THURSDAY 16TH and FRIDAY 17TH OCTOBER

OK, here's the last instalment from Peru, and it will be a bit shorter than the previous one, promise!

JAMES

So, another early start - 4.30am this time! By 5.30 we were on the bus from Aguas Calientes winding our way up the never ending mountain road up to Machu Picchu. Slightly less scary than the week's earlier bus journeys, except for when the empty tourist buses would come careering round the hairpin corners only to meet us at the apex. I guess the bus drivers are pretty used to it - some swift and dexterous moves saw us on our way again, and soon enough we had our first views of the stunning mountain top complex of Machu Picchu. I could waffle on for ages about how stunning the place is, but words simply wouldn't do it justice. I am not even sure the photos do it justice. Suffice it to say it was unbelievably stunning (I should really find a different superlative to use - I promise to do so at least by the time we get to Uluru), much bigger than I had expected, and exceeded all my expectations tenfold! Not only is it the ruins, but the setting as well. With towering, cloud forest-clad mountains in all directions, there cannot be many more spectacular places to be.

We had a detailed tour courtesy of Aly which lasted a couple of hours and explored most of the complex. After that, at around 9am, we had free time, with the only instruction to be back at the hotel by 1pm in order to get the train back to Ollantaytambo at 1.30. So me, Katie, Brian and Charlotte set off for the Sun Gate, some 400 metres above the main complex, affording stunning view back down. Or at least there would have been stunning views back down, but there wasn't much sun going on at the Sun Gate by the time we arrived. Mainly just cloud and rain. Oh well, at least it was atmospheric!

The train journey back to Ollantaytambo was interesting to say the least. The Peruvians idea of in-train entertainment (not sure that particular concept even exists anywhere else!) was somewhat different. I'll let Katie divulge the details!

We all went out for a farewell dinner and drinks once back in Cuzco. Had a really nice meal and then headed out to check out the nightlife. The live music at the club was also "interesting", and the disco thereafter was not much better! A dodgy stomach on my part curtailed the evening at midnight - no disappointment from a musical perspective but very disappointing as it was our final night with what had been a really good group.

A lazy day in Cuzco followed - we toyed with the idea of a 3 hour round trip hike up to Sexy Woman, but decided the mooching about the town and breakfasting and lunching in cafes around the main square was the more agreeable option. On the way back to the hotel we bumped into a hungover Dave, and agreed to rendezvous at 7.30 in the Plaza das Armas with those who had not yet gone home / to the jungle. So we had a nice, mainly alcohol-free last supper at the Inca Grill with Ryan, Jeremy, Dave, Charlotte and Jon, which was really cool.

Our flight out of Cusco was at 7.45am (out of bed at 5.30) so it was a good thing that we were tucked up in bed at 10pm. It was not good that some Peruvian numb-nuts decided that the best time to finish building the hotel was 10.30-2.30am. Fortunately for him, he desisted his drilling and hammering just at the point I was dragging my arse out of bed to administer a good old-fashioned English slap round the chops…

KATIE

Beginning to get used to the early starts, and 4.30am felt ok actually (yes I know that sounds weird but then most of the nights we were pretty early to bed too!). I'm not sure I can add much more about Machu Picchu other than what James has written. Aly took us round what I guess are the main sights and explained a lot about its history and of the Inca people, in particular, their last years. We were lucky again with the weather as it was a beautiful morning as we wandered round. Felt like about 3pm rather than 9am when we split up for some free time! Unfortunately, having queued for about 30 mins to go to the rather revolting toilets the weather was worsening - so it was that we reached the Sun Gate in quite a lot of rain and not a lot of sunshine. Having said that the view was still superb and we could still see Machu Picchu in the distance - quite how the Inca people built the complex at this altitude and then built the Sun Gate at an even higher altitude and some distance away is quite baffling. I doubt we would be able to match a comparable feat now. Suffice to say that it exceeded my expectations, and also those of all the group I spoke to, mainly due to the sheer scale of the complex and its location. Until you've been there it is almost impossible to appreciate the setting it is in - the mountains are huge, the altitude is substantial and driving up there is quite a feat, let alone the thought of how the Inca people managed to transport all the materials they did to create such an amazing sight.

The train journey - what can I say…? I really don't know where to begin. The journey started innocently at first, the usual views out of the window and drinks that were served taking our attention. Then, music came on really loud and we were just commenting to each other that they should really turn the volume down when a strange apparition moved towards us from the other end of the carriage, he had a woollen balaclava on with a face stitched onto it - quite freaky in a clown like way. He proceeded to dance down the carriage in a way reminiscent of a Morris Dancer and took great pleasure in stopping at each seat and making the occupant stroke a strange cuddly llama he was carrying with him. As if this wasn't strange enough, he then came round with a square 'hat' with bells and things hanging from it and laid it on top of each of our heads - very bizarre in the most extreme sense! I have a couple of photos and a video but nothing that does this performance justice!!

You'd think that would be it, but no sooner had he finished and the group had agreed on the bizarre nature of Peruvian train journeys when a fashion show was announced…..yes…that's right, a fashion show - on a tiny train in the middle of Peru. The lady and young man that had previously brought round the drinks trolley were now transformed into models. I have to say the boys got a better deal than the girls. The rather attractive lady had donned make up and seemed to morph into her alter ego model persona with ease, whereas the young boy still looked about 15 and had a worrying and rather awkward tendency to clap himself and unzip whatever top he was modelling to expose his (un-manly) chest. The modelling I do have on video and it's the only way you can appreciate just how weird this all was. I'm thinking London could be a very different place if this took place on the Paddington train every morning….

The evening was great fun, and it was just a shame James felt bad, still, I'd had my time of feeling rubbish so it was with good grace that I dragged myself from the dance floor and walked back to the hotel with James, Amanda and Danielle. Amazing what rubbish I can dance to….

The next day in Cusco was lovely, a really nice chilled out day and a very long lie in by any standards, let alone those set by the early morning starts we had got used to! Did some sight-seeing and some shopping and met the group James mentioned for dinner. We were all pretty knackered but it was nice to meet up before we all headed our own ways again.

Unfortunately we were right back to the early mornings again with our flight out of Cusco - and it was just as well we left when we did - the organization at Cusco airport left a lot to be desired and it was a close call to catch the plane, and also to get our connection from Lima to Miami. The queues at immigration took forever, but then it's much nicer to walk straight onto the plane than wait around the departure lounge for ages don't you think?