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Cusco and Machu Picchu
Hello all, this morning, having apparently had a go at poisoning Kirst by not washing some fruit last night I find I have time in our hostel to write a quick note. We have about a month left of our trip now and reality is starting to rear it´s ugly head on the horizon with the prospect of changing from carribean beaches of columbia to November in some industrial park in the UK drawing ever closer. That said it will be good to see friends and family and have christmas at home whilst I endevour to go on a cartman style weight gain 5000 program over the festive period. The record of 4 full plates of christmas dinner could be in danger of falling!
We are currently in Arequipa in Peru having come from Cusco following the hike to machu picchu. The hike was very varied and after our recent mountain climb seemed relatively simple. The hardest part for me was definately at the end of a 10 hour day or so walking the last 200m past the luxury lodges that my dad stayed in a few years ago to our cold tents and the prospect of 3 days with no shower. That said we did the whole 5 day trip for $190 so no complaints really. For Machu Picchu we got up at 4am and hiked the steps up from aguas calientes to see the sunrise and be sure of entry to the wayna picchu mountain. This it turned out was a very good idea as you basically get the place to yourself for a few hours with lovely light and a great atmosphere; this reduces in direct proportion with the increase in flag waving tour groups as the day goes on. In total we were up there for 9.5 hours as there is so much to see and as finding the shots that look the most scary for my sister back home takes time and effort... only joking rin! Following the hike we spent a few days in and around Cusco relaxing and enjoying the tourist restaurants and fare which makes travelling very simple for a few days. I would not say that the hostel got used to us giving them money and business but they have named their two new kittens Ian and Kirsty (though it comes out Jan and Christie) in our honour, needless to say the little blighters are already climbing everything in sight!
Hopefully tomorrow we head for probably our last trekking in the colca canyon which we will probably do of our own back and hike between the villages with kirst confident that any problems we encounter can be sorted with my rubbish spanish (Hola Señor, dos cervesas pov favor). It´s nice she has got confidence and in true english style i am getting quite fluent at apologising about how bad my spanish is before asking how to upsidedown question mark something the path to the direction of the incorrectly pronounced village question mark. (and then looking intently at the handsignals for directions!) I´m sure it will all be fine..... Hopefully whilst there we will spot some andean condors and as they have a 3m wingspan and weigh 15kgs even we should be able to pick them out!
Anyway, Chow for now
Ian
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