So I wake up at 3am local time feeling a lot better. I'm ravenous so I find my snack bag and eat some food. I've still got a cup of the coca leaf tea that the hostel has available 24hrs in reception from last night. You put ten leaves in boiling water. Its supposed to help with the altitude sickness, and as long as theres a large amount of sugar in it I'll try anything! I sip it and realise I'm gonna be ok which is a huge relief. I've got hours till I need to be ready so I chill out and message home, shower and deal with the pile of stuff next to my bed. I have a list of things to take so I pack them first and add snacks and a first aid kit along with supports for my knees and wrist and heat pads. pretty much everything else, (which thanks to my light packing isnt much at all-though i still think i bought too much!) stays at the hostel in its luggage room. I check out, put away my luggage and I'm ready for adventure! Paulo finds me in the courtyard and we walk 4 blocks to the minibus which has bikes and equipment stacked ontop of it. Inside the mini bus are 4 others and 3 more joined us before we left. I chatted to the girl next to me for a bit, Eva a girl from Korea who is also travelling on her own. I was sleepy and not feeling amazing so I slept for a bit on the 1.5hr journey to the first stop in Ollantaytambo. We stopped at a shop/restaurant on the side of the road which was pleasant enough. There was a nice area outside to enjoy the sun and occasionally trains went by accross the road. The primary function of this stop is to use that bathroom as there aren't any where we stop to start on the bikes up the moutainside. I do so and also buy myself some water and chocolate (the essentials right?!) and a fresh orange juice which I watch being made. I sit alone in the sun for a while wondering if this was going to be my group all tour. Seeing other people and listening to their different languages. A dog who didn't seem to belong to anyone wondered between people, looking up at anyone who was eating with his bright eyes. As I felt the sun on my skin and the train rumble past I realised I was beginning to relax. My holiday had started. I started to feel excited by the sight of the van with all its bikes on top and we all got into the bus to drive on up the steeper part of the mountain up to the Malaga High Pass (4,350m). I slept again a bit but then suddenly I felt really really ill. I thought about what I'd vom into and had a bag handy, I was concentrating on how to tell the driver in spanish but within 5 minutes I felt absolutley fine again! (Turns out I was actually fine for the rest of the trip, this was the highest I was ever going to be so if it was gonna happen, it was gonna happen today!) Being up since 3am I thought that this would be the most difficult of all the activities planned for this Jungle Adventure Trek, but once the bus was unloaded and we put on all our armour like gear, adjusted the bikes and started the ride downhill I felt great! Thank goodness I'd been practicing at home! It was really Fantastic! Eva had fallen over in the car park and had decided not to take part, which meant she was our photographer, but loved it! It was quiet, peaceful, thrilling and fun! And boy did those corners drop off, no wonder we needed all that protective equiptment! The speed quickly became manageable and the gears had to stay high so on the flats you could maintain the speed. I Imagine I was going faster than I ever have before. I enjoyed speeding up and racing to the front, pushing the bike and getting a bit of excersise myself. Then I'd drop back and enjoy the scenery. I was so happy I even sung outloud! We stopped about 45 minutes in and Paulo high fived me as he saw me arrive as he could see how much I enjoyed it. We stopped there for about ten minutes and took pictures at a drop off view. Then we set off again and the whole group was closer together this time. We went through some streams that crossed the roads and it began to rain but only for about 15 minutes or so. The roads dried up very quickly! Our bike trip ended in Huamanmarca (Wamanmarka in quechua) where we stripped off and I saw the extreeme effectiveness of my insect repellant as I reapplied it. The bus was loaded up again and we were driven into Santa Maria for our lunchtime meal. At this point three of us were seperated from the group and driven to a different restaurant. We asked Paulo about this and he said that we had paid more for our tour so we had nicer restaurants and accomodations than the rest of them. Ok. Our restaurant was called Aqui. The three of us, me Joep and Caroline (a couple from Holland), had a really nice meal. I reallised its my first proper meal since arriving in Peru! It did taste amazing. Garlic style bread with a clear vegetable soup. Tenderised meat, like chicken, and chips and vegetables, and a bowl of rice for the table, then a bannana for desert! After our food we had a briefing from a guy from the rafting company. Then Paulo took us around the corner to our guesthose for the night. I was feeling excited and energised after such a great morning and some lovely food and good company. Already I knew I was going to sleep well that night! The bus picked us up at 4pm after we had a short rest to get changed into our swimming gear underneath our clothes. Our bus was filled with different people than from this mornings activity. Some german and french and spanish. We were driven a short way to the rafting start point along the Urubamaba (Vilcanota) River which connects eventually to the Amazon river and given long sleeved tops and life jackets and helmets to wear and lastly a paddle. Then we had a briefing about the commands, "forwards, back, stop, get down," got into the boats and started to put those commands into practice. I was sat at the back next to the captain and after the first big wave I fell right into the river! The look on the other peoples faces in the boat was of panic but I didnt really feel at risk. I swam back to the boat and the captain helped me back onboard. I'm a good swimmer and I love water so I didn't feel the need to panic. Plus theres also a kayak with us who is on rescue patrol if anyone gets separated. There were two rafts and I watched the other raft get stuck on a big rock a couple of times. We were splashing each other along the way and having a good time in competition with each other. After a while we stopped so if people wanted to they could swim. Although I had already swam I went back in with some others and loved the feeling of the fresh cool water on the hot day. The Kayak was nearby and so I made him practice his rescue with me on the front and back of the Kayak. We got back in and went through some more difficult rapids. These were grade 3 rapids, exciting and scary! I didn't want to fall out on these ones! At the end of this there was another big rock and a gap which the boat just about fit so the boat was sat halfway across the river stuck between the large rock and the end of the previous rapid. Like a small waterfall right into the boat! Luckily its a good raft but the boat sat there quite comfortably with us tucked into it with water up to our necks! We carried on down the river a bit further through more grade 3 rapids to a bit where you could surf. The captain, who had by now noticed that I was probably most comfortable/craziest out of the bunch asked me to go at the front of the boat and we paddled into the surf and I held on for dear life! The water gushed over me and into the boat and sent us spinning like a rolercoaster ride, so we did that a couple of times. No one else wanted to go at the front so I got to do it twice! Back at the back of the boat the others were complaining about being bitted by the mosquitoes. I'm glad I kept my leggings on. Its calmer further down the river and I glance up at the surrounding hillsides and see birds flying overhead and the moon in the sky although its still daylight. The river is in shadow here and the temperature is dropping at the end of the day. Our last stop is by the bridge where we are asked to jump off if we like. I'm unsure but I join about half the group and take the 10 meter jump off the bridge (Scary but very exciting!) and the rough swim back to the rafts. I feel like superman! I can do anything!!!!! We went a little further and then that was the end of our rafting adventure. We got out and walked up the hillside to the minibus with all our stuff. I reapplied insect repellant but noticed that the mosquitos had gone. They seem to be here during the day but then dissapear in the night time. Most of the others had been bitten badly but I think I may have gotten away without it so far. We watched the captains load up their rafts and Kayak on the trailer behind the minibus and we went back to the town to our guesthouse. We met Paulo at 7.30 and went for dinner back at the same place we had lunch. This time we ate soup, beef and chips in a gravy sauce, and a chocolate slice for dessert! Joep got a big bottle of the local Cusquena beer and we shared it between the three of us. It was very nice. This couple are really kind, even though they're from Holland, they made the effort to speak with me in English a lot which I really appreciated! Paulo shows us a map on the wall of how far along we are and two options for tomorrow. He tells us theres an hour walk along the road to begin with but he can arange for us to get a car along this path for 10 soles each and we can go and see a waterfall insetad. We all agree that we'd rather see the waterfall than walk for an hour along a road and for 10 soles (about £2.50) it sounds like a nice alternative. I heard a strange very loud buzzing noise when leaving the river earlier and the captain joked that it was "big bugs comming for you!" He was right, the bugs here are HUGE! The Cicadas are half the size of my fist and fly about making a lot of noise with their wings! Luckily though they dont bite....... I hope! When we get back to our guesthouse there is one just outside our rooms! Thats when I realise there are two large holes, one a ventilation gap in the bathroom and alother over the front door into my room for those things to fly into. I'm exhausted though and there isn't much I can do about it. So I go to sleep and have dreams about them flying clumsily about and bumping into me.