Hello from the Sacred Valley, between Cusco and Maccu Picchu in Peru. And what a blessing it is! We have holed up here for three nights in the middle of our trip to relax, get clean with HOT water and do some vital laundry J Paul was reaching the point of desperation the morning we left Puno and so this is just what was needed. Anyway, I´m getting ahead of myself again.

We last spoke as we were leaving Brasil. The flight was uneventful but Lima immigration at 10.30 at night was not. It took two hours to get through. It was two hours behind and so, for us, it was half two when we got out. I hadn´t realized how busy the traffic would be at that time and it took 40 minutes to reach the hotel in the car they sent to collect us only to have them say they couldn´t find the reservation! I´m sure I don´t need to point out the irony of that one. $36 for a car charged to the hotel but they had no reservation. Half an hour later it mysteriously appeared L We booked a car for very early the next morning for our flight to Arequipa but it was late. Anyway, we got to Arequipa and a lovely driver meet us from the tiny place I´d booked and whisked us away at no cost J This was our first bit of altitude at around 3350m

Arequipa was so lovely. We had a top floor room in the hotel and a lovely view of the volcanoes. The staff helped us cheerfully and we had some wonderful food…..no guinea pig though which is very popular. Spent hours wandering round the Santa Catalina monastery and had such a funny guide. She taught us much about the monastery and much about the modern Peruvian woman. She has a 2 month old baby and works part time to suit her needs. We swapped baby photos on our mobiles for a while.

We left on our tour to Colca Canyon. We drove into the National Park and by mid morning we were at 4910m….it felt like walking through soup. Our guide told us to walk like monks. We saw some wild vivuña. Then we stopped at a small school which had 7 pupils, some of whom walked nearly two hours each way to get there. The teacher was so lovely with them. After lunch we went on a two and a half hour hike uphill to see some ruins. One of our group was struggling and so didn´t come. We had dropped to 4300m but it was baking hot and so, so hard. Thanks to T and S for having us take Diamox or I really don´t think we´d have made it. There were only 6 of us and the other two couples (Spanish and Italian) were much younger but very kind and patient. The view was wonderful.

A dreadful hour and a half along a dirt road on the Canyon rim with sheer 1200m drops at the side of the road was a bit much too. It was hot and dusty and the minibus had no air con. We stayed overnight at Cabanaconde, right on the rim. The hotel was basic but fine except that it had no hot water and the evening, night and morning were freezing. We were glad we´d been total nerds and taken our BA First PJs from the plane. I was still cold! By the morning we were all suffering some altitude issues, mostly blood clots bunging up our noses (still are). We took a walk just after dawn to the rim and all the annoyances faded away. It was simply incredible. Colca Canyon is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon at 4160m. It is awesome and I was moved to tears.

Then we drove to a place where we hoped to spot a condor. As we got close I saw about 6 condors flying together along the mountainside. My entire trip was complete and Paul spent a very happy couple of hours photographing the birds which flew close enough to see individual feathers. We must have seen 30 or 40 of them. Another hard walk along the rim followed but was made bearable as the birds seemed to keep us company J

The 6 of us all boarded the bus from Chivay to Puno for the 6 hour drive to Lake Titicaca, the highest Lake in the world at 3800m. I have had a dream of visiting the lake for 22 years since I used to teach my Year 2s the story of Atahualpa and the Inca gold thrown into the lake. Sadly, the trips on the lake to the floating islands have taken on a Disneyesque feel and are exploiting the local people for little gain. When push came to shove we simply couldn´t do it and the husband and wife of our tiny pension suggested we take a bicycle taxi to the local bus stop and hop on a ´collectivo´ for the small village of Chuquito, further around the lake and spend time there. The collectivos go when they´re full…of Peruvian women in traditional costumes, school kids and all manner of local life. We got a lot of stares but it was great fun, took half an hour and cost about a pound. Chuquito was a sleepy place slightly up the hill from the lake. When we got off all eyes were on us as ´gringos´. We couldn´t find a café but had seen a large, newish hotel down on the lake edge and our need for coffee won over our desire to visit a local hostelry. The hotel seemed so quiet but they happily provided us with a drink which we had sitting in their beautiful garden overlooking the lake edge. When we went in to pay they wouldn´t take a sol!

We wandered very slowly back up the hill and found ourselves in the middle of a funeral procession. It was such a joyous thing with a huge brass band and everybody dressed in colourful ´best´ clothes. It went to different stations all around the village where prayers were said by the priests. After the funeral, a wedding took place in the square and the band played again for them. We felt we had seen a real slice of village life….the beers were on ice as we jumped on the collectivo back to the city. The communities eek out a subsistence living along the lake edge growing a few crops or straw or grazing a few animals. The large swanky houses going up on the hillsides outside Puno tell the story of money being made by a few.

Back in Puno we flagged an elderly bicycle taxi down to take us to the main square but in signs he explained that they can only go uphill with no passengers….fair enough! So we went to flag a motorbike taxi but the bicycle man said no, and told us how to walk. We said it was hot and we were finding it hard to walk up the hills (all in signs) so he abandoned his bike and told us to follow him. He kept turning round and holding up fingers for the number of minutes left to walk by way of encouragement. He took us all the way, smiled and set off back down the hill. Obviously we repaid his kindness financially, although he clearly expected nothing, but made our deep respect and gratitude felt as best we could. He waived it away with a smile.

We got cash, bought an ice cream and the world was good. Later that evening as we were packing, Paul realized he had left our FX card in the machine L You will all know that this is about as likely a scenario as my running a marathon. We called to cancel and it hadn´t been used which was great but we´d loaded all our cash to spend onto it. Of course we can get cash and it´s not up there in the holiday horrors but it is a pain. However, that was NOTHING compared to the horror of trying to get from Puno to the airport at Juliaca (an hour away) early the following morning. The airline, LAN, suggested booking a shared bus which was so much cheaper than a taxi. It was a nightmare. We should have been at the airport at 7.25, although 8 would have done. It didn´t leave Puno til 7.15 and only then because I blew my top with the driver who was having a coffee in the office!!!

THEN he called at somewhere out of the way to pick up a woman who wasn´t even ready. We drove into Juliaca at 8.20 having driven like a mad man and THEN made a big detour around the busy city to drop his mate off in some dodgy suburb. We were both practically hysterical as we pulled up at the terminal at 8.30. We ran ahead of the crowd to the bag drop but THEN a security man wanted me to unlock all the luggage and he searched it in full view of the other people from the bus….not nice having your smalls fiddled with in public!! Anyway, we got through to find a panpipe band playing and collecting money in the departure lounge! What do you think of that Matt? Go down a storm at Stansted?

We flew into Cusco and were collected by a lovely driver who took us to the Pisac Inca ruins on the way to the hotel. Paul blew a fuse at the ticket office and I thought we´d have to give up but a pragmatic view had us inside with the ruins practically to ourselves. We spent a couple of wonderful hours there…a really special feeling to it. The terraces are the best to be seen anywhere.

When we came out, hot, dusty, exhausted, our smiling driver was there and had us sit back, enjoy the scenery, drink water provided and before we knew it we were here. Three days of r and r just being pampered, swimming in the indoor/outdoor pool, having hot baths and showers and washing some clothes. Paul is just loving every single minute of it and is so excited about getting the train to Machcu Picchu tomorrow.

We´ve put lots of photos up for you and will do one last blog and photo album before we leave for home. xx