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Ok, so I just wrote the start of this blog and the computer decided to do some weird thing and delete it! Then I re wrote the whole thing and somehwere near the end there was a bloody powercut so I lost it all! Now this is the third time so please apprecciate it! Here goes again... this will prob be a long blog (just warning you) even though some of you have been telling me to do one, Im amazed anyone actually reads it!
So we did go bowling in Lima and I was very happy as I won out of the girls! It seems like a life time ago now as out here we manage to cram so much into one day. We left Lima the next day and headed to Paracas National Park which is basically a bis massive expanse of nothingness! We bush camped here, not sure if I{ve mentioned before or not but bush camping means we rock up to the middle of nowhere, put up the tents, cook and then chill by the camp fire! The only two very important things its missing is a bar and a loo! But it is very cool that we have everything we need on the truck and can literally park up anywhere.
The next morning we got up and went on a boat trip around the Ballesta Islands which are described as the poor mans Galapagos. It was awesome, we saw sea lions, loads of birds and then on the way back in we saw dolphins up really close in the harbour! I also learned the very interesting fact that the poo from all the birds which lands on the islands is one of Peru's largest exports. They collect it once every 7 years and ship it out to other countries as fertilizer, nice. In the afternoon we stopped off to a psico distillery to see how they make the pisco, fairly interesting and of course we had to try a few of the varieties to get the full experience! Then we arrived as Huacachina which is an oasis in the middle of the desert. This place was awesome! We went out sand duning on the buggys with the craziest driver I've ever met! He would take us to the top of mahusive sand dunes and then we'd go over the top head first down the dune, so much fun! We then also did sand boarding which is basically the same principle as snow boarding but on sand. It was actually quite hard so we pretty much gave up and laid on the boards head first down the dunes which was more fun as you go faster anyway. In the eve we slept out in the middle of the desert in our sleeping bags after a rather large amount of pisco and coke, and of course a big straight shot, rough. This is the best example so far of when we've managed to fit in SO much in one day! I've not been out here 5 weeks yet but it feels more like 5 months as we do so much and everything seems so far removed from home and home life, not that I'm complaining in any shape or form, it truly is amazing.
The next morning we woke up in the desrt where 'it never rains,' to rain! ot heavy rain more just misty fog but not very nice when you only have your sleepng bag! Anyway we left there and headed to the Nazca lines (as in Indiana Jones) which is a set of various shapes or lines set out on the desert floor. I wasnt really that impressed really as they're a bit boring, would def take the sand duning anytime. Some of the group did go on flights above the lines but I opted out as the company that run the flights had 3 emergency landings and 1 crash landing on the motorway in the last month alone! That night we camped in Nazca.
Next morning we left to drive with no real purpose except to see how close to Cusco, our next destination, we could get. We ended up baush camping again but this time in between the road and a river at the bottom of a valley in the mountains, not bad. The only problem was it was absolutely freezing, one of the guys left his water outon the table and it was frozen in the morning. Was def glad to leave here the next morning and head to Cusco to our hotel.
The htel was amazing, defintiely what we all needed after 4 days of camping / bush camping and sleeping in the desert! We then headed out for soem typically Peruvian food = Alpaca and Guinea pig! I only had the first as the guinea pigs still had feet and everything and looked a bit rank. The Alpaca (which is like a llama) was actually quite nice, I still prefer regular steak though.
Next day was shopping day as we all realised on our freezing cole day that we most certainly didn't have enough warm clothes for the trek. So therefore we shopped pretty much all day. I even bought some thermal trousers, the packet they came in was hilarious as they had superimpossed Britney Spears' face onto the body of soemone wearing the thermals! Pretty sure I didn't look like Britney in them, especially after we went for a massive and amazing full english breakfast every morning in Cusco! When we were all Brtiney thermals, alpaca blanket, llama hat, gloves and jumpered up it was time to go and party with Cusco's gringo population! We of course ended up in Paddys (obviously Irish) and then Mama Africa's which is a rock and reggae bar. We had such a good night, I of course ended up with a few unidentified drunken bruises and told everyone that I wanted to 'nalk home like a normal person' whilst walking home. As you can imagine I still haven't lived this down!
The next day we did the cultural thing, well kind of! We went to the sun temple which was really cool and then we found a shisha bar to chill out in. We couldnt have done more anyway as Cusco was on lock down! Everything was shut due to a massive protest about loads of different issues but they shut the entrances and exits to the city.
Anyway that eve I felt terrible! It would appear my drinking copious amounts of alcohol and a double vodka shot didn't agree with the altitude! Altitidue is a b****. Its really weird, you get outof breath just walking up a hill or some steps and quite often I wake up in the morning with it being hard to breath. Cusco is high at 3300 metres above sea level but then we have La Paz and Potosi to come which are even higher!
Anyway left the next day (10th July) to start our trek. Firstly we went to a place called Saqsaywaman (pronounced sak si woman, not sexy woman as our guide Smitty kept telling us!) Its a massive set of Inca ruins just outside of Cusco. Pretty cool though as they have a load of tunnels where they used to hid all the treasures when the Spanish invaded. After this we went to a market to buy more stuff we don't need and then to Pisac (so many funny names, did I mention the indigenous bird called boobie?!) Here we saw the Inca agricultural ruins, I won't bore you with details!
After this we had lunch which was really good, one thing the Peruvians definitely can do is make soup! Don't think I've ever eaten so much soup! After lunch we headed to where were going to camp that night. It took forever to get there and as we were going up mountains with really narrow roads we kept having to all get out of the bus and put rocks in gaps in the road and the side of the cliff to help the bus get through!
We did eventually arrive at the camping place and the porters set up our tents. The porters, cooks and guides we had on our trek were absolutely amazing. They would leave 2 hours after us, packing up all the stuff including our tents, load up the llamas and mules with all the gear, walk the same route as us and still get there about 2 hours before us! Then when we arrived at camp all was set up for that night and we didnt have to do anything! Definitely better than when we have to do everything ourselves! We had 'tea time' and then dinner and went to bed knackered! Managed to have a good sleep as it was cloudy and not too cold.
Next day we were woken up by the porters at our tent entrance with cups of tea and hot water to wash with. So good, I didn't even mind getting up at 6am! We then had breakfast and headed off on out first day of trekking. It was SO hard even from the beginning. We climbed uphill for the first 3 and a bit hours and I mean uphill! They gave us walking sticks which were literally wooden poles which was my absolute lifeline! Its not the physical aspect of the walking, the only bits which ached slightly were my bum muscles, but the breathing which is SO hard! There were a couple of times where I thought I wouldn't be able to carry on but you have a little rest, eat something from that days snack pack and then carry on. The snack pack is the most essential thing to take with you as you need to keep up your energy and sugar levels, such a great excuse to eat chocolate and not feel at all guilty! We got to 4400 metres and then had about 2 and a half hours downhill before reaching the community where we were camping. It was a small school which Dragoman (the company I´m doing my overlanding with) help to fund. We had lunch and then it was time to get back to work - this time digging the footings for a wall the community are going to build. We did about 40 to 50 metres in length and a good foot deep between the 20 of us in 2 hours, not bad considering we´d walked for hours and it was boiling hot!
The second day of the trek was when we went to our highest point 4650 metres above sea level. This day wasnt actually as bad as the first day as it was more across and then up rather than straight vertical! It was 5 hours of uphill though and then about 3 of downhill. Its weird though because once you´ve done it the first time you know you can do it, and you know the feeling of satisfaction when you are at the top, so you seem to carry on much easier than the first day. That evening we bush camped at the bottom of a valley which was beautiful, well you´ve actually seen the pictures by now as its taken me so long ot write this blog! It was the coldest night though - our guide reckons it went down to between -12 and -15 degrees overnight! Needless to say it was a few games of s***head and then bed for us all!
We woke in the morning to ice on the outside of our tents! Guess it was to be expected when it was that cold... We were all really keen to get moving to warm up! The third day was the easiest of the trek as we walked for about 4 ish hours but it was all downhill and the bus was there at the end. We then went to go and have some more chi cha, like we had in thejungle but different as thiswas Peruvian not Ecuadorian and actually a bit nicer! We also learned how to play Sapo which is a typical Peruvian game played in bars. It basically involves throwing coins into the mouth of a brass frog - very high tech stuff! We then went to one more ruin - Ollanytambo which was quite cool buit slightly overshadowed by the fact we all knew we were going to be going to a hotel after for the night which meant hot showers! Woo hoo! We also went out for dinner this night as it was one of the guys birthdays, happy birthday played Peruvian style on a pan pipe and wooden guitar thing is not to be missed!
Next day was time for Machu Picchu!!! We got up mega early to get the early morning train there. Arrived and had an awesome guide called (sweaty?) Bettsy who was tiny, very enthusiastic a little sweaty! We have had the best, and funniest, guides wherever we´ve been. She was reallygoo though and it was really interesting to hear about all the ways in which the Incas lived etc. Machu Picchu is actually much bigger than it looks and it was really surreal being in the place where all the pictures that you ever see of Machu Picchu are taken from. We had our tour which was about 2 and a half hours long and then found a spot on one of the levels to have lunch on the grass, we had the best view of Machu Picchu! Very surreal.
After this was a well deserved beer and a very weird train journey back which consisted of a weird gimp esque man dressed up who proceeded to dance along the train with a teddy llama, odd. Apparently its some random dance custom out here... We then had the man and woman, who had just served us cups of tea, do a fashion show of random alpaca and llama knitwear! Very strange but very funny train journey, probably the best Ive ever had as we could not stop laughing.
We arrived back to our lovely hotel in Cusco to a much awaited shower as it was boiling in Machu Picchu and my shower was cold! We went out anyway, what was supposed to be the 24 hour challenge as we had been up since 5.30am that morning and were going to try and make it to 5.30 the following.... I know you will all be shocked to know but I flaked at about 2am. I had def had my big night in Cusco before the trail and I was knackered from the last 5 days walking. Plus we had a shisha which just made me more chilled! Only about 4 people out of 21 made it to 5.30 so I didnt feel like such a loser.
Next day we left Cusco to head towards Puno which was just before the Bolivia border on Lake Titicaca, I know another juvenile (but funny) name!
Ok thats enough for now as its taken me about 6 internet trips to write this, and a lot of frustration to actually get to post it, plus I imagine you`ll be bored stuff by now... I`ll update you on the last two weeks or so in Bolivia in my next journal when I´ll actually be in Argentina, it´s a hard life! Hasta Luego! X
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