Cuzco

What a cool city Cuzco turns out to be. If you have any images of what Peru is like..Lamas, women walking around with the funny hats, a baby strap to her back with a bright cloth, and Internet cafes everywhere...oh well, we can't be too authentic in this day and age.
I haven't done a great deal so far, I have walked around checking the sights. The main square has a couple of amazing looking churches. Cuzco has even more taxis than Lima..every 8 cars that pass seem to be a one..and they are bloody cheap, 3 soles anywhere in town.
I'm feeling a lot better now, I think I have managed to beat the bug that was in my system in Lima. Tonight will be the first day since Thursday that I will eat 3 meals in a day...I'm actually bloody hungry at the moment which is a good sign.
I'm staying in this great little guest house at the moment, it a cool little place, I have my own room with double bed, cable and bathroom. It great value 7 bucks, but it's a bugger to meet anyone, so I might have to leave and move into a hostel soon. The family that run it are so nice though, so I will leave with some difficulty!
I'm so glad I'm not in England at the moment, I watched the rugby today, I can't believe the French didn't win...bloody hell, the Poms better not win! I'm a massive Puma or Springbok fan for next week. I just won't be able to watch it..I will have just finished the Inca trek to Machu Pichu...oh well...

Lima

Only spent 1 day in Lima, wanted to give myself enough time in Cuzco to acclimatize, the city is pretty high up, so they say you should give yourself a few days in the city before you do anything hectic, and after the food poisoning, and the Inca trek to come on Wednesday, I thought sooner the better.
Lima is an interesting city from what I saw, which wasn't a lot. They have some very cool old churches in the centre, but in front of these they had riot police, tanks with sub machine attached to the front and loads of police just roaming the street. God knows what happens, but maybe they like a protest like the Argies.
Lima also has more taxis then you can poke a stick at, half the cars on the road are taxi. Anyone can be one, supposedly you can pick up the taxi plastic sign at a market, so if your short of a few bob, you can take your car out and earn a few extra soles.
Decided to catch a plane this morning at 5.50am to Cuzco, it only cost $71US, so I though what the hell, it saved a 30 hour bus ride and I was here 1 hour later.
Besides this, my small backpack is falling apart, it got caught on the bus from the airport to the plane in Buenos Aires, which is a bugger. I should be able to get it fixed for a good price over here anyway.
One last thing, I have to be touching some wood whilst I'm saying this because I'm sure I'm going to lose something soon. I don't know how many times I've dropped something, or left something behind before someone runs up giving me the paper, passport, camera or ipod back.

Sick as a Dog in Lima

I arrived in Lima last night, was really looking forward to seeing another city, but my last day in Buenos Aires made my first night in Lima one that I don't want to remember.
I spent the majority of last night keeling over a toilet bowl, I couldn't control any body functions..lets just say it wasn't a pretty sight! I had a buffet at a fancy restaurant with my mate Adan, so I knocked back quite a bit of food, 12 hours later the food was staring back at me.
So I will be on the waters and the sports drinks for the next few days, hopefully I can get my body back to some normality.
Had a great last night in BA, went kart racing with some of the guys from the hostel. If you know me, you will know that I didn't win, but came an honorable 5th out of 6...probably would of come 6th if one guy didn't spin out a couple of times. I was jumping on the brakes too much, that 1 week behind the (car) wheel over the last 10 years didn't hold me in good stead.

Boca Juniors @ River Plate

I decided to go to one of the biggest sporting events in the world today, and it was totally worth it, crazy, crazy event, that's all I can say. Boca Juniors, where the great Maradona played, are a team from the dock area of Boca in Buenos Aires, which is a poor and colourful area. River plate are called the Millionaires, due to the wealthy area where their team is located, but after spending the game in their sections, the ground didn't have quite that feeling.
I went with a group from the hostel, so it was basically a group of Israelis, me and another bloke called Nick from a Macclesfield in England. We were up in the top terrace, miles away from the game, but it was great in some respects because you got to see all the action. Anyway, you don't have atmosphere like this in most stadiums around the world, due to seating being imposed. We were all jammed in...with the River supporters constantly singing...they had a few 15 second pauses here and there throughout the game, but the were basically going crazy for 3 hours!
I had to watch most of the game through the legs of 2 guys, they were all propped up on the rails of the exit gates, so this was the only way to see, we were all packed in like sardines. This was all going swimmingly, got to see loads of action, River scored 2 goals, their supporters were going crazy...but with about 15 minutes to go, some newspaper caught fire..and there was loads of it everywhere. They bring piles of the stuff into the ground to rip into pieces, and used to chuck it onto the pitch...anyway, I had visions of myself being turned into an barbie..with nowhere to go. The fire eventually went out..not after there was a massive push to the left...which I was apart of. The game finally ended about 10 minutes after the fire, but we didn't get let out for another 30 minutes..this was to let out the Boca fans first...so in our thousands we just stood there and sung the River Plate songs....well they did anyway.

The Gregson name....

This post is a couple days late...but my sister think here surname isn't common..not so...they even have whisky named after her in Uruguay! La Gregson Clasico....haha

Spanish Lessons

I had my first Spanish lesson today, now that I'm back in Buenos Aires..I decided that it was time to get with the local lingo....my Spanish is very crappy!
My teacher Dolores and her Siamese cat made me feel right at home. I know that it will take the next 5 lessons and more for my Spanish to come on, but I really want to get there...it will make the rest of my trip so much better. By the way Mum, you can pick up a Siamese for between 100-150 pesos from a proper place, that's between 30 and 50 Aussie...can you believe that!
It's great to be back in the hostel, the staff really make you feel like your at home in the Estoril, made some cool friends, learnt a lot about other cultures.
There was another protest today...actually it's rare when their isn't one....the Argies love to Protest...every day they march past the main street where our hostel is located...banging drums and protesting with the loud speaker....I always ask what it's about...but the staff are so use to it.
I'm hitting the town tonight...or should I say tomorrow, their nights start so late...so watch out Buenos Aires, I'm a coming!

Montevideo

Decided to leave BA for a few days, with Uruguay only a 3 hour ferry ride, it was a great place to visit. Left the hostel with a couple of Israelis that I met at the hostel. Yesterday was spent in Colonia de Sacremento...it's meant to be a pretty little town, and probably is, but yesterday it absolutely pissed down, so that kind of distracted from the place.
Anyway, enough was enough, so a 2 hour bus ride later and we were in Montevideo, the place where despair and jubilation has been felt by Soccer supporters from OZ over the last 8 years. I made sure that I was wearing my rain jacket when I got off the bus...didn't want to get hit by any saliva like the Socceroos...anyway, there was no need to worry. Uruguay is a sleepy little country, there was just grass and a few cows from Colonia, not really any towns to speak of.
Montevideo isn't the prettiest city, it has loads of crumbling building, more banks in a city than I've ever seen before, but it does have some charm, just can't put it into words.