Cusco is the point through which all our travels go and this time we're splashing out on a very nice train ride from Puno. It's the Andean Explorer and the train goes through spectacular scenery in the ten hours it takes to get there. We are mighty impressed by the cart we're in - it's like a nice restaurant or living room. In the back there is a viewing cart were people can better take photos or just sit in the sofa and enjoy the ride. We see llamas and so many extraordinary mountains on both sides. And after a while we actually drive through a market. People are eating on chairs in the café, their backs mere centimetres away from the train. People are selling, browsing and shopping like nothing special was happening. As soon as the train has passed, they just put their wares back were they were before. And the man selling books can't be bothered to move all the books off course, he just makes sure that none of them lies immediately on the tracks, but in the middle, so the train goes over the books. Children are waiving at us and smiling, other than that it's like the train isn't seen by anyone. In one of the most beautiful parts, another five hundred meters higher than Puno the snow covered mountain tops makes a nice backdrop for the locals wanting to part with some of their llama blankets. Who am I to argue. I get a decent price so everyone is happy. We have three meals on board and are served Pisco Sours while we watch the entertainment in the back. A band is playing traditional music and they have a dancer with them as well. These people know how to create enough situations for the tourists to part with their money. Apart from giving them a tip for the music, we're also encouraged to buy their CD. They are quite good, but somehow I have a feeling that by the time I get home my appetite for Andean pan pipes will have diminished a great deal.

We stop in Cusco on our way to Aguas Calientes, a village named after the hot springs here. It's situated lower than Cusco, but the village is in the mountains - the entire place seems to be one long road uphill with houses and restaurants on each side. No cars here. Everyone has to come here to get to the lost city of the Incas, Machu Picchu - unless they walk the Inca trail, from Cusco or some other place. It sounds great, but not this time. We stay in a hotel in Aguas Calientes and take the first bus up the mountain around 5 am. We even get a stamp in our passports and enter this most beautiful and exciting of places. An image I've had in my head for years. It's surreal to actually see it with my own two eyes. And it is even more beautiful, even bigger and even more mysterious. I climb as high as I can get and sit and wait for the sun to rise. Because this place is surrounded by high mountains on every side, the sun leaves no colours in it's wake, the sunrise is just that it climbs over the mountain tops. It's still beautiful, and on this particular day the moon can also be seen on the other side.

After a little while we go back to the car park again to meet our guide. I was initially very reluctant to have a guide, but ended up being very glad we did. Every word he spoke was interesting, and all I now know about Machu Picchu would be too much to relate here, so enjoy the pictures.

We have to pass through Cusco again on our way to Lima after the highlight of our trip. I really like getting to know a place well, and Cusco feels very familiar now.

We arrive in Lima in the afternoon and are very happy to recall that we already booked for someone to pick us up at the airport. I really like this hassle free travelling style. We have to take another turn about the Inca market in Miraflores, and weeks ago I promised a stall holder that I would come back and buy something from her. We managed to find the same place and she remembered very well and had kept the three things I was looking at aside. These are dried vegetables or something, and carved with traditional motifs. I choose my favourite and end up going a bit nuts with all the wonderful things they sell. Too bad I don't have shop back home.
We thoroughly enjoy the meals we have across the street in a fancy restaurant. They suggest I try the tortellini with chocolate sauce and ice-cream. It's too outrageous to give it amiss, so I dive in. Instead of savoury, the pasta is sweet and chocolate coloured. Crazy but nice.

Precisely a month after we arrived we have to get on our KLM flight to Amsterdam. Another 11-12 hours of films and snoozing. This time the flight isn't full, so the air hostess tells us to move around if we like. We don't need to be asked twice, the woman next to us has very smelly socks and we do enjoy a row all to ourselves. Back in Spain and I celebrate my birthday - halfway to70 and then I get ready for my last adventure before I return home. Bonnie auld Scotland.