Spent 4 hours at Machu Pichu, just trying to take it in. Then took the train back to hotel in Cusco. The group was to have 3 nights in the city but me and 4 others opted for the additional trip of 2 nights in Amazon Jungle staying at a lodge in the middle of the rainforest. I have just returned from this and I am glad I did it. We flew in to Peurto Maldonado then took a 3 hour motorised canoe trip up river to the lodge. Our rooms at the lodge had 3 walls only. The fourth side was completely open to the jungle so we could lie in bed listening and watching the forest. Fortunately, our beds had mosquito nets, that doesn´t stop them biting me but it did make me feel a whole lot better when a big bat flew into the room last night. I could hear it but not see it, probably best that way! Whilst there, we did a night camen hunt by canoe where we could again listen to the sounds of the jungle by night. We visited a fruit farm and took a hike to an oxbow lake teeming with sardines, freshwater stingray and piranah. On the way back from the lake we hiked through the jungle as night was falling. I was only just saying how I wanted to see a snake in the wild and was amazed that I hadn´t seen one given the countries I have visited, when .... there it was, one of the peru´s most deadly snakes, the Parrot Snake, all inocently coiled up by the side of the track, bright pea green in colour. Unfortunately, there was a girl in our group that had been taken quite ill on the lake and was going to be stretchered back through the jungle and because of this the snake had to be killed to ensure no-one was at risk because the group was becoming disjointed. Seeing the snake really put my surroundings into perspective. It made it feel so much more like a jungle then a forest. Oh and whilst on the lake we rowed up to a tree bough protruding out of the water, and it wasn´t until we were right by it that our guides pointed out 6 or 7 bats camoflauged on the bark ... not my favourite animal. Then someone spooked them and they all flew off ... I was not too impressed as anyone who knows me can imagine. I have a real phobia of bats! So now we are back in Cusco. Tomorrow we leave at 7am for Puno where we will be driving through the altiplano and experiencing traditional life by staying with local family. Really looking forward to it. I have to say, Peru gives New Zealand a real run for it´s money as far as stunning scenery is concerned.