Hola guys, ok ready for the next exciting installment in the Peruvian adventures of Liz and Becky (me!) Well this weeks main feature is our weekend away to Machu Picchu´, although very excited about the trip we were less enthusiastic about the numerous early wake up calls. It all began at 6.20am on Saturday morning when we were collected from our house to be taken to Machu Picchu train station, a four hour journey was made bearable by the stunning views and surprising comfort of the train itself! Still on our plain carb diet at the time, we were prepared with our stock of crisps and cake, the perfect excuse to gorge ourselves, although actually we were a little hesitant to do so in case of unwanted adverse effects...anyway i seem to have veered off the point a little here, i´ll start telling you things you might actually want to hear about!

We arrived in Aguas Calienties around 11 and was pleasantly surprised with the standard of the hostel,we shared a room with a fellow volunteer, Hali, all well and good until we discovered she snored...not so good when you have to up at 4.20 in the morning!! Anyway we spent most of the afternoon at the ´natural hot springs´, a collection of sunken baths at the top of a stone walk way, on first impressions the water had a slightly worrying green and murkey quality to it and had an even more worrying odour which we failed to identify but it was áu natural´ after all and it was really nice to just relax and have a change of scene. We got chatting to some South African women and a fellow Brit so we passed the time quite nicely!

It was soon bed time as we wanted an early night, breakfast was at 5am! Our guides met us at 5.30 and we were up at Machu Picchu by 6.15...we were greeted by a lovely blanket of mist and drizzle so we had to listen to the history of the ruins with no views, we were also lucky to have a particularly loud Israelie element to our tour group! However as the morning passed the mist began to lift and we ditched the Israelies before the end of the tour so things were on the up! The ruins were really fascinating, Liz and I are pictured above in front of the famous ´3 windows´, they represent the 3 rules Inca´s lived by; don´t be lazy, don´t lie and don´t steal...more history lessons to follow on our return - hands up who can´t wait!! The tour lasted about 3 hours, after which we had time to explore on our own, in a moment of madness Liz and I (along with another guy from our group, Lewis) decided it would be a really good idea to climb a mountain...

The mountain in question is called Waynapicchu, we were 2 of the ´lucky´400 people a day who can climb it. It was pretty hard going negotiating the steep rock and mud steps to the peak, we required several stops on the way up to lull our lungs, hearts and legs back into a false sense of security before we started demanding them to work harder than they had ever had to work before! However after about an hour and perhaps to your amazement we made it to the top and once i had learnt how to breathe normally again it was completely worth it, the views and sense of achievement was amazing - cheesey i know but true! We spent an hour taking in the views and lots of pictures before we made the equally distressing descent...god knows how the Incas did it without the aid of rope bannisters! My legs were jelly by the time we got to the bottom but we weren´t defeated and were determined to make the most of being there....

Call us mad but we decided to brave more steps and make our way to the ´guard house´- the point from which the perfect picture postcard view of Machu Picchu can be taken. Once again we were glad we made the effort as we were rewarded with the perfect view, with a little sun burn thrown in - great! After a brief sit down on one of the Inca terraces...as you do, we got the bus back to Aguas Calientes threw the plain carb diet out of the window in favour of chocolate and sugary drinks, well we had just climbed a mountain! It was a relief to sit down on the train for the journey back and we were utterley exhausted by the time we got back to Cusco. Luckily it was a short taxi ride to San Blas and it wasn´t long before we were safely tucked up in bed...the thought of entertaining 50 energetic children early the following morning was a delightful one as we drifted off to sleep!

Think that´s about it for now, watch this space for news on our birthday celebrations!

Lots of love,

Becky and Liz x x x x x x x x