I´m a little behind with the blog so you have to bear with me. Not going to go into too much detail so here goes, on our last night in the Jungle we had torrential rain and when I say torrential I mean a big mama of a storm, it was like sleeping beside Niagra Falls, the noise of it and with no windows in the lodge you just couldn´t sleep, it only started at around 11.00pm and woke everybody up, so you know yourself if you wake up during the night you almost always need to visit the bathroom, well and good if it´s a hop out of the bed, turn on the light and away you go but oh no, not in the Jungle, I had to get out from under the mossie net (which was firmly pulled down over the bed), find the lighter, light the candles, make my way to the bathroom where I discovered a frog in the shower ! such drama.
Anyway we left the Jungle and flew back to Cusco where we stayed for one night, went to an Irish bar called ´Paddys Bar´ which is supposed to be the highest 100% Irish owned pub in the world nice enough place and is popular with locals.
Following day I was up at 6.00am, my body clock is all over the place, wouldn´t mind but we didn´t have to leave until 10.00am.
Got a bus and went to an animal shelter where we saw Condors and Macaws ect, it´s run by a family and they rescue any animals that are mistreated or abandoned. Then it was off to a local community (way up in the mountains), when we arrived this really old woman (she was at least 90 if not more) was at the entrance to meet us and threw flower petals on each of us (to bring us good fortune) all the woman came out (think the men were out working cause we didn´t see any) and showed us how they make the scarfs and blankets from the lama wool ect , there were 3 kids there and I took some photos of them and then showed them it on the camera, well the laughs of them, the little fella kept coming up to me and saying photo photo so I have loads of photos, and when I took a video of them well that just took the biscuit altogether, they were so cute. The women prepared a small lunch for us which included Guinea Pig so I had my first taste, it´s a bit like chicken only darker and tougher, can´t say I´ll be having it again though. When it was time to go they all came down to the bus and as we pulled away the little fella started to run after the bus waving like mad, it was so funny.
Next stop was a bar, well not sure if you could call it a bar really, it was a house which had a pole sticking out from the roof and a plastic bag at the end of it which means you can stop by for a quick one, if a basket is hanging at the end of the pole it means they sell bread, strange place ! The drink was made from corn and it was in a huge pot in the corner and as long as you smiled at the woman standing guard beside it you got a drink. It was actully quite nice.
Arrived at our Hotel in Otalyatambo (spelt wrong) late afternoon, so had quick walk around, dinner and then bed.
Big day today, the start of the Inca Trail, not going to bore you with all the details but it was 2 days of long hard hikes up and down mountains, I have never done anything so hard in my entire life, day one was tough but day two was horrific, day three was ok but when I got my first glimpse of Machu Pichu, it was worth all the pain and hard work. Definitely an experience I will never forget and thank god I had no trouble with altitude sickness or headaches. The camping was good fun and the food was out of this world, there were 4 of us along with our guide and we had 10 porters (these are the guys that carry all the camping gear, cooking utensils, food ect) you should have seen the food these guys produced each day, you wouldn´t get the likes of it in a good restaurant and they were so nice. They woke us up at 5.00 each morning with a mug of coco tea and then a bowl of water to wash with, they cheered you when you made it to camp each time, they were unbelievable, great lads to foot the turf if you had them at home !!