So me and Joel spent that tired Sunday in Cusco sorting out our lives here for the next week. As well as walking round the city, seeing the sights and grabbing a cheap "menu turistico", we found out about Macchu Pittchu treks, of which there are loads and about the biggest bungee jump in the Americas, just outside Cusco. We found the cheapest tour agency we could, which was also recommended to us by some other people in the hostel, and booked ourselves on a 4 day "Inca Jungle" trek starting on Tuesday. It cost 157 dollars and supposedly included everything which we thought was OK. We also decided to do the bungee the next day. Then Joel cooked a quality spag bol.

We got a lot of sleep that night and woke up ready for our bungee. We were both really nervous but agreed that we had to do it now that we'd agreed we would. We bought our $60 (expensive yes, but worth it) ticket and got ourselves a taxi to the park. The bungee is 122m high and is done from a lift which takes you up the 122m from the ground to some wires suspended in the middle of a huge valley. It didn't look very high from the ground, and everyone else coming from doing it looked so calm that we felt more confident. We waited 20 minutes before I was called up. I was told to empty my pockets and take my shoes off before they lay me down on a mat and strapped my feet really really reasssuringly tightly between the ropes. I was then harnessed in as well and got into the lift. It ascended slowly the 122m while the safety explained what I needed to do. He explained that I needed to stand on the platform outside the lift when we got to the top, let go of the lift, hold onto the harness, he would count 3,2,1 and then shout "JUMP" at which point I should jump as far away from the lift as possible (with my feet tied together), spread my arms apart until I "bounced" then hold my head for 5 seconds and then just "relax". We got to the 122m mark andI wasnervous but not too too nervous. Then he opened the door to the lift, and it dawned on me what I had to do. Suddenly the rope tugged on my feet and pulled me torwards the drop. I was all of a sudden breathing really heavily and really really scared. I remembered the advice of someone who did the bungee 2 jumps before me. "you just have to jump, don't even think". I did just that and flung myself out. After this point its all a bit of blur. A mix of falling 105m in 4 seconds and a huge surgew of adrenaline meant that I wasn't really thinking. I remember wondering when I was going to bounce and then being flung all over the place and not having a clue which way the ground was. Then I settled in a more vertical position and remember feeling my head fill up with blood as I slowlybounced towards safety. It was the most incredible feeling ever afterwards, knowing what I'djust done andremembering the feeling of it. Joel swiftly followed and we agreed on the incredible feeling of it all and how it was the scariest thing we'd ever done. We got a bus back to Cusco with huge grins on our faces. We spent the rest of the day doing nothing much, then I made a huge chicken stir fryfor dinner, before our tour agency toild us that there were going to be road blocks in the morning so instead of a 7.30 departure for our tour, we would be leaving at 3.30am!

We got up at 3.15 the next morning and got into our bus. The tour got off to a bad start, as they decided to load up the bus after we'd all got on board so we sat there for over an hour before we actually left Cusco. Also, we didn't actually all fit in the minibus so we spent another half an hour sorting that out. It was impossible to sleep on the bumpy roads so I was knackered by the time we got to the start of our bike ride 4 hours earlier than originally told. We also started the bike ride at 2700m, raher than the 4200m I was told at the start. Then I found out that water weasn't even included, but my guide very kindly (!) told me where I could buy some. THEN, I had a go on my bike, and found out one of the brakes didn't work. I was given the guides bike which was also in horrendous condition, along with every other bike. We started the bike ride, and our guide basically told us just to go, and didn't tell us where to stop or anything like thatso we rode down spread out over about a kilometre, and ifanythig went wreong with anyones bike, which it did quite a lot, we had to wait for about 20-30 minutes for our guide, who was probably already dealing with someone elses bike. A girls tyre burst, and they took the tubing off to find it wçhad alrewady been repaired about 15 times! All of this along with a lack of sleep made me really really angry about the tour and ready to complain when I got back! The ride went onto bumpy dirt track, and on bikes most of which didn't have suspension, was really painful. We finally reached our destination, with our guide nowhere to be seen (it turned out his bike had completely broken and he had to walk the last 9 km!) and we relaxed in a restarant for a while. We then had a siesta before dinner, and then crashed out at 9.

We were up at 5 the next morning, for a day of 8 hours of walking, which was much more successful than the previous day, probably because there were no bikes to break down! It was quite a nice and challenging walk; though this time without huge rucksacks; and we got to know the other members of our group a bit better. The walk took us to a tiny town for lunch (which didn't suffice so me and Joel had to do without as we didn't want to spend any more moeny on the expensive tour), up and down hills and then to some natural hot springs (the price of which of course wasn't included) and then onto a hostel for the night. Over dinner we were offered a different option for the following day, which would mean paying more for a bus and lunch in a more expensive/touristy town, which the other group members chose, much to mine and Joel's disappointment as it meant even more money being spent. However, it turned out to be worht it as we saw Macchu Pittchu from another nearby mountain, the next afternoon, and avoided the "boring" part of the tour. After having done that, we crashed out early again, before our final day, at Macchu Pittchu. There was also another problem as it turned out that half of the group hadn't been bought train tickets back to Cusco as their company (a different one to mine and Joels for some reason) hadn't bothered to. This meant they had to leave MP really early to get a bus back at the only possible time, while me and Joel had a train at 9.20pm! We all got up at 4.15am, and the rest of the group waited for and paid for the first buses up while me and Joel trekked up for an hour and beat them there. It was absolutely incredible there, and so so interesting to learn all about the Incas. We had a tour which explained a lot of it before the others had to rush off to see as much of it as possible before their bus, while Joel and I took our time, and snakced our way through the day on empanadas and biscuits, to avoid buying a 30 dollar meal up at the site. We went up "Waynapittchu" - the big mountain shown in the picture at the top - and asw yet another spectacular view of MP. I thought it might be a bit underwhelming as it is hyped up so much, but it was so so worth it and incredib ly intertesting to to learn about how clever they were, and also all the stories told by our guide which were admittedly only possible ones, and sometimes quite unbelieveable. We saw most of the sight and walked around for hours on end taking countless photos before walking back down to the town, again avoiding paying more for the bus, despite our lack of sleep and general tiredness. We crashed out on the sofas in the hostel for a few hours, waking up having been covered in blankets by a lovely woman there , and went and got our train. We slept the whole way, and then didn't on the bumpy minibus which luckily happened to go past our hostel so we went back and crashed out, knackered.

That was last night and it is now Saturday and we are trying to have a bit more of a relaxed time for a while after a hectic 2 weeks. I now have to get off the internet!