Cusco, Peru

We just left Cusco last night after being in the region for just over a week. I will try to keep my explainations short!

The first 5 days we spent exploring Cusco and its sights and re-adjusting to the altitude. I was really feeling it the first day - I wasn´t hungrey and went to bed at like 8pm (Amy wasn´t hungrey!?!?!). We saw all the sights in town, I got a massage and a manicure, we saw a couple of near by arcilogical sights, including a site close to Cusco coimonly known as "sexy woman" as this is how it sounds to the ears of the English, it is actually spelt very differently and means "sacred falcon" but they tour guides take advantage of what we hear when they say it!! We also visited the inka citadel and the tourist markets of nearby Pisca and during a four hour walk saw some spectacular veiws - due to the clear skys (this was I think our first hike without rain, yay!)

Following this we went on an "adventure tour" with four others, to Machu Picchu. The involved 1 days biking, 55km downhill on dirt tracks, jon loved it, I hated it!! I was so slow becasue I was scared of falling off and it hurt my arms like hell, so yeah we decovered that off road biking isn´t really my thing... We then had two days of walking which was fun, but nackering. The first day we walked 19km, off road and lots of up hill, it was so tiring but the veiws and the gorgeous hot spings to finish the day off made it worth it. We did however get bitten to death by mossi´s, a different type to English mossi´s I think they call them sandflies. You don´t feel a think when they bite you and all you see for 24 hrs after is a little red spot, then after that the swell up horribly :(, it was not nice!! The third day was more walking again, after a late breakfast (9am was late after the 5:30 breakfast the day before) we walked 10km along the train tracks to Aguas Calientes, the town under Machu Picchu where we spent the last night. In the afternoon of the third day we walked up a pretty treacherous moutain (with many wooden ladders) to gain our first views of the inka citadel. The fourth day was Machu Piccu day and I felt terrible!! I couldn´t sleep all night becasue of noise and becasue of my swollen arm (covered in sand fly bites) and then we got up at 4:00am and walked for 1.5hrs uphill to machu picchu. When we got inside we had a guided tour of the citadel for two hours, during which I kept falling asleep and was constantly shivering. It was not really that great and I was bloddy annoyed considering how much I had been looking forward to it!! The day got better thop. The sencond half of the tour involved more walking sao it woke me up and stopped me being quite as cold, jon gave me his jumper (so I was then wearing 3 jumpers), and as I paid more attention to the tour, I became more interested in listening and less interested in my own discomfort! The afternoon was a lot better, I felt more alive and we walked up another mountain overlooking the ruins, this gave up an amasing view and wasn´t too difficult a climb and I felt a lot better for it. The ruins of Machu Picchu are amasing, for up high they look superb and walking through them you are amazed by the size, by the condition they are in, and by the scpoe of the building that took place so long ago. It really was awsome to see, no matter how much I compalain about everything else!!!

We walked back down to Aguas Calientes for about 3pm and got pizza (we thought we well deserved it after all that walking) before getting the train and then a Bus back to Cusco, me and Jon made freinds with some Peruvian Journalists on th train which was quite amusing.

Back in Cusco me and Jon got our bags and headed to the Bus station for an over night bus to Puno. Upon arrival we met a man offering us accomodation, without much fuss we followed him, it wasn´t to bad a price and at 5:30am with no sleep we decided it was best to go to a place that was definitly open rather than using the book and possibly being disappointed. It is now 13:15 and Jon is still asleep as he is not feeling great, getting up at 4:00am and not sleeping well on the bus, along with painfully swollen legs covered in bites is not agreeing with him.

The last four days have been painful, what with lack of sleep, the walking and the biting flys, but it was worth it. Maccu Picchu was amasing, as was a sceenery along our 2 day hike, we met some really cool people and we had a good laugh. The rest you just have to put up with!!

Until next time
Aims
xxx