Ray and I spent the first two days in Cusco researching the best deal for the famous Macchu Picchu tour. We knew we couldn't get onto the four day trek as you must book well in advance , so we had to run the gauntlet of all sorts of shady characters appearing from back alleyways and enticing us into their little darkened cubby holes for business. Some were quite dodgy (and smelly) Anyway it gave us a good chance to explore Cusco, a very pretty town with old colonial style houses, with low terracotta roofs, a pretty main plaza with a fountain and loads of what have now become the obligatory custom dressed ladies and llamas. Walking about in the beautiful sunshine it seemed quieter, more relaxed and safer here than Arequipa and Lima. So far it is the place we ve liked the most. We found a small courtyard advertising the tours to Maccu Picchu and went for their offer of a three day two nighter which incorporated; a bike ride down the Andes to Santa Maria, a night in Santa Theresa, a jungle trek alongside the Macchu Picchu railway track, a night in Aguas Calientes (Macchu Picchu town) and of course the main event 'Macch Picchu' at sunrise. This was another tour recommended by the lonely planet guide so we booked up and immediately went to 'Paddy's' Irish bar to celebrate. (fab place on the main Plasa des Armas with an electric train going around the walls carrying cans of Guiness..genius!!) The next morning we were taken in a shared car (we shared with two Chillean girls) to the top of the mountain. It took about 2 hours to get there but again the scenery on the way up was stunning; snow capped mountains, coupled with beautiful blue skies and puffy clouds which were making a vain attempt to produce rain but stood absolutely no chance. One of the most mind boggling sights for me was seeing ancient Peruvian women carrying brightly coloured bundles of fabric containing crops, sticks, bread, chicha (Peruvian corn drink), lambs?? stomping up the mountains. These women appeared to be aged between 103 and 120, all brown and leathery like little walnuts with legs. They just suddenly apppeared, trudging uphill with what seemed to be at least 50 kilos of weight on their backs. They all had a scabby dog to accompany them. Over the years these poor pack horse women had bent their spines to such an angle that their noses were nearly touching the floor..and yet they still kept stomping upwards like little machines, where were they going?...how long had they been walking?..days? years?.. !! We reached the top of the mountain and our guides rigged up our bikes. They then proceded to dress us both in sweaty crash helmets, elbow and knee pads and luminous green vests so that the dirty great juggernauts careering up the mountains could see us......we set off!! Just about the most exhilarating bike ride I have ever been on..certainly beats Ditchling Beacon on the London to Brighton last year!!...we sped 26 miles down hills, whizzing through waterfalls, and navigating hairpin bends..brilliant!!...At the start it was so cold that I kept my gigantic puffa jacket on but there was a noticeable change in temperature as we approached half way, it became humid and tropical and drippy sweatingly hot.....lovely!! We finished the ride at a little village, the inhabitants were mostly featherless chickens and again scabby dogs. My bladder had been rock and roller coastered down the mountain so I found the only public loo...a small shack with a hole in the ground, two footplates for ease of use, 17 spiders and a hose !!.. Next stop lunch at Santa Maria....this was mainly horrible..bless the proprietors they were lovely but the stale sliced banana with yoghurt dressing and 3 day old rice offering just didnt do it for me. In the little terraced garden we saw a couple of rooms and realised that this place was a hostel. The rooms were dingy and filthy and Ray and I were really pleased when the poor Chilean girls were shown their rooms and we were put on a bus to Santa Theresa....phew!..in hindsight these rooms were like the Ritz compared with what was to come.. The bus journey was a white knuckle ride again around hairpin bends with the bus wheels straying precariously close to the edge of a 1000 ft drop. For the first time I felt very vulnerable especially when Ray mentioned the Top Gear episode when they drove the Bolivian Death road ...I put my Ipod in my ears, closed my eyes and listened to some soothing music.. By the time we got to Santa Theresa it was dark. We were turfed off the bus in the middle of nowhere, our guide was nowhere to be seen and we didn't have a clue where we were staying. A local Santa Theresian pointed in the direction of an unlit dirt track which we followed and eventually we came across 'The Lodge'. As soon as we were shown our room I knew I was not, in a million years, going to stay there. I dont mind roughing it to a degree but this was the extreme. The walls were so so dirty and there was mould growing behind our bed. There were live electric wires hanging out of the walls, the plug sockets had water trickling out of them, the door didnt fit, there was no glass in the windows, a piece of polystyrene had been stuck to the ceiling for no apparent reason, probably to cover a hole in the corrugated roof, but the icing on the cake was the biggest cockroach you have ever seen lurking in the shower room. Actually it wasnt a shower it was a broken piece of tubing (probably where Mr C. Roach lived ) hanging out of the wall which gave you an ice cold trickle if it could be bothered....needless to say I got depressed, Ray got cross,we made a complaint and after we explained to 'Freddie', "why we no like his room!!" we ended up spending the night at another hostel we found in the main village. Thankfully we got a good nights sleep there and returned to 'The Bates Motel' the next morning for breakfast which was surprisingly nice. As we left, Freddie shook our hands..." ay , no hard feelings amigos?...yeh right!!

We met our new guide 'Huber' who was very sweet and apologetic about last nights shaninigans and turned out to be an amazing character. We started walking the 12 mile trek to Aguas Calientes alongside the Macchu Picchu railtrack. Huber took us through; waterfalls, artificial and natural both stunning, across railway bridges over the river. He explained about the different plants, coffee, cocoa, avacados, bird of paradise plants and papaya, all growing wild in the jungle. He told us how his little house had been washed away during El Nino...a few years earlier. His plan was to rebuild it so that he could get a girlfriend!! aw Huber!! The scenery was beautiful and as we scrambled through the banana trees,over the rocks and across the old railways tracks I felt a bit like 'Laura Croft'...heehee. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant/homestead place. The food this time was delish and afterwards Huber told us to go and rest in the trees. Off we went and found about six hammocks strung up in the trees.....so we chilled out....just a wee bit!! The rest of the walk took us to the bottom of Macchu Picchu where you could see the famous mountain and the Inca terraces. We arrived at Aguas Calientas at about 5pm , absolutely shattered but happy. After an evening meal and instructions from Huber we hit the sack in readiness for our 4.30am start and the steps to Macchu Picchu.