allayancho!! thats hello in quecha!

ok so last time i blogged i was heading to see the mummy´s... wow, what a fantastic trip that turned out to be ..our tour guide, she was so enthusiastic and taught me such a lot, it was amazing to see real dead people and learn about peruvian history besides the incas!

that night got an overnight bus to arequipa. beautiful town, cultural, a bit touristy but not too much... this is the place in which i purchased an alpacha outfit which i love but am prepared for others to think of it as hideous! from arequipa we head a two day tour to the colca canyon... which in some parts is twice as deep as the grand canyon. what makes it special too is allthe micro climates and little villages and the fact that´people live in these villages in the middle of the canyon and their only source of transport is by donkey/ mule or by foot! its no wonder you don{t see fat peruvians in this area! went to a place to watch condors fly and also did a few hikes and visited a hot spa. back to arequipa for a night before we got a 4am flight to cusco.

had a day in cusco to prepare for the inca trail... which i have now done! it was amazing, such an experience, four days of trekking, the first being peruvian gentle ( that means quite hilly!), the second being dead womans pass where to get to the top we reach 4,200metres... a good deal of walking and climbing steep steps! the third day we had 3,000 steps to contend with, but mainly down, but thats just as tough as the steps are irregular! the fourth day was all about machu picchu...waking at 4 to queue to get in and then discovering the lost city. it really is beautiful, as the ruins are surrounded by two rings of mountains! after exploring the city i also climbed waymapicchu.. which on a good day you can get a fab view of machu picchu looking down on it...however it was cloudy and rainy, but still lots of fun as it was so steep it was a challenging rock climb!

really enjoyed the inca trail and although it was challenging i never felt i struggled...so i want to do it again or another inca trail! also the porters and our two guides were fab, am actually missing the porters, they are so strong, carrying 25kg up the mountains and then setting up our camp, cooking and always smiling! at the end as a thank you we did a raffle of things we wanted to donate... i gave away a hat, gloves, top and coca leaves...it was so rewarding to see them receive gifts and even more so when the porter who got my hat was still wearing it the next day!

oo coca leaves... are the leaves of cocaine but fab for altitude sickness. you put the leaves in the side of ur mouth and squeeze the juice out to help you acclimitase!the coca tea is also fab, just wish you could take it out of peru!!

got back last night to the hotel, was so nice to have a shower and be clean again! today we have been to the sacred valley, again to see inca ruins and then tomorro am heading to the amazon jungle for two nights!

ooo forgot to mention on inca trail we were learning quecha to talk to porters... my name means corn! monosiki means nice bum and supiki thank you! that was all that was needed!!

hope everyone is getting all psyched for christmas! have a good one x x