18-12-06 CUSCO So, Cusco. Still felt rough the day after, so all i ate in 3 days was an orange. That's literally it. And the hostel im staying in is very different from the one in Lima. This one is very much focused for the young, and is way more lively than the other. So anyway, first night, i say night, as in the day i didnt do a single thing, as i was feeling pretty rough, just had a few drinks in the bar, which kind of spiralled into a few more, and then before i knew it i was in a bar in some plaza. Was good though. its like i first thought, i was going to meet loads of people here, as its that kind of place. Its weird though, as i have never been to anywhere this high before, altitude wise, and when your walking down the street you get tired out so easily, so after a short walk, i was knackered. Also i have found that it rains here a lot, pretty much most days, which isnt that great as tomorrow as write this, im going up Machu Pichu, and dont really feel like getting wet! so the first few days here i didnt really do much. not because there isnt anything here, there's heaps, but i firstly didnt feel like it, and secondly i didnt want to get wet....as i felt a cold coming on. So the second day was pretty much spent with me taking a walk around the city, oh and also, i booked some white water rafting for the next day which was stupidly cheap also. That night i got talking to a group of girls. Its weird, since i have been here, i have stayed in a 10bed dorm, and all the time i have stayed it has always been me and this one other guy, and the rest have been females. anyway, i got talking to a bunch of them in the bar area, and from there, ended going out again, but this time all the staff from the hostel were going out also. anyway, the altitude actually got the better of me, so me and this girl called Jo walked back to the hostel. by this time it was about 3:30am, and it was raining outside. So with it raining, it made the "dirty" streets very slippery, and as we were walking down through the main square, i got pulled down onto the ground with Jo slipping, and landed right on my tail bone. It's now 3 days on, and it still hurts. maybe i have broke it, i dunno. Another reason for heading back early was i had booked the rafting for the next day, and they were coming for me at about 7ish in the morning. 20-12-06 RAFTING So i got woke up pretty sharpish by one of the girls, as i had slept through my alarm clock. I darted out of bed, into the shower, and got ready to be collected for the rafting. All this took place in the space of 5 mins, which i was quite impressed with. The drive to the Rafting was going to take about 2 hours, and with the way the guy who was driving the bus was going, i wasnt sure if i was going to make it. But we arrived. the bus had about 15 people in, but when we got there, me and another guy, who incidentally was staying at the hostel got taken off to somewhere else. i think it was the fact that we had paid a little more, so got a bit more of the river to raft. Anyway, the two of us got taken further upstream, and with our guide got dropped off, literally at the side of the road. At this point, there was just the two of us, and the guide. We were both expecting more people, as everytime i have been rafting in the past its been about 6/8 in a boat. They never came. So me this other guy, and the guide had to take this boat down to the river from the road. i was wearing some flop flips and the path, well i say path, it was more like a drop down a rocky slope, was constantly stabbing me with rocks etc. so when we got down to the bottom, they were pretty bashed, with a few cuts. But after our safety thing we got straight into the water. The rapids were pretty good at this moment, as the past few days had brought a load of water down, so they were pretty big. Anyway, the guy said they were class 4, what ever that means. So we started paddling, and i gradually got into the swing of things. It was awesome, they were much bigger than anything else i had seen before. after about 30 mins we got to this bit of the rapid where the guide wanted to go back over them and try a different route. so we stopped, turned around, and was given the order to paddle. i think the guy must have been used to more people in the boat as it was bloody hard work, and we didnt make it. he gave up on us after a short while. But the rest of the while we were on the river was amazing. We did about 3 hours in total, which is plenty of time, as by the end my arms were so sore. We grabbed lunch at the base camp, which was the first meal i had eaten in ages, and then headed back into cusco. That night was spent just relaxing and soothing my muscles in a ferociously hot shower. after all, the last time i had exercised was when we played football in New Orleans. 21-12-06 Today i felt fine. woke up pretty early, with all these plans of things to do. I went to grab a tea in the bar/pool table area, and got talking to these girls from the dorm who had just got in that morning, and ended up playing monopoly for about 4 hours! i didnt win by the way, in fact, i lost, but was good to just relax. The whole day from there was spent just staying in the hostel, reading, watching a film, having a few drinks and games of pool. That was literally the way the day ended up, i didnt leave the hostel once. 22-12-06 After the day of doing nothing yesterday, i decided today was going to actually incorporate something else that would take me outside the hostel. i had to pay for my trip, so that was the first thing i did, so after that i visited the inca musuem, which i had wanted to do before the trail, which was really good for a museum. since starting the trip i have been to loads, but nothing like this. Ever since i got into Peru, for some reason i have craved a ceasar salad, so thats where i headed. ended up in this irish bar, which unlike the other i had been to was really really cheap. it cost the both of us to eat, and have a couple of drink 35 peruvian sols, which is about 4.75. Bargain. The only problem i have found with waking up early here, is by the time you have been to one place, you dont feel like doing anything else, so you get back to the hostel at about 1ish and just end up slobbing out. maybe watch a film. So this is where i am now. i have gotta be up early tomorrow for the trail. getting collected at 5:30, which is going to hurt, especially as the hostel puts on a party every Friday night. So best sort myself out now i guess so i dont have to rush in the morning. Ill no doubt have loads of pics from the inca, so ill let you all know how it goes when i get back