Hey everyone,

So when last I left you, we´d just finished the Amazon and were back in Cusco. We went for a tour of the Sacred valley which is all the ruins around Cusco. I guess they all kind of lead up to the big one which is of course Maccu Piccu! we did the tour with our Amazon group again. It was really good and the views were amazing. At the first ruins, Saqsayhuman, you could see the whole of Cusco, including a plane taking off on the runway. The next ruins were pretty high and took a lot of walking to get there. We are so unfit and more and more worried about the Inca trail. The tour was good, the last ruins Ollyantantambo were probably the best but the guide was soooo boring. I felt sorry for the rest of the group who were going on to do the 4 day Inca trail with him. I think I would have thrown myself off the trail! It was quite sad saying bye to our group as we´d become quite attached to them over the last few days. :-)

The next few days, we just kind of mooched around Cusco. It´s a really nice city. The most touristy in Peru as it´s the gateway to Maccu Piccu but this meant lots of shops and really nice restaurants etc. On Tuesday morning, Lisa & Gemma left for the 2 day inca trail. It was very strange without them but Kirsty and I managed to amuse ourselves. We found a cafe that had lots of games and we spent 3 hours playing monopoly and eating cake. Ha ha...we´re such culture vultures.

On Wednesday, Elise arrived - yey! Was really nice to see her and most importantly, she brought tea bags!!! Wednesday evening, the girls got back from Maccu Piccu. They´d had a fantastic time and had LOTS of really good photo´s. (Which I will probaby pass off as my own!! We went out for one final meal altogether even though Gemma was so exhausted, she fell asleep in her soup! :-)

Thursday was a very sad day as Lisa & Gemma were leaving to spend one last night in Lima then fly home. We cheered ourselves up by showing Elise around Cusco and shopping! Thursday, I also came down with a really bad cold - great...i´d avoided it when all the other girls had it and now i´d got it the day before the Inca Trail.

Woke up at 4:30am Friday to catch the train. The train stopped at 104km along the Inca Trail and we got out and met our guide Simon (not pronounced the English way). I was still feeling rubbish & had considered getting the train all the way to Maccu Piccu. Anyway, we began our climb and it actually wasn´t too bad. We were climbing at a very high altitude and in one day we climbed another 600 metres. It was amazing though. We were actually looking down on the clouds hundreds of feet below us. I have to admit, although I felt like death it was pretty cool. We walked a total of 11km with our guide giving us lots of history and pointing out lots of flowers and trees etc. Finally, after what seemed like about 1 million hours and 2 million steps....we arrived at the Sun Gate. It was AMAZING.

WARNING....THIS ENTRY CONTAINS CHEESE

OK, I hate to sound like an American tourist but the view was awesome. It seemed so surreal to see Maccu Piccu from up there. You see so many pictures of it that to see it for real is very strange. It was so worth the 11km climb!! We went to a viewing point and took loads of pics. Our guide suggested we take lots of photo´´s as it was the end of the day and virtually empty. He said when we came back tomorrow, there would be lots of tourists so our photo´s wouldn´t be as good.

That night we stayed in the town, Aguas Calientes and then the next day it was back up to Maccu Piccu for a 2 hour guided tour then free time. Good job we´d got decent pics the day before....he was right...it was packed!! Was a brilliant 2 days though and definitely one of the highlights in Peru.

Sunday we flew from Cusco back to Lima for a couple of days. We were going to head straight to the beaches up north but we´ve ended up sticking around. We are going to see Shakira in Lima tonight as she is currently touring South America. Elise really wanted to go and Kirsty and I thought it would be rude not to support her!! :-)

Hope Lisa and Gemma are back safely & although this won´t mean anything to anyone except them, Lisa & Gemma, here´s some highlights of my time with you¨:

* True Professional

* Me dying on the sand dunes

* Snoring man & girlfriend

* The hot wired taxi in Nasca

* Columbian drug lords at the Bodega

* Granny grabbing in Arequipa

* The salt lunch & wind pipe tip

* The egg custard/syringe incident

* The bus journety from Arequipa to Puno

* Vegetarian meal/getting lost in Puno

* Andrew/Ken/Moss/AKM/Richard/Jack Dee

* Special tours for special people - hee hee

* Gemma´s archery/Machete skills

* The garlic bread incident and last but not least....

* Shakira, Shakira!!!

xx