Thread by @katieglassST

This was the view flying over the snow-capped Andes.... on my way to Lima

And this was my view waking up in the morning in Lima to @RobbieRinder serving breakfast in bed

Sadly I didn’t really get to see Lima, instead this morning we hopped on a flight to Cusco.

We’re at 3400 meters over sea level and I’m feeling light-headed. @RobbieRinder claims I can’t have altitude sickness but I’m ignoring him and drinking coca leaf tea

Ok got the sweets too ...

But OMG it’s gorgeous here! A lush, colourful little town blooming in the mountains

Old team back together!! You’ll notice one of us has spent the last month in the sun (while I’ve been in England for Xmas)

Well @RobbieRinder seems to think the best way to cure my altitude sickness is by going for lunch... obviously he’s chosen local food for my incredibly light stomach

Yum! Guinea Pig’s arrived

.@RobbieRinder :”Did you have a Guinea Pig as a pet?”
“No, a hamster. Lollipop”
“Basically the same thing. Poor lollipop”

Sorry I’m sticking with the Alpaca kebabs

Ok @RobbieRinder’s cracked and bought a KFC

And I’m on the Oxygen.

We battled through. We went into the mountains above Cusco to explore Inca ruins: at Qenko Temple where vast stones have been hauled into walls, carved into representations of panthers and polished to create shines where animals would be sacraficed.

Here’s @RobbieRinder descending into the underworld

At the vast Saqsaywaman site the huge stone walls of the Inca temple still stand. (Although once they’d have shone with gold plate coverings).
Also - Alpacas! (Feeling a bit bad about eating one now)

Cusco’s gorgeous and charming. Inca walls still stand all over town and built over them the Cathedrals built by the Spanish in the 16th century. Check the water drainage system (it hammers down here) also the rainbow flag (not the gay flag but the flag for the town)

We’re staying in the ridiculously beautiful @belmond Monasterio Hotel, a former monastery.

My wonderfully embarrassing travel companion has taken the liberty of letting the hotel know it’s our anniversary so they’ve given us flowers and champagne 🙄 @RobbieRinder

I almost forgot!! We saw the Last Supper featuring a Guinea Pig in the Cathedral! (Btw they did that to get the locals on-board with Catholicism)

So yeah the anniversary thing seemed hilarious when we got the free champagne. Then we arrived at dinner...

It was opera night at the hotel. And so over dinner, to celebrate our anniversary... they serenaded us with an operatic Peruvian version of Elvis’s I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You.
What you can’t see is @RobbieRinder sweat! That’s what happens when you tell porkies!

We left Cusco this morning, heading even higher into the mountains but although we’re so high & it can be below zero at night, the land’s still lush with no snow in sight. In the fields they’re farming Lima beans, pirates and quinoa... we’re on the way to take our first train!

So having (hardly) roughed it in Russia now we’re going all out 5*, taking the @belmond Hiram Bingham train up Machupicchu in Peru

It is off-the-bloody-chain

We’re off!

We’ve hit the bar (obvs). Espresso Martini’s for Rob, Peru’s answer to Pina Colada for me. Slight vibes of the Hunger Games

The view! It’s SO lush, we’re bumping though fields of corn, booming mountains and lush valleys following the gushing river

Check out thise little white blobs, they are Sky pods on the mountain side that you can stay in. You get to them via a zip wire

So obviously it’s all totally gorgeous although slightly weirdly the viewing carriage has a live band currently blasting out @JamesBlunt covers. If you thought you had to be high to listen to him turns out you do - 3000 meters.

Two cocktails down the band’s improving. @RobbieRinder wants to salsa. But the view.. the view.. the view..

Ok lunch... if you already hate us then I’d just look away now. Wasn’t sure we should drink more at altitude but we’re going to try. Hoping someone will just come roll us around machupicchu later

Running alongside us is the Urubamba River as we head into the Sacred Valley

Now we’re climbing into the jungle. Sometimes it goes black as we cut through the rock

Look at this rope bridge!

Pretty loathe to ever leave this train but we’ve pulled into Machupicchu station - at a tiny town at the base of the mountain- and I suppose we should go have a look.

The bus ride up is petrifying! (it’s 40 mins uo the mountain from the train station) I’ve barely managed to look out the window let alone take a picture

Yeah that was worth leaving the train for! @RobbieRinder trying out his moody selfie face

What a place... I’ve never seen anything like it.

Just Rob, me, a few hundred tourists (it’s rainy season, so the numbers are actually quite low) and a bunch of lama (it’s too low for Alpacas apparently they prefer it above 3000 meters)

Being forced by @RobbieRinder to include a selection of his wildlife pics. He took the butterfly and the terrifying monkey. I just kept snapping lamas.

Well, that was so amazing that now we’re back on the train and I don’t even care the band have started again ...

And looks who’s joined in

The light’s going down in the jungle and the train’s gone full booze cruise