well, morning after last blog headed off on the boat to the uros islands, for those that dopn´t know they are floating reed islands where a bunch of people live permanently on lake titicaca, see pics. pretty cool to learn how they have to re-build their islands once a year and their houses once a month. then on to island taquile, which was just pretty and a good practice hiking up to the top for the inka trail. that evening managed to book sambadrom ticket and since then have also booked rio accomodation which is a wait off the mind.

following day drove to cusco which only took a few hours so arrived just after lunch and went for a wander around the various plazas. chicken and chips for tea...really south american, followed by a very alcoholic night out in cusco, definietleyone of the nicest towns so far! went to an irish bar followed by a salsa club and then numerous bars where we got a free drink on entry, and then bought very few after!

finally arose about half 11, bought some waterproof trousers for the inca trail, breakfast, quick session on the internet, then back to bed for a quick siesta! about 5 o clock then went off for a wander on my tod to take some pictures, and went into the cathedral where they have a painting of the last supper with the mnain dish as guinea pig! inca trail meeting before dinner, then ended up going out again til 2am! but didn´t drink...honest!

sunday was spent visiting ruins along the sacred valley, at saqsaywoman, pisaq and then to ollantaytambo. really impressive to see how they were built and the fact that actually alot of the ruins left are only the foundations because tehe ospanish destroyed so many.

a night in a hostal in ollantaytambo then picked up at 7 on the monday for an hour journey to the beginning of the inca trail, we were all actually really excited! the first morning was pretty flat, with a bit of up and down. a massive lunch was then followed by 3 hours up hill, was a bit of a killer but not as hard as we thought it was going to be. camped with an amazing view down the valley and surrounded by llamas! very authentic. we had 13 porters for 8 of us, during the day we just had to carry water snacks and water proofs while they carried the food, tents and any equipment we neeeded. the speed at which they did the trail was incredible, while trekking along every now and again it was a case of shouting porter, so we could all stand to the side and let them pass.

the food was immense, andtons of it, soup to start every time, garlic bread, stuffed peppers, meat mixtures, vegetable mixtures, maize type stuff, stuffed avacados, pancakes, fruit salad, won tons....the list goes on! second morning was spent going up the rest of the dead womans pass, to which when we reached the top, our guideflora pulled out a bottle of rum and some cocoa leaves...at half 9 in the morning. traditionally you have to bless the mountains and mother earth so had to flick the rum to the mountains first and then pour a little bit on the gournd...what a waste. yoiu also have to make a wish while throwing the coca leaves top the mountains. down hill to lunch and then the afternoon was up and over another peak. the third day started at 5, which i forgot to mention we were awoken with a cup of tea to the tent and a bowl of hot water outside the tent...certainly 5 star camping! generally down hill on the last day although that was the hardest of them all, especially on the knees and ankles! anyone who knows how much my joints click, you can imagine i was in quite a bit of pain. anyhow, by half past 3 it was all worth it when we could finally see machu picchu, and flora pulled out a carton of red wine. its a real shame that the photos just don´t do it the justice of real lidfe that it deserves! howevber, after 2 and a half days of almost all sunshine, it then started to piss it down, typiucally!

so after an hour we headed down to aguas calientes to a very welcoming hot shower and a bed, we were pretty minging to say the least! we were originally supposed to be doing the trail over 4 days but because of a mishap with the bookings of camp sites we did it in 3 instead, this meant however that we could go back up to machu piccu on the thursday...in the sunshine and have a proper tour and enjoy asll its glory.

that afternoon we caught a train and a taxi back to cusco and met up with the rest who´d not done the inca trail. a bite to eat and a shower, and then went out for our last night in cusco. friday was an all day drive into bolivia, and a border crossing that took nearly 2 hours because they had to information that the truck had left the coutry in 2005! we were then bush campoing in copacabana, in a football fielsd which was a huge mistake, as it rained all night, we all woke up with floods in the tents and the surrounding ground was like a marsh, pretty herendous. thankfully we moved into a hostal that night and we could finally get a whole load of washing done, literally had a pair of shorts and a jumper left to wear! and believe me it wasn´t warm enough for it!

nice to be back in a country where everything is dirt cheap, and had a 3 coarse dinner for about 80p! madnjess. sunday cught a dodgy little ferry over lake titicaca to bring us to la paz, where we arrived lunchtime yesterday. bit of an internet and skype session in the afternoon, and out to test out the delights of la paz´s night life, last night. it was catherines´last official night so a perfect excuse, however it was a sunday so pretty dead, didn´t drink much and home by 1. spent 2 hours this morning trying to change travellers cheques...one of the biggest mistakes i´ve made bringing them, much more hassle than they´re worth, and keep getting charged commission, couldn´t even do it in the actual amex office!! we then did a walking tour around la paz, and checked out the witches market where we saw lots of dried llama foetus´s which was pretty gross, but apparently people bury them under the porch´s of their new home to bring them good luck...want me to bring one back...nick? emma? lunch at burger king, which is shameful to admit but tasted SO good! groupd dinner tonight, with new guy adam, who we actually met last night, 20, and mid career.

7 o clock leave tomorrow for 12-13 hour drive to potossi, highest city in the world, currently in highest capital in the world, and lake titcaca is highest lake in the world. talking of hight, feel like yo´ve run a marothon everytime you go up a flight of stairs and frequent nose bleeds. not good. but hey ho! however we didn´t feel it at all on the inca trail which was bizarre.

anyway off for a shower before dinner now, hope allare well

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