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Published: December 24th 2006
Sacred Valley
On the way to the ruins. This is the Sacred Valley. Leon me Erin and Col (from Canada)I am writing on a hectic night in Bolivia. The plazas are full of crazy people selling Xmas stuff and this is fuelled by an even crazier gang of Bolivians thirsty for a bargain.
My flight was delayed from Philly. So i ended up catching a flight from Miami to Lima which left 20mins after i landed in Miami. Crazy. I made it but unfortunately my bag did not. So i spent about 3days in the same clothes.
I met up with Leon ok in the Lima airport which was a relief as i thought i was going to be more delayed. As you can imagine we were stoked to catch up.
We orientated ourselves to the city and chilled - climatizing to the altitude. Lucky for me after a good sleep i was rearing to go and had the most mild symptoms of altitude sickness. Leon was not quite so lucky and was puffing after half a block at times.
Our first real adventure was a night out. I met a wonderful local girl and ended up spending the night dancing with her. I was quite messed up but managed to arrange some salsa dancing for the
Ruins
On route to Macchu Picchu there was time for a bit of cliff hanging. following night. It was intense but i think i did ok. Jessica still had all her toes left by the end of the night!
Leon and I met various other backpackers, included two Canadian girls who we saw the city with during the day and went to a few of the amazing Inca sites with in a 2hours of the city. My favourite name was Saqsaywoman - pronounced SexyWomen. Hehehehe!
We embarked on the inca trail the following day. The trek was breathtaking and we got hooked up with the best food - 3 course meals!! Yummy. Leon and I were smart and packed very lightly which meant we were always in pushing the pace. The highest leg which climbed to over 4200m was accomplished in 40mins (and then a 1.5hour wait for the stragglers).
Our group was really fun, with a diverse array of Canadians, American, Brits, token Aussies and of course NZ represent.
The 4day hike ended at Macchu Picchu. We woke at 4am and charged to the sun gate. It was not meant to be but we explored the ruins until around 2pm. The place was mind boggling and the history touches you as you
come to grips with what the Incas achieved over there 80year existance at Macchu Picchu.
We have just had an epic bus ride from Cusco to Puno to Copacabana to La Paz.... 930pm to 4pm. We have had the most surreal day.
At the Peru border we decided to check out the lake and on the way back watched our bus leave over the border. We tried to run after it and were intercepted by Border Police. They interigated us and searched us seperately. They decided we were drugees (prob because we were on the bus all night) and searched us. Leon was fleeced US$80 as he was confronted by 4 guards in a room. They locked me out and i had to wait my turn. Luckily, my money was intact and i am pretty sure they did take anything from me. So freaky. We learned our lesson about seperating from the pack.
Our next stop in Copocabana we sat at the lake edge for 2hours and watched a mongrel dog try and root a lab. Again surreal.
Then La Paz is crazy with Xmas excitement and our bus driver had a couple of screws loose.
Epic. Looking forward
to a good night sleep!!
We will be charging down to Valaparaiso for New Years via Uyuni and the salt plains which cover Bolivia.
More crazy stories and I will load some more pics after New Years.
Feliz Navidad and Happy New Years!!
Much love
Brent
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TC
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WICKED BELLZ!!! Got your postcard yesterdya :) was wicked...