With our flight to Chile not until later that evening, we decided to spend the morning wandering through the local markets and grabbed some food before our flight. There was an unattended package in the departure lounge area also and trying to watch the police handle it provided us with some entertainment (well Craig anyway, as Katie was the other side of the departure lounge… well away from it!)

We eventually arrived into Santiago at 11pm. We checked into a nearby hostel for the night before heading closer to an apartment in the city centre the following day. It was our first experience of sharing a dorm with others. The other couple we were sharing with seemed pretty friendly and it was interesting finding out their travel plans around South America and what they had got up to.

After our flight, we arrived into Lima mid-afternoon and stayed in an apartment closer to the airport to save the hassle of transport before our flight to Chile the next again day. We decided to do some more exploring and wandering around that part of Lima, as well as watching some local people juggling knives on the handlebars of bicycles, in front of cars whilst they waited at the traffic lights.

Later that evening when we went out for dinner, Craig decided to get some extra exercise in by helping a local push his car into a garage after breaking down. With all the beer he had been drinking over the last few weeks, he was definitely blowing out both ends!

The apartment we were staying in also had its own flat screen TV on the wall with Netflix etc. so we took the opportunity to relax that evening and catch a movie with all the travelling we had done the past few days! Craig even devised a plan to support his iPhone, with the sockets half way up the wall.

We got an early train back to Ollantaytambo which is a village in the Sacred Valley, amid snow-capped mountains next to the Urubamba river. On the train back, PeruRail put on a traditional dance with a character in a costume, dancing and running up and down the carriage.

Ollantaytambo is known for their ruins, a massive Inca fortress with large stone terraces on a hillside. The village’s old town is an Inca-era grid of cobblestoned streets and historic buildings so we spent some time wandering around until we got a taxi back to Cusco. The taxi back to Cusco was an hour and a half away and was only £10!

We stayed a night with a Peruvian family, which even had a balcony terrace overlooking a local football pitch, which Craig watched for a bit. Later that evening they even had some people practicing some Peruvian dancing which was great to watch and listen to their music. We then grabbed some food and got ready for another flight the following day.

With an early rise and getting to the queue 45 minutes before the first bus set off, we thought we would be one of few, but there was already a massive queue and some people having been waiting there for an hour and a half! With the buses frequent and setting off every 5 minutes, we still managed to get up for sunrise and the photos speak for themselves!

Arriving into Machu Picchu is mesmerising and you can definitely see why it’s one of the wonders of the world. We got some photos and ease dropped next to some tours giving out information before setting off on our trek up Montaña Machu Picchu mountain.

It was a very difficult climb! It was a long hike with no flat parts, with steps, after steps, after steps, after steps. Admittedly there was a lot of colourful language on the way up from Katie, but after about an hour and a half of constant uphill steep climbing, we eventually smashed it!

Undoubtedly a great feeling at the top. We had lunch to refuel ourselves before we began our decent downwards which was just as difficult as going up due to the steep steps. We passed quite a few hikers who were only making their way up and definitely feeling a bit smug we didn’t have to endure what they still had ahead of them.

We then rested for a short time before we went over to visit the Inca Bridge, which was built by the Incas as a secret entrance to Machu Picchu for the Incan army. The trail is a stone path part of which is cut into a cliff face with over a 1,900 foot drop. Scariest thing Katie has ever done and hated every second of it and definitely would not recommend it to anyone who isn’t good with heights or has vertigo.

There were a lot of alpacas and llamas, freely roaming about Machu Picchu and we found out that they were sacred to the Incan society and they were used by the Inca priests in religious ceremonies and that hunting them at Machu Picchu was forbidden. Domesticated about 4,000 years ago by the Incans, alpacas and llamas are still part of the native culture today and even wandered around and posed for a few pictures with tourists.

That night our whole bodies ached with the lots of hiking we did, so we had a dip in the natural hot springs in the torrential rain. Definitely a very surreal experience and definitely helped us to relax!

We took an early 3 hour train journey to Machu Picchu through the Sacred Valley, which has some breathtaking scenery. The train journey itself was also great as it was a nice carriage with comfy seats and also had lunch provided.

After we arrived, we were greeted by torrential rain for an hour, so we got settled before venturing out later that night for some food and drinks. We tried some traditional Peruvian food, Mi Lomo Saltado, a dish made with steak, tomatoes, onions, potatoes and Peruvian spices. It was one of the best food we have ever tried! Having spoken to people from other parts of South America, they all said that Peruvian food was well known to be one of the best in the continent.

We were aiming to get up at 4am so we could get in the queue early to catch one of the first bus journey’s up to Machu Picchu so we could catch the sunrise, so we decided to have an early night and get prepared for our long, tough hike up Montaña Machu Picchu mountain tomorrow.

With the difficulty of reaching Cusco, we caught a quick flight over the Andes mountain range and arrived at an altitude of 11,000 feet. When we got to our hotel we were given cocoa leaves to help acclimatise to the altitude. Although Katie had a slight sore head for an hour, thankfully we were fine and didn’t feel any of the major affects that some people suffer from. The cocoa leaves are the same leaves used to produce cocaine so maybe that was the reason for helping us not catch any of the symptoms!

That night, we wandered around the town and discovered that Cusco is very beautiful town with lots of history and we were a bit gutted we didn’t stay here longer. Cusco had bit of a drop in temperature though due to the altitude, so we ended up needing a hat and some extra layers to keep warm. The place becomes alive at night with lots of traditional singing and dancing going on which was fun to watch!

We flew into Peru with the airline Avianca who even provided you with complimentary entertainment, blanket, pillow and snacks. Exactly what we needed for the long flight there. On arriving into Lima airport, we were greeted by numerous taxi drivers harassing us and trying to get us to use them. We even had some illegal local taxi drivers trying to do it for cheaper, only for a police officer to come over and get them away from us.

By the time we got to our hotel after a long day of travelling, we did some quick sightseeing after getting settled and then chilled out in the bar and had food and drinks and a game of pool (which Craig won), ready for our trip to Cusco in the morning.

Katie dragged Craig to La Floridita, where the daiquiri was born! You can’t not go to Cuba and not visit La Floridita, (that’s how Katie managed to get him there!) As with most bars in Cuba there was live music. The Cubans seem to be big into showcasing their singing and instrumental talents, they were amazing.

With an early flight to Peru in the morning, we said our goodbyes to our wonderful Cuban hosts who looked after us whilst we were there. Even though it’s development is considerably behind other parts of the world, Cuba is still a great place to visit has some of the nicest people we have ever met.

With lots of travelling over the last few days, we decided to have a chilled day of just walking round the city and having the odd cocktail here or there (bit of a pattern here eh?).

Later that night we took a vintage car ride up to and visited the San Carlos de La Cabana Fortress. They hold a ceremony at 21:00 each night, that dates back to the 17th century to announce the opening and closing of Havana’s wall. A canon shot has been made here every night since it started with only the exception of between 1943-1945 (during WW2) to avoid Havana being detectable by German submarines.

We then ventured up to Cristo de La Habana, a huge statue of Jesus Christ made of marble blessed by Pope Pius XII and is situated above the village of Casa Blanca and overlooks Havana. We then got a vintage taxi back to Old Havana, which the taxi driver ended up taking his two mates along with him as well ha!

Definitely in need of some sun, sea and sand, as we were day 8 into our trip without visiting a beach, so we visited Santa Maria beach. The picture speak for itself.

At night time we went to a popular rooftop bar called O’Reilly 304 for more cocktails (surprise surprise) and some decent food.