Day 15

Tuesday 16^th November 2010

Another poor attempt at a night out last night – home by 9pm!! We watched Ed Byrne on the lap top and settled down for another early night.

This morning we had to be up bright and early though because we were going white water rafting on the Urubamba River. We drove for a couple of hours south of Cusco. Here we were given our gear – wet suits, striking yellow jackets and helmets. After a quick safety briefing we were off down the river with out fellow adventurers, John from Colarado, Hayley from New York  and our Peruvian guide.

It was another beautiful sunny day and the scenery was staggering as we splashed and lurched our way down the river for the next couple of hours. It was lots of fun!

At one point we were encouraged, egged on, dared and bullied to leap into the icy waters. So naturally we agreed – and immediately regretted it! It was noticeable that none of the guides were stupid enough to take the plunge.

After lunch back at the camp we then had the opportunity to cross the river by a number of different zip lines. The best bit being was when Franky stopped some 10m from the end of the line and had to haul himself back to shore!

We were driven back to Cusco in time for our pre-Inca trail briefing. We have felt a lot better today but are still feeling the effects of the altitude and after the briefing we are really wondering what the hell we have let ourselves in for! A gruelling 9 hours walking for 3 days followed by a 4am get up and another 2 hours walking – sounds like fun doesn’t it!?

One of girls in our group, Angela, had previously been in Cusco for a month learning Spanish and so offered to take a few of us to a ’really good local restaurant’. We tried 'Chicha' the local corn beer - kind of sweet with the consistency of egg!

Not being one to shy away from trying new things I plumped for the guinea pig, along with Calluma and Will while Franky opted to stay safe with the lamb. Now I wasn’t bargaining for half a guinea pig complete with head, feet, claws etc that had been both roasted and deep fried until it was as tough as old boots. After a polite taste to say I’d tried it I left well alone, as did Callum. Will on the other hand devoured his leaving not a scrap of meat – not even the brain!!!!

We weren’t really in the mood to party after that so it was a quick trip to the supermarket to pick up essentials for the trail – namely our body weight in chocolate in case they try to feed us guinea pig there too!!! Tomorrow we’re off to the Sacred Valley and overnighting at Ollantaytambo before starting the hike on Thursday. All being well (ie: if we survive this) we’ll be back in Cusco on Sunday night and so will try to blog on Monday.

Day 14

Monday 15^th November 2010

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz !!!

Wow altitude makes you sleep sleep sleep. We nodded of again last night at 10 and woke at 6 this morning. That was after having a 6 hour “nap” in the afternoon. We are beginning to match my brother in the sleeping stakes!

We went out about half seven and grabbed some brekkie. I don’t know why I always do this but it doesn’t matter where I am in the world, if I see Full English on a menu I expect Full English. Not fried potatoes, almost no bacon and some massive beans with blended tomatoes; I don’t know why I do it to myself. Suz had banana pancakes in a caramel type sauce, it was huge and more like dessert than breakfast, she ate approximately 3/16ths.

It was a beautiful sunny day so we had a mooch around the town square Plaza de Armas, looking for a rafting trip for tomorrow. We found one for about 38 quid each that included rafting, a few 120 metre zip lines over the river and a shower and a steam room when your done, so that’s tomorrow sorted.

The whole town is largely constructed of inca walls which comprise huge blocks of stone. Very impressive when you think that they didn’t have any of today’s technology to construct them.

The local town’s folk are so proud of their heritage they shout at you if you touch them! Apparently the acid in your hand is dissolving the stone (seems a little over the top when last night I saw 5 kids playing football against it and one little girl doing a wee on it). There is a special stone with 12 sides in one wall said to depict the 12 inca kings.

We also saw the cathedral and various other important buildings. They are a mixture of Inca walls with arches etc added by the Spanish when Fransisco Pizarro found his way over from Lima in the 1500s and overthrew the Incas, thus ending their empire.

We headed up to the market and had a bustle around, they sell the most horrendous jumpers you have ever seen, they made me want to self harm.

So we bought one…………………. each!

                                 

I‘ve also purchased a leather hat, not too dissimilar in style to Sir Indiana Jones’ for our adventures, an adventuring hat if you will. It’s cooler than Snoop Dogg in an ice bath “ma nizzle!”

After all that we headed to a bar, well it was 11:20. We sat on what they call a balcony overlooking the plaza, which was basically 12 inches squared to “enjoy” your drink. I folded myself into my stool and decided I wasn’t much enjoying my drink so asked Suz if she fancied a game of darts.

She won

After which we came back to the apartment for yet another nap, 14:00 – 17:30 which I think means we’re getting acclimatised. We did manage to miss a huge thunder storm though – result!

We’re gonna pop round to the Irish Bar again tonight and try a beer or two which I predict means we’ll be home in bed for 9

Good times!!

Day 13

Sunday 14^th November 2010

Last night we met our group. They seem like a good bunch. We had a pre-tour briefing and then went out for dinner. We also met our tour leader, Paul. He claims to have been doing this job for years but you’d never know it. He waffles and dithers his way through!!! Having forgotten most of the printed info he should have given us he went on to give us an overview of Lima, claiming that Lima is a very safe city on the whole, street crime has declined and we shouldn’t worry about kidnapping as he has only had people on his tour kidnapped once!!!! I personally feel that is something to worry about – collectively we comprise 6 Brits, 6 Aussies and 2 Kiwis – I guess that’s quite a large ransom!!! Co-incidentally we no longer have the monopoly on being the honeymooners as there are 3 honeymooning couples in our group.

We had a very early start this morning (5.30am!!!). The rest of the group have headed to the jungle. We, however, have flown with to Cusco for a couple of days free time.

Needless to say we did not have breakfast prior to leaving the hotel at such an ungodly hour so were delighted to discover a Starbucks in the airport. We grabbed a coffee and pannini with a couple of other members of our group and found ourselves a table. There was a jacket draped over the back of one of the chairs – assuming someone had left it by mistake and would pop back when they realised we settled down to our breakfast. Some 15 mins later a lady came over, indicated the jacket on the back of my chair and announced ‘I am sitting here, that is my jacket, I have reserved this place’. Slightly stunned I got up and said ‘OK, What are you German?’. Imagine my surprise when she replied in a slightly confused fashion ‘Yes, I am German!!!’. I was so shocked that the stereotypical German behaviour was no longer confined to sunbeds in Spain and had followed me all the way to Starbucks in Peru I had to clarify, ‘ Really, You ARE German?’. ‘Yes’, she replied – so I let her have the seat – what further argument did I have? She genuinely did not seem to understand the link between her nationality or her actions, nor the ridiculous situation given that there were some 10 spare seats in the place – just not the one she had reserved. So she sat down with Franky, Mark and Amey to enjoy her coffee and I found myself another table!

The view from the window of the plane was truly stunning. Firstly we were flying over miles of barren desert as Lima is actually located within a desert (the second largest city in the world to be found in a desert, the biggest being Cairo). The terrain changed as we headed upwards over the Andes.

 

Cusco means ‘navel’ or ‘belly button’ and is the original centre of the Inca empire. It’s a small city of 380 000 people and gets 1 million tourists a year as it is the step off point for the Inca trail and lost city of Macchu Picchu.

Cusco is also at an altitude of 3500m of 11 000 feet and boy can we feel it. The advice on arrival is to sleep (something Franky was delighted about!), avoid rich food, alcoholic drinks, smoking and exercise. However, Paul had helpfully arranged an orientation walk for 10am as we arrived!!! We checked into our hotel which is very comfortable with a beautiful view over the city and the back of the cathedral and then had a slow meander around the town square.

This afternoon we have taken the advice and stayed in the hotel, reading and sleeping. We have also tried the local ‘Coca’ tea which apparently helps alleviate altitude sickness and only contains trace amounts of cocaine (!?). It is legal here in Peru, a complementary supply is available courtesy of our hotel in reception, but it is not to be exported!!!!

At 6pm we decided to head out for a bite to eat. The highest Irish owned Irish pub in the world is only 200m from our hotel so that is where we were headed. Worryingly by the time we arrived we both had pins and needles in our fingers and toes and were feeling completely spaced out – further symptoms of the altitude. It is a great little pub – good food and good company. I wish I could tell you what the beer was like but we have actually taken the advice and not touched a drop, sticking to the soft drinks.

So at 8pm we have come back to the hotel, puffing and panting the 200m back up the hill. We’re planning a quiet night in with a film on the lap top and a Cadbury’s fruit n nut – we know how to live it up!!!! Hopefully we’ll be a little more acclimatised tomorrow.