So this mornings alarm was set at 3.45am, so that we could be shaved, showered and shampooed by 4.30am with our bags outside the door, and ready for breakfast! Pickup in the lobby was 5am. We got to the airport and I think we were the first people processed! Ron from Maroochydore had to have his carryon luggage weighed, Rod and Kay had big problems with weight limits - they'd done a fair bit of travelling before picking up our tour. We were lucky. We had a one ho...

So ..... Another day with a leisurely breakfast, but before that we walked 25 metres up the street to a little shop that also does laundry. 2 kgs of washing for $US10 - I don't know - it sounds expensive to me, but when we called in on our return from our wanderings we found they'd delivered it to our hotel. So... After breakfast (sausages and eggs, as well as ratatouille, Andean cheese wrapped in a wonton, mashed potato croquettes with meat in the middle - break...

Today our morning was free! Sleep in, leisurely start, late brekkie! Wonderful! We then walked down to the markets where we may have bought some more souvenirs! It was just lovely exploring the village at our own pace. We returned to the hotel to meet up with everyone around lunchtime and caught the train back to Ollantaytambo where some of the group climbed to the top of their Incan ruins and others of us explored the ground level. After that it was back on the ...

Early start this morning - we had to be underway by 7am, so it was early up, breakfasted, packed and out of our lovely hotel. We went by our little bus from Urubamba to the Ollantaytambo train station where we had time to purchase a collapsible walking stick for $US10. It is awesome. Quite a few people on our tour have had knee and hip replacements so there were a number of sticks purchased. Our train carriage was a vista dome carriage and very nice indeed. We ...

What a huge day of travelling. We left Cusco at 8.30 this morning and drove for a bit out to an alpaca wool weaving centre where they keep the alpacas, shear them, dye the wool with natural elements (like red from the cochineal bug that lives in the multitude of cactuses everywhere), and they weave it (with the pattern in their head) to make into garments. One of the men got spat on by an alpaca when it was having an altercation with the one next to it. We drov...