Party time (or not)

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- FOOD: Rehydration salts, an ok Chinese, the best hot chocolate in Jack's cafe, the best bacon and egg roll in Jack's cafe.

- AREA: Party time at 'Sexy Woman' for Inti Raymi (Inca festival) - been to better parties but not many as colourful as this one.... or as crowded.
BINGO on the bus to Nazca (at last!)

- PEOPLE: Many in colourful costumes pretending to be Inca people. MANY on the hill watching these people. Sad goodbyes to my friends. Excitable locals playing bingo on the bus.


Fri 24th June: I certainly wasn't feeling great but armed with rehydration salts and plenty of water I made my way to meet Gregg and Carrie for Inti Raymi. Inti Raymi is a big annual Inca festival and the reason Cuzco is so heaving at the moment.
Even though various parades were taking place in the plaza, Sacsayhuaman (nearby village with Inca ruins pronounced 'sexy woman') is the place to go for the party. We got there to discover locals cashing in on this day by selling space on the hill for us to sit down! The main area where it all happens has seats around it for about 50 dollars so of course all the backpackers make straight for the hill where one would think it's free to sit on a bit of grass.

We got away without paying and then had to sit there for the next 4 hours waiting for it to start. More and more people crowded in and it was virtually impossible to make it down to the 'loo'. Thank god for rehydration salts that WORK.
Then the festival began.... how very slow it was but quite interesting. Shame we couldn't really hear what was being said over the loud speaker even though I probably only would've understood half of it anyway.
The costumes were very colourful and the dancing and drums all very good. They made a 'sacrifice' which wasn't a real life llama thank god. Then stacks of wood were set on fire (I'd been waiting for this bit all day) and that was about it really. It was more interesting to watch all the families sat around us eating their picnics of guinea pig.

The walk back to town was quite unbearable so a nice beer was in order when we got back (my stomach had miraculously recovered for this). We met up with Gregg and Carrie's friends and went for a Chinese which was ok but not the best.


Sat 25th: A lie in at last!!! I spent the day shopping and found some nice shops that weren't tacky tucked away - therefore I spent a fortune and even more of a fortune sending a huge package back home. Oh well, that's all my Xmas presents and Birthday presents for the next year bought!
We all met up in Jack's Cafe and had great food and of course, the lovely hot choc they do. More sad goodbyes.


Sun 26th: I met Stephen for breakfast in Jack's Cafe again and had a bacon and egg roll. Not quite a fry up but the nearest thing my stomach could handle. After another sad goodbye (I hate this but at least have lots of friends to visit on future holidays!), I had a frustrating day. I was in a bad mood anyway because the others had left and then the Galapagos tour just wasn't happening so I didn't know where to go next or what to do!

Settled down with a nice salad in a nice Gringo bar (can you believe I'm saying something very Gringo-y is NICE?) and made a decision to go to Nazca. The journey was not the best - very windy and emergency stops made every time we passed another bus. But I had a seat to myself, even though it was next to the smelly loo. Big bonus though - they played BINGO!!!

YES, at last I get to experience this. It wasn't just bingo but bingo where you had to answer questions to choose numbers. Everyone was so excited and one of the questions was to sing along to karoake instead of a question. Fantastic! After that, we all got to vote for what film we wanted to see - such service. 'What a girl wants' won but it was in Spanish. I didn't want to watch it anyway as all the London scenes made me homesick! The journey was so bad I didn't sleep much but did make friends with some Irish girls who were waiting for the loo!

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