Following the Incas

Machu Picchu

The terraces perched hundreds of meteres above the valley floor.

The Happy Mountain that we also climbed

The impressive morterless brick work.

An alter in the main temple area

The track to the happy mountain.

Machu Picchu from the Happy Mountain.

Hot springs in St. Teresa

River crossing by cable car

Lunch being prepared in the Peruvian kitchen

The original Inca trail built 800 years ago

View over the side...

Coca plantation

Mountain biking to St. Maria

The Andes at 4700 m

Getting to 4700 m

Kids running to School in Cusco, Peru

Cusco

Anatomy lesson anyone? Market in Cusco

Yuka or casava stall, Market, Cusco

Peruvian women, Cusco

Market

Market

Pigs trotter

Cusco

Cusco

The women next to me makes a cross motion over her heart with her left hand, I realise that even for the hardened locals this road is not normal. The gap in the nicely sealed road reveals the extent of the damage from the land slide. A temporary road has been built into the cliff face with a shear drop down to the river below. We hold our breath as the bus tips violently from side to side as we do a three point turn to make the corner. After 20 nervous minutes we reach the other side of the slip...phew! Further on we all clamber out of the bus and jump on our bikes to ride at break-neck speeds down 2000 vertical m to Santa Maria, a town that was wiped off the map during floods in 1998. The newly built town has a strange feeling in the air. We then walk 1 day to the beautiful hot springs in Santa Teresa and then on to Machu Picchu, a rather hurried trip but because of limited time this is the best I can do. Machu Picchu is truly an amazing place. The mind boggles to comprehend the effort required to build this city in such a formidable location. Huge rocks weighing 10s of tonnes rest firmly as part of the many walls. Some of the walls are built so precisely that you can´t even get a finger nail between the bricks. The angels chosen counteract the forces of earthquakes making an incredibly robust structure that still stands as it did when it was built hundreds of years ago. Truly amazing...