After breakfast and being formally introduced to the Chaskis the following morning, we began our challenging ascent. Anne and I agreed that for this section, we would walk at our own paces, as conquering this peak and getting through the day was the main objective. However, after arriving at the lunch checkpoint before Anne I felt slightly guilty, so I dropped off my bag, picked up two Powerades from one of the stalls - the last shops before we got to Machu Picc...

As beautiful as the country is, when looking back on our time in Bolivia our initial memories will be of the sickness we encountered along the way. And so it almost seems quite apt that we would both suffer one last bout of gastro problems on our final day. Luckily, however, we were still able to make our early afternoon bus across the Peruvian border to the town of Puno, as we edged ever closer to what was now becoming an almost dreaded excursion: the Inca Trai...

After our rather ill-fated Uyuni Salt Flats tour we tried to catch up on sleep in Tupiza for a couple of days while we waited for the train to leave for La Paz. We were on a tight schedule to make it to Cusco in Peru in time for the Inca Trail hike and were a little worried on how we'd cope considering our bad reaction the altitude in Bolivia. We were quite happy to be heading on towards a new place and a bigger city, so we were relieved when the evening of the ...

When we woke up on the morning of our tour, we both felt like we'd been hit by a train but after an altitude sickness pill and some mate de coca (coca leaf tea), we had perked up slightly. Eva had decided to join us on the tour and so after breakfast, we met our driver and guide, Fidel and Oscar (who had been a little delayed due to the ongoing blockades). As we headed into the countryside, Oscar proceeded to reel off facts and interesting information about th...

A major part of the travelling lifestyle is encountering and then attempting to combat sickness. Obviously, nobody likes getting ill and so while you take as many precautions as possible, you still find yourself getting caught out in some instances. The main issues that the average traveller will face are gastro issues - our Asian adventures are testament to that - but in some cases, it can be slightly worse: the dengue fever I suffered in Thailand springs to mi...