we were all supposed to acclimatise to the higher altitude. We were given free time until after lunch and were given a few recommendations on where to eat. Given that we didn't know much of the place, we took up one of the recommendations - a little cafe that was effectively down the road.

Once we were done with lunch we commenced our walking tour of Cusco, led by our tour guide, Belge. The tour was only brief, then again Cusco isn't exactly the largest of towns. The focus of the tour was the Plaza de Armas and surrounds. I was actually impressed by the plaza, as I wasn't expecting much - it was quite a pleasant place to just sit and relax. Once the walking tour finished, some of us headed back to the Plaza de Armas and chilled out in a cafe. The cafe, funnily enough, was called Cafe Bagdad. No idea where the name came from, and I didn't ask.

One thing that i'll mention about Cusco is that it is quite polluted. I don't mean that there is litter on the ground and that it's a gubby place to be, I was referring to the air quality. I originally thought that the air in and around Lima was bad, but Cusco was horrendous. Just about every car on the road would be spewing noxious clouds out the back of their mufflers.

The tour had its first organised dinner at a local restaurant. I can't recall the name of the restaurant, but it was more on the higher end of what was available. The food here was great!  I ordered a chilly chicken dish that was akin to curry. Yum, yum. I also tried small portions of what some of the others were eating as well, with one of the more exotic dishes that I tried being alpaca. Guinea pig was on offer as well, but that was ordered by another table. Many made a mental note to give it a try at a later stage.

After dinner had concluded it was time to head back to the hotel for some rest. A big day ahead was planned for us, a tour of the Sacred Valley. It was still early on in the tour, so everyone signed up. A wise decision as we'd be back for another free day post-Inca trail.