AW Travel Blog

We’re up for a 5:30am breakfast at the hotel before walking down to where the buses are constantly relaying people from town to Machu Picchu.  Then we’re on the 20 minute trip up through the winding jungle roads of this spectacular mountain country.

6am and we round the corner from the entranceway to Machu Picchu.  It’s still cool and early morning mist is shrouding much of the site.  Being nearly 2400 metres above sea level, this is more often the case, yet the partly-revealed citadel is still an awesome sight.  We’re given a 2 hour guided tour.

Machu Picchu was known of for centuries by local Quechua farmers, but it wasn’t until 24 July 1911, when an 11-year-old local boy led American historian Hiram Bingham to the site, and the rest of the world became aware of its existence.  The site was originally covered in thick vegetation – Bingham and his team returned in 1912 and 1915 to clear the growth, and with subsequent restorations over the decades, we now have the Andean Inca city we know today.

Following our guided tour, during which time the mists all lift to reveal the immensity of the site, we’re left to spend the rest of the day taking enjoying it at our own pace.

One of the things I’m most pleasantly surprised about, is that no matter how busy Machu Picchu gets, and it gets very busy as you can imagine, the site is so large that you never feel crowded in, and there’s always a quiet spot to sit and take in the view.

I won’t try to put into words how impressive and atmospheric Machu Picchu is, it’s not possible – you’ll just have to see it for yourself!

We have a birthday dinner in town for one of the girls (Machu Picchu on your birthday – how great is that!), then take our train back to Ollantaytambo to connect with our 45 minute drive to our Cuzco hotel for the night.

Getting up for breakfast, this morning is taken at a slightly slower pace as we don’t have far to walk today.  After eating we grab our daypacks and follow the road for around an hour to where we’re met by our bus, which takes us on the long, winding road back to Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley.

We still have Iban, our 9-year-old horseman with us.  Stopping in one of the towns along the way, Iban exchanges his wages and tip money from the trek for local currency, and we accompany him while he goes shopping with his newfound wealth.  Having quietly deliberated over the merits of one toy over another, Iban decides on a ride-on truck of Tonka-like quality.  A fine choice.

From here we head to our lunch spot to relax for a couple of hours.  We’re at a small tourist visitor centre, with its own guinea-pig farm (a guinea-piggery?) and micro-brewery turning out samples of the local corn beer, chicha, which we all find surprisingly good….so good we order a coupe of jugs of it to help pass the time and wash down another great meal prepared for us by our camp staff.

After lunch we say goodbye to the trekking staff and Iban, and with just the head guide left, we drive on to Ollantaytambo to meet up with the two girls and our G.A.P. tour leader who’ve been in Cuzco.

Spending a relaxing afternoon in the garden of a local guesthouse gives us a chance to catch up with what the two girls and G.A.P. tour leader have been doing in Cuzco while we’ve been trekking; their days have included food markets little-visited by tourists, lots of good dining and even paragliding over the towns and river of the Sacred Valley.

Grabbing our luggage we take the short  walk to the train station for our 9pm train to Aguas Calientes, the town closest to the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu.

Following the 1 hour 40 minute train trip, we grab a bit to eat at one of the local pizza restaurants, then head to our hotel for the night, all of us excited about tomorrow’s visit to one of our planet’s most iconic landmarks.

Woken up with tea and coffee served to us in our tents this morning (don’t get this sort of service at home – take note other half, if you’re reading this).  By 6:30am we’re packed and sitting down to a breakfast of porridge, pancakes and hot drinks to fuel us for the 8 hour day ahead.

Heading off by 7:30am the day starts off cool but once the sun rises over the rocky ridge behind us, we all start to warm up. By 1pm we’ve conquered another pass, having walked out of our valley of the previous night, and are now in a parallel valley being served lunch in our mess tent. 

 After lunch we have a quick game of footy (actually I have a nap) with some of the local children - hard work at nearly 4000 metres above sea level, so I’m told.

We carry on down the valley past the outlying farms and through the largest village in the valley with its adobe (mud-brick) homes, school, chapel and football field – some of Peru’s best footballers come from the area and grew up playing on the dusty field we’re now looking at.  I guess training at this sort of altitude more than prepares you for 90 minutes of kicking a ball around at sea-level!

We’re met constantly by small groups of children who live in the valley, handing them some of the gifts we’d bought at the markets early yesterday, we’re rewarded with huge smiles, laughter and loads of that sheer polite charm so often found in the children of countries ‘poorer’ than our own.

Having decided to take one of the less challenging routes out of the valley, the true advantage of having done this becomes clear at 5pm when we arrive into camp and all its thermal hot-spring glory.  Exchanging our packs and sweaty, dusty trekking clothes for shorts and swimsuits, we soak our aches (and smells) away in 35 degree natural mineral water for the next 2 hours, before being served up another feast by our camp cook, who is attired in full chef whites.

As soon as I put my head down tonight I’m asleep, with a very satisfying day behind me.

An early start this morning, we leave two of our group and G.A.P. leader behind to relax in Cuzco for the next few days, while seven of us along with our trek staff (guide, cooks and porters) head out of Cuzco via the Sacred Valley to the village of Qeshwarani, and the start of our 3 day Lares Trek – a slightly shorter version of the 4 day trek that people would normally do.

We stop at a local market in the Sacred Valley along the way to spend a few dollars on toys, crayons, pencils and books for the village children we’re told we’ll encounter on our trek, as well as supplies of coca leaves, which we’ll be chewing on to help relieve the symptoms of altitude.

Although the Lares Trek doesn’t have the same ‘kudos’ as the classic Inca Trail, the scenery is still stunning, the walking is just as challenging, and you have the added advantage of the trek being so much quieter than the Inca Trail (we only see one other group in our first two days of trekking).  You also get more interaction with local villagers in the Lares area than you do on the Inca Trail as the valleys of the Lares area are home to working farms and villages, where we’re told some of Peru’s best potatoes come from.

After making sure we have enough drinking water and applying plenty of sunscreen to protect against the harsh uv light of thin air, we head towards our first high altitude pass at 4200 metres.  Our team of llamas carrying our main luggage, and 9-year-old local boy Iban with the ‘emergency horse’ (there for anyone experiencing a lot of difficulty with the altitude) all add to the atmosphere of trekking through the beautiful Andean valleys of this lesser visited area of Peru.

From the pass (where we celebrate with a flurry of photo-taking and smiling at the realisation that the next section is all downhill!),

we walk down to a nearby lake where we stop for our picnic lunch, before walking for another couple of hours to our camp for the night at the village of Cancuni, under the glacier of Colque Cruz mountain.

Not long after a superb dinner of homemade soup, then pasta followed by chocolate pudding, we all head to our tents for a good night’s sleep before tomorrow’s early start and long walking day.

Time to explore in and around Cuzco today. Cuzco is the archaeological capital of the Americas and the oldest continuously inhabited city on the continent. Most of the city streets are lined with Inca built stone walls, and are full of colonial Spanish architecture, great restaurants, and shops and markets brimming with local artwork, jewellery and handicrafts.

This morning’s city tour is a must for anyone new to Peru, as not only was it the capital of the Inca empire, but it gives you an insight into the history of the Inca nation and conquering Spaniards before heading off to Machu Picchu, the Incas’ most well-known site.

Our first stop is the site of Qoricancha in the heart of Cuzco.  Qoricancha and Santo Domingo together form a vivid illustration of Andean culture’s collision with Western Europe, where the temple of one culture sits atop and encloses the other.  After the Spaniards ransacked the temple and emptied it of gold (which they promptly melted down and shipped back to Spain), the exquisite polished stone walls were employed as the foundations of the Convent of Santo Domingo, constructed in the 17th century.  The baroque church pales next to the fine stonemasonry of the Incas.

From Qoricancha we head to the hills above the city to the Inca site Sacsayhuaman (an easy way to remember the pronunciation is to think of the name as ‘Sexy woman’!), another example of outstanding Inca stonework,

and also a great viewpoint to look out over the city of Cuzco in the valley below.

That evening we give the guinea pig a wide berth and treat ourselves to steak, cocktails and great South American wine at the quirky Fallen Angel, one of Cuzco’s more interesting restaurants.  A great place if you’re looking for good food, drinks, and glass-topped bathtubs full of goldfish to dine over!

Next day, our trek begins……

Meeting up with my fellow travellers, we check in for our LAN Chile flight from Auckland to Santiago. None of us can fault the great service on our 11 hour flight, but we’re really not looking forward to the 7 hour wait at Santiago airport for the connecting flight to Lima (although the girls are already looking forward to browsing the airport souvenir shops!).  For anyone with a long layover in Santiago, I recommend paying the US$30 to access the VIP Lounge, definitely money well spent, with complimentary snacks, drinks and internet services all provided.

Later that evening we board our flight up to Lima, where we meet our local G.A.P. leader and head to our hotel to finally put our heads down for a few hours before our morning flight to Cuzco, in the Peruvian highlands.

The next day, after a one hour hop to Cuzco, we emerge from the plane into the bright sunshine and thin air of this fascinating, high altitude Andean city.  At 3400 metres above sea level, you definitely notice a shortness of breath as soon as you arrive.

We spend the afternoon relaxing and acclimating to the altitude, then meet up for a dinner of alpaca steaks, even sampling the most famous of Peru’s culinary specialities – ‘cuy’, or guinea pig.  As you’d expect, roast rodent does not look particularly appetising, but it tasted surprisingly good – a bit like rabbit.  There’s still part of me that wonders if eating guinea pigs is a Peruvian practical joke played on unsuspecting tourists, as our guide just looked at us and laughed while we ate it, while being very insistent on refusing to have any herself.

My Peruivan adventure continues…………..

From the rugged mountains and crystal clear water of Musandam to the 17th Century fort and nearby souk in Nizwa, Oman has something to offer everyone. After arriving in Musandam we went on a 4WD mountain safari to their highest mountain, Jebel Harim, with amazing views, fossils and small caves housing Bedouin families. The rugged terrain was as scenic as the Grand Canyon, but so close to the coast and the Strait of Hormuz.

The following morning we did a dhow cruise out through the ‘Norway of the Middle East’.  The fjords were stunning and we were surrounded by dolphins playing around the dhow.  When we arrived at Telegraph Island there was snorkelling with hundreds of colourful tropical fish and the clearest water you could hope for.

We then flew to Oman’s capital, Muscat, where we saw the official palace of the Sultan of Oman and the beautiful waterfront Corniche.  There we shopped at the busy Muttrah Souk which was like being in something from Lawrence of Arabia. The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in Muscat is the third largest mosque in the world and boasts the worlds largest hand woven Persian carpet in the men’s prayer room.  We did have to cover our arms, legs and hair to be allowed to enter the mosque.

The Turtle sanctuary at Ras Al Had, a small seaside town south of Muscat, was well worth a visit.  There were turtles laying eggs all over the beach and we were lucky enough to be able to get quite close and even to hold a baby turtle.

On our way to the historical town of Nizwa we did some dune bashing in the desert sand and went to visit a Bedouin family.  Passing some incredible Wadi’s (water holes) with crystal clear water and palm trees we got to taste some local dates straight from the tree.

The town of Nizwa had an ancient souk where the locals still buy their spices, nuts and condiments.  It is situated just below the Nizwa fort which was built in the 1600’s and shows the different strategies they employed to defend the town and the fort itself.

The people of Oman were friendly and the majority of younger ones spoke English.  They were very happy to have us visiting their country and to share their culture and answer our questions.  The food was amazing and we ate mostly at small local restaurants.  I will definitely be going back for another visit.

My first thought on waking up in Rio was that I couldn’t wait to get out and explore this vibrant city, and so I rushed to the window for my first daytime glimpse of Copacabana Beach - magnificient.  As I gazed downwards you saw people exercising, walking dogs, strolling arm and arm down the promenade and some just sitting on the beach gazing out.

After a leisurely breakfast, I headed to Parque do Flamengo for a view of Sugarloaf and on to the Samba Stadium. 

I always through Carnival was through the streets, so it was a surprise to find they actual walk through a street-like stadium lined with seats.  My local english-speaking guide told me that each samba school has a time limit to walk through the Stadium from start to finish, as the samba schools number in the thousands. 

And if you are interested you can pre-order costumes and be part of the parade, as costumes can be delivered to your Rio hotel.  Not sure how much this would cost, but wouldn’t it be a great experience and a lot of fun!  If you are staying on for another week, then the Saturday following Carnival is the “Winners Parade” - another colourful sight.

Next stop was Corcovado Hill, or at least the bottom of the hill, where you board a tram for the 20 minute ride to the top.  Along the way stops are made so locals can get off at their houses (it’s a steep climb).  At one of the stations a Samba Band came onboard and the tram rocked as they performed, tips expected. 

On exiting the tram you had the choice - it was either 250 stairs or an elevator and two escalators to the top - I chose the easy way.   At last I was standing at the foot of the Christ the Redeemer statue, being overshadowed by out-stretched arms - it was just as I pictured.  

Taking the obligatory picture it was time to turn around and look out over Rio de Janeiro itself.   The city is laid out before you, and it gave me a good orientation of where I was in relation to Copacobana, Ipanema and even the racecourse.

It was time to eat, so we headed to Barra da Tijuca and a local BBQ restaurant that offers 20 varieties of meat from tenderloin, fish, chicken and fillet mignon just to name a few.  Waiters come round with meat on huge skewers and you either say yes or no, if you are slow, it ends up your plate.  Plus over 20 salads to choose from including sushi and over 10 yummy desserts.  You could eat as much as you wanted, and the price around US$13 didn’t break the bank.

My last stop of  the day, was Sugarloaf Mountain, where you have to take two cable cars - one from the ground to one hill, then another cable car to the second hill to reach the top.  The magnificent views were a bit hazy as we were there about 4pm, but otherwise offered another great view of Rio.  The cable cars carry 75 people per car and on each hills you will find souvenir shops and cafes. 

A tip if you are in Rio on a Sunday,  check out the “Hippie Market” at Ipanema.

Like all other destinations, on arrival at Grand Canyon we had an orientation of the area. After assembling the tent, we jumped into the van and headed off to find a prime spot from which to watch the sunset over THE Grand Canyon. What a magical experience - the colors changing in the canyon and the shapes and edges emerging as the sun dipped for another day was a surreal and very special moment in time.

At darkness, we returned to the campsite where the cooking crew started on dinner for the group. Once our main meal was over and dishes done, we gathered around the campfire, and then began our education of the great American campfire tradition – SMORES.  Basically, wine biscuits ‘sandwiches’ with melted chocolate … rather sensational really!

It was warm enough for those who wanted to sleep under the stars … still with my intense dislike of snakes firmly planted in my mind; I decided to sleep with the tent flaps open so I could gaze at the stars if I wanted. Well, a windstorm put paid to those who had braved the great out doors, their adventurous and romantic notion of sleeping under the stars came to an abrupt end.

Early morning … REALLY early, we shuffled to the van in our sleeping bags and layers and made our way to the rim again, to view the sunrise over the Grand Canyon… simply spectacular!

After returning to camp and breakfast, there was free time to do a hike, or take a helicopter ride over the canyon. I wasn’t too well, so opted for visiting the National Geographic IMAX theatre in the Grand Canyon Village. What a great choice, as the weather picked up and the helicopter ride was shortened due to wind. It was a very informative and enjoyable film, and I would recommend it.

We packed up and were on our way to Lake Havasu, for a night’s freedom camping, a swim … more campfire stories, great food and great company. It was also, apparently, the night for a demonic dust-storm that lifted tents, and buffeted us about! Finally settling down and allowing for about 3 hours sleep =);

It was a beautiful peaceful morning, when we rose from our slumber. After loading the van, we hoped back on the road, and headed towards Los Angeles, along the way, we detoured to check out Joshua trees and HUGE Cacti.

On arrival into LAX, we did the obligatory visit to the lookout of the Hollywood sign, and wandered along the boulevard, where actors in costume, dressed as superheroes paraded and acted up for the tourists.

Our tour leader then took us to the Hacienda Hotel, where the tour concluded, we said goodbye to our friends for a brief 7 days … thanks to Facebook, a few of us are still in touch.  I then jetted off to Canada to continue my adventures with friends.

A long day’s drive from Yosemite to Las Vegas saw us pass through the San Joaquin Valley, notable for producing almonds and walnuts - seriously, on a 12 hour roadie, the smallest facts are interesting! We crossed through the Mojave Desert, the hills decorated with winds farms and patriotic artwork featured on farm sheds, decorated in the flag and murals supporting the troops with a yellow ribbon – only in America!

Las Vegas is fantastic! So vibrant and energized! It really does send your emotions into a tailspin after the serenity and peacefulness of Yosemite. Our group, upon the recommendation of our tour leader/driver Scott, had decided to spend two nights at Las Vegas, and cut a nights camping riverside on the Colorado river. This was a TOP recommendation and an example of the freedom to alter the itinerary. Everyone was happy, two nights of a hotel bed – sheer BLISS!

Our hotel was the Alexis Park Hotel, located about 2 blocks from the Strip was very clean and tidy, with a couple of pools. I’d happily recommend people stay here – approx a 3* option.

On arrival into Las Vegas we had a stop at the supermarket and picked up some beer and nibbles to have at our hotel before we headed out, for a tour of the Strip. Scott took us on a walk up and down the Strip to orientate us - we then took in the light shows at the Bellagio and Caesar’s, played the pokies and ended up at a casino a couple of blocks off the Strip where the locals played – so many different sides to Sin City.

It is a great, place – on and off the Strip; when you leave the Strip, you descend from the manufactured wonder of the glitz and glamour into reality, it is important that you take the same precautions in Las Vegas as everywhere else.  Las Vegas is gritty and dazzling all rolled into one … I loved it and would visit again in a heartbeat!

The next day after a leisurely lie-in, I hit the malls. What great shopping! I barely made it past the first mall on the Strip and managed to pass 7 hours easily. The shopping-mad Danish girls headed to the outlet malls and returned with huge amounts.

After the days exhausting activities, we spruced up and met up at reception to hop into our classy wheels for the night! The limo … yep, we cruised up and down the Strip sipping on beverages and stopped at the infamous Vegas lights!  With a glass of bubbly, we took the obligatory snap, then off again into the night!

Very tired and a touch fragile, we loaded our bus up the next day and hit the road, destination, Grand Canyon National Park!