A short walk part 2

Sunday July 3rd: Deep joy - a 4am wake up call, and not even coca tea to lure us out of bed. So in the pitch black we stumbled off to use the facilities and eat our final hearty breakfast. Luckily the mysterious critter that Jo had caught in her torch beam the night before (no idea what it was but it was in the undergrowth right behind our tent and it's eyes were about 4 inches apart, which was enough to drive me straight into the tent) had decided to spare us, and we were ready for the off at 5.15am. A quick queue at the checkpoint and we were back on the trail and yomping towards Macchu Picchu at high speed, using torches to see where the hell we were going (Jo tells me I was better off not being able to see as she reckons some bits were a bit dodgy). The morning's hiking was pretty straightforward, the only hassle was a bunch of ridiculously steep steps quite near MP itself, and we were at the site after a couple of hours. After a quick break to get our passports stamped we were taken on a guided tour of the whole site, which is very pretty, including sharing a staircase with a passing llama (not attractive from behind at close quarters). Then, absolutely knackered & hungry we headed into Aguas Calientes for food and a quick mooch about before collecting our kit from the porters and heading back to Cusco on the train.

For some unknown reason the train journey back to Cusco takes 4.5 hours, and the seating is arranged with Peruvians in mind, ie sod all leg room. And to say that the "backpacker train" smells more than a little ripe would be quite an understatement...but luck would have it we overheard someone saying that you could get off the train at the penultimate stop and catch a bus for 5 soles (about US$1.75) which only took 15 minutes to get to the centre of Cusco, as opposed to another hour on the train. Guess which option we went for?

So we were back at our hostel by 7.30pm, and I was in the shower by 7.45pm. Bliss. A good night's sleep was only marred by the odd positioning of a skylight right above my bed...interesting.

As Catherine told me, I loved the Inca Trail. I'd do it again like a shot. If you like the outdoors, exercise and lots of fresh air in a gorgeous environment, then you should do it. It is great!!!

Then we headed to Lima, another overnight bus trip, for a quick stop over and a visit to the NZ honorary consul to sort out some very tedious paperwork that would allow Jo's folks to recieve our worldly goods when they arrive in NZ next week. He was a very nice man called Alfonso who used to work for the NZ dairy board and was very proud of his medal from the Queen for services to NZ. That accomplished I insisted on visiting a local fancy supermarket to examine their range of condiments, where we happened to buy crisps, cakes and wine, and headed back to our hostel for a room disco (the joy of mp3 players!) and I got a bit squiffy. Lima is okay, but not terribly exciting, so it was no hardship when we left this morning. Except that we got ripped off by the taxi driver that took us to the airport...and when we checked in we discovered that Lan Airlines had generously cancelled all our bookings because we skipped the flight to La Paz (again, we had been told this in Cusco but rebooked them all - let's hope they don't repeat the process on Friday). So we rebooked and reconfirmed them all over again. The flight to Quito was uneventful, except for the spectacular views of snowcapped mountains & volcanoes, and the fact that I seem to have developed a cold. Also the Peruvian ground staff at Lima Airport seemed to be fascinated by my height and kept telling me I was very tall (Jo was told she was very beautiful by the passport man...ooer).

So now we are in Ecuador, Jo is tired and I am snotty, but aside from that its all good. Only a week left in South/Central America then its off to the good ole US of A. Cool...

Bye for now!
S