Lima to be fair prob has a lot to offer but I really didn't enjoy it that much, I did get to see batman while there though so that was a bonus that I didn't expect.. Like most big cities the food in Lima was great but other than that it was a pretty quiet few days...
I left on a 22hour bus to cusco, this bus was the sick bus... I don't know if it was the altitude which gets blamed for a lot let me tell you, or the microwave food that was served but half way through the trip and night everyone around me started to be sick... I was fine but let me tell you it's no pleasant sound, smell or site when over a dozen people on a bus have heads in bags and being sick..!! They missed out on some great views through the mountains to cusco, it really was a great ride..
Cusco had a lot more to offer than Lima did and I planned to enjoy it, I had arranged to catch up with a few people first... The first few nights in Cusco where drunken ones that where fun, so when an english guy called Andy arrived to celebrate his birthday I was only more than happy to help celebrate... I decided that, as it was his birthday we should eat out for breakfast, (that and the fact I was hungover and hungry) so we glided across town to an English cafe called the real mccoys... As we sat at our table about to share stories from our last visit in huacachina I received a very friendly pat on the shoulder... Now when in this situation you expect to turn and see somebody from a previous town, or even country, what you don't expect to see is a school friend from 20years ago stood infront of you as if in the local boozer..!!
Andrew hayes and I hadn't been in contact for about 4years, and that was on email when both in Vietnam.. We spoke for the next 2hours as if we had seen each other every week for the last 20years... It was a great catch up that continued well into the early hours of the next morning all extremely drunk, birthday boy Andy let for the jungle trail with hamburgers and a drunken stumble as we all poured into our separate beds...
I spent the next few days in pretty much the drunken state I achieved that night, was a good start to life in cusco... I soon got myself ready for my inca trail that apparently was one the toughest trails in the world... I spent the couple days leading up to it in bed, not with a hangover, nor a gorgeous bird or just being a lazy fcuker...?! I actually had a cold and cough which turned out to be a chest infection... I was weak and in need of a hug but as the days went by I managed to pick up a little, after all I didnt wanna miss this, it was booked 8months before, and there was no way of money back or another chance it was now or never...
The first day was gonna be a flat walk for 8hours through the small forest area along the river to a campsite at the bottom of the Andes... How I struggled, coughing all the way, not breathing at times and sweating like a rapist... No one in my group, tour guide included thought I'd make the next day... We arrived at camp at 4:30 pm and I went straight to bed, everyone else sat around eating and having a wild time I imagine but I slept like a baby, straight through to 6am the next day...
Day 2 is ment to be the worst day on the trail, from about 3000m to 4300m above sea level, with nothing but stairs and no air to breath, with a chest infection always gonna be tough... I'm pleased to say I turned down the offer of a horse and started the trail at 7:30am... I won't lie it was hell, I remember thinking what the fcuk was I thinking when booking this, it just seemed to go up and up forever and ever, I didn't think it would ever end and really felt that I struggled due to the chest infection... You would walk 10steps then have to stop just to catch your breathe, it was unbelievable... I managed to get to the top in just over 3hours and was first of my group by over an hour..!! I was really pleased to have made it when the night before I thought I'd be lucky to wake up the next day... It wasn't easy and I'm first to admit it was one the toughest things I've had to do but I managed it a lot quicker than some the "healthy" people... The only problem I had now was I was out of Gatorade and we where now in the jungle..!! Keeping my diabetes stable was just another issue, that was fixed by sugar water from a plant the guide pointed out to me having full sugar inside...
Day 3 is a 12hour walking day through jungle, mountains, hill sides and all-sorts... Making out way to the other side of machu picchu mountain, it was a great day... We got to see ruins, temples on a level par with those of machu picchu in my eyes, less tourist and more of a personal glory when you come across them in the middle of the jungle, although I hadn't seen the great place it's self yet... We managed to get to all the sites we had spoke about and to the campsite for dinner by 5pm easily... We was on the edge of greatness, and just had one night before the entry to machu picchu... We was to be woken at 3:30 for a 30minute walk to the entrance point, we had some dinner then as i was still feeling slightly under the weather but being described as half mountain goat by my tour guide on the speed of my trekking I decided to get to bed about 7:30pm... That evening had a feeling like Christmas eve to it, waiting to enter the ruins of machu picchu, but all that can wait for the next chapter:
Machu picchu and the sacred ruins, heading north faster than a run away train and mud pyramids of the north...
Peace out much love Micky xxx