leavingonajetplane

600 breakfast leave 630. Today we had an excursion to some lake. We took the boat 10-15 minutes then the walk was 2 km. It took about an hour and a half with stops. We split into 2 groups. I stayed with Julio. Julio found a suspected tarantula hole and got a small plant to make vibrations and lure it out. He put us all in position and told us to stay still. No moving, no screaming. He got it out and one of the girls screamed and jumped so it ran back in. He tried again and got it out but again but it only came out very quickly before running back into its hole. Long enough for everyone to get a good look but not long enough for anyone to get good photos. Todays ... read more

Today just had a relaxing day in Cusco with no real plans. I woke up about 630 and laid in bed till about 9 before getting ready. No hangover which was great but tired and lacked energy to get up and go. Took it pretty easy today. Had a walk around Cusco and went back to the markets to have a look. Impressed with myself I actually found the way and recognised everywhere Andreas took us. It didn't take me as long to explore the markets as I expected. I ended up only buying a small pink Peru hat for Sarah's baby. Today was a big festival in the plaza so watched a bit of that lots of schools competing. I then went for an Inca massage somewhere near the hotel. For 100 soles it was ... read more

Woke up to rain and heavy fog. To be fair it wasn't really rain more of a wet mist from the fog with occasionally heavier sprinkling. It was enough to make the backpacks and contents wet thought so we all tested out the cheap ponchos. I found today harder then day 2 which is the day everyone dreads. Maybe I just struggled as exhausted from the previous day. Maybe it was the weather and lack of views to distract me. I don't know. But I'll put it out there. I really enjoyed the trek to dead womans pass which everyone hates. Today's views were supposed to be pretty incredible but we couldn't see much. The walk took us through 4 different Inca sites and the cloud Forrest. It was our longest day at 16 km. The ... read more

Total the day we officially start the Inca trial. Basically terrified not so much of the trail but of the weight of both my bags. I seem borderline for the porter bag and my packs about 6 kg. I ended up sending back my camera case, phone charger, camera charger and adaptors to Cusco with Andreas to try and lighten my load. Breakfast at hotel was 7 and we were picked up by Joel at 8. Joel always uses Inca time to meet us meaning he wants you there no later than 5 minutes before the time he wants to leave. We met our assistant guide Cesar. Both the boys seem really fun and joke around a lot together. It was about a 45 minute drive to the start of the Inca trail. At weigh in ... read more

Today we travelled to Cuzco. The place everyone raves about. It's our last public bus trip which is nice but in saying that I have also been so impressed by the comfort level of them. Hate to say it but undeniably better then plane travel. Andreas was able to secure us a bus with wider seats in a 2-1 configuration. Most of the group was seated downstairs with 5 of us upstairs. I was in a 1 seater. There was 1 stop on the way to use public toilets and a few ladies were there with alpacas so I got my token alpaca photo. We arrived in Cuzco 330pm and met Andreas 4pm to go for a quick orientation walk. First he took us to the chocolate museum where we got to sample chocolate tea, 5 ... read more