Our last two days in Arequipa were interesting to say the very least. We spent one afternoon in the Main Square and dined on alpaca ribs for lunch, cooked authentically on hot stones in a clay kitchen, served in terrocotta dishes. The waitress was very patriotic and showed us around the kitchens so we could see how the Pre-Incan civilisations would have prepared their meals. When we returned to our table they had poured us two glasses of their very own home made beer. It looked and tasted a lot like sangria and we sat on the balcony with a fine view of the city. After lunch we started for the museum of the Ice Princess, where Juanita was staying. What should have been a five minute walk quickly turned into an hours crawl as we got caught behind a marching protest in the Square. There were children, militia, clergy and politicians parading through the square before a marching band. It was an awesome sight but we were unsure of what the protest was in aid of. We could only guess that they were a little bit fed up with the Peruvian president, Alan Garcia, as they were carrying an effigy of him through the crowds, and they hadn't done him much justice! Still, it was humbling to see the solidarity of a Peruvian community.
We eventually made it to the home of the Ice Princess and spent an hour looking through the artifacts found in the graves of the ice mummies found in the Andes. They were perfectly preserved and included textiles, carved figurines, food, and pottery. Understandably, the museum is a great source of income for the Arequipa tourist board but I felt they overestimated the gullibilty of their western visitors. Certainly, the "facts" they provided you with were to be taken with a rather large pinch of salt. However, this soon became irrelevant when we came face to face with Juanita herself. She was truly amazing, the tiny mummified figure of a small fifteen year old girl brutally sacrificed to the mountain gods by her own people. Juanita leaves Arequipa tomorrow for a holiday in Switzerland so we felt especially lucky to have seen her.
That night at camp we had fresh fish and squid for dinner and a few glasses of wine before heading into our tents for what proved to be the coldest night yet.
Morning came and I soon regretted the squid! Some of the other guys on the tour felt just as ill and Dan booked me into a hotel room where I spent the whole day doubled over in pain and vomiting profusely. It was bound to happen eventually and although I was in a lot of pain I thanked my lucky stars I wasn't on the Inca Trail. By the next day the "bug" had passed and we made ourselves comfortable on the truck for a twleve hour drive to Cusco.
After driving for about nine hours we stopped at a llama market, a long row of stalls selling garments made from llama and alpaca wool, handmade and dyed by the locals. The market was at 4335 metres above sea level and was the highest point we had reached so far. It was diffcult to walk from one end of the market to the other without losing your breath. We arrived in a small town just outside Cusco early in the evening and had to transfer into taxis as the streets of Cusco are made from the original Inca cobble stones and the truck was too heavy to drive through such a momumental heritage site. After settling into the hotel and enjoying our first hot shower in over a week we all went to the local Chinese restaurant for a three course meal and a bottle of wine. We were all surprised when the bill arrived and it cost us less than three pounds each!
The next evening, after a full day of strolling through beautiful Cusco we had our briefing for the Inca trail. Our guide spoke perfect english and explained what we should expect from our 4 day hike. He described the trail as a "piece of piss." I can tell you now, he lied! Edu, our guide, distributed our duffle bugs which were to be carried by the porters and limited us to five kilos per bag. This was enough for a sleeping bag and a blanket! The porters would carry four duffle bags each along with all the camping and cooking eqiupment. A challenge I guarantee you will not appreciate. We packed our duffle bags and day packs and got an early night, ready for what would be the hardest experience of my life!

Thought of the Day: Some say the key to equality, among men, is education. I'd say it's diarreah.