Although there is no winter here, the winter solstice is still very important in the Inca calendar. Traditionally, sacrificial ceremonies were carried out on June 21st to ask the gods not to take the sun any further away, and to mark the beginning of a new year. We had barely arrived in Cuzco when we found ourselves watching long elaborate processions passing through the ancient plaza, followed by fireworks and music in the evening.After a three day trip to the S...

In days gone by the Inca Trail might have been more straightforward, but today's routes to Cusco are far from it. Here is a potted history of my journey from Vilcabamba... Rattly bus to Zumba; truck to La Bamba through beautiful scenery; a walk across the bridge into Peru to collect another smudged passport stamp; a ride in a car to San Ignacio with a man behind me who was vomiting into a paper bag because he was crammed in with a cage full of smelly chickens; a...