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If you are planning a trip to Machu Picchu, please consider making time to volunteer, or at least have your guide include a stop to visit this refuge before taking you up to Machu Picchu. Your entrance is free; El Sanctuario exists on donations made by animal lovers around the world, and from the sale of their souvenirs.

In March, I left my cosy little hamlet city of Perth in Western Australia to embark on my first (but hopefully not my last) South American adventure. But even living in one of the most isolated cities of the world did not prepare me for this remoteness, this kind of quiet; the immense kind that shuts off all the brain chatter and forces you to listen. It would take me time to adjust to this new environment but once I did, it became very difficult to leave it behind as I continued my travels.