We arrived at the Arequipa Bus Terminal at the lovely hour of 6.30am, took a taxi to the hostel and promptly passed out in our room.Around lunch time we ventured out into the Plaza de Armas and found a set menu for 20 soles each) a very persistent seller ushered us into his restaurant), and then joined a free walking tour. It was probably one of the more interesting tours, since unlike normal tours, our guide took us into museums and markets, cafes and pisco bars...

As per usual on a checkout day, I had to pack up majority of the room into our bags and get us ready. Somehow we managed to eat breakfast, pack and checkout on time for our pick up for a two hour bus ride back the way we came yesterday to Urubamba.Ziplining was fun! We had opted not to the combined Via Ferrata and Zipline, but the plain ol' Zipline route had plenty of Via Ferrata-ring. Our group climbed up a fair while to the first line in the heat and sun, howev...

The town of Aguas Calientes was quite nice. Once all the tourists left for Machu Picu it was quiet - very much a ghost town. Our hostel offered a breakfast room service but only between 5-7am though, so obviously I picked 7 as our delivery time, and it apparently requires clothes to open the door...Since our checkout was 9am, we used the spare hour walk around the quiet town - a very different sight when no one is trying to sell you things on the street. Before l...

An even earlier morning today. By 4.30am the porters had us fed, the campsite was packed, and they were off. The group was not allowed to start the final five kilometres of trail until 5.30am, so we lined up for the hour and finished off the final remnants of rum (or, Jeremy, Chris, and Andres did). Every step of the hour following the Checkpoint up to the Sun Gate we hoped it would clear up and there would be less cloud. And it did! For a second it would clear, ...

Day 20: Peruvian FlatOur day started at the very ungodly hour of 4am. Though we'd packed the bags the night before, collecting all of the left over electronics and clothes from the dorm still had to be done before we could board the bus to Ollantaytambo. Eventually we made it though, with our fellow group members all aboard the bus to our first stop: Breakfast. This in itself was a minor debacle - apparently I ordered an extra plate of eggs for myself. So with th...