PERU!

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Hello everyone,
well the inca trail was truely amazing! we set off from cuzco at 5 in the morning and got a 2 hour bus to the start of the trail. all i carried was a change of clothes, water, a sleeping bag, a roll mat (both provided by the company) and water. the hike was 26 miles long over 4 days. from the off the mountains were huge on either side and provided a dramatic enclosure in the valley. we hiked for 3 hours and then stopped for our first lunch together. there were 16 of us in the group. thinking that we would have a quick sandwich and be on our way, we were extremely suprised to sit down to a 4 course dinner! for our 16 hikers, there were a total of 19 porters, 2 cooks, a guide and an assistant guide! these porters were incredible as they carried the tents, food, camping equipment and anything else we might need, and for the 4 days they literally ran up the mountains past us in order to set up camp at the next spot. there are over 10000 porters in peru, and they do this every day of the season, which is unbelieveable if you see them go. we arrived at our first camp spot that night and again sat down to a ridiculous dinner when considering that it was cooked upon a gas hob and thats it. the second day was the one everyone warned us about. it was 8 miles upwards and then 2 miles down. the up was extremely steep and a huge storm hit us all day, which resulted in being soaked to the bone, along with the sleeping bag and every other thing i was carrying. the hike was still awesome though, with gibbo and myself powering up the mountain and reaching the top a long time before anyone else. however on the decent it didnt quite go like that as the steepness of the rocks down played havoc with my knees and so i didnt quite win going down. the camp was completely washed out, however, it stopped raining late afternoon and so we all huddled around the stoves and fires attempting to dry our stuff out. eventually the sleeping bags got dry and after another delicious dinner we went to bed. we got the usual 4 o clock wake up call and after breakfast headed out again...praying for no rain. thankfully this happened and we visited numerous interesting inca rest stops and temples along the way. again the hike was amazing with fresh air and breath taking views throughout the day. unfortunately a few people in our group suffered badly from the altitude and other sicknesses so they had to plough on at their own pace and arrived a few hours after everyone at the camp for the evening. lots of people also encountered very poorly stomachs, including myself, however, i wont go in to details....after a few immodium i was alright again and it didnt really slow me down or inhibit me in any way. on the final dinner of the tour the chef somehow cooked a wedding cake as we had a couple who were on their honeymoon. god knows how he did it but it was absolutely delicious! dont get me wrong it was no helen taylor special, but it was a valiant effort. for the final day we awoke at 3.30 and hiked up to the sun gate, which is the entrance to machu pichu and granted breath taking views over the whole city. a further hours walk and we were in the city itself. we were extremely lucky with the weather, having virtually no cloud , and even periods of sunshine. the city is truely a wonder of the world. unbelieveable engineering and set on top of a mountain surrounded by mountains and jungle. the pictures dont do it justice! we had a 2 hour tour of the city and then explored for ourselves. from the city we then got a 4 hour train back to cusco, which i slept for the entire time. the next day we got an over night bus to arequipa which is in south peru and surrounded by 3 volcanos...amazingly picturesque! we did white water rafting this morning which was really fun and are now chilling out for a couple of days before we leave for chile on saturday. peru and bolivia really have been amazing experiences. they are both still so raw and reasonably un westernised. the landscapes offer everything from deserts to jungles and the cultural variances between different parts of the countries are crazy! we have a short period of time in chile and then it is off to australia for the cricket! will post again soon!

love to everyone

james xx

p.s. can you ask aunty sue if she is getting an email to these, as i invited her but i dont think the email looks right????

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