After leaving Cusco we headed north to the town of Huacachina. Huacachina was a strange place on the outskirts of Ica. With a population of less than 100, the main drive for the towns population was tourism, as a small amount of shops, hostels and restaurants have built up around a natural 'lake', randomly in the middle of high desert dunes! Apparently in the 1930's and 1940's the town was mainly visited by wealthy Peruvians who thought the water had healing pro...

After Machu Picchu we had a short few days back in Cusco before heading up to the oasis in the desert next to Ica. Although still a bit tired from the hectic 4 day tour we wanted to make the most of the city. We visited 3 museums in one day, the church and catacombs in San Francisco square (busy also as it was the day of celebrating the Virgin Mary), a small chocolate museum and also the Machu Picchu museum! The final day we all treated ourselves to a massage a...

The main purpose of our visit to Cusco was seeing Machu Picchu and it didn't disappoint. One of the best tours and most amazing things I've ever seen! A lot of people follow the ancient Inca Trail but it means 4 days of continuous trekking up and down mountains leading up to Machu Picchu. We went for the 'adventure' option with some hiking but loads of other bits and it was definitely the right choice! On the first day we did 55km of mountain biking. Amazing vi...

On the trip from Arequipa to Cusco we went all out and paid for the luxury 1st class section on the night bus (still only £20 each!). 'Lazy boy' type leather seats, only 9 on the whole bottom deck, dinner brought out and served and working air con and lights! It wasn't much different from 1st class in a plane with the nearly full reclining seats as well! The plan was to arrive in Cusco by around 7.30, at that point we hit a traffic jam into town and were still ...

6 months 1st June - 30th November update: Continents: 3 Countries: 13 Flights: 19 Boats: 22 Coaches: 36 Accommodation: 65 Montenegro, Thailand, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Peru, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile!