ok I´m here in Lima, well Miraflores really which is just outside Lima but aparently a nicer place to stay then Lima. So I decided to stay here instead. So I´ll just say that I had a mad trip across and up south america from BA to Santiago to Lima!! I was up all day saturday, then went to Creamfields, left there at 3am to get back to the hostel, then to the airport and flew to Santiago at 7am, but the connecting flight was cancelled so I had to wait there all day to get the 9.20pm flight into Lima, I eventually arrived at 1.30am Monday morning for me which was 11.30 local time!! This changing time zones so often is a bit mental too!! So I got to the hostel and checked in anyway without any problems and had a good nights sleep!

Today I decided to chill for the day after my long trip here and not rush around sightseeing cos I`ll be back here in two weeks anyway. The hostel is really nice but I didn`t see that many people about and after the crazy BA hostel it was a bit different, but still really good!! I sat having breakfast (when I finally woke up) in front of a huge glass wall about 15m in width that let me look out onto this gorgeous garden in the hostel, it has trees and plants with amazing flowers all around it and an old swimming pool too...with no water in it at the moment... But as I sat there eating breakfast, this beautiful little humming bird just flew over and drank from this tall white flower right in front of me!! It was amazing! I`d never seen one that close before!

Later I took a stroll down to the supermarket and booked my 13 hour bus journey to Arequipa for tomorrow too!! I want to stay there for about 4 days or so and get used to the altitude as well as see the city before I go to Puno and Cusco. When I get back from Cusco the Peruvian guy I met in BA (Renato) will be back so we can go out and party then!! heheee After I paid for my bus ticket I took a walk down to the sea where there are small rocky beaches and all these fantastic cliffs too!! I met this artist type bum guy and ended up sitting by the shore in the sun, watching the surfers and chatting to him for a couple of hours I think?!?! It was really cool and he was a really nice guy!! I understood a lot of his Spanish too so I was really pleased about that!

We stayed there chatting about all sorts until the sun started to set over the Pacific Ocean (what a beautiful sight!!) and the surfers went home. Then started walking back towards to centre where he left to go paint someone`s picture at 6.30pm but said that he had really enjoyed spending time with such an intelligent and friendly Irish girl! Well he got the friendly bit right anyways! heheee So I`m gonna head back to the hostel and maybe read a bit about Arequipa, seeing as I`ll be there tomorrow! it`s funny that normally I would always need to be organised with a place to stay and know what I`m going to be doing!! but since I`ve started traveling I`ve been less and less organised all the time, I just turned up in Santiago and hoped they`d have a room for me!! and they did and it was fine! no stress, no worries!!

It`s funny but I`m really settling into the life of not having bills to pay and apartment to look after, a car, a phone, a particular place to be or something I have to do!! It`s great! I remember Lola used to say I was like Monica from `Friends` now I think Im more like Phoebe!! heheheee and I never knew hostels were so much fun to stay in. If anyone takes a holiday anywhere from now on, Stay in a hostel!!! if you want to meet lots of people traveling and having fun! It`s cheap, you meet loads of friendly people, they usually have a kitchen you can use and a fridge to keep food in!! Seriously try it!! I`m spending a lot less money then I planned for too seeing as I budgeted for the Irish economy and things are a lot cheaper here!! So life is good! I`m off back to the hostel now. Then to Arequipa tomorrow!! wooo hoooo ;-) ciao!

OK so the way things are at the moment are a bit mad!! At this stage i´ve given up on my hair being in any way normal looking!! as I´ve no hairdryer it just ends up in some mad dragged through a bush backwards style every day so I´ve given up worrying about it! All my clothes are permanently creased after being stuck in my smelly (Pisco) backpack!! I usually cant get stuff washed for a week or two weeks so i have plenty of dirty clothes in there too!! With all the traveling about and constant partying I´ve been missing nights of sleep fairly regularly!! But I still just sit and laugh every now and then when I think "I´m in Peru!! with no job, car, house or phone!!" and I´m loving every minute of it!! heheheeee

Peru is fairly mental though!! If you are prone to headaches I´d not recommend coming here!! It´s extremely noisy!! Every single motorised vehicle beeps it´s horn constantly!! They beep to go, to stop, the buses beep to pick you up, the taxi´s beep if they´re free!! They slow down beside me and beep to try and pick me up if I´m walking anywhere!!! it´s just mad! and the guys hang out of the side of the shitty old mini buses shouting the names of the places that they go to and try to get you to get on! They squash sooo many people into them as well!! so they´re all sitting on top of each other! heheee it´s definitely an experience being here!!

And it´s sooo chaep too!! ok listen to this! I went to the supermarket today to get some lunch. I bought two bread rolls, a banana, a bottle of coke 500ml, the same type of bottle of orange juice, a packet of meat (some sort of ham slices I hope!), a tub of cooked rice and another tub full of this big thick cooked steak in this spicy vegetable sauce, oh and a small chocolate bar just for a snack! ok ready for this!!! for a total of THREE EURO and FIFTY CENT!!! like that´s just nuts!! So i sat down at the hostel and ate the rice and steak but i couldnt even eat it all!! there was too much! seriously you can survive on soo little money here it´s crazy! well I´m off to sit in the sun then take my bus to Arequipa later!! so here comes my first 13hr bus journey up to over 8000ft!!! wooo hoooo!!! heheeee

I made it!! heheheee I`m up in Arequipa at over 8000ft in altitude and I dont feel too bad..I dont feel too good either but I keep telling myself that I`m just over reacting and that I`ll be fine and I think I will be. So I managed to get the bus successfully from Miraflores here without losing any of my belongings!! I was well impressed! The bus journey was very...surreal!! is all I can think of! Ok so it was a double decker bus that was very comfortable and I even got dinner or steak and rice!! and a breakfast roll and ginger cake thingy the next morning too!! It was pretty good for 26Euro! They showed a film in english called "Down to earth" and then Lord of the Rings in Spanish but I was too interested in the Peruvian countryside to watch that one!

You know it really made me think just how lucky I am to be able to travel and see other cultures and countries when you see the houses people live in here, the kids sitting at the side of the street trying to sell plastic crap to people in cars at midnight!! I was just about to get upset as I sat there and saw all this from my comfy bus seat when the film ended and low and behold out come the Bingo cards!! What the....!! hmmm so the numbers were too fast for me anyway I wasnt interested in playing. I was too busy looking at the barron countryside of Peru as we headed south to Arequipa. But how weird was all of this!!

So I slept then a bit on and off trying not to look at where the bus driver had the bus!! like in the middle of the road for most of the time except when a massive truck zoomed past!! When I woke up and it was bright it was the scariest thing ever! Basically all I could see was barron desert type mountain land...it`s hard to describe!! But All along the side of the road and every bend (of which there were lots!) where these grave stones and crosses from people who had died there! OK this wasnt the most encouraging seeing as there was no barrier at the side of these roads just a sheer drop off the side of the mountain!!! Greeaaattt!!!

Well we got here in one piece anyway and I bumped into a guy from Brazil after I got off the bus. He is only on a two week holiday but was looking for a place to stay too so we hopped in a taxi and found a nice hostel together..(it`s not like that!!)...and met up with another Benj and a girl called Wiz from Cornwall...So I think we`re all gonna go and take a two day tour tomorrow to one of the deepest Canyons in the world ...Wiz was telling me that the ridges are over 4000m in height so I better get used to the altitude pretty quickly!! hehehe Doh! But she did say she had some Coca leaves that I could chew on that aparently everyone recommended for altitude sickness (yes the refined version is Illegal, but these arent!) I hope! eheheee Anyway If I go off to this Canyon I`ll be off til saturday so I`m not dead if I dont appear online! ...again...I hope!!

heheeee ok later! I`m off to get dinner and a good nights sleep in a communal mixed room ...hmmm ...ah well, for 5 bucks a night what can you expect! Oh we have a fantastic view of El Misty... an active volcano from the roof too!! So if i`m not robbed, attacked, mugged, sick from the altitude or kick by moulten lava I`ll update again at the weekend! ehehehee ahh life is good! eheheheeee

I´m back!! Wooo Hooo!!! and I´m alive too if not a bit red with sunburn Doh!! But boy was it worth it!! My god what an experience! We headed off on Thursday morning at 8am and took a bus journey for a few hours out to the Colca Valley through the most spectacular moutainous (if not Very bumpy) roads you could imagine!! Wow it was amazing!! we stopped on the way for some Coca leaves which aparently help with altitude sickness!! I´m not convinced though!! But seeing as I´m willing to try anything (well almost) I gave it a go!! It was extremely weird putting a clump of dried leaves and a lump of ash (to help the absorbtion!!) into your mouth to chew on and not very nice tasting either!! But when in Rome eh!!

Then we started climbing in altitude through the mountains and at the highest point we were at 4800m!!! damn high!! We stopped to check out the view! I was chewing on the fairly disgusting tabacco tasting coca but when we stopped I had to spit it out as I didn´t feel right at all!! kinda dizzy, slightly sick...very strange feeling...and extremely tired!! it was tough up there with so little Oxygen as I had just arrived to 2500m in Arequipa the day before and hadn´t really given myself time to aclimatize!! But back on the bus I just fell asleep on the way back down to 3600m in Colca. I felt a lot better there except for a headache but I could deal with that! So my first experience of altitude sickness wasnt too bad but a very weird feeling!!

We got to a town called Chivay where we had lunch and took a two hour trek up a mountain to see some ruins and gravesites from some Pre Inka people. The walk was tough as it was hard to breathe and climb a mountain at 3600m but we did it anyway!! It was very beautiful and the views of the valley were just amazing!! There was about ten of us in our bus/tour and another one or two buses doing the same type of trip and stopping along the way with us too so we all made friends and had a really good laugh!! In my bus there was Wiz and Benj (Cornwall), Mike and Clare (NZ and Oz), Luis and Theresa (SA) and a few others so we all had a really good laugh!!

After our trek we headed off to some Hot Springs!! yeah baby!! oh my god it was fantastic!! We were outdoors with moutains all around and the night sky in this roasting hot natural water steaming up!! all I could do was smile!! it´s just unbelievable how amzing this trip is!! heheheee it´s just too good!! heehee after an hour and a half lazing about in the springs we all headed back to the town for a dinner and traditional band and dancers to entertain us!! I tried the famous fried trout (which was yummy) and then ended up being dragged up to dance the traditional dance of Love (aparently!!) with the guy who was dancing (yeah Benj took some pictures!) heheheee and Mike got dragged up by the girl so at least we both looked silly together!! heheheeee

We got a fairly early night then cos we had a 5.30am start in order to see the Condors leave their nests at the Cruz del Condor viewpoint. WOW!!! what an amazing sight!! they were fabulous!! and Huge!! We got to the Colca Canyon then and saw the sheer drop of 1200m down from the edge of the cliff before taking another hour walk about the top of the Canyon. It´s pretty scary there as there are no barriers anywhere in this country!! they´re not really up on their safety here at all!! After we headed to another village to have lunch before heading back up over the mountains and home to Arequipa again!!

I felt fine this time at almost 5000m so I think I´m settling into the altitude a bit better now! and no headaches either!! it was tough but definitly good experience for my four day trek to Machu Picchu next week!! It was weird cos up at the highest point coming back on friday it was snowing a blizzard!! heheheee what an amazing tour!! When I got back to Arequipa I moved to a cheaper hostel with a few of the guys and girls from the tour and ended up partying with them on the rooftop terrace before headed next door for some dancing with the locals and a live band til 3.30am!!! What a great but very long and tiring day!! heheee Today I´m off to see the town of Arequipa a bit so catch you all later!! Hope you´re all well!! I´m great!! Ciao! heheheeee

Well I saw some of the town of Arequipa alright, I went sightseeing with Wiz and Benj, had this nice chicken and chips for lunch and then headed to the museum to see the Ice Princess´s Juanita and Sarita, they are over 500 years old (if I remember right?) and were found in the frozen ice of the mountains in Arequipa where they were offered to the gods at about 13 years of age!! They were found and kept preserved in these glass fridge-freezers really!! and the detail you can see on them is really erie!!! their hair is perfect and you can see their skin and everything!!! Kinda freaky But fascinating!!

Later back at the hostel we saw the most fantastic sunset from the rooftop terrace and I managed to get a few nice pics i think so looking forward to getting them all developed! Then disaster struck and I saw "lovely chicken" that I had eaten earlier for lunch...again!! So here it started ...my first really sick day!!! Booo!!! I guess it had to come sooner or later! So I just went to bed after my stomach refused to keep my lunch and just slept for the rest of the night and got up today cos I had already booked my bus to Puno to visit Lake Titicaca!!

I was feeling really weak as I hadn´t really had any food in the last 24hrs!! So i struggled with a breadroll for breakfast and chatted to a nice Swedish guy who left me the address of a cool surfing place in Equador!! how nice! ;-) I said goodbye to Wiz and Benj and got my taxi to the bus station for the 6hr bus journey to Puno!! Oh my God!!! I thought I was gonna die!! I was sooo weak and slightly sick from the altitude increase of 1500m. It was very tough!!! then after a short break i got some sweets and biscuits and managed to get a sleep at the back of the bus and I felt a lot better!!

On the bus I bumped into Justin and Sharon (thanks for the sweets guys!!) ..oh...they thought I was gonna die too!!! heheeee I would´ve been white in the face except I was sunburned!! ehheeee oh and Henrik of course! A charming guy from Denmark who I ended up sharing a room with in the hostel that night cos there was only doubles and no singles! Plus the doubles are cheaper!! We all booked a two day tour out on the lake and so that should be fun cos we´ll all be spending the next few days together!! it´s funny how these things work out!!

I felt a lot better Sunday night and went out in Puno for an over baked Pizza with Henrik in the absolute lashing rain!! and freezing cold!! bloody hell it´s like home!! Later we organised to all go to the floating Islands and Amantani and Taquile, I went shopping and got some water, bread and bananas for breakfast and the next day travelling. I was really tired Sunday night, my face was peeling, I looked like shit so I got an early night, but at least I wasn´t sick after the Pizza!!! yyeeeaaayyy!! ;-)

We all got the bus after a good nights sleep and headed to the port and got in a very slow boat with about 20 other tourists and headed to the first Island called Uros, this was a floating island on lake Titicaca made completely of reeds!!! they just grow them, cut them and pile them on top of each other to make the island, as the reeds at the bottom rot away they put new ones on the top!! Mad!!! very bouncy to walk on and quite wet too!! Then we took the boat another two hours to the mainland that juts out into the lake called Llachon for lunch, I tried the traditional Alpacha (baby llama) and it was very nice!

The views from the land were just spectacular!! the sun was shining which made a nice change from the previous night and the lake looked fantastic! After lunch we had another two hour trip to the Island of Amantani where we stayed for the night!! I was introduced to Isabel, the mother in teh house I was to stay in on my own!! wow!!! After a trek up the island we went to the house where I saw my room, bumped my head on the door frame (they are quite short there!!) Isabel turned out to by 26 with a husband and one year old baby, her 18 year old sister and mother also lived in the same house.

After the introductions we all met up again with the other tourists at the local basketball court!! and played some football!! hehehee Then we all trekked up to the top of the island to some pre Inca ruins. What a fantastic view of the lake!! It was fun meeting more people and making more friends!!! heheee It just never stops!! So we had a fun trek and then headed back to our assigned houses as everyone was allowed stay with families from the island to see how they live and experience a small part of their lives on the island.

It was very bizarre for me to see a woman kinda my age and living such a completely different life to me!! She looked a lot older then 26, wore very different clothes and was still feeding her 1 year old baby girl (who she carried everywhere with her on her back!!). There was no electricity on the island except for three hours from 6.30 to 9.30pm so we sat by the light of one candle while they cooked dinner in a pot over a wood fire!! It was very smokey and very strange to think that they did actaully live like this in places in the world!

We had vege soup for dinner, followed by more vege´s and rice. I chatted a bit with Isabel who worked on the land and knitted hats for a living. If you didnt see... the house, the cooking area, the outside toilet that you poured water into to flush, the height of the very short doorways, the land they trekked to go anywhere on the island, the clothes they wore...if you didn´t see it in person, I dont think you would believe it! Later that evening we all met up again at a local disco, before we left Isabel asked me if I wanted to wear their local clothes to the disco?!?! So why not!!

This too had to been seen to be believed!! I had three skirt type things on, a blouse top thingy and two belts tied tight around my stomach!! man it was hot under all those layers!!! Everyone turned up in the local dress (men and all!! only they had silly hats and ponchos instead) so I wasn´t the only one!! We had two local bands playing music and we did plenty of dancing ...I even got some salsa in with a few of the girls on the tour too!! And of course some of the traditional dancing with the locals!!! great fun altogether!! ehheeee

After the disco we had to walk home in the dark, but this wasn´t just dark!! it was pitch black!! With a lightning storm behind the clouds too!! It was great!! We got back to the house and I managed to find my way to the outside toilet before snuggling up in bed in the darkest room i´ve ever been in!! And the most Silent!!! It was very strange!! not one noise! only the sound of the rain and you couldn´t see anything at all infront of you!! Luckily I remembered my torch so I was fine!! It´s such a completely different life there!! It´s strange too how people can be soo poor in some cases and yet others you´ll see wearing the latest fashions and jeans and playing computer games in internet cafes!! it`s Bizarre!!

Then while I was on the bus from Arequipa, I saw two men jump into a bucket off the top of a half built building and they were using themselves as a counter weight to lift a bucket of cement on the other end of the pulley up to the third floor of the building!! I got a picture of that one so it should be funny!! and while I´m on the subject of buildings!! Every single building here is either falling down of half built!! They all have gates and bars on the front of every door and window too!! You really need to see Peru to believe it!! The amount of beautiful views, lakes, Canyons, Mountains, sunsets is just amazing!!

Anyway today we got breakfast and said goodbye to our host families, I got a fantastic hat from Isabel and we headed off on the boat again to the last island of Taquile for a trek across the island for lunch and then down the 500 steps to the port where the boat had arrived to pick us up! We had such fun on the trip home and I must say I met a really nice bunch of people and I´ll put the catalog pose picture on the website as soon as I can!! it should be great!! heheheeee Just before we got back to Puno it started a gale on the lake and it rained all night but we all still managed to meet up a for a last supper before everyone headed their own way!! Off to Cusco tomorrow on the bus in the morning so I think after all the trekking I´m ready for the Inca Trail!!! Cusco here I come!!!

I made it to Cusco!! It`s reall nice here and you wouldnt believe the amount of people I know here!! it`s mad!! ok I got here last night after a 6 hour bus journey very interesting, they had to change the tire on the bus half way to Cusco and they used a pick axe amoung other things to take the inner tire out!! I tell you it`s a totally different world here!! And it turned out that Justin and Sharon from the Lake tour where on my bus too!! So they should be doing the trail the same day as me but probably not with the same tour company. We got different hostels though as Sharon wasnt feeling well and I just wanted somewhere cheap!!

I checked into the hostelling international but there didn`t seem to be many people about!! I checked my mail and found that Jon (met in Santiago) was here and waiting to book the Inka trail with me. We met up after I had dinner and booked our trip. Then decided to check out the Irish bar Rosie O`Grady`s, It was kinda quiet but it turned out that while we were sitting there the nice Swedish guy that I met in Arequipa (David) who had left me the email address for a surfing place in Equador walked in!! along with his three mates!! so I did get to say thnks for the address after all!!! I`ve realised that that sorta thing is Just typical at this stage!!!

So we all sat and had a few drinks before heading to their hostel to finish off their bottle of ron before headiong out to the clubs in Cusco!! So after a very long day and club hopping til 3am I headed back to the hostel, man the steps in this town are a killer!! at this altitude as well!!! oh inka trail here I come!! Doh!! well I woke up this morning and met Jenny and english girl who was in my room...anyway as you do we got chatting and ended up both moving out of the hostel to the one that Jon is in, the royal Qosco which is the same price but has no steps to climb to get to!! heheheeee I mananged to sort out paying for inka trail and then went to have lunch with Jon and Sonja.

Then as I was walking through the main Plaza I heard someone calling me!! Again very bizarre!!! It was Clare and Mike (from Arequipa) so I went and had a chat and we said we`d meet for dinner and drinks later too. They`re starting their trail in the morning so I wont see them on route but we can hang out tonight. They said that they`d tell Fas (english guy from Arequipa too who is here as well) Cool!!! reunion!! eheheee So myself Jon and Sonja are having lunch when a very hungover Fas walks in to the restaurant!! heheheee and it`s not that small a town honestly!! so I now know about 13 people here in Cusco at the moment!! eheheeee

Well I`m off to hang out with some mates in Cusco!! heheeee then go sightseeing tomorrow before the 4am start on Saturday morning when myself and Jon are going with United Mice tour guides, then there`s Klaus and Oliver, Jenny, the three Swedish guys and the Ozzy guy Caine and then Justin and Sharon who are all going to be trekking the trail the same time as me!! with different tour guides but everyone stops at the same places to camp and that so we`ll see each other no doubt!! Anyway All is good again, I have no food poisoning, no cold, and will get enough rest before I start sat morning I reckon! four day trekking at over 3500m!! Bring it ON!!!!! heeeheheee Doh!!

Well it was last friday night when myself Jenny and Jon went on a pre inka trek up to some ruins around Cusco, We took the local bus up to the highest ruin called Tambomachay and bought our ticket to get into all the four sights including Qenko, Puca Pucara and the last one as you walk back down the mountain to Cusco is called Saqsayhuaman or "sexywoman" as it`s more commonly known by the Gringo`s!! hehehee. The ruins and the views were just spectacular!! We were taking some photos and then ended up being mobbed by the locals and ended up in their photos too!! For some reason they are obsessed with foreigners here and so i`ll be in some Peruvian family albums now as the Irish girl with freckes and red hair we met at the ruins!

The ruins were just amazing and we walked for about 4 hours around them all!! All the way back down to Cusco!! just for a warm up for the Inka trail really...which we were starting at 4am Sat morning! I had an idea that I wanted Chinese and when we got back we went and had a yummy Chinese on the Friday night before meeting Sharon and Justin for some pre inka drinks in the local Irish pub Paddy Flaherty`s. But when we were in the Chinese, a guy sat down on his own so i decided to ask him if he wanted to join us for dinner, he did, and his name was James, he ended up on the trail as well and we bumped into each other again on third and then again on the fourth day of the trail too!! how funny! oh and we also ended up sitting behind each other on the train back to Cusco!! ;-)Fate???....

So... the trail!! well where do I start!! That was.... the most.... Amazing, breadthtaking, tiring, hot, cold, sweaty, wet, exhilarating, smelly, dirty, tough, fun, exciting, inspiring four days I`ve ever had in my life!! And that, is no exaggeration!!!! WOW is all you can say!!!

The first day we got up at 4am and got ready to get on the bus. There was no water though so I ended up starting the trek without washing for a day already!!! Doh!! Well I got a lot more smelly and so did everyone else so it was ok!! heheheee So there were six of us in total with our tour guide Franklin and nine porters in our group. We took the bus and went to have some breaky in a beautiful house half way to the check point KM82, where you start. Then after a few hours at about 7.30am we got to km82 and checked in, the sun was shining and I saw David, Pelle and Jocke, the three Swedish guys there too before we all headed off up the first peak!! WWoooo Hooo!!! it´s a small world eh!! heheee

In our group there was Liz and Ian and then Wendy and Simon, all English, and of course myself and Jon. So guess who ended up sharing the next four days with Jon! yep lucky him!! hehehee We got to share a tent with smelly clothes, boots etc for four days!! but we survived it!!! (thanks Jon!!) heheheee So after we set off at about 8am walking up the first peak, it wasn´t too bad!! To start with!! Plenty of steps!! and you know what, i walked up and down so many steps over the last five days I don`t think I`ll ever walk so many for the rest of my life put together!!! heheee anyway we did more on the first day then the other groups (which I was so glad of on the second day!!).

The sun was shining and the scenery was just amazing so we walked and chatted and sang and had fun...but silence always fell when we got to some steep steps!! It`s too hard to climb and talk at the same time!! heheee anyway after a few hours we made it to our first lunch stop. The porters had already made it there and put up a tent and table and little fold away seats for us to have lunch at. We had the most amazing food, fruit, bread, spinach pie and some of Franklins special tea. After a yummy lunch and a nice rest we headed off back up the mountain. We walked in total 15k about 3/4`s of the way uphill on the first day and got to camp an hour early in actual fact!! hehee we`re just a fantastic group really!! hehehee

So we had our dinner which was yum yet again!! and very filling!!! I didn`t manage to eat everything while i was on the trail at all. Plus it was harder in the morning to eat a big breakfast and then start trekking uphill!!! but anyway that night we camped out and saw the most amazing night sky you can imagine before going to bed! The night sky is just so much more amazing when you´re out in the complete darkness!!! The tent was comfy and the sleeping bag was warm too!! only for the ground being a bit hard it was great!!! I got a good few hours sleep after a long day walking I was pretty tired anyway!!

The second day arrived and we got up at about 6.30am in the morning and Frank brought us a cup of tea, coffee or Cocoa in our tents before breakfast!! wow!!! hehehee yum too! So we had a delicious breakfast and headed off up the mountain to reach the first peak called Warmiwanusca Pass or (Dead Womans Pass). We weren`t so lucky on the second day and it rained on us for most of the morning! The top of the mountain was Very cold and Very rainy and hard work climbing up those steep steps for two hours but we still did it! and got a reward of a shot of rum at the top and a lolly pop!!! hehehe Frank was a young guide at only 21 but he really knew how to keep everyone happy and motivated!! We all made it to the top, took our photos and started off back down the other side of the mountain for a few hours walking Down the steps for a change!!

We stopped at the bottom of the valley and got ourselves ready for the next trek up the mountain to the lunch tent which we saw far away on the second mountain on the way down the first peak! Doh!!! So we bumped into some guys at the house at the bottom Chris from South Africa and Theo from England who I met a few times again over the next few days!! hehee it`s funny how everyone is so happy to be travelling and trekking up mountains and has fun where even when they you are freezing cold and wet and have to climb up a 3900m mountain!!! hehehee great fun!!

Just a short while before the top of the second peak we stopped to have lunch and this was the coldest and wettest I had been over the four days!! But yet again the food was amazing and after that and a well earned rest (well I got a short burst of insanity and decided to run up the mountain!!) ....so I made it up first to the lunch tent about 20 mins before the last person in the group! I just felt so full of energy and life so I decided to run!! or maybe I wasn´t getting enough Oxygen to my brain or somthing!! ehheee anyway on our way after lunch the sun came out again and I dried off and warmed up!! thank god for that!

As we got to the top of the second pass and the few small lakes that were there I looked back at the first peak and Oh my God it was just unbelievable!!! You look back and you see this huge mountain and you could even see these little ants coming over the first peak (the other groups behind us!) and you just think " *#*$ I climbed over that!!!" and it´s just the most exhilarating feeling ever!! and the most beautiful scenery!! it really is just breadthtaking!! Later we made it to the ruins and the second camp site in the most spectacular settings surrounded by these huge mountains and beautiful cloud forest!!! We had the most surprisingly yummy dinner yet again, special drinks after and fun card games that you play when there is no TV or electricity!!! But it´s so much more fun to spend time with people and just chat and communicate!! and not be stuck in front of a TV or computer!! it´s like you´re living again!

But it wasn´t just the trekking and the mountains and the camping and the scenery along the trek, we also learned about the several ruins along the way too!!! There are several along the trail including Llactapata (which we saw on the first day), Runturacay (just before the second pass), Sayacmarca (after the second pass), Phuyupatamarca (at the camp site on the third day), then there´s the Huinay huayna, Inti Pata and Intipunka ruins which we saw on the fourth day before reaching Macchu Picchu!!! At all of the ruins we sat down and got our lesson about the ruins, the Inkas, their religion, lives, beliefs, type of people they were ..etc etc...It´s all soo interesting!! and another aspect to the trail that I wasn´t really expecting as I hadn´t thought about it in that much detail!!

The morning of the third day we set off early again at 7am after getting up and having breakfast at 6am. We ate a lot that morning with bread, porridge, fruit, milo (cocoa drink) and these fantastic pancakes with Jam!!! ohhh I was just stuffed!!! then came more Bloody steps!!! Doh! Anyway we made out way through the mountains again and over the third pass and through the Inca Tunnel, which is part natural and part carved through the mountain rock by the Inka´s!! You just can´t put into words the things you experience while doing this trek! Every time you look up from the steep steps you´re just in awe of either another ruin, the path they created, the cloud forests, the mountains, the night sky, the sunsets!! the meals you get served even!! heheheee it´s just something I´ll never forget as long as I live!

Frank took us a different route the afternoon on the third day on the "Walk of Lovers" path through a forest and over to the side of a mountain where we got our first glimps of Machu Picchu!!! Woww!! it was amazing!! We saw it before everyone else on the mountain (as we found out on day four at the sungate!!) heheeee what a great guide!! he pointed out all these beautiful orchids and flowers along the path and we saw some amazing birds, the Andean Gull, different types of swallows, finches etc...and the most fantastic little humming bird only a few feet away right in front of us!! Finally we made it to the third camp site and here we actaully met other people!! Wow It was kinda weird to meet other people again!! we had spent so much time not seeing anyone it was like it was just our trail!! We were like huh!! how dare they be here on our mountain!!! heheheee

We went to the ruins again and I bumped into Jenny (who I shared a room with in Cusco), Oliver and Klaus (who I was on the Lake tour with) the Swedish guys (from Arequipa) and last but definitely not least James (who I picked up at dinner in Cusco!!) hehehee just kidding James! hehee Well there was a bar at this camp site so what can you expect eh!!! My group and Frank hit the bar that night and took our cards with us, I think we were the loudest, funniest group on the mountain!! But we had soo much fun!!! After a few drinks we went and had dinner together and then I went back to the bar...to mingle of course and hang out with all my mates!! ;-) I had a lot of fun and made it to bed by 10pm!!

Now this was pretty late actually cos you would get to camp between 4 and 5pm and have dinner and chat for a while but by 7pm it was pitch black and you were pretty tired after a long day and we would just be in bed by 8pm!! It was weird!! I´ve gone from getting to bed at 6am Argentina after partying all night to getting up at 6am in Peru after trekking all day!!! I dont think I have a body clock anymore!! I´m soo screwed up every few days doign something different!! hehehee Anyway I got a few hours sleep before the fourth and last day of the Inka trail!!!

We got up at 4am!!! Doh!! In the lashing rain!!! *&*#!!! and cold again!! doh! oh and pitch black too!! Well you have to get up that early in order to make it to the Sungate in time and see Machu Pichu!! Today was funny cos everyone walks the same path more or less together!! so I was chatting to David, Pelle and Jocke from Sweden, Theo and Chris, Jenny and then Klaus and Oliver etc.. At about 7am or so we had made it to the last uphill point, the Sungate!! From here Machu Picchu was very cloudy so we took a few more pics and after a while headed off down the mountain and reached Machu Picchu!! Yeay!!!! after four days!! we had made it!!! Wooo Hoooo!!! We celebrated with Frank and he gave us a surprise of some red wine which I don´t normally drink but I think I will from now on!!! Red Wine at 7.15am!!! that was a first!!! heheheee

We walked down to the checkpoint and sorted ourselves out, checked in our bags cos you cant bring them around the ruins and then sat down to get some food, I had a hamburger at 8.20am!!! heheheee Well It felt like lunchtime after getting up at 4am!! hehehee Then we headed off for our tour of the ruins and history lesson from Frank again!! It´s just amazing the architecture, the houses, the terraces, the buildings, the location...just everything there is unbelievable!! It really makes you want to travel back in time and see it all working!! See why they built things the way they did, who thought of what to build where and why and what some things were actually used for as there are so many theories for some specific stones and things!!

There was another mountain called Huayna Picchu just to teh right of Machu Picchu that the guys decided to climb! Now normally I would have gone but I was quite tired and the prospect of the Hot Springs at Aguas Calientes after four days trekking was far too tempting for me!! myself Frank, Liz and Wendy walked the two hours back to the town and had my train ticket changed to come back that day and not stay overnight as I was originally gonna do to just chill out there. But decided against that after we had arranged for our group to all go out in Cusco for final drinks on Tuesday night. Luckily as I was walking up to the springs on my own I met James again. So we went up to the springs and met Jenny, Pelle, David and Jocke again!! Ahh it´s a small world eh!!

So after soaking in the natural hot springs and showering in the hot sun (yeah I got a bit burned again!! oops) I went back to the town and had lunch with all the group before heading to get the train back to Cusco. I was in a carriage with all of my group, Oliver and Klaus and James was sitting right behind me! heheheee so after a really pleasant train journey back to Cusco we headed back to the hostel and booked in for another two nights. We all just chilled all day Wednesday and I went and saw some of the sights around Cusco with James before saying bye to Jenny and Jon who headed off to Bolivia that night! Thanks guys for a great time in Cusco, thanks for putting up with me for four days and nights Jon! Jen I hope you´re feeling better after that food poisoning!! Doh! James thanks for a great day wednesday ;-) Thanks Frank for being a great guide and thanks Liz and Ian and Wendy and Simon for being such fantastic people to have in a group for the Trail! hope to see you all soon!!! well at least keep in touch!! I´m off to Lima!

I´m back in Lima again!! I decided to fly here seeing as it was about 30hours to get the bus and I had had a tough week climbing over three mountains and also I´m running out of time in South America!! I gave myself a month between Peru and Ecuador but now I only have 7 days left before I fly out and leave SA for the next year and a half!! Awwww!!! It makes me sad to think I have to leave and won´t be back for such a long time!! It´s kinda like the end of part of my trip I guess... the end of a Continent!! heheheee I´ve had the most amazing fantastic time here and met some fabulous people!!! Thanks everyone for being so friendly, funny, cool party people, I´ll never forget you!!!

In Lima!!! well I arrived yesterday afternoon and who was there to meet me only Renato!!! That I met in BA!! wow that was a pleasant surprise!! We went and got a taxi to a different hostel in the centre of Miraflores called the Flying Dog Backpackers! It´s very nice but a bit more expensive at $8 a night!! heheeee it´s just too funny when you think $8 is expensive!!! I was paying just over 4 Euro a night in Cusco!! Anyway we went out for a walk around Miraflores and out to the shore where the sun was shining and there were people parasailing along the cliffs!! You know I´ve just seen the most unbelievably beautiful scenery you can ever imagine in South America you can´t even begin to describe it!! It´s just fantastic!! heheheee

So after getting some lunch, myself and Renato went out to Sara´s house (his friend who I met in BA as well!!) she lived in Chorillos, so we hopped on one of the mental buses out there, but she wasn´t there so went around the corner to his house where I met his mother and had dinner there too! They´re are just too kind here!! the hospitality is just unbelievable!! you get invited to their house and dinner cooked for you!!! wow!!! anyway Sara called over later and another friend Carlos too. We all had a glass of wine before myself and Renato went out for a drink with the guys who worked in the hostel and two Ozzy girls who had got there that day too!!

I went to bed about 1am cos I was pretty tired and ended up waking up early so I got breakfast and lunch in the supermarket and then went back to bed til 2pm!!! well I needed a sleep so I decided to just chill out today and update the website and have a short wander about before I give Renato and Sara a call. I´ve booked my bus for the morning up to Tumbes which is the last town before the border to Ecuador!!! So I´ll head there for a week and maybe try out the surfing details that David from Sweden left me! And also the Cotopaxy Volcano details that Jenny left me! It´s funny that it´s the people that I´m meeting that are giving me ideas of things to do and helping to make my trip for me!! It´s really great in that way and I´m loving every minute of it!!!

Off to Ecuador and into US dollars for a while before I start off again on a new part of the trip in Central America!!! Ciao for now!

I made it to Ecuador, So you can read the first impressions and what I´m up to next on that page but for now there´s a bit I´d like to say to finish off Peru!!

Well after I updated the site the other night I gave Renato and Sara a call and arranged to meet Sara for drinks as Renato had to work!! awww...well it was my last night in Lima so drinks had to be had!! We met up and walked over to the main pedestrian pub, restaurant alley and as we walked through the masses of people trying to get us into their place or sell us stuff I heard this amazing Cuban salsa music and saw a couple dancing this great salsa in the bar!! So we Had to stop and watch!! Then I just thought "I have to dance with him!!" and said this to Sara who made me go and talk to the guy. Mauricio was his name (from Cuba) so he brought out these flyers and said we could come to the classes....only I said I couldn´t as I was leaving tomorrow but would love a dance now if possible?!!?! heheeee well what did you expect!!

He said sure and started off with this simple stuff until I did some flashy move and he was like ooohhhh You know how to dance!!! He then started more flashy stuff too and the whole place was watching at this stage!! heheheee then the song was over, (a live band was playing) and he asked the question "Do you know Rueda?" HA!!! do I know Rueda!!! heheee So we started some Rueda with another couple too and ended up staying there for the night and dancing with the instructor, his friends, the waiters, some other dudes, an older man who could really dance by the way!!! With the live band playing the place just rocked!!! It was mental!!! heheheeee So we stayed there til 2.30am dancing and oh my god it was very hot anyway and after all the dancing I was just knackered!!!

We finally left and called in to see Reanto at work!! Very impressive!! He´s a dealer in a Casino!! and he always wins!!! heheee and he looked soooo cute in the shirt and dicky bow and waist coat too!! hehehee So off I went to bed and as i was leaving go to to the bus station at 7am Renato called by after he finished work at 7am too. I´ll tell you the Peruvian hospitality is just amazing!! They are sooo friendly and helpful and fun to be out with!! I´m very sad to be leaving Peru...and South America too soon!!! Aaawwwwww!!! So off on my economy 7 dollar bus ride for 20 hours to the northern city of Tumbes so that I can cross the border into Ecuador!! Well that was an experience I´ll tell you!!

OK so the bus is direct for about 20hours I think!!! but it stopped about 50 million times to let people on and off along the way. Now I know why Renato was laughing when he saw I was going economy class!! Well you have to try it at least once I think!! maybe not on a 20hr bus journey though!! Anyway you get locked onto the bus by the dude who sits beside the bus driver and bargains for people who want to get on and off the bus along the way. Who knows whether he´s selling the tickets or pocketing the money but he´s not a man to mess with!! At one stage (ok dont panic mom I´m still alive!!) But I was sitting up looking out the window as I was in the first window seat behind the door. As we were passing through this town they frequently had the door open and the dude hanging out shouting and bargaining with people.

Thats the door onto the bus, not the second one locking us in!! And I looked and then looked again and this guy is weilding a bloody gun in the air!! hmmm Sometimes I think you´re better off just closing your eyes, putting you earphones in and going asleep!! So thats what I did! No worries!!! hehehee hmmmmm well anyway!!! The toilet stops were fun too when the bus starts driving away without you on it. Luckily I´m a fast runner and have no problems hoping on and off moving objects!!! hehehee well it wasn´t that bad but I did have to run!!! Anyway I made it to Tumbes in one piece if not very tired and smelly only to be accosted my 15 men all trying to get me in their taxi´s to bring me over the border!!

I decided against the taxi over the border and got another bus ticket from the station I arrived at straight to Guayaquil in Ecuador. This one was 20 dollars for a 6hr journey so it was a bit more upmarket but as I had no idea where I was and had to cross the border I figured what the hell!! So as it was 8.40am I asked the cute guy at reception what time the bus was going at....he said 8.30am!! yep this was Peruvian time again!! So the bus eventually came at 10am!! In the mean time I had this guy declaring his undying love for me and even trying to follow me into the toilet to kiss me!! eh no thanks mate!! I politely showed him the door and locked it behind him so that I could freshen up a bit and then hoped on the bus to Guayaquil and left Peru after three fun filled weeks!!

Tips on Peru!!

1. Bring toilet roll everywhere with you cos no toilet has any, ever!!!

2. Be prepared to be accosted by millions of people trying to sell you everything and anything!!!

3. Heckle heckle and heckle some more!! Everything can be bargained for!! When Renato brought me to the bus station he asked the taxi man how much and before the guy could finish saying seven Renato said six and the taxi man said Done! It was just so crazy!! I had to laugh!! heheheeee

4. Be prepared to get very smelly and not be able to wash your hands or face or shower at all sometimes, especially if you do the Inka trail!! It´s gross but at least everyone is in the same boat!!

5. You´ll really get back to nature and learn to have a strong stomach while you´re here!! mind you I thought that until I got to Ecuador!! ahhh it just gets better every day!! check it out I made it to Ecuador!! yippeeeee