Today is a slow day, we decided to sleep in a bit then head to the agua calientes - hot springs for a dip. This afternoon we travel back to Cusco for a night before our long bus trip to Puno in the morning - pick up is 4.30am... Groan so sleep will be a premium!

So off the train and onto a bus. 30 minutes of winding hairpin turns to reach the summit. We pile out of the bus and start the short, steep steps to see the city... We get to the end of the path and there she is... The Inca city of Machu Picchu laid out before us. It's more complete than I thought. It's a large city, structurally and thoughtfully built into the mountainside, surrounded by an exquisite series if mountains. We didn't have the pain/joy of hiking I b...

Ok I'll try and write in batches for this... We are on the train at the moment eavesdropping on someone else's tour guide. The train is very nice, it's the polar opposite of the hikers on the inca trail. The train runs along the valley between the mountains, alongside the river. The scenery is very beautiful. We are chugging along the line built in the 1920s, the weather is immaculate and we can't wait to get up there.

We arrived yesterday in Cusco about over 3000 metres above sea level. It's a beautiful little city and I can see why it's full of tourists. The altitude has made me a little short of breath at times but otherwise it hasn't been an issue. Today we did some shopping in the morning followed by a city and ruins tour. Whilst on the tour I ran into Mick from my WYD pilgrimage and Fr Dishan from who was also with us on WYD. It's a very small world. We visited a lot of ...

This morning we headed into a local town and travelled overland by a vehicle very reminiscent of a tuk tuk. It's nice to see people living their lives and not feeling like too much of an intruder. We were in a village called Manza where locals arrived via their boats to buy it sell before heading back to their villages up or down stream. This afternoon we head back to Iquitos on the boat before flying to cusco tomorrow