Machu Picchu

Peru and its peoples

The trek

Our wonderful group - front row Nikki and Jean , back row Brian, Dave, Bob, Sue, Roger, Karen and Tracey.

Day 1

We travelled to Yucay and unfortunately due to gastro we had a bad night. We did not eat the next day and travelled for 4 hours on the bus then walked for 2 hours to stay at Soraypampa Camp!


We were taking medicine to clear things up our first night camping Dave was up the entire night in minus 5 degrees, then Nikki started at 5 am in the morning. We decided to return back to Cusco and abandon the trek through the Andes Mountains. The trip the next day was up 800m and was deemed a day that you needed to be 100% fit. We were also accompanied by Roger who also took ill at the same time. A difficult decision but one that we did not regret as it took 3 doctors visits and more medication with a weeks rest to get back on track.

















Mules and Andean Ponies

Llamas and Alpacas

Do you know how to tell the difference?

There are only 500,000 llamas in Peru and about 3 million alpacas. There are 100,000 trational herding families left and these animals are mainly in over 4,000 meters.

Alpacas - small, short nose, wool grows below knees , ears are straight, pointed and shorter than a Llamas, tail is carried low.

Llamas - face with long nose, haughty look, ears long and curved and tail is often carried high like a flag. The top photograph is also me with a Llama at Machu Picchu.

Vicuna for the rich? We do not hear about Vicuna's in Australia but they are the wild short haired alpacas in Peru. A scarf made from Vicuna is US $580 and a shawl is US$980. It feels so soft it is like velvet!

Guinea Pig for dinner!

Yes the Incas used to eat guinea pigs. Easy to keep, don't take up much room and easy to kill fresh for when visitors arrive.

You can also get a whole guinea pig head and all brought out on a plate with its teeth showing. No one in our group was game to do this. Brian said the guinea pig was a bit tough but that it did not really have a distinct flavour.

Arrive in Lima then Cusco, Peru

We arrived in Lima on the 17 th May. Lima is a dry, dusty city with high levels of pollution. It is an untidily scattered town right on the Pacific Ocean. The area that we stayed in called Miraflores is one of the more upmarket suburbs. The city is surrounded by 3 million people living in shanty villages below the poverty line. Personal crime is high however we did not have any issues out and about. Lima was noisy, busy with lots of cars and small buses overflowing with people. We got our bearings and worked out how to order vegetarian food which is quite a challange as they do not understand the term. So you have to say no chicken, no pork, no red meat etc to get the message across. We have basically been eating pasta with tomato, pizzas and bread. It is pretty restricted really. We have purchased yoghurt and nuts at supermarket and every morning have fruit and cereal at breakfast time. The cheese tastes really plain and boring and is a bit chewy, the bread is sweet and highly processed, even the tea and coffee are completely different to what we are used to in Australia. It is all part of the experience to try different things! The hotel we stayed in had a wonderful gym area open to the public. Very professional set up with all sorts of yoga, pilates, salsa and latin classes and a well appointed gym with personal trainers and doctors. State of the art! We were very impressed and so we did a workout to iron out the jetlag.


We were keen to fly into Cusco for a change of scenery and clean mountain air.

Cusco literally means "Centre of the World" it is a fusion of old inca civilisation and Spanish architectural style. It is high in the mountains some 3,400 meters so you need to rest on arrival and beware of any signs of altitude sickness. The entire village of some 250,000 is quite quaint with many houses with the curved red brick rooves a very Spanish looking design. All the streets are cobblestones with many hills , some streets are so tiny only a 3 door car can fit through. The town's no 1 business is the manufacture of Cerveza Beer, followed by fertilisers, ammunitions and then tourism. Every second or third shop is either selling alpaca stuff, phone, internet or restaurants, pharmacies.

We had a visit to the local market and saw many interesting things including a witch doctor stand with dried baby lambs hung up ready to go into the witches brew!

There are loads of tropical fruits from the other side of the Andes. We tried Granadilla, different cactus fruits and others which I cannot remember the names of.

There are over 4,00o different types of potatoes. The world potato institute is located in Lima.

Piggy anyone! This pig weighed more than the Peruvian man carrying him to the market chopping board.



Cusco is full of many churches and monuments and museums within the city circuit. This is a photo of some Inca gold artifacts.