hello!!

again it has been a while since my last blog, i am sorry, but this will be my second last blog as i have just one week left of my trip! i cant believe it is almost over! but here goes for this instalment....

we left la paz and headed into la paz, getting in with very little difficulty considering the border evasion sticker in my passport, the border person only giving it a cursory glance. weheaded straight to puno and from there onto lake titikaka, as puno itself had very little to offer other than some good trout :) we headed out onto some of the islands that were insanely touristy but good fun. we stayed the night on amantani island, each of us with different families. emily and i stayed with a lovely family with a young boy, brian and a little baby brenda. the room we were staying in was lovely, especially compared to the rest of the home. we went into the kitchen to help prepare dinner. it was tiny, with an old fashioned wood burning cooker with no chimney so the room was filled with smoke, which made my eyes water immediately. we tried to help by peeling potatoes but were pretty slw so the mother, rebecca sent us next door to her mother inlaws to play with her niece. we were eventually called back to our dinner of potato soup followed by rice with pasta and potatoes!! it was good lol! we then got dressed up in al;l the local gear, very fetching layers of skirts with embroidered shir and shawl, and then we headed up to the town hall for the party where theytaught us their traditional dances. these basically consisted of slight variations to the conga, its was quite bizzar! then the next morning we were woken early and served pancakes and maple syrop, it was all very surreal. we then travelled back toward the shore and to the floating islands that were even more tackily touristy than the homestay. they were islands made out of reeds in the style that people used to live on on the lake however these people no longer lived there but insisted on pretending they did and had a little show for us demonstrating how they traded in fish, it was strange and sooo tacky. the lake was beautiful, the homestay had been fun, but it was a very overly touristy introduction to peru, which is so much more touristy than anywhere we have been so far!

from there we headed to cusco which was so lovely. it had a beautiful colonial main square with beautiful cathedral and churches surrounding with covered walk ways all the way around, it was really pretty. we were there for a few days to chill out before we headed onto the inka trail. it was a great place to chill out, there were plenty of markets and we did find and english pub that had a pub quiz on and we did the very touristy thing and went along and ate bangers and mash and didnt do too badly onthe quiz either- great stuff lol!! we did counter act this however by trying guinae pig- not so nice! greasy and stringy and just not good, i actually ate the claw, which in the end was the nicest bit! but after a few days chilling out we headed of fon a tour of the sacred valley, visiting los of old inka ruins before we started the inka trail.

the inka trail was incredible! it was tough and exhausting, but was beautiful and it wassuch a great feeling completing it! the first day was fairly easy, one difficult climb but not too bad, and with one inka ruin on the way. the second day was the hardest. we had to climb dead womans pass acending 1300m to a height of 4200m then decend again to 3600m. we passed through jungle areas with loads of steps coming out into the highland area where there were yet more steps. the last 50m were so hard, but to my immense pleasure i was in the first of our group to make it to the top, woop!! then we had to walk back down, which tho u were not out of breath was a killer on the knees. but we did it and were in the campsite by 1.30 ready for lunch at 2, perfect. i have to say the porters were amazing, while we struggled up and down these mountains with our small little day bags they ran up and down and had the campsite all set up when we arrived and a hot meal waiting for us-incredible! the next day was the longest, but after the initial climb in the morningwas a really lovely days walk. we spent most of the day climing slowly up and walking at the top of some of the mountains, above the clouds. it felt like we were alone in the world in the middle of nowhere with the most spectacular views surrounding us, it was awesome. after lunch, surrounded by cloud at the top of one od the mountains, we then had to decend again two hours- not good for the knees!!! but for some of this i was on my own with the ipod in walkiong through cloud jungle, it was really lovely, i felt like i was literally alone in the world, which when u have been travelling in a group for 6 weeks, with another person for 5 months, is a really great feeling! then we got to camp the worst of the hike behind us and the thought of macchupicchu the next day, so we chilled out with some drinks sat looking at the incredible view.

we were up at 3.30 the next morning so that the porters could get down the mountain in time to get their train but we did not actually start our walk until 5.30 when the gate opened. then we headed for the sungate at quite a pace, overtaking lots of the crowds on the way. we got to the sungate at 6.45 and our first view of macchu picchu was one covered in cloud! lol not the best first view! we waited until it had cleared and then we had our first view and to be honest i was almost too tired to care! lol! we walked down for an hour to macchu pcchu itself and the post card view of it. it was an impressive site, but i was to be honest fairly underwhelmed by it. in comparison to ruins we have seen on our travels and with our levels of exhausion the 2 hour tour was one of the last things i wanted to do. but we were shown around along with the huindreds of other tourists and eventually we got to sit down in the sun and chill out-perfect! then we headed on the bus down and the train out back to cusco and to bed, and a cheeky macy ds! it was an incredible hike through beautiful scenery, and im so please i have done it, but the hike was definitely the highlight not macchu picchu.

we then headed to araquipa and for a tour of the colca canyon and to go and see condors, the largest flying birds in the world. we saw them from a distance so the metre hight and 3 metre wingspan was not so impressive, and the canyon just seemed like a deep valley, again i was distinctly underwhelmed! but we now headed onto naca and the pisco and lima, which hopefully sould be great fun!!! then it is homeward bound to see my family again and have a good old cup of tea!!! yay!!!

im definitely enjoying this last stop on our trip despite the the place being slighly spoilt by the number of tourists around and i cant wait for this last week! but i shall be happy to write my last blog in a week and be flying home to see u all again!!!

much love!!! cu all soon!!!! x x x x x