Olive goes to school in Ollanta

We took a minivan back across to Ollantaytambo. The journey was a little wild - there had been multiple landslides that had just happened and covered whole chunks of the road, but we got through safely. Ollanta (for short) is the place you get the posh trains to Machu Picchu from. It is a really lovely small local place with the most stunning surroundings, mountains on all sides. Yet again, simply breathtaking. 

We are going to stay here for a month. We are starting off in a bit of the town where it is all narrow cobbled streets that only bikes and tuk tuks can get to. The first level of all the buildings are made of rocks from the Inca time with the second floors made in Colonial times. 

The view out from our place is amazing. You can see ruins in the distance. 

Olive is going to a bilingual school. It’s in just the most jaw dropping setting, we are very envious! 

We did a practice walk but went slightly the wrong way. We ended up walking along the train track, up a river path and then accidentally across someone’s terraced farm. The lady was so friendly, she sat us down and gave us some of the local chicha cloudy spirit out of cut up plastic bottle! There was an old man there as well and he literally offered us food from out of his bowl. Such a humbling experience - it really makes you think how we need to improve in our own approaches. 

Cusco

We spent our last few nights with Sara in Cusco. Another Plaza del Armas….

We went to a crazy planetarium to learn about the stars then gaze up at them through massive telescopes. We saw  the brightest star in the sky, Sirius, moving across our telescope view like a rocket and a set of cluster stars in the Milky Way looked cool. The funniest bit though was that the planetarium was just out of town but next to a nightclub that had lasers shooting into the sky with loud music. Kind of ruined the atmosphere a bit and made star gazing a bit trickier! Great fun for a change. No photos. 

For our last day we did a city tour bus taking in some ruins - perfectly seen from the top deck of the bus, a healing ceremony and some great views across the city. 

Sara’s husband John has just got a new job and treated us to a lovely dinner in Cicciolina. My beetroot ravioli is one of the best things I’ve eaten in a long time. Thanks John and congratulations!

Machu Picchu - a mighty wonder of the world

Unfortunately Sara brought illness with her on holiday which kicked in at Puno and Lake Titikaka. We started sharing it round and had to add on a day in Puno before taking the overnight bus on to Cusco. We then headed on to Agua Calientes via Ollantaytambo to get closer to the stunning and famous Machu Picchu. The train ride was in equal parts ridiculously stunning and expensive - the most expensive train line per km in the world to be precise!

We took a quick dip in another hot springs - not a patch on the one in the Canon. 

I loved the surrounding landscape of Machu Picchu as much as the lost city itself. Machu Picchu was discovered and cleared by Bingham  in the early 20th century. It’s just so remote and cut off, surrounded by wild mountains and jungle. People only lived here for less than 100 years. It is super photogenic and it was busier than usual as there were extra visitors who hadn’t been able to get in earlier in the week when there had been protests. Breathtaking. 

On the train back we got treated to a fashion show in the carriage and me and Olive got to watch a dance with a scary masked guy. We even got to have a quick dance!

Lake titikaka - teetee-car-car not ka-ka!

The latter is a bit rude and as one guide bluntly put it - means s***! We stayed on the lake in a place called Uros. The houses on the lake are built on layers of reeds. It was a bit crazy. They have to replenish the reeds twice a month increasing to every few days in the wet season!! It felt weird staying on an island of reeds. Constant movement, especially when boats go by. 

Obviously the sunset was awesome. 

I loved the museum we went to. The guide was great with loads of anecdotes. They can tell how good the weather has been by how big the duck eggs are and if you turn the lake upside down you can see a puma - the national symbol.

It was an interesting place to visit. I kept thinking I was at sea not on a lake. But tourism has really taken over Uros. It makes up 60% of their trade and you can feel it. But who can blame them. 

Massive Condors

We booked on to a tour of the nearby Canon which is famous for its gigantic condors. We started with a whole day travelling around visiting all sorts with our trusty guide Doris. She was ace. First stop - the National Reserve with lots of Alpacas and Llamas. 

We stopped to take some caca leaf tea to help with altitude sickness as we climbed to nearly 5k to see the mirador viewpoint across to the three mountains. It did make us feel guiddy. I loved the smoking volcano. 

We also stopped at some lovely hot springs.

After a sleep over in a freezing proper Peruvian hotel in Chivay, we got up at the crack of dawn to go see the condors. There were spectacular views over a massive canon - the second deepest canyon in the world (and no, the Grand Canyon is half the size!).

Then we arrived at Cruz del Condor. These birds were massive with three metre wing span. Our guide Doris told us loads of facts which I’ve now mostly forgotten. They are basically massive and it was jaw dropping to watch them swoop across us. Truly stunning.