"I just wanted to sit down all day"

Quoting Katharine.

SO today was obviously a bit of a slow started. We had to get up and go and catch our flight so at least we got up.

Star Peru are probably the worst airline company EVER. They didn`t check our passports but they didn`t lose our bags so its all good! Aeroplane was fairly retro but we didnt experience any turbulance so there was no need for sick bags, which is a good thing since there weren`t any...

Back in Lima except this time we`re staying in a hostal called the Red Psycho Llama... courtesy of James and Nia`s choice. They`ve been hear for a couple of days already. Katharine went to bed and Will read his book on the balcony for a while.

Spent the evening chilling at the hostal since all 4 of us were all pretty knackered. The Hangover is SO good. The Spanish subtitles were not so good... Finished the night with James Bond: Live to die another day - WHO KNEW Madonna was in it!?

Katharine enters adulthood....

Tuesday

Today it was Katharine`s 21st! Woke up and Will was playing it rather cool. Sent Katharine off to the bar to get breakfast and then sneaked back to the room to get his `moneybelt` but then came back with 2 balloons and a little suprise parcel, courtesy of her Mum.

So we eat some breakfast and Katharine opened all her lovely cards and letters from various family members and then we celebrated with a birthday stale break role (no cake available). Will also gave Katharine some Llama earrings but to prevent any possible ear infections we`re going to wait until we can TCP them at home before she wears them.

We got collected from the hostal to go paragliding. First impressions weren´t great when we got picked up in a taxi whic was too small for us all (one guy had to sit in the boot....) I think we both hoped for better first impresssions from people we were about to risk our lives with. Anyway, after quite a long drive including a dirt road which MUST have destroyed the taxi we arrived at the top of a very high hill (mountain ?). So we didn`t realise but you actually need quite precise wind conditions for paragliding so we had to wait for quite a while before we even got kitted up. While we were waiting we had to listen to 3 girls from London where apparnelty it is 35 degress in the summer and pints cost only 2.50.... unfortunately we did`t find out where in London this occurs but we`re both pretty keen to go there.

Eventually it was our turn. Will had to go first and had a pretty easy takeoff. He says he could`t look down and was gripping the harness so hard he crippled his fingers but thought it was awesome. We flew over an amazing view of the Sacred Valley (see earlier blog). He then had an ultimate FAIL when landing. Either he is a retard at running or the guy landed too fast but he definitely landed flat on his face being dragged along. Although Will was worried his beautiful face may be tainted, you don`t have to worry - he escaped with a graze on his arm and leg.

Next was Katharine`s turn. So although it took about 80 times for Katharine to take off, all of which were not doing wonders for her hip, she did eventually make it into the sky. Although she was worried she might soil herself, no such disasters happened and she even says she would love to do it again! Birthday WIN!

After that we had to stop off via a Bungee jump because one of the girls was doing that too. We absolutely did not.. haha. The guy who took Will paragliding definitely sat and smoked a joint though... Katharine dealt with this very well.... haha.

The rest of the afternoon we had a leisurely lunch and prepared ourself for the night that was to come. And o what a night it was. It began at the hostal bar... we definitely sat for 15 minutes waiting for happy hour to begin... YASS. A few rounds of Pisco Sours (Pisco, lemon and egg white) and a free birthday long island iced tea and the drinking games began. Katharine competed in at least 8 rounds although Will had to take a rain check for fear of vomming and being KO`d before we`d even left. Best drinking game ever and definitely bringing it back to Edinburgh.

We headed out, first stop Mama Africa. We managed to avoid the various people selling drugs (lol?) but unfortunately Mama Africa was a bit dead so we moved on to Mythology (our old favourite). Katharine managed to get her Lady Gaga request played at last, just before she was sick on the dance floor (cheap Peruvian booze FAIL). This was only a minor blip in her performance and we continued to dance until the early hours.

21ST BIRTHDAY WIN

Bodily function WIN

A litte bit of a more productive day today as both of us managed to stay under control of all of our bodily fluids lol.

In the morning we went to Qorikancha which is supposedly on e of the best Inca sites in Cusco. Not so much. Museum has the WORST translations so negative on the understanding front. There are very few ruins to see from the outside too. Howeever (apologies the keyboard is haaving a bit of a mare) then we went inside Santa Domingo convent which was really good. It was built on top of the originial Inca site so all of the ruins are insode of the building. A little bit strange but really well preserved. Luckily also everything was in English too so Will could understand it all...good times. Some very strange contemporary art exhibitions upstairs in the convent - not sure that pictures of private parts should be ina convent. What about the monks!?

We raided the artisan market in the afternoon for lots of Peruvian artefacts. Good times. Between the two of us we will be able to set up a small Peruvian shop back at home (maybe try and earn enough money to cover what we have spent haha. The stall owners are incredibly pushy though and seeing as neither of us are particularly patient this was not a good combo!

We went out for a nice Italian meal for dinenr and had an early night to prepare ourselves for goign paragliding tomorrow for Katharine´s birthday woopwoop. Hopefully no vomming for either of us ie. minimal breakfast!

Maras and Moray

Thankfully Will woke up today looking like a new person. We met up with James and Nia (our friends from the tour who are also spending a few more days in Cusco) and decided to head to two more touristy places. Just before we were about to leave though 4 became 3 as James suddenly took a turn for the worse (it was about his turn..) and had to head back to bed.

Anyway the 3 of us got on a bus which definitely was much more similar to those we had to take in Ecuador - far too many people packed onto a very small bus with minimal functioning dashboard (i.e. only the indicators worked properly...) Bus dropped us off on the way to it´s final destination and from there we were left ot negotiate a good price with the taxi drivers to take us to Maras and Moray.

First stop was Moray which was a huge Inca terrace which Will decided was a good idea to climb all the way to the bottom - turned out that didn´t make him feel too great. Pretty impressive although Inca terraces are starting to lose their appeal ever so slightly...

Next was the Salt fields of Maras. Basically they have managed to cultivate a stream that was naturally high in salt and harvest (or grow as Katharine likes to say) the salt - really impressive! Also salty. Katharine licked some and Will managed a spectacular slip which left his left foot in the stream. Prior to this we had discussed whether or not they would get radged if you fell in... well no-one told Will off.

The bus journey back involved us having to stand for the first half since there were no seats... sad times. But we made it back eventually. Just got back from having a meal by the main square and said our goodbyes to nia and James. A reasonably early night to prepare us for a mega day of bartering tomorrow at the market.. whoop whoop!

Cusco fail

Generally bit of a fail in Cusco at the moment. We think the bbq on Frioday was abit dodge so Will is now upchucking everywhere and so me fothe other peeps we went with are also ill. Bad times. hopefully it will only be a 24hour thing .

Yesterday we visited the INCa museum which definitely wasn´t quite as good as we´d thought it was going to be. Lots of rocks, very little informtion and some displays definitely built by children. Oh wells. We spent the afternoon doing nothing in case Will vommed again (which he did lol. Katharine is being the perfect nurse at the moment hahaha.

Hoefully today will be a little more productive and we´ll get to go and OD on some more Inca ruins woop. If not no worries seeing as we are here until Wednesday!

Oh and the theatre production we went to see was one of the strangest things we have both ever seeen. Some antastic acrobatics and Peruvian dancing but for the m ost just uber strange!

A night we won´t forget but don´t really remember...

Our night out last night was well overdue so to make up for our lack of partying we really went all out. Katharine on the Pisco, Will on the Rum. After various drinking games, our friend James vomitting over the balcony and Will blocking the toilet with sick we were ready to go out... haha

Ended up at a club called Mythology (we think). Although Katharine requested Lady Gaga 5 times they didn´t play any... damn South Americans and their lack of taste in music. The free drink finished Will off so he had to call it a night slightly earlier, leaving James, Nia and Katharine to carry on partying. Will fell asleep and locked Katharine out of the room. In an attempt to wake him up Katharine was slightly too aggressive with the window and unfortunately it smashed... lol?

Anyway we eventually all got to bed after waking up most of the hotel .. bad times. Today was been spent mostly feeling slightly worse for wear. Just got back from a Peruvian BBQ which the whole group went to - our last meal together as a group. Tonight we´re heading to the theatre! Hopefully seeing some kind of Peruvian Cirque de Solei (?)! Well exciting.

Tomorrow we´ll start to slum it again in hostals like real travellers... haha

Cuzco with functioning Colons!

Turns out Cuzco is really beautiful and really great to look around when you´re body is functioning fully! Haha. However, turns out that Cuzco is not the centre of Gay Pride and that the dozens of rainbow flags flying throughout the city are actually Cuzco´s official flag!

This morning we gave ourselves a nice lie in to fully recover from our EPIC Inca Trail/Machu Pichu extravaganza. Then we headed out to explore the city. This firstly involved finding food in the form of an awesome restaurant called Jack´s cafe. After that we hopped in a taxi and headed up to see another Inca ruin called Sacsayhuaman (said "sexy-woman" haha.) Finished our visit with a look at the huge white statue of Jesus (who looks ever so slightly stoned... lol). Back down the hill in flip flops was a challenge for Will but we got back safe and sound.

Headed to the Muesum of Popular Art. Wow. Errm... yeah don´t rush out to see this unless you have a REAL fettish for nativity scene figures. But it was free so we were happy enough. We´re going to see a show in Cuzco at some point over the next two days which looks pretty awesome - we´ll let you know.

Right that´s all for now. We´re off to enjoy the luxury of the hotel and hot showers and head out for a night in Cuzco. Rum and Pisco to the ready!!!

Inca Extravaganza

So we have overdosed on Inca ruins over the past five days.

On Saturday we visited the Sacred Valley where we went to two different Inca sites - Pisac and Ollantaytambo. Both were fantastic although not sure we believed the guide 100% all of the time - think they just answer the question they want you to ask and not the one you actually do haha. It is unbelievable to think about how much the Inca people managaed to achieve in only 100 years ... outs us to shame. they were able to move rocks which weighed multiple tonnes - not quite sure why they chose to do those yet but fair dos to them!

We also visited a project set up by GAP in a community. It was a weaving project where they had taught 20 women how to make the most out of the wool that they were already making. It was quite good to see the positive impact GAP was having but not sure about all the tourists taking their picture all the time. If it improves their life then I guess its alright.

We spent the night in Ollantaytambo in preparation for starting the trek on SUnday. We were only allowed to take 6kg with us plus our day packs which isnt a lot!

From Sunday til Wednesday we trekked along the Inca Trail. It was absolutely fantastic. Genuinely couldn´t have been better!

Sunday- The first day wasn´t too difficult. Met the other four people on our group and all of the porters who were going to be with us. The porters are genuinely amazing. They just run along the path with their massive packs on their backs. You wouldn´t believe it until you´d seen it!

Monday- The most difficult day. The previous night w cmpaed at 3000m and the pass we had to get over was at 4200m. A massive 1200m climb. Gads. Katharine found it very difficult but Will not so much! Lucily when we reached the top there was some downhill - a 600m drop of just stairs. For small people the Incas made some HUGE steps! Unfortuantely one of the ladies in our group was quite ill so had to be carried by one of the porters - but they just took it in their stride!

Tuesday- Another two passes to get over tonight but luckily they werençt as high as the second day! Lots of stairs though! weatehr was good and it warmed up alittle as we were getting a little lower. At the campsite we even managed to have a hot shower which was the best 5 soles weçve spent so far! The cooks made us a cake for desert too which was amazing - still not sure how you cook a cake without an oven though! Throughout the whol trip the food was fantastic - you would hardly have been able to tell that we were in the middle of nowhere. Only downside was the coriander overdose.

Wednesday- We reached Machu Pichu! We got up at 4 and trekked for a few hours to reach the Sun Gate. Trekking through the jungle whilst the sun came up was a great site. Coming through the Sun Gate (which isn´t a gate by the way) and seeing Machu Pichu absolutely made the trek worthwhile. It looked just like the postcards!

Machu Pichu is even bigger and more spectacular than you think it is judgin by photoshopped pictures! We can´t really describe it but we canshow you LOTS of pictures if you want to see what its like (I´m sure we´ll bore you with them anyways hahaha). Not sure our pictures will do it justice but we tried! It was a really sunny day so a great day to see it - although as usual Katharine burnt through her sunscreen. Our guide from our trek gave us a agreat walking tour of Machu Pichu telling us about it all. Only downside was that when we were coming to then end of our tour was that it was getting really quite busy. We chilaxed in the shade then and avoided the crowds - and got to touch llamas! So exciting!

We spent the afternoon in Aguas Calientes (Machu Pichu town) which is not nice. For the amount of money that is spent in it you would have thought it might have been a bit nicer. We did however get to try our first Pisco sour - pisco is a drink a bit like tequila made in Peru. They were really good so a few more might be consumed whilst we are in Cusco!

Yo get back to Cusco from Machu Pichu we got the SLOWEST train ever made. It must go slower than old steam trains. To go 90km it took us 4 hours - doesnñt help that there is only one track so when a nother train comes its abit of a nightmare! But we made it back to Cusco to have hot shower and a long sleep to rest or weary legs (well Katharine´s anyways!).

Cusco and antibiotics

Arrived in Cusco this morning at half 6 in the morning and it was freezing. Katharine went to the toilet on the bus and there was genuinely no water in the tap because it had all frozen. Gads.

Cusco is a beautiful city. Unfortunately Katharine spent the day in bed hoping that some antibiotics will help. Fingers crossed! Will went and explored Cusco with some of the others. There´s sop much to see and a strange mixture of Inca and Spanish buildings. Its lovely and hot during the day thougha nd only gets cold at night so thats a bonus.

Unfortunately chat is limited at the moment due to Katharine´s incapacitation (and that´s who is writing lol). But tomorrow we are off to see some of the Sacred Valley and then to Ollantaytambo to prepare for our hike woop. Peace out.

Arequipa FAIL

Lat day in Arequipa today and then we are off to Cusco before doing the Inca trail. Katharine isnñt well at all so today has been a day of trying to be as physically close to a toilet as is possible. Not good times when you have to share a room hahaha.

Arequipa is however a really nice city to chillax in so that is at least a positive. Not much to report from today. We are off on the night bus to Cysco tonight so going to dope Katharine up on as much as we can find woop. Should be grand.

Mmmm Guinea Pig

That´s right people. Last night we tried guinea pig for the very first time. What does it taste like? Hate to say the cliche thing but HONESTLY it tastes just like chicken. Although a lot of bones and a lot of effort for not very much meet. Katharine also tried Alpacca stake but it´s definitely not the best taste sensation. The guinea pig had a face, including teeth, brain and claws - pictures to come. Will would like to take this opportunity to apologise to Rosie... sorry little sister!

Today we woke up at 2.30am to catch a 3am bus to Colca Canyon - the deepest Canyon in the world! Turns out it´s a lot deeper than the Grand Canyon which was a shock to us both. Who knew Peru had so much cool stuff!? Anyway we saw some traditional villages, a lot of Condor birds, some alpaccas and Llamas (and some other little llama-like thing but can´t remember the name of it).

Out our highest point, 4910m, Katharine definitely felt some altitude sickness kick in so fingers crossed she´ll be fine next week when we attempt Machu Pichu. Off out tonight with a few people from the tour - let´s hope Arequipa has some great nightlife (complete with some Lady Gaga.) Im sure there´ll be plenty of stories tomorrow.... haha

And then she fell down the volcano...

Currently in Arequipa and will be for the nxext two days (which is lucky as the hotel we are in is AMAZING...so much better than the hostels we were staing in hahaha).

The night bus last night wasn´t the best. Pretty cold. But at least everyone was in coach class like us two! Film started at half 6 this morning - waking up to guns and screaming isn´t the best way to wake up after a couple of hours sleep.

We arrived sometime around 8 and the rooms weren't ready so we headed out for breakfast. After 50 minutes Katharine managed to get her fruit salad...not good times...rage time!

Arequipa is such a nice city. One of the best ones we have visited. It always helps when the weather is nice which it definitely is here woop bring on the burn. There are churches a plenty here as usual - but the architecture here is some of the best. Lots of tourists though.

The city is surrounded by three volcanoes and we went to see a mummy which was discovered at the top of one of the volcanoes. Well actually the mummy girl had fallen down the volcano a bit so its face was all weather beaten. It was really well preserved but REALLY SCARY! Defo buying a picture of that to show you all! They have another 14 mummies but sadly we didnçt get to see those bad boys. Its all a bit strange though looking at dead people who still look like people. Not sure.

Spent the rest of the afternoon not really doing anything. Chillaxing. Burning. Being shagged (as in tired according to one of the other boys).

We´re off out to try guinea pig tonight so we shall report back. Also off to Colca Canyon tomorrow so hopefully see some condors woopwoop.

PS all of the people we have met on the tour are great. Only a couple of strangeos have started to come out now hahaha!

Nazca

One of the best days yet! SO good!

Hostel is well good so such a good sleep! And then a good breakfast - best start to a day yet! And then it was off to the airport to fly over the Nazca Lines. A little bit of a stress as the plane was TINY ... defo no space for anything extra in there! The pilot assured us that it was going to be a very smooth flight though woop.

It was fantastic. Genuinely loved it. The Nazca lines are amazing. They still don´t really know why they are there but there are plenty of theories! The animals are huge and I have no idea how they managed to make them look like what they are meant to be when they are 100s of metres long! Hopefully we got some good pictures (if not postcards will have to do!). Unfortunately the other group we were with didn´t have such a great time - lots of motion sickness! Not so good in a confined space ahaha. But they all agreed that it was absolutely worth it (it was quite expensive!).

In the afternoon we visited the Chauchilla cemetery which was also built by the Nazca people. A strange experience. They have lots of mummies which are well preserved because they were in the desert (who knew there is so much desert in Peru!) but in the areas where they haven't excavated the tombs there are just bones scattered. There are bones all over the desert of the Nazca valley and they simply don´t have the resourced to do anything with them. Not sure about that. The mummies are amazing to loook at though - like nothing you´ve seen before.

We went out for a traditional meal for dinner before the night bus to Arequipa. It was the best meal we have eaten yet. Its cooked in a whole in the ground with hot rocks and then covered with banana leaves. Lots and lots of food which was delicious! The Canadian man we are with wants to build one at home - he will definitely do it! I can´t describe quite how good it was though!

To the night bus!

620 Avenida Grau

Sunday

It was our final day in Lima so we had our last showers in the open plan shared bathroom (lol) and headed out to see the last few sights of Lima. The morning consisted of the National Museum which, according to Rough Guides, was the one to see in Lima!

Hoped on our new favourite form of transport (metropolitana) and then managed to work out how to catch one of the local buses (crazy little minibuses) and there we were. The muesum had 7 floors HOWEVER there were only 3 actually open. So we decided to start on the top floor which was called something along the lines of ´Not to be forgotten´. A 150 photo exhibition of the attrocities that affected Peru between 1980-2000. We were both pretty oblivous to what had happened so this was definitely pretty eye opening. We then ended with the other 2 floors which were on a much more cheery note, looking at some traditional and modern art from Peru.

The afternoon consisted of a visit to a local Pre-Inca ruins which were an old temple that was now a mound that looked over the city. The guide was slightly more interested with the skinless dogs that were running around - the National Dog of Peru. Neither of us were great fans and after finidng out they were the national dog, Will said "I hate Peru". He doesn´t - it´s awesome but the dogs are not so great. Anyway that was pretty cool - human sacrifices of stoning woman to death.. bad times. We did have to leave the tour early though because we were conscious not to be late to meet our tour group for Peru for the first time.

Made it back in enough time and headed for our hotel on 620 Avenida Grau. Turns out 620 Avenida Grau is definitely not a hotel. Not the Avenida Grau in the part of town we were anyway. Turns out Lima has multiple Avenida Grau.... FAIL. Taxi ride later though and we made it to our desired destination. Settlled into our luxurious hotel (we say luxious, it just wasn´t a hostal haha.) Met our group and then went out for a traditional Ecuadorian meal and drinks. Good times! There´s quite a few people our age, and some older people. Brits, Aussies and Canadians. ALL GOOD.