Inkarri Hostal Cusco

Took the Inca Express from Puno which does some sightseeing on the way to Cusco. First stop was the village of Pukara, famous for itīs culture which was based at the same time as Tihuanaco (but died out much earlier). Had same monolithic statues but the culture showed evidence of decapitation and cannibalism. Also evident around the buildings are ceramic bulls for luck. Before the spanish arrived, the people used to make figurines of llamas, alpacas, etc.. Forced to abandon their culture, the...

Three flights from Arthur's and Kate's in Gloucester, we were greeted at the airport by Helard, who whisked us to Inkarri hostal, gave us coca leaf tea to ward off altitude sickness, and showed us to our room for a nap. The room was beautiful, second floor, with large windows on three sides looking over the hostal courtyard and the city. We took it easy all day, adapting to approximately 11,000 ft. altitude.

About altitude - we've trekked in Nepal without problems, but flying to altitu...

There is a reason why airlines require you to be at the airport two hours prior to your flight and contrary to popular belief it has little to do with ensuring you have enough time to clear all the security checks. It is so they can cancel your flight without telling you and royally screw up your day. After over an hour battling to get a refund we achieved only a reimbursement for half of our return ticket and deciding that this was as far as we would get with the imbeciles employed by StarPe...

After an amazing flight with views of lake Titicaca and the snow capped Andes we arrived at our lovely hotel and caught up with the Taylors. We were very excited to see them and it was great to hang out with them while we acclimatised to the altitude. We also caught up with Hannah and Andrew, whom we met at Spanish school. Cusco is known as the gringo capital of Peru but we still think that it is great! Lovely people, nice things to see and buy. We spent a total of 6 days here and had a great...

The Lares trek finished in the town of Ollyantaytambo. Lots of Inca ruins and fairly small town. Headed off to Cusco for the second time. This is a party town.. Pity I have been sick and they donīt serve bundy so not too much to tell here unless you want gruelling details about my earing shopping...Everything is so cheap.. Why am I teasing myself by carrying a backpack!

This entry and the second entry from Cusco when we returned in a couple of days arent exciting but the photos are where the real enjoyment of the city lies.... as we wandered the streets every corner would have a lama or alpacha, women weaving, children matching in parades.. always heralded by firecrackers, and the wonderful clothing of the minority women... that combined with the paved alleyways and brown historical buildings sitting upon the Inca foundations of centries before and that was...

We woke next day and wandered (or I should say staggered) up the little hill from our hotel towards the Plaza de Armas (the beautiful old main square). We both felt physically pretty ordinary today and not sure why maybe the altitude still playing up on us. Anyway both our eyes lit up when we spotted the vintage tourist tram sitting in front of The Catedral. A couple of bucks each and we get a tour of the city and outlaying areas with the added bonus of passing by Saqsaywaman. Saqsaywaman is...