Jungle Trip into Manu National Park

We had a long drive to get to the National Park through stunning mountain scenery and tiny villiages. At the edge of the Park we looked down into the Cloud Forest, an area of jungle with perpetual cloud coverage. This was a stunning sight as we looked down into the valley where the clouds were hovering. We then continued down into the jungle on a tiny track with a sheer drop on one side; this was pretty hair-raising. On the way down we met another group who told us about a spectacled bear shortly along the road. This is an extremely rare occurence with generally one sighting per annum. We were lucky enough to also see the bear and it was incredible; she was high in the trees about 20/30metres away and it was beathtaking to see her in her natural environment so close, so beautiful and so impressive.

We also saw a small snake hovering by our accomodation, many monkeys just above us in the trees, a turantula and many huge spiders, insects and lizards and the Peruivian National Bird; the Cock of the Rock. Activities during the day included guided walks through jungle trails, white water rafting, a canopy zip wire - flying through the trees on a wire; awesome fun and we felt like monkeys!! One our last day there were just a few of us left from our group and we all chipped in to buy a tank of petrol and went up the river on their boat with all the guys from our lodge. We stopped at a place to swim and there was a farm there so we went to say hello to the lady and it was pretty special as she'd never met tourists, it was completely random, she offered us some fruit (which i've never seen before) and it was fascinating to see how she lived in the jungle.

We had a great group, had loads of fun chilling in the evenings at the lodge on a platform high above the ground with stunning views across the river, the jungle and to the mountains beyond.

Machu Picchu

We had one day to receover from an exhausting Jungle trip before starting our trek to Machu Picchu. The most famous trek to Machu Picchu, the Inca Trail was fully booked so we did an alternative trek but one that had incredibly varied and beautiful scenery. Our trek, the Salkantay Trek takes four days and took us to a hight of 4600metres and up close to Salkantay, an impressive 6271m with huge glaciers and much snow. Our first night was our highest camp and it was the coldest night of our lives! We had about 6 layers plus 2 sleeping bags and were still freezing as the temperature was around -5'C. Whilst eating it was essenital to be inside the food tent and snuggled close to the person next to you! After no sleep we started our most challenging day, a steep 4hr hike up to the summit and then another 6 hours down after. The scenery changed later that day from snow capped mountains to high jungle and the change was awesome as was the overall landscape. The third day was a little more calm and we had the use of mules to ride when we wanted - this was tiring in itself but really fun! Again this scenery was high jungle with the river flowing next to the path, waterfalls, little villiages and rocky paths. We then got a bus which shortly broke down and we nealy cried when we realised we had another hours walk in the heat of the day to hurry to reach the train that takes us to Aguas Calientes; the town at the foot of Machu Picchu. That evening we headed straight for the hot springs to relax and ease our muscles.

Early start on our final day to head on the final stretch to Machu Picchu for sunrise. Machu Picchu is as impressive as everyone talks about, one of those few places that lives up to its expectations. The main sight is right on the top of a mountain and the ruins are incredible, so detailed, with meaning in every stone and piece of architechure. The overall impression is breathtaking, very surreal and an incredible experience. We had a guided tour from our guide which was really interesting hearing all about the ruins. We were then crazy enough to climb Wayne Picchu mountain which provides the typical view of Machu Picchu. It was a tough one hour assent up steep steps and was extremely painful though the views were great. The second we got on the train back to Cuzco we fell asleep!

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