Imagine your very first question when reaching one of the wonders of the world was "are there toilets on the site?". Well that was me at Machu Pichu.....suffering from my third day of the Inca Two Step or it could have been revenge being taken on me for eating Alpaca two nights before. Whatever the cause it was interesting to run the risk of climbing all of the site with ones mind always slightly somewhere else. None the less, it was worth the fight and the 5am start to get on the site early to see the clouds rising around the site and the adjacent peaks, almost like fire burning up from the ground to surround the mountains. This was one of those places that doesnt disappoint when you get there despite having seen the images a hundred times before as the reality is more surprising as the site is actually much larger than the photo images would suggest. A couple of days before that I was made amare that my adrenalin rushes didn't end with the Auckland jump. Above the Sacred Valley is a narrow path which runs along some 600 feet above the floor and as I was maiking my cautious way along, a thunder and lighting storm began and I was hit by hailstones the size of small peas. Naturally I wasn't wearing my anorak as I had left that in the van and so now I was left to carry on to the ruins or turn back into the storm. Then I remembered I had packed a disposal poncho in my daypack and managed to fit it over myself halfway along the cliff. Ended up looking like a very large white kite advertising BP petroleum as it had been a hand out at an open air concert I attended in London some years ago. Forgot to mention I shot through Chile in two days .. Santiago and a trip to Valparaiso where I remembered from my history that Francis Drake had sacked the place.....and then a quick trip to the home of Neruda the poet quoted in the firm Il Postino. As the QE2 was in dock the town was awash with the rich and rich 'taking in the town' so it would have been better to have stayed in Santiago. First thing done in Peru was a trip up the Amazon for just a couple of days but was interesting none the less as we (group of seven, now reduced by illness to five) saw caiman, variety of monkeys and blue and red macaws. Of all the Inca sites visited the one which remains in my memory, even above Machu Pichu is Sacasayhuaman just above Cusco town where the Inca built a huge 'temple/religous/spiritual' centre from stones the size of small cars, all of which fit so perfectly together that you cannot get a single sheet of paper between the blocks. Standing there in the early morning sun a few days ago I was quite overcome by the peace and serenity of the place. Enough of the philisophical stuff. I confess to having eaten guinea pig and alpace and can say that neither demand a revisit. The pig was like a small rabbit but without the flavour or texture and alpaca was like ramb with a venison smell. And one more thing. Who are all the traffic police in Peru female? Is it positive discrimination, gender politics, cheaper to pay them? No, it is because they are (marginally) less likely to be struck by a motorist when they approach them!! Off tomorrow to Lake Titicaca.