Hello

On the Monday when arrived we pretty much slept allday as we were so tired from the long horrible bus journey from Lima.

The next day we walked through the local streets past the markets which was a shock as we saw live chickens being killed in the streets which was horrible. We then walked to Plaza Da Armas which is the main square in Cusco and had a look around whilst being pestered by all the local children. They dont just beg, they cry and some even hit us telling us to give them money. We ended up getting a taxi back to our hostel, taxis cost 2 Soles 50 which is about 60p back at home and that is a set fee here to go anywhere around Cusco. In the evening we met up with our Australian friends and we treated ourselves and went for a meal at Inca Grill which was so nice and still very reasonable. We then went to Paddys bar which is the highest Irish bar in the world for happy hour and met up with a Republican named Scott before heading to the local club Mama Africa. There are soooo many stray dogs on the streets here and Luke made friends with all of them this night and they all ended up following us around. We dont remember what time we got home this night but was a very good night.

The next day we had to go for our pre trek meeting at the United Mice office in which they told us that we would be doing the trek alone as the other couple fell sick and they also told us we were getting picked up the next morning around 4am so once we packed our bag ready for the trek we had a early night.

The next morning our trek guide Freddie picked us up in a pick up truck with our chef Fabian and we had 3 hour bus ride from Cusco (3400m)- to Mollepata (2700m), and one and a half hour drive more to Soraypampa (3750mt). We Briefly stopped in Mollepata to have breakfast in a local restaurant but they had a massive party the night before so it was a bit of a mess in the village this is also were we picked up our horseman Steven. We then carried on the journey to the trailhead in Soraypampa.

We started the trek just us and Freddie as the chef and horseman had to wait for the horses to carry our stuff. However as the Horseman was involved in the party at the village he was very hungover and forget to wake up early to get the horses so this delayed us alot. So we waited and had lunch a little earlier in the trek then expected. After lunch this was the hardest part of the trek we had to go very uphill so much we were in the clouds. Luke suffered from altitude sickness here and it took us a while to get to the top being overtaken by the horseman, chef and the horseman's wife and she had a baby on her back!!
After walking 4 hours up, we reached the highest pass (4,550m) from where we can had a stunning scenery of the Salkantay mountain. The journey up our guide told us to carry a stone and when we reached the top we had to place the stone amongst the others and make a wish. There was a massive pile of stones up the top and this grows daily as each traveler adds his pebble to thank the Apus for a safe trip and good luck. Then we descended to our First campsite at Huayracmachay (3750m). We actually camped at our Horsemans house. This was a shed with no electric or anything. When we asked to use the Bano - (Toilet) he pointed to a large rock! It was really cold here as we were beneath the snow capped mountains and amongst the clouds. The chef prepared our dinner using a head torch and a camping cooker and it was lovely. After 8 hours of walking we went straight to our tent after dinner to go to sleep.

After an early breakfast cooked by Fabian we left the camp site to enter the tropical cloud forest. This was a hard trek today because of the Mozi´s they were everywhere!! After 5 hours of heading down we arrived at our next campsite Collpapampa and we had lunch and chilled out for the afternoon. We were joined on our campsite by horses, dogs, chickens, pigs, pigletts and the annoying cockerel!! Also there was a massive tin shed in which local teenage boys lived in as they were building a bridge near by so luke joined them playing football but because of the altitude he could not really run for the ball. We then had dinner and played a bit of cards and went to bed ready for the next day of trekking.

After a breakfast we continued the trail down the valley into the forest the all the way along the river. Today we had a large French group behind us so we were determined not to let them overtake us so we walked very fast today. After 5 hours we arrived at our camp site in La Playa. Because it was a Saturday night there was a big party going on and a big football match in which the team that won the game won a cow! Luke played football with some little kiddies and again we just chilled out played cards and went to bed. The party went on till 4am! So we were very tired the next day.

Our horseman went home today so we had to get the bus from La Playa to Hyrdoelectric because the chef had a lot of equipment to carry. The journey was scary on the edge of mountains but it took just over a hour. When we arrived in Hyrdoelectric we chilled out in the hammocks whilst the cook prepared our last lunch. After lunch we said goodbye to Fabian and we started the walk with our bags to Puentes Ruinas, Aguas Calientes. This was only a 3 hour journey but as we had to carry our bags its was very hard. We followed the train track all the way to our hostel. Once we checked in to our hostel we then took a walk to the Hot Springs in the village and then went back for a nice HOT shower!! Dinner was included in our package at a local restaurant and again we were so tired we then went to bed in a nice bed!!

We had to be up at 4am today t join the bus line because only the first 400 people into Machu Picchu are allowed to climb Wayna Picchu mountain to get a view from above of Machu Picchu. We did it we were number 289 and 290 so we got our stamp to climb Wayna Picchu. When we entered Machu Picchu we had a tour hour tour from Freddie which was very interesting and the Inka´s were very clever people! We then had the rest of the day to walk around and to climb Wayna Pichu, this was very hard to climb but we did it in 25 minutes and its meant to take 40 minutes so we were getting used to this trekking malarkey by now! Unfourtantly the local farmers believe that if there is a dry season they set fires to encourage the rain. Ironically it did rain this evening but anyway this destroyed our view of Machu Pichu as it was covered in smoke. But we still got to see it and it was amazing.

We then got the bus back to the town and treated ourselves to a well earned beer and pizza! We then had to wait for our train back to ollantaytambo where we were told a man would be standing with a board with our names on to take us back to Cusco. So hundreds of people got of the train and followed there name boards. This was at 9.30pm and 10.30pm we were the only two people standing at a dark dodgy train station. I tried to phone our office but no one answered. The taxi drivers wanted so much money to take us home as we were 2 hours from Cusco. Around 11.30pm we took the risk and got in a mini bus with around 8 drunk teenagers for a reasonable price back to Cusco and we were fine and arrived back at Cusco around 1.30am.

The next day Peru are on strike due to a man named Alan Garcia. The locals are throwing stones at cars, shutting down the roads, graffiti and alot more. But by lunch time I guess there so tired it all stops so its safe to go out. We met up with our Australian friends again and went to Paddys and went to a club called Mytholigy and again on the way out got attacked and hit by a bunch of five year olds! But we said our goodbyes to them and we will see them again in Perth around January.

Our last day in Cusco and we are meant to be travelling to Bolivia but because of the strikes its hard to get a bus so we shall see what happens over the next couple of days............