Day 134

After crossing the border into Peru, we continued on our night bus onto Cusco. We arrived in Cuzco at 5am and got a taxi to our hostel. As we were very early, we were shown to the TV room and told that we could sleep there. We woke at 830am and went out for breakfast in the main plaza. We had read and heard that Peru could be dangerous, and the guy on the hostel reception told us not to stray further than 5 blocks from the plaza….which made me feel a little nervous. We had breakfast overlooking the plaza and I spent the time scouting the area for potential dangers. Within an hour you could tell that Cuzco was pretty safe and touristy. We walked to a travel agency suggested by the lonely planet and booked a tour for that afternoon to the sacred valley and an Inca Jungle tour to Machu Picchu. Many people walk the original Inca trail, which takes 4 days. This didn't really interest us, as its 4 days of solid hiking and camping, and there is a 6month waiting list to get on it. We didn't know where we would be 6 months from leaving Sydney. The Inca jungle tour involved white water rafting, mountain biking and 2 days walking, which suited us better. We went on the sacred valley tour and it took us to 4 archaeological sites around Cuzco. The sites were interesting, although paled in comparison to Machu Picchu (which we would see in 4 days time). We finished at 630pm and went out for dinner at a local restaurant. The food in Peru had been hyped up in the lonely planet, and the meal was fairly good. (A caveat to judging Peruvian cuisine is don't go to Bolivia before hand. Bolivian food is probably the worst in the world. Plain, boring and unattractive. When we were in Uyuni on our salt flats tour, our final meal was served to us in a typical concrete Kabul bunker. The meal was chicken with a rice type grain. The chicken was fine and when a few of us bit into the rice, we nearly broke our teeth….it was full of grit and tiny stones. The chef laughed and said it was usual, to get tiny stones in the rice when they are preparing it…..not an enjoyable meal.)After dinner we went to bed.

Day 135

Today was a planning day and we booked our flights to Colombia and Rio. We bumped into some friends we met in Bolivia, and swapped war stories. It was a pretty relaxed day.

Day 136

We were picked up in the morning and taken on another tour, this time to Maras salt mines and to Moray. Moray is a giant archaeological area made up of 3 sites situated at 3500m above sea level. Each site has multiple descending concentric circles, within each other that are stepped. Imagine a target, with each internal circle 5m beneath the next. The circle at the top of the hill is around 400m diameter and the circle at the bottom of the hill is around 50m diameter. There is a difference of 50m or so in height and more importantly a 10degree temperature difference. Each circle is stepped and was used for agriculture by the Incas. They used the site as a laboratory to ascertain which crops grew better at what altitudes and temperatures. It's an amazing place. That evening we made our own food again, to save money…..pasta and chicken….again!!

Day 137 - The epic adventure begins…..fear….wonder…more fear.

We were picked up very early and driven to Lorenzo's house. Lorenzo was the tour agency we used to book the Inca jungle tour. We were served breakfast and met the 3 other guys on our tour….a big Aussie and a Dutch couple. After breakfast we were driven to the top of a mountain and given our mountain bikes and safety gear. We spent the morning flying down the mountain on the main road, similar to the death road in Bolivia, but without the gravel. A lot more fun and safer. We finished in a jungle town called Santa Maria. We were given lunch and a few hours later taken to the river for white water rafting. After the rafting, we had a cold shower (no choice), had dinner and went to bed.

Day 138

The next morning we left early and began a 7 hour day of trekking. I was quite nervous about today, as I was aware that there was a short part of the walk, where the path was only a metre wide and there was a steep cliff to the side. As I am terrified of heights, I was understandably nervous. Within an hour we approached the aforementioned part of the walk. It had been raining all night and day, and as a result, there had been small landslides. The path we had to walk across, was on a muddy scree slope, and was pretty dangerous. It was only about 100m, and the guide told me to take my time and not to worry. The path was slippy and I kept losing my footing, I was desperately trying not to look to my left where there was a fairly steep slope down to the rocks 100m below. The guide suddenly asked us to hurry in a panicked voice, as rocks were falling on us from above….could this get any worse!!! It was to get much worse later. I made it across and felt very happy that I had successfully passed the scary part. The rain stopped and we walked for another couple of hours. It was then that we came to the original Inca trail….oh my god. The path was less than a foot wide in some parts and was made of 600 year old uneven stones. This was the path originally used by the Incas. To the left of the path was a sheer 400m drop, and as I said it had rained and it was 30cm wide. I have never been so scared in my entire life. The guide knew that I had an extreme fear of heights, and helped me all the way. The path was a kilometre long and it was the longest 20minutes of my life. The guide walked alongside me, obscuring my view of the drop and kept me occupied. I reached the end and nearly fainted. It was without doubt the scariest moment of my life. The rest of the walk was pleasant and the path widened to a few feet and the sheer drop changed to a steep slope….which I could deal with. At the end of the day we reached the hot springs that we had been looking forward to. Due to the rain, the river had risen, and a makeshift pulley system had been installed to carry you across the river. There was one final terrifying climb down steep steps and rocks until we reached the springs. I ran across to the bar and downed a massive beer, before enjoying the hot baths. The hot springs were amazing and were exactly what I needed after a stressful day. That evening we were taken to our accommodation, which was an eco-lodge on the edge of the jungle and river. Our room was bizarre and only had 3 walls. The room was open into the jungle and gave you wonderful views of the river….luckily it had a mozzie net on the bed. The food was amazing and exhausted we went to bed. I woke up multiple times and still couldn't get my head around the fact, we didn't have a wall separating us from the jungle.

Day 139

The following morning, Kelly did a zip line activity across a valley. I didn't!! I had learnt my lesson with heights, and vowed never to try and push myself into it again. Afterwards, we walked 10km to an archaeological site. The site is rarely visited and is inline and looks up to Machu Picchu (MP). We had a gourmet lunch (the food was great on this trip) and continued walking in the rain to Aguas Calientes, a small town below MP. Hot shower and to bed.

Day 140

We were up at 430am and at the bus stop in town. We had to get there before the rush and to view sun rise over MP. Our guide on the 3 day tour, Wilber, showed us around the site. He was fantastic and not only did he help me out on the Inca trail, his knowledge was first class. We said goodbye to Wilber, and Kelly climbed a nearby peak called Wayna Picchu, while I walked to the Sun gate. Both points give you another view of MP, and are nice walks. Wayna Picchu, is very high and has tiny paths, and I didn't fancy it. MP is amazing and huge, a lot bigger than you think it is. We were lucky, as within a few hours of being there a mist and rain came in, luckily we had already taken our photos and stored our memories. We met up later, and spent around 6 hours in the town waiting for our train. We got a train and then a mini bus back to Cuzco, with an English couple, that we had met over the 3 days.

Day 141

The following day, we planned the remainder of our trip and then got a night bus to Arequipa, with a company called Cruz del sur. The bus and service was great, about time we had a comfortable bus.

Day 142 - 145

We arrived in Arequipa and walked around the town. There is not much to do there and so we relaxed on the hostels roof terrace. We decided not to visit Colca Canyon and so we had 3 days to kill. We spent 3 days relaxing, doing nothing!!

Day 145

Got a night bus to Nazca.

Day 146

We arrived in Nazca and went to a pre-booked tour company. They took us to the airport and we were put on a tiny 4 seater single propeller plane. It flew over the famous Nazca lines, which were extremely interesting and then returned to the airport. An hour later we were on a bus to Ica and then 2hours after that in a taxi to Huacachina. Huacachina is a small town/resort in the middle of huge sand dunes. The resort is situated around a small green oasis/lagoon. Around the lagoon are 15 hotels and a few restaurants and shops. The view from our hotel was amazing, in every direction you looked, you saw huge sand dunes looking down on you.

Day 149-153

We had a flight leaving Lima and arriving in Bogota (Colombia) booked for 4 days time. As a result we spent 4 days at Huacachina. There is only one activity to do in the town, and that is sand boarding. Sand boarding is basically snowboarding on….sand. You can either stand or lie face down and bomb down a steep sand dune at a fair rate of knots. We booked ourselves onto a tour and spent the day driving around the dunes in massive sand buggies and boarding down these slopes. It was a fantastic day, and sunset over the dunes was a nice way to finish it. The following days were spent relaxing by the pool doing absolutely nothing.

Day 154

We caught a bus from Huacachina to Lima, and then onto the airport for our flight. We were in Bogota, Colombia by 11pm. My mate, Steven met us at the airport and we caught a taxi back to his place. I hadn't seen Steven in 3 and a half years, and it was good to catch up. This was the beginning of our Colombian adventure.