Konnichiwa,

Wednesday 22nd of July, We arrived in Cusco early morning and jumped in a taxi to the hostel, on route I asked the driver to stop at a cash machine but again when I went to use it the card was declined...? WHAT?? So we went to the hostel, checked in and asked the driver to come back later and we would pay him. After a few hours sleep (remember Im just getting over the food poisoning thing!!) at the hostel we went into Cusco to check the bank situation. BNP is the "usual" world wide bank that distribute the money so we tried the ATM which didn't work and then from there we went into the bank to speak to someone but still no money...The error kept coming up saying " Contact your bank".
The main problem at this point was that we didn't have a PENNIE, no money on us at all so could not change any and couldn't pay the hostel or taxi from that day, god we couldn't even phone home. Jamie was starting to freak out a bit but suggested we skype, that meant using the Internet which we couldn't pay for!!

Thankfully we got a nice Internet cafe who trusted us to come back with the money! So we phoned Nationwide to see what the problem was, after a long conversation it turns out they cancelled all our cards because we have racked up so much debt on our travels............
ONLY JOKING, ha ha ha sorry nearly gave the folks a heart attack!! Nationwide had cancelled our cards because of a new system back at home (some sort of Calculator thing) and we had been sent new cards which meant the ones we have were deactivated! Obviously..?? we but we never knew this, and Jamie's Mum and Dad were on holiday so we couldn't get in touch with them to find out our new card details...NIGHTMARE!
Nationwide agreed to re activate our cards however told us it would take up to 72 hours to process. WHAT??? We were in a little panic as just arrived in a new country and new hostel etc so didn't even know anyone to borrow money from, PANIC PANIC. So we phoned the British Consulate in Cusco who said to come and see them.
We jumped in a taxi (with no money) and went to the consulate, they said they couldn't´t help but phoned the British Embassy in Lima who asked for a phone number of someone back home, as Jamie´s mum and Dad were off on their hols it was Big Jake´s & my mum's number we gave them, but with my track record we thought Jake might think it was a wind up. They tried my Mum who was out and so it was going to be left up my Dad. We could just imagine him getting the call, someone phoning him from Peru asking to transfer money into a random bank in Cusco??? Thankfully Jake did believe them and we were informed that it would take about 30mins for the money to be transferred..Thanks Jake!! The taxi had waited outside the consulate the whole time, then drove us back into Cusco to the Western Union. When we went to the union they told us to go somewhere else, AAhhhhh by this time we were getting a bit peeved off and the taxi driver was beginning to believe that we were literally taking him for a ride, around the whole of bloody Cusco. However he did believe us and we managed to get money, oh and the taxi driver got a big tip and we were very grateful...again Cheers Jake. xxx

Thursday 23rd July, Today was a much more relaxed day! I was also feeling peckish which was the first time in what seemed like forever. We spent the day wandering the streets of Cusco checking out the sights, then stumbled upon an amazing Irish bar that served the most amazing food...Still no alcohol for us as wanted to recover fully. We were both impressed by Cusco as a place, it is busy with tourists however not in a tacky way as we had imagined.

Friday 24th July, Now that the bank cards were back up and running, we were able to go and book the Inca Trail Trek. Cusco is the main town in which all the tours leave for the world wide famous "Machu Picchu". You can either get the train to Aguas Calliantes, do the original Inca Trail which is really expensive, booked out months ahead and seemingly also eroding rapidly which means it wouldn´t be eco friendly (so a no no in Jamie's books!!) The other option is to do an "alternative route", which many company's offer. We chose the 4 day "Inca Jungle" which seemed to be the best option for us so we booked with the company.
That night it was back to Paddy Flachertys for some more amazing chicken wings and a few milkshakes. At this point Jamie was still being a vegetarian as she felt sick thinking about meat since the food poisoning incident so she stuck with the soup!!

Saturday 25th July, We were up at 5am as we were told we would be getting picked up at 6am by a bus with the 6 other people on our group. We were standing outside the hostel until 7am when finally a guy appeared out of no where and came to ask us our names?? Then he proceeded to flag down a taxi. Jamie and I were kind of wondering what was happening, and this was all raising doubt as to how genuine the tour operator was (there is always horror stories about the unlicensed trips ets) After a short taxi ride we arrived at a bus station, where there was no other gringos. We were really really worrying at this point. The guy who took us to the bus did not speak a word of English and did not appear to understand our "Spanglish" so we were pretty worried as to where we were and what was going to happen. The area were we were just got busier and busier with locals who were carrying everything from children to llamas....and all boarding buses!!
Thankfully after about another hour of waiting we spotted some giringos who turned out to be the rest of our group...PHEW!
We boarded the bus and set off to San Louis which was about a 4 hour bus journey, arriving at about 1.30pm. We were given a spot of lunch before being handed our helmets and gloves, then picked our bikes, yes that's right BIKES we were cycling to Santa Maria which was 71Km away but its not as bad as it sounds, San Luis is at an altitude of 4350M and Santa Maria is at 1250 so it was mostly all downhill from there, literally. Jamie got off to a great start crashing the bike 3 times in the first 20 minutes, of course it was the gears and brakes fault, so we swapped bikes and I was on a ladies bike that was tiny, but fortunately when I started to use Jamie's bike the gears and brakes started to work...Strange eh? Im sure the kids in Tealing were not shown how to ride bikes.
The scenery on the way down was amazing we were biking through mountains with waterfalls, banana plantations and passing through tiny little villages. After about 3 hours of biking we made it to Santa Maria where we would be staying for the night. Our hostel was basic but the bonus was that because we were a couple we were given the only double room...Bobby Bingo! We had dinner and a few beers that night but hit the sack early as we were up at 6am the next morning to start our hike.

Sunday 26th July, The early bird catches the worm, up at 6am for breakfast and on the road for 7a we had a LOT of walking to do. We set off for the first hour on a road passing coffee plantations, banana plantations, mango trees, orange trees, pineapple bushes, and chocolate plants...pretty amazing to see all of these things. The hike was tuff, mainly all up hill and steep, after a few hours we hit the "Inka trail" which was used by the mail men during the Inca times. At one point we walked through a coca plantations which was cool to see. It was a legal Coca plantation for the local farmers.
It was a tough uphill hike for a couple of hours before we reached a little hut selling and food it was perfect after the morning climb. The lady who lived here was serving hand picked local coffee, chocolate and some handmade pastries. The setting was perfect, there was also lots of wildlife, pet monkeys and Coatis, as well as some parrots etc. Jamie was pretty taken by the cheeky Monkey Marcielle you can see in the pics he was a pretty cute pet if you live in the jungle that is!!
After our break it was back on the road for another 2 hours walking, it appeared that we were making good time. Our guide Diego was really impressed by our pace saying that we were a "good" group, it was good to hear since we both felt pretty unfit, the temperature was rising steadily and by 11am it had hit 30 degrees...so with the increase in temperature and altitude we also felt pretty breathless doing some parts of the climb.
The track became very very narrow at some points, the trail was quite high up on the side of the mountain, so for Marc being scared of heights it was very scary, however the scenery was so stunning you forgot how high up you were at times. We arrived at camp for lunch and had an hour or so to chill out, the camp was perfect for lunch, a local family had set up some hammocks and plenty of shaded areas, so we really could chill before we set off again for our afternoon hike!

Things were hotting up but thankfully the afternoon meant less uphill and more down hill. We also had the incentive of reaching some Hot Springs at the end of our trek. This kept us moving which meant a very happy Diego and a motivated group. After passing rivers, walking over rail bridges and having the odd water break we finally reached the Hot Springs and we were early which meant more time to spend there before it went dark. As you can imagine the springs were perfect, 3 pools with varying water temperatures so you could jump in the cold first then relax the aching muscles in the hot pools. We spend a couple of hours at the springs before getting a well deserved shower and a quick beer....perfect end to a brilliantly challenging day!

Monday 27th July, we were due to leave at 9.30 which should mean a longer lie but as we had the chainsaw in our room and had to share a tiny single bed we were up and out by 6am!!! There was two choices that morning, the first to walk or the second to catch a bus. The group agreed to save our energy for the afternoon and catch the bus. Our guide Diego was rather chuffed at our decision as today was Peru day and he couldn't wait to get to Aguas Callientes for a few drinks and watch the parade. Also in our favour was that we would have time to stop off at a water fall and have a swim since getting the bus. We arrived at a local village for lunch and waved good-bye to our bus. It was a thought to have to walk another 30ks that afternoon but it turned out to be nice trek which was mainly flat with only a few steep parts.
We arrived in Aguas around 4.30pm, it felt good...really good. Knowing that Machu Picchu was getting closer we could feel the excitement in the air. That evening we were all treated to a slap up meal in a restaurant. We were impressed that the tour had provided this but were a little disappointment that the wine on the table was not free! Maybe it was a good thing as tomorrow was to be a super early start.

Tuesday the 28th of July, RING RING RING RING....Oh My God, our alarm could not have been any louder, it felt like we had just closed our eyes and it was already time to get up. We both felt tired but also excited, its was 3.40am as I jumped in the shower and allowed Marc one more Snooze!!
The reason for getting up so early was to climb the famous Inca steps to Machu Picchu and be first in the queue when the gates to Machu Picchu opened at 6am. As we were now only 1000m above sea level it was much more chilly outside so we needed to be prepared with our hats and gloves.
We hit the road with our group after one final photo with Diego. It was pitch black outside and felt like we were the only people starting early. The stars were bright and the moon looked amazing, Chris got some cracking shots on his fancy camera! Thankfully Jim and Liz were prepared with torches so one of them went to the front of the group and one to the back, from the bottom at 1000m we climbed steep, narrow steps (sometimes tripping) taking a couple of pit stops until we reached the entrance to Machu Picchu at 2600m!!
It was about 5.20am, we had a group cheer and congratulated ourselves on the 4 day trek aswell as the early morning hike! We were no first in the queue but not far off it. Within half an hour the buses started to arrive (lazy b*****s) and the sun was beginning to come up.

At 6am we were one of the first people to take in the Magnificent sight of Machu Picchu, and boy were we astonished..WOW! It was everything we had expected and more, the early morning rise had been forgotten about as we sat and watched the sun rise over Machu Picchu, definitely a very memorable part of our trip.

So some info about this historical site,... It was built around the year 1460, but abandoned as an official site for the Inca rulers a hundred years later, at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Although known locally, it was said to have been forgotten for centuries when the site was brought to worldwide attention in 1911 by Hiram Bingham an American historian. Since then, Machu Picchu has become an important tourist attraction and is visited by people from around the world. Very little is know as to what the Inca's used this area for, there are lots of theories but no scripts etc to back any of these.

The area is massive so lots more walking and things to see. At each side of the sacred valley is the mountain Macchu Picchu (meaning old Mountain) and Wana Picchu (meaning new mountain). You have the option to walk up either of these mountains to take in some more views. Unfortunately Mr Lazy Bones was not up for doing any more climbing so we just walked around the Inca ruins taking in the sites and visited the bridge. As the day went on it became more buys, it was at this point we realised that our first sight this morning was very special, just us and this peaceful, magnificent sight.
That afternoon it was time to get back down to Aguas Callientes to catch our train back to Cusco. We were both tired but also still quite excited at what we had experienced over the 4 days. We said good-bye to our group and arranged to meet them the following evening.
Our fellow buddy from BA was in Cusco so we had arrange to meet him that evening in our favourite Irish pub. It was coincidence that we met Mark again but were really happy to see him and exchange stories over a few well deserved beers.

Wednesday 29th of July, we indulged in a long lie and had a relaxing day. The sun was shining so we had a stroll around the streets of Cusco and visited a few of the monumental sites. Our friends returned from Aguas so we all had dinner in Paddy Flachertys, exchanged email and said our final farewells.

Thursday 30th July, it was time to move on. As much as we had loved Cusco we were running out of time and knew that we had to keep moving. We both agreed that we will return to Peru one day but as for now it was back to Bolivia, which secretly we had both been missing.

Until next time folks,

Chow Chow,
Jamie and Marc xx