A Bungee, Machu and Maccas

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We had an early one as our last night in Arequipa and the following day Charlie went to have a look at the monastery while George wallowed in the Wild Rover TV room (admittedly quite an enticing place). We then grabbed some food and hopped on a bus to Cusco.

Immediately after arriving at the bus terminal we set about looking for a bus to Santa Teresa, a more arduous route to Machu Picchu than than the train but at about a fifth of the price. We ended going with an all-inclusive tour and hurriedly packed our stuff before hopping in the cramped minibus for five and a half hours to a hydroelectric plant beyond Santa Teresa. From there it was a two hour walk along the train tracks to Aguas Calientes, the town at the bottom of the mountain Machu Picchu is perched atop. We arrived when it was dark so any thoughts we had of going to the local hot springs were banished, and we received our instructions at supper for the following day before going to bed.

Our instructions were to get up at 4, but, being rebellious types (and rapid walkers), left the building at 5.10 to arrive at the top at 6 when it opened hopefully catching sunrise. The sun wasn't at the top, unfortunately, but the heat on the walk up was, and we arrived promptly at 6 but sweating, making us quite nice food for the mozzies that had come back to haunt us. We had a guide who took us around for the first couple of hours, putting the whole thing in perspective and seeing the major areas of the site.

By the time he'd finished the sun was starting to come through and we decided to stroll to the Inca Bridge which wasn't built by the Incas and wasn't accessible but still made for a nice walk with stunning views. We then decided to head up to the Sun Gate, where all the idiots who do the Inca Trail finish up, and it afforded quite nice views of the ruins. Finally the sun broke through and we were able to take our classic postcard pictures of Machu Picchu. At about lunch time we skipped down to Aguas Calientes and took the six-hour bus back encountering a road unnervingly like Death Road on the way. The whole thing was brilliant, it was just a shame we had seen it all before.

We had a quiet night after checking into Wild Rover, and woke up promptly to see the others we'd met up with in La Paz who'd just arrived on an overnight bus. A few of them liked the sound of bungee jumping so we went to check it out with a view todoing it the following day. All booked up, the nerves started to wobble and the following morning Capes was literally pooing himself.

Everyone came along for moral support, and after a long and slightly annoying wait, off we went. George went first, then Capes, Plastow, Charlie and Bowdes. It was an unforgettable, if slightly ridiculous (who the hell throws themselves headfirst towards the ground off a platform??), and we were all well and truly up for the night out that was to follow. It was a great night, and we spent the next couple of days rather like we had done at Loki and Milhouse before, going out and watching TV (really indulging in the culture), except this time there was a McDonald's, making us feel even worse about ourselves. We finally got ourselves out of the cycle yesterday just before we took the overnight bus. The plan was to go and see some ruins with a Boleto Turistico, but they priced it way too high (quite a lot like the rest of Cusco), so Charlie just went to take some pictures in Cusco itself of architectural gems (I'm kidding) like the 12-sided stone, Qorikancha and the cathedral. We then hopped on a 16-hour overnighter to Ica and took a taxi to Huacachina, where we are currently residing.

This place is very nice (if slightly ridiculous), centred on an oasis-like lagoon and surrounded by sand dunes. 100 people live here and there are probably 300 tourists milling about. Tomorrow we'll go sandboarding again, but these dunes look a bit bigger than those in Florianopolis!

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