I'M IN LIMA! Named after Lee Mah; the Japanese explorer who founded it. Ooooh.

Yesterday was my 9 month anniversary of travelling. The slippery-eel of time is passing as fast as, well, a slippery eel. EELS. Ahem. I'm feeling fairly well seasoned nowadays. Life of the road is enveloping my entire being. Bit dramatic El, as always. So, happy anniversary to me! One month to go til I fly to NYC and homewards. Crikey. Let's get on with it and I'll tell you of my latest exploits in deepest, darkest Peru…

Another night-bus ride from the shores of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia into Peru (#14). Fantastic sunset border-crossing, where we were welcomed with open arms into our new adoptive country. Peru has Tuk-tuks - like south-east Asia! Me and Cris spent a long time laughing at them. Not sure anyone else really got the joke… Bundled into a minibus and driven to Puno, then changed into a big, uncomfy bus for the night. Not the best, but we eventually arrived early and tired into Cusco.Decided to walk to the hostel (now I know the city better I have NO idea how we did this, it's really far!). First impressions of Peru? Really good! People were friendly and helpful, they smiled. This is a big contrast to Bolivia. It obviously has a bit more infrastructure, and Cusco is a delightful city. Full of beautiful plazas, fountains and churches. You'd be hard pressed not to fall for the place, which I swiftly did. It's at altitude (again), which meant walking up the evilly steep stairs to Loki Hostel was particularly painful, and so became the bane of my life for the next week. Now, LOKI. Oh Loki, Loki, Loki. This is a chain of hostels in Peru and Bolivia renowned (notorious?!) for being… party-hostels. Yes, that dirty word amongst us classy 'traveller' types. Haha, I joke. Loki and Wild Rover are the two big chains that offer pretty much 24/7 socialising if you want it. Now here's the thing, we didn't stay at the La Paz one, but now it was time to take the plunge and see what it was all about. For a start Loki Cusco is beautiful. Occupying four quads of an old monastery (oh how very far it's come from its roots…) it actually emits a very calming atmosphere. It is possible to avoid the bar if you can't cope with it every night, it is packed with gringos (mainly Brits, glup) and I often felt like I was at uni again… but damnit I had fun. I'm a Loki convert, addict… I've been LOKI-ED.

Me an Cris got straight out to book our Inca Jungle Tour (the backpacker "I've-not-got-that-kinda-dollar" Inca Trail). We booked it, and ate a hearty 4-course meal for a pound. Gotta love Peru. Then we indulged in some Loki-time. Dancing on bars, tables, anything that comes to hand really. Good honest fun. Time to get up at the crack of dawn (okay 7am…) and head to our 4-day-3-night trip into the Amazon jungle to… MACCHU PICHU! Cannot express the excitement, this is one of those do-before-you-die things right? Exactly. Anyhoo, we strangely got picked up by the side of the road by a kid who told him in to follow him… yeah just like Aladdin! No but not. We got in a 'collectivo' (shared minivan, always a joy - picture a tin of sardines on wheels, with people instead of sardines but generally smelling worse). Then we sat in on the pavement of random street while men fiddled around with mountain bikes around us. Strange start, my fingers were crossed I can tell you. Thankfully a few long minutes later we got squeezed into another van, this time with the people on our actual tour. Wheyyy! Our guide Chavo (I kid you not) popped in next to me and we were off! We drove up and up and up this awesome road; first on the agenda? Downhill mountain biking, oh yeah! You know from my last blog I was a fan. 'Cept this time the bikes weren't quiiiite as good, and it was all on tarmac, and it was WET. But, heck, I had a great time anyway. Going FAST. Started to get to know the team straight away. The two mad Aussie lads (their motto was "I got one speed….. GO!" dubstep eh?) who 'lost' a pedal on the way down (Chavo NOT impressed), the Brit girls who 'lost' all their footwear on the journey there, a polish/Canadian couple who sneakily kept overtaking me then stopping right in front of me… I'll enlighten you of the other characters in our team in good time. We all got to the bottom of the awesome road in one piece, just. A few crashes, a few minor injuries. None of which involved me by the way! Oh yes. We had lunch in a restaurant and then I decided to go spur-of-the-moment rafting. Some of the team were already signed up but I paid a little extra cos I really like rafting. And of course nothing is a problem in Peru, even if it is getting dark, and there are road blocks EVERYWHERE cos of landslides. Freddie the rafting instructor was as laid back as a hibernating sloth. So, we did our briefing on the side of the road, pulled up to a terrifyingly huge and swollen river, and got in it! "This is how you paddle!" shouts Freddie as we start floating rapidly downstream. Adrenaline played a major part in my day. The river was amazing and actually a lot scarier than it looked; I reckon we would have got down safe even if we'd sat there and stared at it. There were some BIG bumps but I don't think it was as challenging as the one I did in NZ. Mainly it was just great, we all crashed our paddles together and shouted "TIGERS!!!" at Freddie's command, the thin crescent moon came out over the mountain. We missed our exit-point completely and ended up wandering around barefoot, in the dark, in the jungle (just DON'T think about what your stepping on). Eventually found the road, the boat (which Freddie had patiently fished out, bless him) and pumped the dance tunes all the way home, just in time for tea. Euphoria was back on the menu.

Day 2 dawned bright and early (did I really type that?! The weather was AWFUL). Minimal sleep had been had after numerous practical jokes in our dorm involving children's toys. Hmm. Oh and a kitten. It was tipping it down, so we were all in our colourful full plastic-poncho regalia. Sexy. Started our first day trekking, chatting away with a lovely Brit couple from Darn-Sarf when The Chavo stopped us to point out… A CHOCOLATE TREE. I thought all my Christmases and Easters had come at once, arriving late to the conversation I threw myself at said-tree shouting "Chocolate?!! Can I pick one?!!" Chavo didn't have time to answer… I landed smack bang into the thickest, gloopest mud pit you could imagine. When will I learn? Needless to say this incident became a bit of a sticking point for me amongst my peers. Turns out I was only allowed to touch the seeds, and there's no chocolate inside. I have no shame, really. Continued the trek with chocolate-coloured mud caked to my boots. Fully deserved, as was the teasing that continues to this day. Chavo piled us into a minivan and took over all the other groups (haha suckers!) I think he had kinda safely assessed that we were going to be trouble by now. Then we started UP. Man did we go up a lot. Painful, but rewarded by amazing views of the valleys, a monkey that lives in a tree, and painting ourselves orange with Inca-paint (it comes from the fruit of a tree you know). Cool millipedes, cool views, a little boy weeing on the Swedish girls (you just can't make this stuff up), clambering over landslides, an active landslide that we had to run across (that was exciting), we eventually dropped down into our next little village of San Teresa. I played footy in a rainy street with Pervian kids (of course the beat me), we had dinner in a restaurant, got rowdy and embarrassed ourselves. There is one club in San Teresa… pretty much showed them. Ha. I know this isn't necessarily how you would imagine an 'Inca trail' trip to be, would you? Neither did I, but I was pleasantly surprised. I've done my fair share of going to bed at 8pm in a cold tent and carrying my life on my back in Patagonia. This was a refreshing 'trekking' change. Much like a ski holiday! How lovely.

DAY 3. Ouch. No rest for the wicked… off to do 6kms of zip lines hundreds of metres above the jungle canopy. Now that's what I call a hangover cure. It was really fun, not as scary as you think, actually quite relaxing. Incredible scenery too. Got dropped off at the lunch spot and then the trekking begin. This time nice and flat. Ah I love flat! In fact along the railway lines that go alllll the way to Agua Calientes (Macchu Pichu base-camp-city). It was fun walking, chatting with the team and even though it rained and tiredness set in, I was happy. We reached the terror-inducing Urubamba river (same one we rafted) but MUCH rougher, really takes your breath away, the power of the water. Just as night fell we arrived exhausted to Agua Calientes and our last hostel. However, the day was not done! We had to check out what the town is famous for; it's called 'Warm Waters'… any guesses? Oh! Hot springs? Yes please! And a piña colada or two? Why not! Flashpacking to the max. Loved running from the freezing pool and jumping in the warm one, messing about with all the team, mountains looming on all sides, pretty much bliss after a hard days walking. Early to bed this time though, because of DAY 4 it was….

MACCHU PICHU DAY

Up at 3.30am to get in the line for the grueling task ahead; a climb of over 1000m straight up to the gate of the Incan city of Macchu Pichu. Why this ridiculous time I hear you ask? A) beat the herds B) Get on the list to climb Huena (Wena) Pichu mountain, which is limited to 200 people at a time. C) IT'S HARDCORE. We were 42nd in line before the bridge when it opened, then it is literally a race up the 1000 or so steps to the top. 5 minutes in your sweating like hell, 10 in the pain starts. It doesn't stop for another 45 mins. I have to say it's one of the most physically demanding things I've even done. No stopping, no resting just STEPS. I've never hated steps so much in my life (oh no wait, the 90s…), but getting to the top for sunrise? Being the 15th person to get a stamp? Priceless.

We met Franco our guide at 6am inside the complex. Today was Election day for Peru, so Chavo had headed home to vote. We had a kinda mediocre tour from the new dude, we were all feeling pretty nakered to be honest. But getting up that first hill and seeing it all laid out there, yeah it's incredible. It's really beyond belief that it ever existed, let alone that it's still there and you're walking around it. The Peruvian's are understandably precious about it and the Inca's in general. I was hastily batted away from the whole 'slavery' issue, apparently the people worked to pay taxes to the Incas so they could live on the land they had always lived on. Hmm. It's also very expensive to get in, to get there and generally is the reason most people come to Peru. Like I said, understandable. Wandering around it early in the morning is magical. Later when the tour groups arrive in their shiny buses up the hill It gets crowded and loses some of its allure. At this point us 'proper' travelers trekked up Huena Pichu the mountain you see towering over the ruins in all the pictures. This is equally as challenging but more fun, and in daylight, so I didn't find it so bad. Getting to the top is nothing short of spectacular. 360 mountains, ruins, valleys, rivers. I never wanted to leave. But leave we must, energy levels completely disappeared, and in honesty going down can be as tiring as going up. Ended up running down all 2 billion steps cos it just hurt too much to walk. This makes sense in my brain, but I understand you might have difficulty with the concept. Got down to the bridge, jumped into a waterfall with the boys and Jo, cold beer at a restaurant. WHAT A DAY. And it was only 2.30pm. We had had an amazing time, made some amazing friends, done some crazy things, seen ancients ruins, monkeys, walked many kilometers and watched drunken Australians break flowerpot-lampshades with their heads. By far one of the best experiences of my travels so far, all of it I mean, not just the flowerpot incident.

Me and Cris got the posh Peru Rail train ahead of the team, who we would inevitably see again in Cusco. Remember how I said it was Election Day? Well there was chaos at the station, everyone trying to get home to vote. People were panicking and trying to climb the gates or get tickets or something, we got ushered through into a safe 'gringo' cage to wait. To be honest, this really got to me. I have never felt quite so acutely apartieded . Yes we had tickets in advance, yes we are western travelers, but seeing all those people trying so hard to fulfill their democratic right, to squeeze into tiny 'local' carriages while rich westerners sip drinks in gringo class? Made me sick. I don't know what to do about it and there was nothing I could do, I had to go back with the ticket I had been given. I talked to Cris on the way home about it and he agreed it was wrong. Sigh. My longing to fix the world will never end I think. No-one won the election by the way… It was a draw.

Back in Cusco the dream-team continued to hang out together and paint the town red. A lot of fun was had. At some point we all started calling each other "Llamas" (say it - "Yama"). Slowly but surely we all started to go our separate ways… Cris too, left me. I know, I know, but I'm saving the big goodbye speech for another time because I am now BACK with Cristián and we are going north together to Mancora! What can I say, it's my magnetic personality. Ha! Then I got the single worst bus journey I have had in South Am. And that's saying something. Perhaps it was fate and I was meant to stay longer in Cusco (I really didn't want to leave). To cut it short, I was hungover, then there was no water, then it broke down, we sat for 8 hours waiting for a new bus, my body decided it was NOT well, evil, evil stomach pains, migraine, all drugs in buses hold, still no water, can't eat, 32 hours later we get in Lima at 1.30am. Horrible. I stayed one night in Loki Lima then moved to recover. All I have done since then is sleep and tentatively start eating again after three days. It's not all adrenaline rides, hot springs and pretty sunsets you know. Travelling hurts. Have to say I haven't seen much of Lima. Neither do I have the energy or inclination to see much of it. I'm staying right on the coast and have gorgeous views of the pacific. Just had a stroll to see one such pretty sunset, alone though. Awww. It's funny being on my own again. I meet Cris again tomorrow so it's short lived, but I don't mind it. I also met my lovely Rafi from Switzerland. Who I trekked in Patagonia with for weeks! It was so good to see him, we strolled and laughed alot. He flew home yesterday, which I felt really sad about for some reason.Getting a bit emotional with all these goodbyes.

For now I am feeling MUCH better. I have completely hermitted myself from all socialization for 3 days. I've become 'that anti-social one' in the dorm. The other day I caught myself chatting to some yanks and actually had to physically remove myself from the room, next thing you know I'll be dancing on the bar…

Over and out for now my friends,

EJT