September 2024

Today was our opportunity to explore Lake Titicaca. It is the world’s highest navigable waterway. Lakeside inhabitants have used reed and wooden sailing boats, later steam powered ships and petrol engine craft to fish and trade for centuries. Adjacent to the hotel were two Glasgow-built steamships for passengers and freight from the late 19th century […]

We departed Cusco by the 07:50 train to Puno. This PeruRail service operates three times a week and is a tribute to the days of Pullman luxury travel. The route follows the valley of the ‘Sacred River’ and because of the inclines and single narrow gauge track is a 10 hour journey. The landscape is

Cusco was the headquarters of the Inca Empire from the 13th -16th century. The Plaza de Armas was the heart of the city and continues today. Arcaded colonial buildings surround the Plaza and the streets leading from it. When we arrived last night it was full of people enjoying the start of the weekend. In

A morning at leisure in Aguas Calientes was what we needed after 16 hours on our feet yesterday and altitudes around 2800m. There are so many coaches used to transport visitors to the Citadel that whilst at leisure we started bus spotting. They use 28 buses and in one morning we saw 20 of them.

It was a 5:00 a.m. start this morning to catch the first train from Ollantaytambo, an Inca-Rail service to Machu Picchu. Boarding was very different from anything we have experienced. We were led traditionally dressed musicians and dancers from the Booking Hall down the street to the railway station and the awaiting train. The journey

We are in the Sacred Valley, a 42km long fertile area formed by the Vilcanota and Urubamba Rivers flowing from Lake Titicaca to the Amazon. Along the valley we saw crops of maize, alfalfa and potatoes all grown here because of the alluvium but in Inca times they were known as ‘a gift of the

Today was a getting there day – a flight to Cusco. The collection by our taxi from the hotel was easy until quickly everything stopped. There was a road closure without warning, then some 30 minutes later on the coastal highway we quickly arrived to the edge of the airport. Here nothing moved. Eventually someone

We spent the morning touring the Centro Historico where the remains of colonial era buildings, churches and Art Deco buildings are at every corner. The churches are packed with ornate guilded altars with amazing carvings in mahogany covered with gold leaf and other timbers which have the appearance of rock. On the edge of the

We departed Manchester on time at 05:55 on our flight to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. It was interesting because we have never flown on the new Airbus 220. Arriving early we had a leisurely transfer to our Lima flight on a Boeing 777-300 extended range which enabled us to fly the 6515 miles nonstop.