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Well we hit tourist central in Cuzco, after being bombarded by touts at the bus station at 6am we luckily chose a good hostel. We arrived a couple of days early in order to acclimitise to the altitude for our trek so the first day was spent wandering around town. We also had the first of many discussions with Tania our contact at the trek agency - it seems booking last minute proves difficult for the office reps (well - this one especially!).
The next two days we visisted a couple of Inca ruins - one at Pisac and the other at Saqsaywaman. Both well worth a visit, even though Pisac played havoc with our knees going up and down, up and down...
Then one evening ourselves and our travelling chums of quite a while, John-Paul and Sally entered a pub quiz and improved on our last attempt in Quito by coming 2nd - we only lost by half a mark. Kathy's skills at scissors, paper, stone really propelled us forward! And I'm sure Ted Hughes's book was called the Iron Giant, not the Iron Man...
And FINALLY we got to try guinea pig, albeit in quite a posh style. Russ had guinea pig wellington and I had tandoori guinea pig. Disappointing amount of meat I´m afraid, but quite tasty. Check out the pictures for our mourning of the death of one of Sal's friends guinea pig called Waffle!!!
On the 16th we began our Lares trek. Being ethically-minded and socially conscious (and not just because we left it too late to get on the "official" Inca Trail!!!) we opted for an alternative trek to avoid the crowds and attempt to do a bit for the environment. The Lares trek takes you through Andean communities that are not accessible by road and winds its way over two passes, the first at 4400m and the second at 4100m. We camped at 4200m the first night and although Russ managed a full night´s kip, I could not get warm as the temperature dropped to around 0 degrees C. It was after this that the other four people on the trek wimped out and took the easy way round the mountain to arrive at our destination one day early - yet the intrepid Browns pushed on regardless!! At this point I feel the need to explain that our guide thought the Lares trek was much more challenging than the Inca trail!
Throughout the trek the children would come rushing down the mountains in the hope of receiving presents. My guess is they were looking for sweets or money, much to their disappointment they returned with our gifts of...bread - bought before the trek at the suggestion of our guide. The views were spectacular, lush green valleys, snow-capped peaks, mineral rich lakes and terracing for miles.
The third day of walking brought us down into the town of Lares for some much needed hot springs relaxation - and a shower. We then drove to Ollantaytambo to get the train to Aguas Calientes from where we would catch the bus to Machu Picchu the next morning.
What can I say about Machu Picchu? It lives up to expectations, it is actually bigger than I expected. Yes it´s very touristy, you can´t eat there without taking out a mortgage and there are busloads of tourists arriving every five minutes. We were lucky it wasn´t too busy (relatively speaking) and the weather was fantastic. Our guide (from the Lares trek) sprent a good 3 hours taking us around the site which is truly amazing - even Paddington enjoyed himself (see photos of his homecoming!!!)
At the end of one of the highlights of our trip and with most of our trekking days behind us we took the bus the next day to Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca.
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