Cusco and Macchu Picchu

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Cusco is such a cool town, the architecture is amazing as its filled with tall colonial buildings and huge cathedrals along cobbled streets and plazas. Plaza De Armas is such a beautiful square and i quite happily spent a lot of my time sitting on one of the benches next to the fountain and watched the world go by. We went along a street called 'The street of 12 sides' which is a street lined with the original walls from the Inca Period. A guard stands by these walls all day dressed as a very colourful Inca to ensure that no one touches the walls. We discovered this on our first visit when the guard yelled at us in spanish for 5 minutes, we only realised who he was or what he was doing after about 10 minutes and then everything made sense. Cusco has some amazing restaurants and i can officially declare that i fell in love with the guacomole at a cute little cafe serving fresh juices and proceeded to porder it everyday that we were there. Lets just say the staff loved me! I also fell in love with a fantastic little homemade chocolate shop which do The best truffles i have ever tasted, they were pure joy in one bite!!lol! The nightlife was pretty good in Cusco as well, the clubs are practically heaving every night of the week and they pump out latin music till sunlight!

We couldn't come to Cusco and not do Macchu Picchu so we booked the Jungle Trek. We had a bit of a last minute Kufuffle trying to get hold of backpacks and walking boots for the trek as no one seemed to have our size and being girl;s we got preoccupied with trying to find the least ugly boots we could get our hands on so this took longer than expected. Also, my friend Craig was rushed into hospital as he had kidney stones which meant that he was stuck in hospital for 2 nights rather than being able to climb Macchu Picchu, which really sucked.However, the rest of us still made it and we started our 4 day trek by driving up to the top of a mountain which was lined with snow. I didn't realise how much i missed snow until we got there and the view was spectacular. We were literally in the valley surrounded by three snow tipped mountains, i felt like we were in the clouds we were so high. We descended the mountain by bike and the ride was insanely beautiful. We biked through waterfalls and valleys surrounded by lush forests and mountains. It was so amazing. The last part of the bike ride was quite tough as we reached ground level and had to start cycling uphill. There were quite a lot of road works at the bottom and at one pint i was seriously considering giving up and getting in the van the last 10 minutes as i was literally sweating my life away but i kept going and i have never been so happy to get off a bike in my life.

We were told the second day would be the hardest as we would be trekking for 8 hours plus uphill so i wasn't really looking forward to waking up that day. As hard as the trek was (and it was really really hard in some places, so hard i seriously considered living on the side of a mountain just so i wouldn't have to keep trekking) i really enjoyed the trek. The views were stunning and we were literally trekking along the side of a mountain at some points. Walking along the original Inca Trail was really special as i could see how old the trail was and the stories we were told about how the Inca's lived and transported messages along the trail were so fascinating. We were told that the messengers would run hundreds of Kilometers in one go to deliver messages between countries and it really makes you think about the way you live your life and how easy everything is now with cars, telephones and the internet. We ended the day at the hot springs at the base of Santa Teresa, which was amazing. It was exactly what i needed after the days trekking and when the time came to go i didn't want to leave. I have never fallen asleep so fast in my life as i did as soon as my head hit the pillow. Best sleep of my life!

On the third day, we had a relatively easy day in comparison to the second day (although it was still pretty tough in the heat). Tip: when a Peruvian says that a path is flat what they really mean is that it is PERUVIAN flat which essentially means hilly!!!! Not the same!!!!!!!!! We soon learned this on the trek and took every oppourtunity to swim in the river along the way to cool down. At one point we all just threw ourselves in the river fully clothed and i have never felt so good in my life!lol! The second half of the third day was definately my favourite as we walked along the old train tracks through the forest overlooked by the ruins of Macchu Picchu. The forest was so quiet except for the sounds from birds and the river, it was so peaceful. The river is filled with these huge boulders which almost don't look real and we were surrounded by mountains covered in lush forest.

Day Four we were up bright and early (well i should say dark and really bloody early) at 4am to make it to the top of Macchu Picchu for sunrise. Now the walk up the thousands of steps of Macchu Picchu was TOUGH!I swear i thought my legs were going to fall off at one point but the determination to reach the top before sunrise kept me going and once i got into a rhythm it wasn't actually horrific!The views as you walk up are amazing, you ascend further and further into the clouds and it is literally like you are in another world. I cant believe the Inca's actually lived there, i can imagine it being so peaceful and magical living in the clouds. I have never felt so good and proud as i have when i reached the top of Macchu Picchu. I was absolutely exhausted but so proud of myself for doing it! The ruins were amazing and so worth the walk up. The site is filled with llamas which i found so odd but they literally rule the roost when it comes to the ruins and woo betide any tourist who gets in their way when they want to walk somewhere.

We stupidly decided it would be a good idea to climb Huayna Picchu as well when we were up there so after the 2000 steps that we already climbed to reach the top of Macchu Picchu we had another 2000 more to climb after our tour. Part of me really couldn't be bothered to do it and i was really tempted to pull out but seeing the peak surrounded by clouds in the distance i felt compelled to do it. So i manned up! The climb wasn't as bad as Macchu Picchu but it was scarier as it is 10 times steeper and you basically have to climb up rather than walk at some points. Now i don't suffer from vertigo but Huayna Picchu is High! I know it sounds corny but i really felt like i was on top of the whole world up there. I sat on the tallest point which is a huge rock right on the tip and i could have stayed there all day. The views were amazing, you could see the whole of Macchu Picchu and i was so g;ad that i climbed it. Again another proud moment for me. If i thought the climb up was scary, the climb down was so much worse!! It was slippery and steep and i was later told that 3 people die every year from falling on the way down! Someone should really put that on a sign at the beginning! I would definately trek to Macchu Picchu again, the views alone are worth the pain and effort.



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