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Upon arriving in Cusco i headed to Wild Rover hostel, a well known party hostel. Here i met up with Rachel and Liam again. I had dinner at the bar and had a couple of drinks with R + L along with some Irish boys. We went out to a couple of clubs in the evening where the Irish boys provided ample entertainment with their dancing.
Next morning i strolled around Cusco. It is a beautiful city with lots of lush plaza`s and grand colonial buildings all set amongst a small mountain range with a mini Christ the Redeemer overlooking the city, next to some Inca ruins. I found a tour agency in town, and after 2 hours of talking managed to negotitate a little discount but also booked my Machu Picchu tour. I had a quiet afternoon around the city and the hostel and went to Jacks restaurant for the first time for dinner. It is an Aussie run restaurant that does very good comfort food. I later went on to try just about everything on the menu.
I had a quiet evening before getting up early to go on the Sacred Valley tour and to start taking in some Inca history.
The Incas were a civilisation that existed for 100 hundred years before being conquered by the Spanish when they invaded in the 16th century. Despite holding power from Colombia down to Chile they didn`t write anything down so remarkably little is known about them as a result.
I was in a tour group with 9 Peruvians and 4 Argentinians but tried to communicate the best i could with everyone. First we stopped at Pisaq where there were some old Inca ruins. There is a fortress at the top of the hill overlooking terraces where they used to grow their crops. Each terrace had a slightly different microclimate and so different plants were laid at each level depending on their suitability.
After we visited another Inca ruin called Ollantaytambo. This one had a sun temple half built at the top of the hill and again overlooked the terraces where the crops were grown. It was still in relatively good condition and you could use the old Inca walkways between different parts of the ruins.
The final stop of the day was at a small market. Here we were shown how alpaca wool is coloured and used to create the jumpers and hats that litter the stalls all over Peru and Bolivia.
When i returned to Cusco i met up with Michelle and Ciara again, R + L had started their visit to Machu Picchu and so had some restbite from me. We went out for dinner at Jacks restaurant and after out for a few drinks in town.
Next morning, after a lie in i caught the second half of the Italy V Ireland match before the main event Wales V England. Despite their being lots of Irish in the hostel (its Irish owned) I was the only person actually supporting Wales in the fixture. I sat with some fellow Englishmen, that were actually supporting England and enjoyed the match and the result. After the rugby i went back to Jacks restaurant with the Irish girls and had a siesta before R + L returned and we had a quiet night catching up in the hostel.
The next morning was St Patricks day and what better way to celebrate in an Irish hostel, with some Irish friends than to partake in a bungee jump...
Michelle, Ciara and I left the hostel around 10am and headed to the site of the second highest bungee jump in South America. It is a whopping 122m high above a nice round concrete platform! The jump itself is made from a small lift like platform which gets hoisted up to the cables above. The cables are attached to a mountain on either side of the valley, so you end up suspended literally with just 2 cables keeping you up there.
Michelle went first and after getting kitted up braved the fall. Next up it was my turn, i got weighed and strapped up around the legs and then tried to take in the views as we got hoisted up rather than the impeding possibility of death! Once up there i was told to open the arms after a couple of seconds of freefall and basically enjoy the jump. The jump itself was cool giving a hefty adrenaline kick before feeling the relief of the bungee tugging on your legs. After a couple of bounces i was lowered down (head first) and once more hit solid ground. Finally, Ciara was up to complete the days jumping activities.
Once back in Cusco, we went to Jacks for lunch (of course) and after finally hit the party at the hostel. The hostel was completely kitted out in Irish gear with flags, face paint and green clothed people everywhere. The party was already in full swing so I got my face painted and got involved in the action with R + L, Michelle, Ciara and 4 English girls, 2 of whom I had met previously in El Calafate and La Paz.
There is a competition between the 3 Wild Rover hostels every year on Paddy`s day to see who can get through the most baby guiness`in a 24 hour period. The world record was set at Wild Rover Cusco last year with a massive 1250 shots consumed. However, this year the record books hadn`t considered Darren, thats right Darren.
I was sitting at a table with Frank (an Irishmen) and Darren (an Irishmen who has spent 3 years in the mines in Oz) when Darren proclaimed that we should contribute to the baby guiness`challenge. Not one to shy out of such an event i said ``if you buy a round of 2 shots each, then ill match you``. It turned out Darren had a different definition of contribution to me though as he ordered 100 shots from the bar for everyone, a feat i was not going to match! All 100 shots were lined up on the bar, and needless to say by the end of the night the record was smashed with a huge 1831 shots consumed!!!
At the end of the evening we all headed to a club in town to finish the party before returning rather worse for wear in the early hours.
Next morning was a little groggy to say the least so to recover i went to Jacks for lunch. After i got a massage in town and saw the incredible 12 sided stone. The 12 sided stone is probably the worst tourist attraction i have ever seen, and is literally a rock with 12 sides, not even sides, just sides. When i was asked by a local if i liked Cusco i replied ``of course its beautiful but the 12 sided rock is awful``, in reply i was told that ``there may actually be a 13 sided stone on the other side of the wall, but its partly buried underground so no one can prove it`` - brilliant!
The rest of the day was pretty lazy and after saying my goodbyes to Rachel, Liam and Ciara, who were all returning home over the next few days, i headed to bed for an early one.
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