Hello! Karen here!! Paul has given me his Blog password, so I can add my own blog about my trip to see him!! So before I begin, I apologise if I repete anything my bro has already said, for any typos, and to say that his password is for sale if anyone wants it...!

My first taste of Cusco was the taxi ride back from the airport with Paul. We nearly ran over a poor woman crossing the road. After Paul shouted at the taxi driver in some rather impressive Spanish, he advised me that this was normal. Taxi drivers also use the roads in a rather ingenious way, by using what would look like a 3 lane street as a 7 or 8 lane street, with lorries and taxis vying for the same space, and lots of horns beeping away. Amazingly, by luck rather than judgement, we only saw 2 people knocked down and no accidents in the 2 weeks I was there.

On my first day, Paul took me up to the Christo Blanco Statue, which is situated on a hill above Cusco. The most direct way to get up there was to take one of several sets of steps which lead directly up and up and up. Either side of the steps are houses, which kids & dogs running effortlessly up and down whilst I puffed & panted my way up. It was worth it when I got there, as the views over Cusco were fantastic. I believe the Christo Blanco (White Christ) Statue was a gift from Argentina, and to my amazement, it lights up at night, and looks like a floating angle above the town - well I thought it did!!

It took me about 3 days to recover from the effects of the altitude & lack of oxygen. Cusco is 3600m, so for the first few days I had a headache, sore throat and was constantly out of breath, even though we'd not walked very far. It was a relief to get 'use' to it. But the local coca tea helped a lot - they don't really know why, but it helps with the altitude and is generally an all round great cuppa tea in the absense of any PG Tips!

In the first week I was at Cusco, Paul took me to several of the Inca ruins dotted around the area. We walked from Tambo Machay (About 8km away), which is thought to be ceremonial Inca baths, back to Cusco, via 3 other ruins of Pucapucara, Sallapunco - where we accidently took an detour via some caves which appeared to by the hidout of the local goats - and Q'enqo, before heading back to Cuso along the outskirts of Sachsaywaman. Unfortunately, at this point, whilst taking another "short cut" we encountered two dogs, who ran up to Paul snarling & growling. Luckily I'd read the part in my guide book which recommended doing what the locals do, and throwing stones at them, so we did. Pauls rocks however, helpfully hit the floor near the dogs, and rolled down hill towards me, closly followed by the growling dogs. Luckily they thought it was a game, and ran back up to Paul, bearing teeth and waiting for him to throw another stone at them! Eventually we escaped.

The following day didn't improve our luck much. We hired a motorbike, with me riding pillion and clinging on for dear life. We headed out to the inca ruins of Moray. We got a little lost along the way, but saw some beautiful scenery, with patchwork fields and snow capped mountains. Everywhere we went, there seemed to be farm animals dotted round and somewhere close by a local farmer busily tending his crop. Moray was an amazing place. There are two areas of Inca agricultural terraces in a circular formations next to each other, and the temperature drops by two degrees for each level of terrace. It was scorching at the top, but pleasently mild by the time we got to the bottom! Ingenious idea! After, we were intending to head off to Pisac, but on the way back to the main road, along the dirt track, we got a puncture in the back tyre. We were abotu 8km from the nearest village of Moras. We slowly drove there, and on arrival an elderly Quechuan lady came over in her knee length black socks, black skirt, red cardigan, plaited hair, tall hat (traditionally dressed) and said there was a mechanics shop just 1 block down. Bargain! So we headed off. The place looked closed, so Paul asked the locals sat outside who mumbled something Paul didn't understand. With that we could hear some music playing along the street, and I commented that a parade was coming, or knowing our luck maybe it was a funeral. Paul looked up and confirmed that yes - it was a funeral! We pushed the bike out of the way, and stood quietly whilst the mourners passed. To add to our awkwardness, the funeral party stopped in front of the mechanics shop and placed the coffin on some stools, right in front of us. Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The mourners sang some songs, said some prayers and after a while picked up the coffin & headed towards the church on the otherside of the main square. We dediced that our best bet was to get to the police station to ask for help, so we dashed one block down, and across to get to the square before the mourners got there. We made it, but the police, who were milling around outside wouldn't help us until the funeral had passed. After some debate between themselves about what to do, the police agreed to take us to the nearest town of Urabama, 30 minutes away. Some locals helped hoist the bike on to the back of the police toyota truck and we headed off. At Urabamba, the police dropped us off on a main road by a shack building and a guy fixed the punture for us. It took him about an hour as he was only using basic tools and a bit of wood to prop the bike up! After looking us (gringos) up and down, we could see him adding on a few extra soles to the price, but he still only charged us 10 soles (£2). We decided to go to Pisac the following day, and headed back to Cusco before it got dark!

In Pisac, we visited the ruins, which like all the others were situated high up on the side of the mountain, stretching over a vast distance. We walked back to the town of Pisac. This is where we saw one of the amazing dogs Paul was telling me about - A Sausagesation!! A cross between a Sausage dog and an Alsation - It was kind of a long Alsation with dinky legs! Very cute!

One week after being in Cusco, Paul & I started the Inca trail. We went with the tour group SAS. They were great, really well organised. We were a group of 15 (5 Americans & 10 Brits), with 22 porters, including an amazing chef, Jose, and two guides, Elivs & Orlando. The guides spoke excellent English, and were good fun (& kept telling us horror stories about murders and spirits that haunt the camp sites we stayed at!), they were knowledgable and passionate about the Incas & the politics which went with it! The porters were amazing, they carry 25kg and ran past us to get to the campsites before us, to set up all the tents, and have lunch or dinner ready for when we arrive. They were unbelieveable.

One the first day we set off on a 3 hour coach trip to KM82 where our inca trail started. It was quite hot, but as the first section before lunch was mostly flat, it wasn't too bad. After lunch (which, like all the meals on the trip was amazing!) we climbed up and up to the campsite. I was pursuaded eventually to use my walking sticks, which made things easier, but I was pretty slow. Paul, seems to have acclimatised really well, and was storming on ahead with the rest of the group.

Day two started early as well, with a 4 hour climb up to Dead Womans pass. This was really challenging, and tiring. I'm a shamed to say, but I think I was going so slowly, they the guide insisted on taking my back pack from me so I'd be quicker - not sure that helped any, it's bloomin steep! I made up for it on the way down the otherside though and am pleased to say, I wasn't the last in to camp! This was all before lunch. After lunch we climbed up and over another pass, known as "the third pass".

Day three was all down hill, which I loved. Quite a bit of it was genuine Inca paths, with the original stone work. The steps were narrow, steep, uneven and deep. At the end of the third day, we were rewarded with a fab campsite which served beer!!! Paul & I were the last ones to head off to our tents after dinner, and this was when we discovered that my torch had ran out of battery. The tents were positioned along one of the old terraces, which meant a precarious walk back to our tent with a 6 foot drop on to the campers below on one side and other tents and guide ropes to avoid. Luckily one of our porters heard us chattering and giggling away as we crept up the path in the darkness, and came to rescue us!!

Day 4 was only a 2 hour walk to the Sun Gate, which over looks Machu Picchu (on a fine day - but it was covered in cloud when we arrived!). The path to the Sun Gate was narrower than the rest of the trail, with a sheer cliff on one side, and an vertical drop on the other. Before reaching the Sun Gate, we had to climb what one of our group discribed as "spiderman steps". These were about 30 huge near vertical steps. Everytime I stopped to catch my breath, I felt like I was going to topple backwards!! Luckily I made it and was rewarded with a pleasent walk down to Machu Picchu. We had a tour of the site from one of our guides, and most of my crazy group, bar 3 others & me, climbed Huayna Picchu (the mountain at the back of the site). It's meant to take 45 minutes to climb up and 1 hour to climb down, as the path is precarious and narrow. The crazy American guys in our group, Dan & Shaun & my crazy brother - walked up in about an hour and "ran" back down in 25 minutes. The record is 21 minutes!! I spent the afternoon lazing in the sunshine on the terraces looking at the stunning and beautiful mountains which surround Machu Picchu.

Did you know... - The incas never discovered the wheel, and never invented their own writing, so very little is know about them as there are no records until the Spanish invaded in 16th c. Much of the history is based on theory, and much of it makes sense. The bit I wasn't so convinced with, was the theory (& insistance of our guides) that Machu Picchu is in the shape of the sacred Inca animal of the Condor, or that the compass stone is in the shape of a Llama - Maybe I just don't have the right sort of imagination, but to me it just looks like stones!! Machu Picchu is impressive though! The Sun temple has the most amazing polished stonework, which is positioned so finely and accurately that you couldn't fit a piece of paper between the stones if you tried. Part of the site has been reconstructed since Hirram Bingham rediscovered the site in 1911, as the Incas had distroyed their cities and paths when they knew the Spanish were coming. It's definately worth a visit if you get a chance!

The journey back to Cusco by train was interupted by some "entertainment". A traditional clown (with white balaclava and red lips and nose tip) and his stuffed toy llama came dancing (to loud Peruvian music) down the train isle leering at the passangers. No idea what this was all about, but it was er...uncomfortable and wierd! Half way back we switched to a bus to take us the rest of the way to Cusco. Paul got rather irritable because one of the guides from the other SAS group was really drunk, and sat at the front of the bus "oohing" & "aahing" at the stars and getting the bus driver to do the same. This would have been ok if the driver wasn't driving the bus at the time!!

A few days after getting back to Cusco, Paul took me Quad biking. I was useless at this, as the bikes were too heavy to steer, and each time I hit a bump in the dirt track, my bike would bounce towards the edge of the cliff!! And not having much testosterone in my blood, I decided to take it slowly. Paul stuck with me (what a sweety!) but at one point, where it was flatter, he shot off to catch up with the other 3 American guys in the group. Unfortuantely, he didn't see the two dips in the road, he hit them, and all I saw was my brother and his bike flying independently through the air, bouncing then luckily, landing next to one another. After a second or two, Paul jumped up, arms aloft, shouting "I'm alright, I'm alright". He'd landed on his shoulder & arm & had damaged the bike quite a bit, but amazingly it started!! We got back without incident after that - thank goodness!!! - Although Paul did get a bit of an ear bashing from me!!! (What are sisters for?)

That evening, we'd had an invitation from Angela's grandparents for dinner. Angela's family were so welcoming, and her grandparents were typical grandparents. They seems to have taken to Paul! It's amazing how good his Spanish can be when it needs to be!! Although I don't think he'll forget the difference between "village" & "poor" and "teaspoon" & that other rude word in a hurry! Paul & Angela are so cute together!! They have these little conversations in part Spanish & part English. Angela is a very sweet girl and always smiling!

It was an amazing & memerable holiday, so thank you very much Paul & Angela.

And to the rest of you - If you got this far, thanks for reading!! (And don't forget to post a comment on the message board - I want more hits than Paul's had in the last 2 months!) Thank you! Karen xx