The train up to Machu Picchu was just our group and a load of people with grey hair- I assume everybody else walks there. It was stunning scenery and the journey was very luxurios, they brought us food and drink as if we were on a plane. Once we arrived we immediately set off walking up to see the ruins, our guide did not hang around so it was a lung-busting few minutes to the top! Machu Picchu is one of those places that does not disappoint- it is awesome in real life and you just don´t get bored of looing at it. I had to stop and look around to take it in and truely appreciate where we were.

Our guide turnd out to be less than inspiring and so a group of 14 dwindled down to 5 after the 2 hours we had with him- Richard made to the end but I sloped off to wander on my own. It tunrned out to be a time to be at one with nature with lizards, hummingbirds and chinchillas came and sat with me for a while.

Ther are some bizare rules within the grounds opf Machu Picchu- no plastic water bottles are allowed, no food, no crutches or walking sticks etc so we had to hode in a cave to eat our lunch- you´ll see from the pictures that it was´nt a bad spot for a picnic though!

The journey home was a real gem of an experience- first we had a man in a balaclava sewn to look like a face doing a traditional dance up and down the isle with a toy Llama (really creepy) and then our ´cabin crew´ got changed and performed a fashion show up snd down the isle to Abba songs (she was very good, he looked like he would rather be anywhere else on the planet. It all made for an entertaining journey!)- It turned out to be a way of trying to sell us Alpaca clothing, but it was styled in the 50´s... we regrettfully declined.