Peru

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On our last day in Bolivia we made a trip on the slowest boat in the world to Isla de Sol with an auzzie guy we met called Andrew. Andrew proved a good sun test on our 4hr walk, as he was first to start burning which caused a prompt response for us to put our sun cream on- thats what friends are for!

The next day we then made our way around lake titikaka crossing the border into Peru in the process. Here we met up with a few more guys and took a trip to the floating islands (in Puno). We had prepared ourselves for the over touristy side of the island, which meant we were able to appreciate that they are actually pretty impressive. The islands our made out of reeds, contain real house and civilizations and actually do float on the lake. From Puno we took a bus that was meant to take 7hrs. However its not, when every village from Puno to Cusco decide that they are going to have a protest. The bus made it aprox 4hrs then stopped without moving for 8hrs. Once it was morning we realised that we would need to get off the bus and walk round the blockades. Ha, well we had know idea what to expect. After 4hrs of walking with 20kg of lugage in intense heat through villages where there were fires and the mountain being colapsed by the villagers, we finally made it through safely. In all the journey to Cusco actually took 24hrs.

Arriving in Cusco we decided it was about time to chill out before we embarked on our 4 day Lares Valley trek upto Machu Picchu. Well we were hoping to chill out! First night we strolled into the bar at 9pm for a quiet drink before bed. Before we knew it the disco lights and smoke machine had been turned on and Nick and Paul had been taken under the wing of 10 Auzzie girls. The night proved to be a great success mainly because we got a taster of the clubs and free drinks all night! The next night the same thing happened although with a different crowd and the next night the same thing seemed to happen again. Overall a great 4 days in Cusco and met some quality people. Wisely we had the night off before the 5am start on the Lares Valley trek. Javier was our guide for the 4 days and proved to be a living legend. The group of people were also really nice and made the experience even better. The trek its self was breath taking but so too were the views. On day 2, sector 2 a miricle happened and Nick and Paul turned into super fit human beings. The sector after lunch was suppose to be a 3hr climb followed by a 45min decent. Nick completed the whole thing in 1hr 20 and Paul in 1hr 40, this turned out to be a world record for that stint in the treks history. The final day was the day we had all been egarly anticipating. However it was great dissappointment when we arrived at the top of Machu Picchu to be greated by a thick layer of cloud. Luckily after just 1hr the clouds seem to part and revealed the outstanding view. It truely is beautiful. With Paul unfortunately not feeling to well, Nick made the steep climb up Wanapichu with a few of the group. Here there were more incredible views, and gave an overal view of the layout of the Machu Picchu civilization. Paul couldn't have been to off colour though, as when we were walking round Paul was stopped not once but twic by Peruvian girls, asking to have their photos taken with him. Thinking of it, this proved to be the case quite a few times with Paul in Peru. Finally we made it to the well known postcard picture point, where you can see we have taken a few photos. The shape of the mountains looks like the side of a face- see if you can spot it?

Arriving back in Cusco we had one last night out with the trek group. This rapt up a great stay in Cusco! From here we are taking a 55hr bus journey, yes thats right, 55hr!!! to Ecuador. Chow

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