The Chayana Wasi hostel owner gave us some good tips for Machu Picchu while we were having breakfast. He used to be a guide on the Inca Trail so we accepted his information to be good. A group of police officers came knocking on the hostel door asking if they could use hot showers, they had been in the area for few days and only had access to cold showers. Due to demonstrations (which caused the cancelation of our tour), police have been sent in from Lima, Cus...

We left our backpacks at Hostel Mallqui and set off with overnight bags to the office of the tour company, just down the road. We were then walked round to Plaza San Francisco to get on the bus. There were heaps of people waiting around and it was a bit confusing who was with which company and who was getting on which bus - it all seemed a bit mix and match. We were supposed to be on a bus with an English speaking guide but were eventually put on a bus completely...

We had new some new neighbours downstairs, maybe Danish and maybe jet-lagged, but regardless these 2 women were awake and talking loudly from 5:30am. Not even the television could drown out their voices so Maria resorted to putting her head under the pillows and duvet while David got up and started his day by reading the latest on Scottish independence. After breakfast we sorted out accommodation in Ollantaytambo and Aguas Calientes, the villages on our now sel...

We started the day with some chores - hard life, eh. We needed to sort out laundry before the Inka Jungle Tour starting tomorrow and we wanted to sort out bus tickets back to Puno and then on to Bolivia. It was too difficult to buy the bus tickets online so we walked the 45 minutes through the city to the bus station. There were a few choices of bus companies and we chose one for no other reason than we could buy both the Cusco/Puno and Puno/Bolivia tickets at ...

Mallqui Hostel is run more like a hotel, in the traditional sense, than a backpackers. Just to reinforce this, the breakfast was awesome. Instead of the usual buffet, fresh orange juice, fresh fruit/yogurt/cereal, egg and bread rolls were all served at the table. We had arranged to meet Andy and Carlee at San Cristobal church to walk up to the archeological site of Saqsaywamán, or 'Sexy Woman' as it's more popularly know as. The walk up the hill was slow ...