Exciting start to the day. 6 of our 8 are doing an optional excursion to the Salt mines in Maras and an archeological site at Maray. Surprisingly there is a ‘festival’ on today, I guess because it’s Monday so the traffic police are out in force. Our bus pulls up to pick us up and is straight away whistled to move on. Marcial talks to the officer while we all bundle into the van but up ahead is another officious officer who demands the license from the drive...

Up at 4am breakfast at 4.30am on the busline to Machu Picchu just after 5am. We are not the only ones heading off early. The buses start at 5.30am and each one carries 29 passengers and we are on bus 20. It was a long line but very well organized so we were not waiting for long. The bus ride is 25 minutes on a bumpy dirt road. Gates to Machu Picchu open at 6am and we are in about 6.15. The plan now is to walk up to the highest platform to watch the sunrise and ...

Another amazing day today. Started off from the hotel just after 8 am and we are going to the archaeological site of Ollayantambo, just a 30 minute drive from Urubamba. Marcial changed our itinerary as visiting this site in the morning means less people and calmer less windy/dusty conditions. As we approach the site we are in awe of this reconstructed site. We are going to walk up about 300+ steps ( we needed Charlotte here to count them for us) to reach the ci...

What an amazing day. Started with gun fire at 6am which frightened the life out of us but now we are awake we might as well start the day. At breakfast Marcial says that the gunfire is a tradition because it's Friday and the army form in the square and fire off a few rounds. Good to know. Today we are leaving Cusco to travel through the Sacred Valley to Urubamba. We are in our small bus but still with heaps of room and we only have backpacks for luggage for our...

Today started slowly. Went up to breakfast and found 4 of our group looking a little bit pale. Interesting night with Anne requiring oxygen a couple of themessage and Jacquie feeling nauseous. A decision is made to delay our tour until the afternoon to give everyone more time to rest. We are feeling a bit better. I have a headache and we did have a restless night but we are I think better off than some. With the morning free we head out to explore Cusco. Cusco ...