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Published: August 30th 2011
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The easiest thing about Peru was crossing the border. Again, it was one bored man, a desk and a stamp....it was all uphill from there.....!
Our first stop in Peru was a town called Puno where we headed out on a half-day trip to the man-made floating islands on Lake Titicaca. The trip itself was very interesting if a little cringeworthy (locals who knew 'twinkle-twinkle little star' for tourists and tips) but we enjoyed the visit.
We were booked on the 3pm bus on from Puno to Cusco, so returned to the hostel to pick up the tickets. No tickets. Calls were made and eventually the agent who sold us the tickets surfaced. She told us the 3pm bus was for locals only. Not a problem - we've been the only pasty faces on buses before. Would we not wait until the tourist bus @ 9pm? No thanks, I've been promised no more night buses for at least 4 weeks. Reluctantly, she handed over the tickets, and off to the bus station with us.
We headed through the gate to the bus and that's when we saw it....bags and bags of live chickens, hens, geese and roosters fighting
and squaking...and waiting to board the bus with us. Stopped in our tracks there really was only one thing to do......laugh! We figured that they couldn't put the birds on board because of the noise of them, and if they put them in with the luggage they would BBQ. Luckily, when the bus pulled off I was one of only a few birds on board.
Cusco was the next stop on the map where we spent 3 nights before heading off on the 4 day, 3 night Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. The trek itself was hard, hard work, but looking back with the benefit of hindsight, a hot shower and clean clothes it was definatley worth it.
Day 1 of the trail we walked about 12 kms but only about 30 minutes of that was uphill which gave us a chance to chat and get to know the other 6 people we were trekking with (5 of the 8 were Irish wouldntyaknow!). Day 2 we had been warned to expect the worst as it was 11kms mainly uphill, and to be careful of the altitude. The walk up to Dead Woman's Pass was tough but we were
with 3 great girls from Cork and the banter (and the numerous breaks!) took the edge off 😊
Day 3 was definately the hardest day for me, not because of the terrain, it was just a really long day and I was so tired from the early starts (we were up @ 5:30 every morning). It became more about endurance than anything else, and I was half tempted to turn around and walk back 2 days! We ploughed on though, and by lunchtime we could see the back of Machu Picchu mountain, so the end was in sight!
On the morning of Day 4 we got up at 4am and in the pitch black queued for the control point to open so that we could finish the trek up to the Sun Gate and into Machu Picchu. The last time I was up @ 4am to queue for anything it was East 17 tickets - and that wasn't the reunion tour either!! When the check point opened @ 5:30 we had another 2 hours to get the Sun Gate where we could get our first glimpse of Machu Picchu. We had been so lucky with the weather on
The start of the Inca Trail....
...all looking relaxed and clean!! the trip, but it was cloudy on the last morning, so when we turned the corner.....Nothing! Cloud Everywhere!! We took a break, and as we were about to take off again the cloud lifted and we saw the Incan city. Unreal. We spent the rest of the day on a 2 hour tour of Machu Picchu, pottering about the site itself and sipping celebratory beers in Aguas Caliente before getting back to Cusco at about 11 that night. LOOOOooooOOOOOooong day.
We spent one more night in Cusco before catching 2 flights north to Piura before heading into Ecuador. When we arrived at the airport it was easy to pick up a vibe that all was not well. We were about 2 hours early for the flight and were approached by a stressed looking airline employee who ushered us up to the top of the queue. We were told that we were being put on an ealier flight. "Not a problem" says Francis. The check-in guy looked Francis dead in the eye and said, "Actually sir, you don't have a choice in the matter". The flight we had been moved to left in 20 minutes. "I'm not suggesting that you
run, but I would definately walk very fast" we were advised, so off we tore like a scene from 'Home Alone' through the airport to catch our new flight.
It turns out that the flight we were originally booked onto was cancelled so we would have missed our connection if we hadn't been pushed up the queue. It meant a 6 hour wait between flights, but thanks to Starbucks and thier free wifi the time flew by!
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