So the Inca Trail was no walk in the park. We were very lucky in that it didn't rain any of the time that we were actually trekking, just a couple of times during the nights. Our ´family´ of 27 for the 4 days were 22 x Argentinean, 1 x Kiwi, 1 x Spanish, 1 x German and the 2 of us. It just so happened that the Argies were some sort of fitness freaks and insisted on completing each day's walk in half the time given. The first day was quite easy in comparison to...

Riobamba was the next stopover after Banos, from where we caught the scenic ´ La Nariz del Diablo´ train (Devil´s Nose) to a little village called Alausi. G was ere….The train was something from the forties, where passengers travel on the roof, legs dangling, hair ablowing, holding onto the metal bars around the roofs rim. From Alausi, we traveled on our first air-conditioned Ecaudorian bus to colonial Cuenca …home to a plethora of markets, the best being ...