We spent some time in Cusco as a base to explore the surrounding valleys/archaeological sites, and to acclimatise for our Salkantay Trek! Our time in Cusco was largely spent acclimatising and getting organised for our Salkantay trek! We did, however, spend some time enjoying the city and exploring! We did a walking tour explaining the…
From Cusco we started the 6 day Salkantay Trek + Short Inca Trek to Machu Picchu! Day 1 was a very early start from Cusco, with a pick up time of 3.10am! We took a 2-3 hour bus ride to the start of the Salkantay Trek. It was a 3 hour walk to our first…
From Cusco we did two day trips to explore the surrounding valleys and archaeological sites. The first day trip was into the Sacred Valley, including several Inca archaeological sites. Pisac, the first site we visited, was an agricultural site in Incan times with lots of farming terraces. We visited Maras Salt Mines, which is an…
On our way from the coast of Peru to Cusco we stopped off for a few days in the beautiful city of Arequipa! Arequipa initially was simply a necessary stopover to get to Cusco (to acclimatise and break up the long bus travel), but we absolutely loved our time exploring the city! We did a…
From Lima we went to Huacachina, a tiny town surrounding a lake, literally situated in the middle of the desert! The highlight of our stay was a trip into the dunes! We went on a dune buggy, and got to ride sand boards down some of the steeper dunes. The sunset from the dunes was…
Our first stop in Peru was Lima, with an added stop in Punta Hermosa on the Peruvian Coast! One of our main goals while in Lima/the coast was to find some surf for Jordy! Unfortunately the conditions weren’t very reliable, but he had a few good surfs in Punta Hermosa! Other than surfing, Punta Hermosa…
Our last stop in Ecuador was four days in Cuyabeno, a nature reserve in the Ecuadorian Amazon. After a very, very long journey to Cuyabeno from Quito (we left Quito at 8.30pm and didn’t arrive until 2pm the next day!) we arrived at the beautiful Bamboo Lodge! The lodge is only accessible by a two…
Over a few weeks we spent time in Quito (the capital of Ecuador) and some nearby towns! Quito itself was beautiful, we really enjoyed staying in the old town. There were views of the Andes from all through the city! From Quito we did an overnight trip to a nearby town, Otavalo. We originally went…
From Quito we spent three days in the beautiful Cotopaxi National Park. Our hostel in Cotopaxi was absolutely beautiful, with amazing views of Cotopaxi Volcano and other surrounding mountains! It was really social, so we made friends with lots of other travellers. They even had llamas that you could feed, and ponchos to wear around…
Our last stay on the Galapagos did not disappoint! On our first day on San Cristobal we visited Playa Lobería, a beach around a 30 minute walk from the town. There were so many sea lions on the beach, including a few babies! We walked along the rocks to a nearby cliff and saw lots…