MACHU PICCHU

When my alarm went off at 3.50am, I really had to force myself that it was worth getting out of bed (I was so tired and you wouldn't believe how cold it was), but then I remembered I was going to be at Machu Picchu in a few hours and I was much more spurred on!

By 4.20am, we (there were 2 other people in my hostel walking up that morning) had checked out of the hostel and were en route to find the trail for the climb to the pinnacle point of Peru. The beginning of the walk is alongside the river, which flows so fast and loud that in the pitch black the sound was quite scary and heightened the tension and atmosphere of what we were about to see.

At 5am, we reached the welcome sign and registered our passports. We were meeting our guide at the top entrance at 6.30am, giving us around an hour and a half to walk what we had been told was a pretty tough climb with the rocky paths and steps going on for over 2km - made all the worse because of the altitude.

All the way along the path, the cloud was really thick and I could barely see a few steps in front of me, but as sunrise drew closer the cloud slowly started to clear, although is wasn't enough to be able to see the view downwards.

With various photo ops, stops to breathe (pretty often) and water breaks, I made it to the top around 6.15am giving just enough time for a recovery sit down before moving inside.

Once inside, I turned the first corner and my breath was taken away by the (somewhat cloudy) view showing just how grand and massive the site is - it was much bigger than I expected.

We began the tour and it was really interesting to learn about the people, the rituals (including human 'virgin girl' sacrifices) and the history. Not to be boring but heres a tiny snippet of a few details...

The site was discovered in 1912 (I think) by an American named Bingham who paid a local boy to show him the Inca sites in the area (he was actually looking for a completely different set of ruins). At the time, it was completely buried under trees and mountain plants but all the locals knew it existed. Bingham then noted his discovery and claimed it as his own, before beginning the process of extracting it. If you ask many of the locals, they will say that Bingham was lucky to find a kid who wanted the money he was offering (about 10p) and was willing (or naive enough) to give away their Inca secret!

The site was the home of many Inca's and there was a palace for the leader - who had loads of luxuries like the only actual toilet and bathing facilities. On that note, the water and irrigation systems are so clever and effective considering how much rainfall there is. But much cooler is that the ruler used to have a jaguar tied up outside his bedroom to ward of unwanted guests. Bloody amazing, imagine having a pet jaguar!

Anyway I digress...

The whole site can only be described as completely mysterious. Firstly because of the indigenous people who lived here, but also because of it's location high up in the mountains. One minute the whole view will be clear and crisp, seconds later and it will be fully covered in cloud with only a few things visible. Sounds strange but it all added to the charm and atmosphere.

The mountain directly opposite - Waynu Picchu also adds to the granduer as it's massive. You can actually climb that for a view of the site from the other side, which is meant to be just as good, if not better. I actually had a ticket for this, (as they only let 400 people per day through), but you can only go at certain times and it meant I would have had to miss out on half of the tour, which I didn't want to do. But, when the clouds do part and you get a glimpse of the mountain, or on a clear day like they sell the postcards for, the whole things looks even more impressive.

By 9am bus and bus loads of tourists were turning up and I was so thankful to have gotten up early and experienced the silent mystery and feel of the place with only a handful of people around.

The whole time I was there it didn't really sink in what I was looking at and how unbelievable it actually was. But I knew that within a few hours of leaving it would hit me (and it did).

Absolutely incredible...

xxx

Inca Rail to Aguas Calientes

The next day I was pretty hungover and could think of nothing worse than getting up and packing my overnight bag to take with me to Machu Picchu.

After lots of faffing about my options for going to Machu Picchu, I had eventually decided on getting the train to Aguas Calientes, then walking to Machu Picchu for sunrise the next morning. As I mentioned the Inca trail was fully booked for another 10 days or so and although there were lots of other treks on offer, the weather had been so awful (with torrential rain everyday), that I couldn't think of anything worse than being wet and cold walking for 3-4 days solid.

So I laid in bed for as long as I possibly could trying to shake the hangover, then eventually gave in and got all my things ready just in time for my transfer to Ollantaytambo, where the Inca rail runs from.

We arrived in Ollantaytambo at around 2pm and the train wasn't leaving until 4pm which meant that we had time to explore the tiny town and visit some other Inca ruins that are close by and that been recommended as well worth a visit.

The Pinkuylluna ruins were situated on the side of a really steep hill and it took about 30 minutes to walk up there. Being at altitude, I found it much harder to catch my breath and you feel worn out after only a few steps so stopping along the way was essential. The climb was beautiful and the views were amazing, so it was nice not to have to rush and take it all in. The ruins themselves were a set of 3 long and thin buildings which sort of look like half houses. Inside there are lots of narrow corridors and walkways that link the 3 together.

We spent a while sat up at these ruins enjoying the views and the rare sun in the Sacred Valley, before heading off to the train station.

The Inca rail pulled into the station and surprisingly for South America left bang on time. It was a cute little vintage looking train and was tiny with only 2 carriages. The inside was surprisingly nice with leather seats and they didn't try to squeeze 3000 people into the aisles, leaving rare space to breathe on public transport! Only people who had assigned seats were allowed on. Apparently the train line from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes is the worlds most expensive section of track considering the distance it travels, so I suppose they wanted to give people value for their money.

The train journey was really picturesque as it travelled through the misty valleys alongside a heavy flowing river and some snowy mountain tops.

Everything was going perfectly according to plan, but of course it wasn't going to stay that way. About an hour into the trip (the total journey is only about 2 hours), the train came to a stop on the tracks. We sat there for about 45 mins before we were told that there the rain over the past few days had caused a small avalanche of rocks to fall onto the track. They were still slowly falling and needed to be cleared before we could move on. About 5 HOURS later and we were on the move again, but by this point I was understandably feeling quite agitated and was more than ready to get off. It was completely pitch black by this point, meaning we couldn't see the rest of the views on the remaining hour of the journey.

So a 2 hour journey ended up being over 6 and we arrived in Aguas Calientes around 11pm. After finding our hostel, we were briefed by our guide and crawled into bed around 12.30am, certainly not ideal when I was surviving on very little sleep from the night before AND we needed to be up and ready for the climb to Machu Picchu by 4am!

xxx

One of Many Nights Out in Cusco!

Not much to say about my many nights out in Cusco except that the night of the day of horse riding was the first of many.

Loki is a bit of a crazy hostel and no matter how adamant I was that I didn't want to drink or go out, I would get side-tracked at the bar and suddenly it would be happy hour and rude not to have a drink (or 4), especially as normally the whole hostel was doing the same thing and everyone was really fun. We had a really good group of people made even better because I bumped into my friend Lars, who I had seen loads of places along the way and who I had spent Christmas and New Year with (spot the guy in a superhero costume and red bandana).

The nights out were all hilarious and messy, normally entailing lots of dancing and getting home at around 5am...

xxx

Horse Riding in the mountains

The next day I got up nice and early as Bianca and I (one of the girls who I met on the walking tour), had said we wanted to go horse riding in the mountains around Cusco.

Having never really been into horses, I just hoped that I could have a nice tame horse that wouldn't gallop off with me attached! Luckily Bianca and I had about the same level of experience (absolutely none) so had agreed to stick together.

It was a beautiful morning and we set off with a South American cowboy to drive to the Saqsaywaman National Park (which is pronounced 'sexy woman' which the Peruvians find hilarious).

By the time we arrived at the park, it had kind of clouded over but the views of the mountains and over the whole of Cusco city were incredible. So we set off and my little horse named Sol was nice and friendly.

We rode through the mountains of the park for a few hours stopping at various Inca temples (the sun and moon temple) and strangely coloured rocky waterfalls along the way. The views were stunning and at some points completely breathtaking (the photos don't really do it justice as my camera isn't good enough to capture the detail in the distance).

In true Cusco fashion it started to torrential rain meaning we had to wear the ponchos we had packed which were so big you could hardly even see my feet at the bottom!

I actually got quite into the horse riding and by the end I was even galloping up hills and over rivers on him! Even a little bit excited for my next horse riding experience. (Sarah Nattrass, if you read this, let's go for a ride together soon maybe? Not sure I know what I am letting myself in for!)

All fun and games and an amazing experience...

xxx

Cusco Walking Tour

After our super comfy bus ride, we arrived in Cusco at about 6am and it was bloody freezing!

The girls wanted a nice quiet hostel so that they could prepare for the Inca trail which they were booked to do the next morning. But I wanted some action and a busy hostel with lots of new people to meet. So we parted ways and I checked into Loki which was a hostel I had been told about by loads of people along the way.

I spent the morning settling in and sussing out my options for going to see Machu Picchu. The Inca trail was a no go as I couldn't be booked on it until at the earliest 10 days later, which is time I could not afford to wait as I still wanted to see Bolivia and get to Brazil to meet Anna.

The hostel offered a free walking tour of the city so I decided that would be a good way to meet some people staying with me at Loki - and it was! I ended up meeting a hilarious group of people who I spent alot of time with over the next few days while I was in Cusco.

On the tour we visited all the main spots - first we went to the plaza central and church, which were really pretty and you could clearly see the architecture difference when the Spanish invaded and took over.

We then went to some ancient and original Inca walls, which were incredible just how smooth and well fitting together they were, especially compared to the modern stonework above them. All original Inca walls were built only with stone and so the individual bricks are not held together with anything, like concrete. They are just moulded and placed in a synced pattern. Amazing that they have lasted so long and shows how right they had their building techniques as they have withheld so many earthquakes.

We then went to an outside Inca museum, but it was suddenly torrential rain meaning we couldn't see anything. We decided to try and wait out the rain meaning there was time for interaction with the pet llamas who live at the museum. The llamas were really territorial and didn't appreciate us all being there and for a prolonged period of time. On a few occasions, they even spat and kicked other people on the tour. Regardless of this though we all wanted our photo taken as close to them as possible (of course), which I why I look so petrified as I didn't want it to spit on my face!!

That night the group from the tour decided to go out for some food and we hit up a local restaurant only serving Peruvian food. We tried, llama (nice but chewy), Alpaca (delicious, just like steak), guinea pig (gross and comes still looking like it!) and loads of other bits.

Great first day in Cusco - apart from the solid rain all afternoon and evening!

xxx

Santa Catalina Monastery

On our last day in Arequipa, we decided we had done alot of nothing and eating for the past 2 days and it spurred us into seeing something cultural in the city.

We headed to the Santa Catalina Monastery which is a walled city built within the main city that was put there originally for nuns (bloody ages ago, can't remember the date though!).

Inside the buildings are really beautiful and the apartments the nuns lived are quite interesting as they show how they used next to nothing to live.

It was strange as the city is sooo noisy with people beeping their horns every 2 seconds, but within the walls, it was so quiet, in a sort of eerie way and there was hardly any noise at all. You could have easily been standing inside a monastery on top of a hill it was so peaceful.

That night we headed back to the bus station, booked onto a super comfy bus (with leather seats and everything) and headed off on our next adventure in Cusco.

xxx

Arequipa

After our bus journey, we arrived in Arequipa around 8am and managed to check straight into our hostel. This meant that we were showered and ready to see the city by about 11am.

The city was really pretty with alot of buildings made from a special white wash stone set along cobbled streets. A few blocks away from our hostel, there was the central plaza where the massive cathedral which took up one whole side of the square. We spent quite a bit of time here over the next few days people watching, although it was full of low flying, unafraid pigeons!!

The next couple of days, we spent relaxing in Arequipa, wandering the town and sorting some travelling admin which was becoming essential as I had been putting it off so long.

There were quite a few souvenir markets which we visited too and I fell in love with everything made out of super soft llama fur like slippers and hats, but I knew I had to resist as my backpack was completely full to bursting. Although I was keeping an eye out for a jumper knitted from llama wool as it was starting to get much colder in Peru as we were travelling further and further into high altitude.

We also spent our time trying tasty local food and speciality dishes that we had been recommended - some of which were delicious, others were so dry you could barely eat them!

xxx

Points of Interest

Saw this in Nazca (the only good point about the town)....

Anyone for fanny fruit cocktail??!

xxx

Mud Bath and Sandboarding

The next day, the 3 of us woke up pretty hungover from the dodgy pisco, so we had a pretty relaxed and chilled morning, mostly giggling about our adventures the night before!

It was a beautiful day so around midday we dragged ourselves out and about to take in the sights a bit more and catch some sun by the lake. It was a Saturday so it was pretty busy with locals families swimming and picnicking, but we found a relatively quiet patch to sit.

One of the guys working at our hostel was on his break and we saw him sitting nearby, smearing on the mud from the lagoon bed all over himself. Then a local family started to do the same, so I thought I would give it a go... Apparently it's a local indigenous remedy that's really good for your skin - but it smelt horrific!

I covered myself as much as I could and let it dry in the sun, before making a quick exit to go and shower it all off. I can't say I noticed a huge difference in my skin, but maybe it was a little softer!

By the time we had had a good old laugh at the mudbath, it was time for us to leave on the sunset sandboarding tour, which we were all really excited about.

It started by us all getting piled into these huge dune buggies, there were about 10 people per buggy and about 10 different buggies from different hostels and tour companies in convoy. In one buggy we saw 3 nuns getting in, with their full head to toe traditional clothes on - hilarious! They then drive up into the sandunes into the middle of the dessert and the fun begins! The driver was acting like he was driving a stuntman and did some crazy scream inducing moves through the hills.

It was then time for the real fun and to get onto the boards. We got driven to the top of the huge dunes and told to lay down flat on the boards (as you go much faster than standing up) with your head hanging over the edge looking at the long drop below. You then get a push off and go flying down the dune at a ridiculous speed. I tried to get a photo of me going down, but I am going so fast that I look like a tiny blob!

The craziness lasted for about 2 hours and we kept on getting to bigger and bigger dunes - so much fun! The tour ended with us watching the sunset from the top of the dunes overlooking the lake - bliss.

xxx

Ok....

So I am now super out of date on here (about 6 weeks!) but gonna try my best to catch up!

Watch this space...

xxx