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Emma does South America
Hola,
Sorry I haven´t written to you all in a while but I have been without internet access for some time now. So since my last entry our adventures have been as follows...
- visited the floating islands which are man made from reeds that grow in lake tittikaka. This was a very bizarre experience because it was as though the people who are living there everyday lives are a museum for us all. It was pretty incredible to see though that they had developed their own little communities on all these islands with shops, cafes and even a primary school.
- That evening we took a night bus from puno to cusco- the place where we were to start our next tour. Arriving at 5am in cusco we were greeted by a man tryng to get us to stay in his hostel and seeing as we had not arrnged anything yet we were raher pleased- a muh better option than trapsing the streets of cusco at that hour. The bonus also was that we could have a room straight away and he would only charge us for the one night. Little did we know that despite it being a private room, it had a broken window and when I say broken I mean smashed so it was freeeeezing cold and not hpt shower. So into bed we got fully clothed to try and enjoy a few more hors kip before exploring cusco.
- Around midday we went off into cuso, a gorgeous city surrounded by mountains, with a beautiful catherdral and churches, 2 plazas fuçilled with green grass and flowers and experiencing all this in the sunshine just made the perfect start to the day. We wondered around the streets and markets and eventually ate some delicious raw fish called savichio (if that is how you spell it!) for next to nothing and sophie, who despie making effort to try, still isn´t too fond of fish had some meat concoction.
- That evening we found the old group in their hostel for a reunion and went out for some food, drinks and dancing. it was great fun to catch up with them.
- The next morning we had to check out by 10.30 and g and find our boked hotel as the start of our inca discovery trip. Haing had very little sleep and having walked 15 mins with ur big bgs we were very happy to arrive at a luxurious looking hotel (especially compared to the dump we stayed in the night before). here we were gretted with refreshing coca tea while we waited for our rooms t be prepared. The rooms were AMAZING- warm, hot showrs, tv, fluffy towels- boy were we happy!! That evening we had our tour welcome meeting where we met the rest of ur group. 11 other girls and 2 guys. But we were just so tired from sleep deprivation the last few nights that we didn´t have very muh energy to be socialble. That night we were in bed by 9.
- Having had a great nights sleep, we were thrilled to find the most extensie breakfast buffet we have had so far with fresh fruit yogurt bread ham cheese avacado etc etc. We had to leave ou nig bags in the hotel and fill some duffel abgs with the essentails we would need on the inka trail. We were limited to 3kg because it would be the porters who were carrying it for us.
- That day we visited a community of women who weave abd dye llama and al paco wool nd then knit hats, scarves etc. This was pretty cool to see and especially that they use natural substances such as plants to dye their products. They all wore matching outfits with little red hats and of course with their hair braided in 2.
- We also travelled throught the sacred valley of the incas- a lush agricultural gloabal warming.
- That night we stayed in the picturesque village f Ollantaytambo where we visited an inca ruin site with huge steep terraces nd is well known for 1 of the few places where the sapnish lost a majotor battle. Here we ahd an early night ready for the 4 day hike ahead of us.
- We had a grat start to the day with delicious lemon pancakes to get us going for the hike ahead. So with sport leggings, merrels and the lime green hiking top on (the one iv been carrying around the whiole trip and still hadnt wore finaly got its first outing) Having regretted carrying it around I was very happy to have it because my sweat dreid the quicket ha. Anyway from the very first steps of the tril the views were incredible- beautiful mountains, forests, streams, flowers and of course a beautiful blue sky and a hot sun.
- Our porters ran (and actaully ran wit 25 kg on their backs in their sandals carrying cooking stuff, tents etc) ahead of us to set up and make us lunch and later to set up the tents etc for us to sleep. They were legends and we had so much respect for what they were doing and of course extremely grateful.
- That evening we were introduced to all the porters and found out that the youngest was 20 and the oldest 66, ost of them had kids many of them were married although alot of them were ín training´ which is apparently recently a new thing instead of marriage because people are now less religious.
- The fisrt morning we were awoken with a hot drink to our tent- spoilt we were yes!! Followed by a delicious 3 course breakfast we were ready for the tough day ahead. 13km hike 70% of which was uphill we were truely exhausted when we got to campsite. However it wa the views, the company and the beautful weather that kept us going. This day we hiked through the forest with lovely little streams and big brnching trees, expecting tarzan to ome swinging by.
- So yes to sum up we were cooked breakft lunch, snack and dinner every day but not the bland stuff you would expect at the top of mountains but delicius foods full of flavour!! We often enjoyed lunch with the most breathtaking views before us...it really was incredible. The porters brought us bowls of hot waewr and soap t our tents every morning to wash out hnd and face, as well as when we arrived at camp to soak our tired feet.
- I could go on forever about the trail but my fingers are getting tired and it really is something you will just have to do yourself to truely experience it. When I put my pics up you will also have more of an idea.
- The last day we had to get up at 4 to make our way to te sun gate and see machu pichu. Here we had a tour and learned alot about this untouched inca site. One that the spanish didn´t find and destroy.
- Now we are back in cusco and planned to take a night bus to arequipa but since there are strikes on we have had to delay ou pans by one day s we are off tomorrow instead.
That is all I have time for now. I will keep you all updated on our plans.
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