17 - 18/09/08 - We spent two days in Trujillo in the north of Peru after a quick one hour flight from Cusco to Lima and a 9 hour bus journey from Lima to Trujillo, arriving late and finding accommodation only after we arrived at Clara Brava´s Hospadaje (which I recommend for anyone going to Trujillo). As we got there so late, we asked the nice people at a shop a few doors down to open up and we ate some debatable meat empanadas, oreo cookies and fanta as a nice nutritious dinner. The next day we got up and had [View Full Entry]

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15.09.08 - Got up ridiculously early, before even the porters woke us at four! It was then a race to the control point, which opens at 5.30. We were pretty much at the back of the queue so I was annoyed! After the control opened it was almost like a walking queue to Machu Picchu. There were some slow people in front of us and I was very frustrated as desperate to see the sunrise. When a gap cleared, El and I raced ahead of the group to get to the Sun Gate. As it turned out we needn´t have bothered [View Full Entry]

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14.09.08 - We were supposed to have an early start but the porters overslept so we got an extra 20 minutes in bed. I´d been awake since the break of dawn so it was little consolation! Had ham omelette for breakfast in the food tent. Amazing! Set off and it was uphill going again, which I am in the minority by preferring! Passed a fort at Runkurakay, from where we could see the first pas. It didn´t look as high as it felt to climb! It was more up to the second pass, which was a measely 3800m. Everyone else stopped [View Full Entry]

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13.09.08 - Day 2 of the Inca Trail is notoriously tough so I was worried how I would manage. However it is also, in my opinion, the best day scenery wise. Because we had gone further the first day, it was also not quite as traumatic as it could have been! We began by, you guessed it, going up. However it wasn´t as hot as the previous day and we were walking through rainforest so I had no real cause for complaint. Once more it was quite slow going because Judy and Simon didn´t much like the ups. I didn´t mind [View Full Entry]

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12.9.08 Day 1 started bright and early with a panic as Elliott and I tried to fit all our stuff for four days into my bag (we were leaving El´s at the hotel). At about 6 we began the drive to KM82 where the trail starts. We had a brief stop off in Ollantaytambo, the location of some Incan terraces we considered visiting. I´m quite glad in retrospect we didn´t go beyond the cursory look from the distance as you see a number of terraces on the trail. We then drove further to the start of the trail. Unbeknownst to me [View Full Entry]

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Last time I left you all I believe we were in Lima. As you may have grasped, we were not big fans of the city, a feeling reciprocated by other people we have met. Therefore we decided to leave the next day. We thought about getting a plane to Cusco as it takes one hour, but our skilful hotel rep Senora Pucha persuaded us instead to take a number of buses. God knows what we were thinking! So we got a 1.30 bus from Lima to Nasca, using the lovely Cruz del Sur buses which I thoroughly recommend to everyone as [View Full Entry]

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It´s also wearing the same clothes for two days, sitting on four different planes (Heathrow to LA, LA to San Salvador, San Salvador to San Jose and San Jose to Lima!) and getting no sleep. So there is, at least at the outset, hard graft involved at this travelling malarkey. There´s been a few interesting moments so far. In the airport at LA Elliott and I spotted a woman walking a pink dog and a guy with a fro with his fro comb actually imbedded in his hair - I presume for convenience´s sake! Elliott´s been excelling at Spanish with all [View Full Entry]

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Hey everybody This is somewhat to be regarded as a pre-travelling test, as I have visions otherwise of my arriving in Peru attempting to set out a journal the like of which would make Oscar Wilde envious, only to find the very attempt thwarted by my technological incapacity. For the record, it really has been a sunless August here in England and I am looking forward to escaping this (admittedly pretty) city for somewhere with a bit more heat! [View Full Entry]

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