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31/03/09
We finally arrived in Cusco by 4.30am after a journey that threw many suprises into our faces. It was still pitch black and according to the Lonley Planet, Cusco wasn't a safe place to be walking around in the dark with all your bags. So we decided to stay in the terminal till the sun started to warm our shivering bodies. It was a lot colder than i thought it was going to be! Within seconds Mike got his sleeping bag out and had fallen asleep along side our bags. With quite a few dodgey looking people around i didn't feel that comfortable about closing my eyes longer than a blink. After a few hours a lady came up to me and started telling me off for staying in the terminal. From what i could understand she told me that it was to dangerous and that we should head to our hostel as soon as. Feeling more threatened by her, i woke Mike up and jumped into the nearest taxi! We checked into the hostel, The Point and slept till midday. Within seconds of stepping out of the hostel we were immidiately taken back by the beauty of the
city. And as you walk towards the main square the city just keeps getting better and better. I honestly recon that its one of the most beautiful cities i have ever been to. With its pebbeled streets and with all the buildings sharing the same design, including matching roof tiles, the city looks incredible. The main square is equally stunning and that was where we bumped into the Cambridge lads who we met doing the salt flats and the mine tour. We all had lunch together then Mike and I wasted no time in looking for a place to book the Amazon tour. One thing annoying about the city though is that you do get approached every ten seconds by someone selling something. And that is no exaduration! After a day of walking around the amazing city and saying, "no gracias," about a million times we played cards with the rest of the lads back in the hostel bar. We had an hilarious evening before heading out for a chinese. Three of us went out that night and didn't get back till 5am. A very fun night! So Cusco not only captivates you during the day but it even spoils
you come night time. I could see why people stay here for longer than intended!
1/04/09
The reason why we had to be in Cusco for the 1st was becuase as part of the Inca trip deal we booked back home through STA travel, we had the two prvious nights booked into a posh hotel. So we checked out in the morning and headed off to our new accomodation. Whilst checking out though i bumped into a Swedish friend of mine and this was the third county i had bumped into him. The world does get alot smaller when your traveling! We also made friends with Matt from Australia and Sarina from America who were in our dorm that morning. They felt like exploring the city so they walked with us to our hotel. I don't think they woiuld have done though if they new it was going to be all up hill!ha The view of the city from our hotel was amazing and the matching red roof tops made it look that much more breath taking. I think we all stood there for about five minutes just in awe of the view! Once settled in walked to
Jacks for some lunch. If i was to make a list of the top things to do in Peru, going to Jacks would make the top five! Mouth watering food and drinks! The restaurant Jacks isn't even that advertised and the place itself isn't even that big. Hence the queues to get a table sometimes but well worth queuing up for! Its populairty is down to the best form of advertising known on the planet, word of mouth. I had a tuna melt and a hot chocolate. Both Mike and I had one of these hot chocolates and i remember us having the discussion of what was better, this hot chocolate or sex!ha We bumped into friends of ours (the Dutch couple) from the salt trip also enjoying the food in Jacks. England was playing Slovakia in a world cup qualifier so there was only one place we wanted to go to watch it...the highest Irish bar in the world! In there we bumped into more people from our salt flat trip!Mike and I got picked up at our hotel around five and got driven to our meeting point where we met our guide and the other members of our
group. As soon as Mike and I saw the four young English lads that were in our group we both gave each other the 'i can't believe it' look! We saw these guys the night before and we all thought they were extremely arrogant. They even turned up late for the meeting and looked drugged up to the eye balls. I wasn't happy but Mike was furious especially after the way they acted during the meeting with the guide. Rude would be an understatement! We tried to keep our heads up though but im not going to lie, we found it hard to do so. I know by experience that its the people that make a trip an awesome one. If your stuck with the wrong crowd it can be a nightmare! Towards the end of the day Matt started to consider coming to the Amazon with us. I think it was due to Mikes and my magnetism!ha We shopped around a bit for for Amazon deals before having dinner and listening to some live music. Mike and I had an early night and watched cable tv in bed...seperate beds that is!
2/04/09
You never know when your
About to get my hair cut!
At this point the lady had been gone for about 5 minutes?!hagoing to fall in love and Mike done so this morning. I was lying in bed and all i could hear from the bathroom was, "now i know why we are paying extra to stay here!" Mike fell in love with our shower and didn't get out of the damn thing for about 30 minutes! When i eventually got the chance to try it out for myself though i could see why! Mike met up with Matt at the internet cafe to look at Amazon trips and i headed to the hair dressers. My hair was bloody long and was driving me crazy! I walked into a respectable looking establishment where i had a pleasent lady sat me down and started to wash my hair. There was only the two of us in the shop and in the middle of washing my hair she just walked off. No word of a lie i think i was sitting there, wondering what the hell was going on for about ten minutes! Eventually she came back and continued washing my hair as if nothing happened. She passed me a magazine and i flicked through it and pointed out what i wanted. A short
and messy style...she refused to do it! She wanted to keep my blonde hair long!ha So i chose a longer version of what i origionally picked out and looked up with a nervous glance to see if she accepted my second choice. Sounds crazy now but she was a full on lady!ha Half way through cutting my hair a young lady walked through the doors. The hairdresser introduced her to me as her younger and single sister...ok then!ha She then handed her sister the scissors and she continued to cut my hair! Set up or what?! I knew then where the hairdresser diappeared to whillst washing my hair! At the time it crossed my mind that the sister had no idea what hair style i wanted. After some trimming and combing my hair into a middle parting she yanked up the apron and said, "finished!" She had a huge smile on her face expressing her delight of what she had just done so i didn't have the heart to say, "what the hell is that!ha " I handed her over the money and walked out looking like a school boy back from the 50's! Meeting back up with Mike at
the hostel it turned out he had an equally eventful day. The internet cafe had given his camera and i pod a virus! He wasn't a happy chappy! Matt had also come down with some illness and had to call out the doctor to the hostel. Mike and I spent the rest of the evening trying to find somewhere to remove the virus for us. Ended up being a very hard task! We even got stuck in a hail storm! We found a place and told them we would be back after the Inca Trail. Matt had 4-5 days whislt we were on the Inca Trail to get better for the Amazon trip so we had our fingers crossed for him. We had another early night after a very stressful day. We had an early start the next morning. We were excited about starting the Inca Trail in the morning but we still had deep concerns about the four English lads. We both agreed though that we had to give them a second chance.
3/04/09
We were picked up first at 6am and to be honest, when we picked up the other four lads afterwards, they seemed like
Within two minutes of the walk.
The flower is called the Forever Young flower. a different bunch of guys. They must have had a chat between themselves and realised that they didn't give the best first impression. As soon as they jumped on the bus they were apologetic for their behaviour before and very friendly. So hats of to the lads. Our first stop was a view point over a small village in the middle of a valley and thats where our guide told us that they grow over 3000 types of potatoes in the surrounding mountains! After buying some walking sticks we found ourselves standing under the Inca Trail sign ready to start the treck. I really couldn't believe that i was there. I had been waiting for that moment for so long and there i was. That feeling itself feels like an accomplishment. Every day there are 200 customers and 300 porters starting the Inca Trail! It seems like a lot of people but the trail is so vast you can walk for hours before seeing someone. Right at the beginning as we were walking alongside a river with mountains either side of us we saw a flower called the Forever Young flower. One of my favourite songs as well by the
Youth Group. It was a great start to the four day treck. I cant really describe the scenery as i wouldn't do it justice but i hope the photos give you an idea to how jaw dropping it is. Seeing the five foot nothing porters run past you with 25kgs bags on their backs with their giant calf muscles bulging away was impresive enough!ha At the view point of the first ruins at LLactapata our guide, David, sat us down and talked to us about the Incas and their way of life. We arrived at our lunch point where our porters had our food and dining tent waiting for us. Great food as well! Sometimes during the walk i felt like i was in the film, Lord of the Rings. This was down to two reasons. The scenery and the fact that Mike looked like Sam!ha Our group were the first at the campsite and what a view! We were situated on the side of a mountian called Wayllabamba. We had trout for dinner and spent the rest of the evening looking at the stars. We were all asleep by eight!
4/04/09
Wake up call
was at 6am which was with coco tea and a warm bowl of water to wash your face with. We had breakfast and were walking within an hour. The second day is the one that tests everyone. Its just about all up hill up unitl Dead Womans Pass. We reached it by 10.30am but it was tough going. You can take as long as you want though and at many times we stopped to catch a breather and to admire the scenery that was swallowing us up. At the top i bumped into some people i knew. I dont know what more strange, bumping into people you know in the middle of the Inca Trail or not being suprised by it?! It happens so many times!ha One of them was Sarina and i blamed her for my bad haircut as she said she was going to do it for me but never git round to doing it!ha The four other lads in our group treated the trail as a race and raced the porters the whole time which gave Mike and I our own private guide. We had an hour and a half treck down to our next camp site
walking past waterfalls where David tought us about many of the awesome flowers (that sounds so gay!) that we passed. We were at the camp site, Paqaymayo, by midday and had a great chicken lunch waiting for us. This campsite even beat the first nights campsite which is saying something. We were in the middle of a canyon at cloud level surrounded by huge cliff faces and waterfalls. We had the rest of the day to ourselves and us lads spent it sunbathing listening to music. Once again in awe of the surroundings. Towards the end of the evening i found a quite spot. Sat on a rock face listening to music i watched the clouds in the distance come rolling in between the mountian tops. It was an unforgetable experience. The clouds seemed to be alive and turned at a ninety degree angle to head straight towards our campsite as if they were an uncontrolable army marching into a city to cause mass destruction. Something im never going to forget. After another amazing dinner we all wasted no time, climbed into our tents and fell fast asleep. Another inspiring day on the Inca Trail.
5/04/09
Hot coca tea was served again but this time at 5am! The first hour and a half was up hill and by the time you get to the top you have the most amazing view of the campsite you left behind. David told us that the third day was always his favourite and i could see why. In fact it was my favourite as well. Walking through the mist and jungle like scenery i felt as if i should of been carrying a whip. Yes, i thought i was Indiana Jones baby! We visited many Inca ruins and it amazed me that the wells were all still working. At one point you walk through a small tunnel made through a huge rock. How did the Incas manage to make this? They made small holes in the rock, thread wood into them and then when the rain season came, the wood expanded and cracked the rock...awesome! We arrived at the campsite of Winaywayna by midday and found out that the other four lads even beat the porters to the site! At this site you have the option to pay for a hot shower and Mike and I done exactly that.
We did have to share the only towel we had which was about the size of a hand towel. As a group we walked to the nearbye ruins which were the most impressive ruins we had seen so far. I walked around the ruins for an hour just trying imagine what it would have been like to have lived here all them years ago. A few of us watched sunset sipping down a cold beer. Since the sunset was behind us, at one point a beam of sunlight lit up the ice capped mountians in the distance straight in front of us. It looked as if God himself (not that i believe in him) was highlighting them out for us. We stayed there for a few hours having a laugh and swapping stories with other groups that had arrived there. Another awesome day!
6/04/09
There was a distingtive pattern emerging as we got woken up, once again with coco tea, at 4am! We walked to the control centre where everyone waited till 5am till we got our passports stamped and continued on the Inca Trail. Standing in the dark talking to groups near us Mike
and I got asked how we met. I always look up into the sky when i get asked that question as no matter how we say it, it sounds so gay! We told people our Fiji story and the comments started! its always good for a laugh though. Once we were allowed through at 5am it did feel like a race to get to Machu Picchu. The first glimpse of Machu Picchu is exactly what i hoped it would be. One of them moments when your speachless! The walk down only took about half an hour and walking around the ruins with a good guide like David was priceless. We learnt so much and it felt as if David really enjoyed sharing his vast knowledge of the Incas. Standing in the Kings bedroom was a wierd feeling. I bet that room saw a lot of action if you know what i mean!ha The only problem with Machu Picchu is that at the moment they have no regualtions to the amount of people they let so as the day goes on it very busy. So you need to get there as early as possible to miss the crowds of tourists. Before
leaving, with the help of my good friend Mike, I managed to take a happy birthday photo for my mum in the ruins. We got the bus to the nearbye town where we had about three hours to do what we pleased. There we spent a few hours in the hot springs soaking our tired legs. Our train was at 1.30pm and it was the best train ride i have ever been on. Something i wasn't expecting happened. Our carriage turned into a catwalk! The couple serving our food etc started to model clothes walking up and down the isle. Then a clown thing came out of nowhere and started prancing down the isle with a stuffed animal of some description. Very strange but a great laugh. I started talking to a bunch of older Americans behind me and they were amazed how we were traveling. They thought it was great!ha One woman said, "your doing the right thing and don't wait till your our age!" Back in Cusco we said goodbye to the other lads and i have to say they were great over the trip. Just shows you have to give people second chances. Mike and I went
out for a Chinese and was gobsmacked by what we saw in the main square. There was a huge religious festival taking place and there must have been over ten thousand people there. We made it alive to the Chinese restaurant to see pictures of the main square on the news!ha We were both exhuasted and couldn't wait to sleep in a normal bed. We were asleep by 8pm!ha
7/04/09
In the morning Mike went to the shop to hopefully pick up his fixed i pod. I was packing when got my first phone call from reception. Matt and Sarina came to say hi. Matt was feeling better and was eager to leave for the Amazon which was awesome news. I shortly got a second phone call to say that the man was here to collect all of our camping gear. I felt like a popular man!ha We said goodbye to Sarina who was leaving that morning and we met up with Mike in the internet cafe. I pod was fixed...thank god! The three of us headed to the bus terminal in a taxi to book tickets to Lima for that evening. Once there we
split up like a trained S.A.S team storming a building and got a great deal. We then paid the last last of the money owed for our Amazon trip and went to a certain restaraunt for lunch. The one and only, Jacks. We lost track of time and had to run to our hotel, grabbed our bags, jumped into a taxi, raced to Matts hostel, picked him up and flew down to the bus station passing a truck along the way which had no outer casing. The driver was literally sat on an engine with a steering wheel!ha We got there just in time. We paid for VIP seats and they were awesome. It was time to relax and to think about the past few days on the Inca Trail. Seeing the journey was going to be about 24 hours we had plenty of time to do so!ha
So does the Inca Trail deserve to be classed as the number one thing to do in South America?! Yes it does! If you don't think you can afford it, stuff it, do it anyway!ha You won't regret it! The added bonus is that you stop over in Cusco,
one of the most beautiful cities you will ever see which has one of the best restaurants (Jacks!) that you will ever come accross! What an amazing start to Peru! Next...the Amazon baby!
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evelyn
non-member comment
sounds like fun
I read a few parts...and sounds like you guys had some fun Im from cusco but I live in Houston TX Im going there in August