Day 2 of our trek. I think if Mike was writing this you would get a very different picture of the day. Maybe he will write his own verion. To be honest this blog is like a diary for me so i want the memories that I have written down. Anyway.

We were up pretty early and they made us pancakes for breafast and then we set off for the trek which was about 4 hours but mainly flat so he said! The first hour was quite tough with a lot of up hill but then it did flatten out which was great. We went through loas of little villages and got to try the local cactus fruits. I am completely in love with one of them. It looks a bit like a kiwi on the inside but has a strange lemony taste and is just delicious. Our guide Edi talked us through a bit of what it is like living up in the mountains and somethings are just quite heartbreaking. The locals have no way of elling anything th produce as there is no motorway to transport goods and so they are very poor. A lot of the houses are just four walls as they cant afford to buy a roof. Their solution is that they ar having a highway built into the mountain over the next few years. It will be such a shame. This little haven completely away from the tourists is going to become like any other place in peru.

Along the way Edi pointed out the medical centre an we managed to get to take a look insuide which was fascinating! It was the only one to serve 8 villages in the mountains and consisted of a shack containing 3 small rooms all having virtually no equipment and basically nothing to help in a serious emergency. We asked what happened if there was a major accident and someone needed other medical help. Basically the person is put on a stretcher and carried by 2 other people out of the mountains. In other words you are completely f***ed if something goes wrong there! (excuse the language). Its given me some better ideas about working for my elective. Anyway we carried on down the mountain and finally at the bottom reached th oasis hotel which had a pool and everything. It was lovely even if the water was a bit cold.

We were a group of 4 and our guide had told us that we should do the following days trek that afternoon instead of early in the morning. The other 3 thought that sounded ok but I really didnt want to do it. The trek was a 3 hour climb from the bottom to the top of the mountain and doing it when tired from trekking already and in the heat of the afternoon just sounded awful to me. But hey 3 against one and I had no choice. It was the source of our first argument (not too bad after being together 24-7 for 3 weeks). We agreeded to disagree and chilled out for a couple of hours by the pool.

At 3pm we set out to climb this mountain....it was huge! The first 2 hrs were just so difficult in the heat as the air is really dry and to be honest I did wonder what the hell I had chosen to do this for. By about 5pm the sun began going down and things got a lot easier and I got my burst of energy an just went for it. Like any mountain as you think you have reached the top another one appears behind it! As my energy burst went mike managed to get his and managed to get to the top first. It was so tough but together we all made it!

We were shown to our hostel where the boys crashed out for the night and the other girl and I went off to dinner for what we hoped was going to be pizza (it was in a pizzeria) but no it was soup, rice and chicken. There was some great local music and Edi really wantd to share a bottle of wine with me but I couldnt get away quick enough