Down to thongs in Mendoza

Done pretty well on this trip in relation to possessions...but I did a very stupid thing in Salta...I left the only shoes I own in the taxi..so I'm down to a pair of Havaianas, just glad I have got all of the hard trekking I'm going to do out of the way. The worst part about it was they were probably the best shoes I've ever had, definitely going to pick up another pair of Merrill's.
Had a great time in Salta, only there for 2 days, and didn't actually get much done in the place, but we had a massive barbie on the last night, ended up hitting a club...with decent music..no gayass Regatone..which was played in all the bars in Bolivia..great soundsystem and good looking people. Mendoza is even more normal then Salta...massive wide open streets, beautiful people everywhere..everyone looks very European and the place has lots of shoe shops for me.
The 17 hour bus ride from Salta was one of the easiest bus journeys I've ever done. Managed to get a decent night sleep..so much room and the seat was extremely comfortable. We have a great hostel here, pool, table tennis and a chilled out feel. Looking forward to hitting some wineries tomorrow.

Leaving the 3rd world behind...a weird feeling...

In Argentina after spending 23 crazy days in Bolivia, definately up there with one of the most disorganised countries I've ever been to. All the roads are either dirt, falling apart or so narrow that hardly one vehicle can head down it...but it's a strange feeling when you come back to normality after Bolivia. We arrived yesterday in Salta at 7.30pm, after catching the bus from Tupiza at 4.30am. The bus journey was only meant to be about 10 hours..but after the change of bus at the border, the border check, and catching the bus from the first town in Argie, we somehow ended up stretching the trip, and after tearing it up in Tupiza...and not getting any sleep, it wasn't the ideal senario.
We somehow managed to venture out and make it to a restaurant, needed to have a decent meal after those 23 days...had some good food in Bolivia (and plenty of shit as well!), but the steak last night was amazing.
Today was a day where you know it's not always great travelling with another 9 people. We basically took a whole day cruising around, and not getting much done. We managed to befriend a stray dog who ended up following us around for a good 2 hours, and then he finally left us when we had some food for him, much to our disappointment. I'm off to Mendoza tomorrow with a few of the guys, got another big bus journey ahead, but in Argentian comfort!

A night out in Tupezi

What a big night we had in Tupezi. It was Jules' birthday, so what a better place to spend your birthday then a pizzeria and a crappy karaoke bar in a town like to Tupezi.
We actually made her night, we managed to find a place that sold a pooh pinata and since she was suffering with a broken arm from a paragliding mishap, all 9 of us made crappy arm bandages out of toilet paper and sticky tape.
From there we had tea at a Pizzeria in town, which I should of eaten, but instead decided to take on a Peppered steak...bad move. It was tough as an old boot..the gravy had 4 peppercorns and the gravy definitely wasn't up to expectation. Anyway from there we moved to a karaoke bar where we first played the 'Cereal Box' game. The object of the game is to pick up the box with your teeth without touching any part of your body against the ground. Once the box has been picked up, you tear a piece of the box. It sounds easy enough, but when you get to the bottom..it ain't so easy! That's what happened to me...I found out that I'm actually good at something else besides remember sporting information and facts from the last 20 years. Once the game was finished we moved on to singing some tunes..there were many English ones to sing, but we did find 'Who Shot the Sheriff'...we just weren't expecting to see a bunch of girls parading around topless with firemen hoses. I think some of the Bolivians will be choosing a few English songs to sing from now on. After that we ended up sinking a few more bottles of rum and dancing with the Bolivians in the place until our bus left at 4.30am...what a crazy night!

Biking and horse riding in Tupezi

We decided to spend the day in Tupezi doing a triathlon, which consisted of some bike riding, horse riding and a bit of a spin in a 4 wheeled drive. The bike riding was fine, even though they weren't the greatest bikes in the world...mine had no suspension at all which was the best for ripping downhill. The spin was OK as well, but me and horses don't mix. I'm glad I did it, but I will say now, it will have to be a very special occasion for me to venture on one of those again. I didn't have that much trouble..they were very placid horses that were use to doing nothing much when it comes to riding, but the couple of times that it move more than a walk, and the once when it moved from a trot to a cantor scared the shit out of me. The worst part about it was that it wasn't me that was controlling the horses..(he boys that were our guides they must of been 12 at most), as soon as the boys made a kissing sound the horses all took that as a sign to change speeds. By the end I really didn't like that sound anymore.

Rurrenabaque

Well this is going to be bloody hard, it's been quiet a few days since my last post, but after spending 5 nights in Rurrenabaque, the Internet..and electricity aren't a given like most places.
Left La Paz for Rurrenabaque last Thursday..and it was a tough decision..should I catch the bus..which is meant to be very hairy in some places...and the bus ride takes about 20 hours if your lucky. The other option was a 40 minute flight..it sounds easy enough, but not when you take into account the plane is a 16 seater Cessna..a single engine plane..and the only plane that seems to have fatalities in Australia..and we are talking about Bolivia!
Anyway, Nick, Jess and I didn't nearly make the flight..and maybe in another country, we definitely would not of. Nick and Jess thought the flight left at 4.30pm, instead of 4.15pm, but there ended up being a massive traffic jam near the airport..so we decided to walk the remaining bit on foot. The only problem was that every single person we asked pointed us towards the other airport..TAM...but after some nifty taxi driver though the TAM section, we got to the correct airport at 3.45pm. We need not of rushed..there seemed no rush from the check-in desk when we arrived.
The flight wasn't to bad, a few shaky moments, the plane felt like it was just a piece of tin over some parts. The scenery was amazing though, it felt like you could stick you hand out and touch the snow capped Andes as we passed the mountain range.
The 5 day in Rurr was pretty cool. After being in La Paz, which is a crazy big city, it was great to be in small town...very chilled out place.
We spent 3 days in the Pampas...which is basically a waterway where you can get to see loads more animals than the jungle. It's was cool to cruise down on the boat..we got to see loads of Alligators and Turtles, we saw one group of Spider Monkeys as well, but would of love to have seen more monkeys. On the second day we marched though long muddy grass for 1 1/2 hours each way to look for an Anaconda. We did eventually see one which was cool, but the effort didn't really match the reward. What was more rewarding was fishing for piranhas later in the arvo. I have never caught a fish before, and I managed to catch 3 piranhas...even though you would hardly be impressed by my catches..they were no bigger than any goldfish I've had before..and they certainly didn't have teeth like I was expecting.
On the last day we went swimming with pink dolphins...but even though there were quiet a few where we were swimming..the water was so brown..and they weren't your Flipper kind of Dolphins..a bit shy. The boat trip back was pretty funny in some respects, I nearly caught a big piranha..but it wasn't due to my fishing technics..the bugger flew out of the water as we were cruising along and fish slapped me in the face. haha
The last two days was spent in Jungle, a 3 hour boat ride from Rurrenabaque. It was a cool experience, got to see one of the best sunsets I've ever seen. We went for a few jungle walks, the night one was far and away the best...all we had for light was our head lamps...and some of the insects we saw even gave me the schivers. We also visited a jungle community, but it was hardly what I expected. They are pretty poor, but we only met some kids and one older guy, who gladly took our 50 Bolivianos each. The community did give me a chance to take a few happy snaps of some of the worst looking animals I have ever seen. Chickens with hardly any feathers, and it seemed every dog looked like it had gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson.
Besides this, I had the best fish I have ever tasted in Rurr a couple of times. God knows what the fish was, but it was soaked in this delicious garlic sauce. I have never been much of a fish eater, but if it all tasted like this..I would be chowing it all the time.
The last interesting thing we did in Rurr was catch motorbikes to the airport after missing the bus. It wasn't such a problem, only a 10 min ride, but we did this with all our belongings, I had my big backpack, a little backpack on my front, and my shoes in my hands..another interesting experience in Bolivia!

Mountain Biking on the World's most Dangerous Road

I've heard quiet a bit about this journey since I've arrived in South America, and since I love to ride, I thought that I'd give it a go. I haven't done any mountain biking before, but surely it has to be pretty similar to road...yeah right.
We left La Paz at 7.30am and headed up to La Cumbre, which is about 1 1/2 hr away from La Paz, and is 4700m above sea level. After getting all our gear prepared and the bikes sorted we were ready to go by about 10pm. The first section was fairly straight forward, we had to travel a few kms to get to the hairy bit, this was on a sealed road that you not use to see in Bolivia. So I managed to built up some serious speed by getting into a crouching position.
Everything was going swimmingly until we reached a small section where the sealed road turned into gravel, and this is where I did my best somersault in years. Actually it wasn't that dramatic, but I did come off at a fair whack, and wasn't feeling the best for awhile after. Actually about a minute after it happen, my eyes when all funny and it felt like I was looking through broken glass. Thank god it only lasted for about 10 minutes, because it really was freaking me out! After this will had a few uphill moments to test our fitness, but the real fun was just around the corner.
The North Yungas Road is named the World most Dangerous Road due to the 100s of people that use to die each year on the road, it isn't used as much by vehicles anymore due to a new road being built. It still has fatalities, but this is reserved by Mountain bikers now, I think about 11 people have died over the last 10 years, and some poor Israeli lost their life in March this year.
I'm actually surprised more people haven't kicked the bucket, because it really is a bloody scary experience. The 64km ride has so many parts where less than a metre to the left you have a 100m drop. The road isn't sealed either, it's made up of lots of rocks, so your bouncing up all over the place. I think I was a bit shaking from the earlier experience, a fall here could of meant much more than a few scratches.
Anyway looking back on it it was a fun experience, but it was great to get to the end without more bruises to the body.

Coca Museum and the Bolivian Zoo

The Coca Museum in La Paz is a pretty cool place. It give a run down how this leave has been such a big part of not only Bolivia, but also Peru over a 1000 years. It also explained the process how to make cocaine, and how certain countries have put pressure on the Bolivian government for the eradication of this leave, even though it's the demand for the drug, not growing the leave that's the problem. Over 100 countries have access to make cocaine-derived (so they have access to tons of coca leaves for production) drugs, but these countries don't include either Bolivia or Peru. The US consumes 50% of the world's cocaine, but only has just over 5% of the world's population.
Besides this, to kill some time, Mark and I ventured to La Paz's Zoo, which is about 1/2 hour away on public transport. This was an experience in itself, 100's of buses stream down the main street, and they stop anywhere when someone wants to get on. This can create chaos on the road, with vehicles weaving in and out to stop.
The Zoo was what you can expect from a 3rd world country. People were feeding the monkeys junk food, cats were kept in little cages, the the big birds didn't have it much better. The flightless birds had it best...a big lake..no worries in the world. At least the bus ride took us past a place they call the badlands..which is similar to the badlands that I saw in the States...pretty cool funky rock formations.

Crazy La Paz

Arrived yesterday arvo in La Paz, and what a crazy city it looks when you coming in on the bus, white-capped mountains in the background, and a sprawling city..houses everywhere. La Paz is in a valley, but there are houses as far as the eye can see.
Mark and I decided to stay in the Adventure Hostel, the Mircobrewery in the hostel was the deciding factor in the choice. It's a pretty cool hostel, has a cool bar that looks out on the city.Ended up having a huge night...I ended up meeting an Aussie couple called Jess and Nick, and a few Irish boys...so it's not hard to see why it was a big one. We went to this dodgy bar for a couple of drinks first..then it was off to a club called Orange for a bit of a boogie.

Copacabana & Isla del Sol

I have really enjoyed the laid-back feel that Copacabana offers, definitely not like the impression one get from hearing about Bolivia..but I'm sure that will change latter in the afternoon when I arrive in La Paz. Yesterday I ventured to Isla del Sol, which is an Island 2hr away from Copacabana. I was meant to go with with Mark, but he is really struggling with a stomach bug, he could hardly move yesterday. The Island was pretty enough, all I basically did was walk from the North point of the Island to the South, which was a 3hr leisurely walk, and had some some with myself. There was a few Inca ruins on the way, but nothing too special after the stuff near Cusco in Peru.
Last night I had Mexican at a place down the road, pretty tasty stuff..with a set menu with 5 courses for only 25 Bolivianos. Got talking to a guy from Belgium called Dimitri who was pretty cool. He's about to cruise into Argentina and then cycle 1300km to the bottom tip of South America, Ushuaia. If only I had an extra month on my trip!

Into Bolivia and Copacabana

I left Arequipa yesterday for Puno, which is a town in Peru near lake Titicaca, one pretty impressive lake..I think it's one of the biggest ones in the world.
I was lucky enough to find a decent bloke who was travelling my way, Mark from London..so we set off with a slightly rickerty Flores bus at 10.30am.
The bus ride was fine enough, we got to Puno at 4pm after one or two heart stopping moments. First a tanker lost it's load...which gave everyone a chance to stop and relieve themselves on the side of the road..with the toilets out of action this was a welcome relief..even for the Peruvian women just squatted and used their long dresses as cover.
The biggest heart-stopping moment was when Mark decided to get off the bus at this really dodgy town..I mean really dodgy..the bus took off and all his stuff was on the bus with me. I'm carrying enough stuff on my own, but thankfully after some arm waving I managed to get the bus driver to stop.
Puno isn't the nicest city in the world...it looks like a favela in Brazil, but we needed to stop there a night before heading into Bolivia.
We had a decent night there anyway, we went to this bar and had a few beers with some Canadians and Americans that we met on the bus. The place also had Jenga..which isn't the normal game I play when I head down to the pub, but after a few beers it was pretty enjoyable.
Besides this, we notice that at the end of the night restaurant owners dump their rubbish for the stray dogs to feast on...can't say I agree with the practice, it looked pretty disguising seeing it spread out on the road, but it actually fitted in with the general appearance of Puno.
Today we arrived in Copacabana, and I'm glad that I have a couple of days here, it's such a cool little town. We are only paying 20 Bolivianos, which is about $3US a night for our own room in a cool little hotel...it's half the price of the shed we stayed in last night..not that the shed was all that bad...but did the street look dodgy at midnight last night!

When a holiday isn't a holiday - El Misti

Decided to test my body the last 2 days, had some fun along the way, but El Misti would have to be one of the hardest things I have ever done.
El Misti is the second largest volcano in the country, but is said to be the hardest to climb. El Misti stands at 5822m, a tiny bit bigger than Australia's highest, Mt Kosciuszko at 2,228m.
I started off getting picked up at 8am from my hostel in Arequipa, there was only one other person, a French girl who was nice enough.
We needed to carry all our own gear for the hike. That meant carrying a tent, ground mat, sleeping bag, 5 litres of water and any other clothes that were needed. I would say that I was carrying at least 15kgs, which is a huge difference than the 6kgs I was carrying on the Inca trail.
The starting point of the trek is 3,300m not too far from Arequipa. The first day wasn't too hard, the base camp is at 4,500m, it was hard going lugging 15kg up shifting sand and rocks, but I didn't feel any effects of the altitude. We got to be the base camp at 3pm, I was pretty hungry but tea wasn't ready until 5pm, so I spent 2 hours talking to the French girl and dreaming of big fat chickens. Unfortunately for me, the food wasn't on the same level as the Inca Trail...tea was soup with pasta, then mains was 2 minute noodles. As you can imagine, after 6 hours for trekking through the sun with a big backpack, this wasn't enough to satisfy my hunger...but what could I do..there wasn't a 7/11 in sight.
Anyway, after dinner with nothing to do...was in bed by 6.30pm. I would of preferred staying up, but everyone was too buggered from the first day. We needed to wake up at 2.30am for day 2 anyway, so maybe this was a good thing. I got to see an amazing sun-set which was cool, so least that was something.
The breakfast at 2.30am was even worse than the dinner, it consisted of stale white bread, jam and cheese...hardly the food you need when your about to make your body really suffer.
Anyway after the hardy breakfast, we set off at 3am. There aren't too many advantages getting up at this hour, but I got to see stars for the first time in awhile...and lights of Arequipa shone brightly amongst the darkness.
The backpack was considerable lighter for this, we could leave most things behind at the base camp, and pick it up on the way out..but this didn't make it any easier. I could really feel the altitude effect me..the 6 hours to reach the top of the volcano was so bloody hard. Basically it one step, two step..over and over again..the lack of light, small rocks and the 40-50 percentage gradient didn't help matters either. Anyway, when we finally made the top, it was all worth while. Amazing views of Arequipa and other volcanoes in the area...got to see inside my first volcano.
Going down was a lot of fun as well, instead of walking down, we ran down the volcanic sand, so you do it loads quicker, not to mention the fun of bounding down the mountain.
Great to do it, but I was pretty starved by the end, we got back to Arequipa at 2pm, my last meal was the stale bread at 2.30am.

Rafting in the Chili River

I really wanted to climb El Misti today, the large volcano near the city..it stands 5800 and something metres...but unfortunately there wasn't enough people, so will get to it tomorrow. To pass the time today, decided to do a little rafting, and I wasn't disappointed. I have done rafting in the Zambezi and Rotorua in New Zealand..they were both special for different reasons...Zambezi, what can you say...and Rotorua had a 7m rapid which was rather special. This wasn't too technical, but the scenery was amazing...there were water falls coming down at various intervals and there was a couple of grade 3/4 rapids.
Besides this didn't really do much, met a couple of cool German brothers on the trip, so hung out with them for most of the arvo.
Anyway, I have booked in the Volcano tomorrow, so that should be pretty interesting. After 5000m things can get pretty interesting, but I will be decked out with all the stuff, so should be fine.

Arequipa & the Colca Canyon

I took an overnight bus from Cusco and arrived in Arequipa last Tuesday. It only cost 40 soles on the Flores bus, and even though I'd heard of a bad story from them from another traveller, the ride went without incident. Got some food on board and got to practise my Spanish watching Happy Gilmore.
Didn't really do much on the Tuesday, I caught up with Christel, a girl I met during the Inca Trail, so we decided to do the Colca Canyon trek, which is the deepest canyon in the world...or the 2nd..so I've been told.(it's twice as deep as the Grand Canyon)
We started on the Wednesday, getting picked up at 5.20am by taxi, then taken to the main bus station with millions of other Peruvians.
There were 6 others on the trip, a Dutch couple, 3 French blokes and a Swiss dude.
Anyway we made the 6 hour bus ride with few difficulties...we went over unpaved road for at least 4 hours of the journey, and a whole bunch of Peruvian women jumped on with a couple hours to go, they were pretty smelly....I don't think a shower is a big part of their custom and they wear so much clothes for the conditions...I would hate to see what they'd wear in cold weather!
After having a small lunch with rice and potatoes included...they use them in every meal over here...we started the downwards trek at 2.30pm. We arrived at the first site around 6pm, just before dark. This was all downhill...which isn't the easiest on the legs, small rocks and sand abound. The scenery was a stark contrast to Machu Picchu, cactus everywhere instead of orchids.
Our first night was spent in a very small village, we stayed in rooms made of mud-brick and a tin roof with a dirt floor, with the beds made of tree-stumps and bits of reed like material as the base. Thankfully they used a normal mattress and bedding...and surprising enough I had a great night sleep, except for the bird dancing on the roof at 6am in the morning. Even though the place was basic, I should be thankful, only 5 months before they didn't even have electricity.
We left at about 9am after some pancakes and some coca tea. Coca tea is pretty good, they love drinking or chewing the leaves over here...unlike the rest of the world who prefers it up the nose. The 3 hour walk to lunch was pretty crusiey, we stopped in to check out the local doctor, who's range covers about 8kms over various mountains. It was pretty basic, just glad my Mum isn't Peruvian..because I don't think I would of made it 30 years ago! One other interesting thing we learnt...Peruvian women from this area will likely have their babies standing up and crouching...because they tend to be shy...the husband might wrap a blanket over her so no one can see her godly bits.
After this we stopped in a very small (closest really) little Inca museum where this old lady showed us various things. We also tried Chicha, which is a corn beer that they brew. The taste was pretty interesting, let's just say I didn't ask for the recipe.
The lunch was at the Oasis, which is just like the name suggest...greenery right at the bottom of the canyon where the rest of the area was sandy and brown. After 3 hours of having another carbo fuelled meal and a dip in the pool, we did the hardest part of the trek, 2 hours...for me anyway..of climbing from 2000m to 3200m of Cabanaconde. It was great to reach of the top after 2 hour..not have to worry about dust flying around anymore.
We had dinner at the same place as the first night, and once again it was nothing special, more rice and potatoes, but they had a DVD of rock videos from the 80's, so that kept us entertained for the night. After a good night sleep in the hostel, we checked out the condors, which was OK, then we had a few moments of adventure..the mini van got a flat and we got pulled over by the transport police for some paper that wasn't in order..it didn't matter to them that we had 11 people in a van that should of only held 8. The day was completed by a buffet meal included cuy...better known by little girls as Guinea Pig, yummy...actually it was OK, but it doesn't have that much meat on it. Lastly we went to a near by hot springs to soak our weary bodies. The day was capped of by one of the French guys leaving his jacket and credit cards behind at the springs after we got to the the bus station, that kind of misfortune is usually left to me!

Party time back in Cusco

After knocking back some lunch in Aguas Calientes we took the slowest train in the world to Urubamba, then a bus back to Cusco. That was a bit hairy, it started pissing with rain and the bus felt like it might go over a edge a few times. We got back in Cusco @ 8.30pm, and decided to celebrate the end of the trip together with a bite to eat and a few drinks. We met 1 hour later, but first it was great to put some water and shampoo through the hair after 4 days without a wash.
I took the crew to my local, 2 Nations, where we got stuck into some great food, and a a few pisco sours. After that we decided to move to this little bar down the road, which wasn't much, but we had a great time in there, playing stupid drinking games. We got this crazy alcohol there which is made of 24 herbs, and it has a crazy taste as well. I wouldn't start the night on it, that's for sure, but for 10 soles for a jug you can't really complain.
That bar had the worst toilet I have ever seen, it was disguising, some one had thrown up in the corner, the toilet looked like it was falling apart, and the ground was all wet and sticky.
After that we ventured to Mamma Africa to finish off the night with a bit of stomping. It was a cool place, had decent music, and it was amazing that we could stay up to 4am after getting up at the same time the day before...not to mention all the walking.....

Finally the Inca Trek....

Well what an experience the Inca trek was. It was a hard little trip, some really tough moments, but definitely one of the best experiences in my life. After getting to the entrance at 3pm, Cessar and I power-walked the 12kms in 3 hours. The first day wasn't that hard, we arrived at camp just before dark, with lots of claps from the rest of the guy. It was great to see them all again after all the hassles that I'd been though.
The second day was probably the hardest, it was another 12kms, but most of it was up hill. Just think of a million steps, and that's what it was like. The weather was pretty miserable through that morning, but by the time that we had reach the highest point the weather had cleared. The weather is so temperamental up there, one minute it's pissing down, then the sun is out.
I can't complain too much, my backpack was just over 6kgs, but the poor porters were carrying at least 15kg, and they needed to leave after us, and arrive at camp before us to set up the tents and get the food prepared. So you would regularly see them running to get in front of you.
Talking of food, it was amazing, so much great food. I gave Alpaca meat a try, and I was the tour's garbage can, always knocking back others leftovers.
The 3rd day was probably one of the best, lots of downhill steps and some amazing scenery. I was a bit worried about the weather, the last stretch before camp on the 3rd day it absolutely pissed down. All you could do was kept your head down and walk.
Every night on the trek it rained, but the last night was the worrying one, I had visions of Machu Picchu being completed covered in mist. We woke up at 4am on the final day, which was the earliest time, after a 5.30am and 5am start on the previous 2 days. Actually it was very weird, because even though we were getting up pretty early, we were expected to go to bed at 8-9pm. This didn't really work for me, and the rain on the tent meant it was hard to get a proper night sleep anyway.
We arrived at the final check point at 5am, and started through when it opened at 5.30am. Our group was at the front, so I decided to speed to the front (I tended to be near the front for the whole tour...except for the first day of course!) for the 5km walk before I got to Machu Picchu.
I managed to be the first to the Sun gate, which is the place that you can first see Machu Picchu below, but unfortunately there was loads of mist at 6am in the morning, so I had to wait for another tour leader to arrive to make sure I was heading in the right direction. After being there was 10 minutes, the mist gradually move, so you could start to see it.
We spent the morning taking lots of happy-snappys and learning about the site. I might be the first person that has carried Vegemite to Machu Picchu, hopefully Kraft might be able to donate a few jars for my effort.
After a few hours of a guided tour, the dutch sisters, Ishka, Sasha and me decided to climb Wayna Picchu, the mountain which gives you a great view of the whole area. The way up was reasonable tough..a 40 minute hike , but the way down was one of the scariest things I have ever done. The top section, the stairs were so steep and small that you needed to crawl down to feel like you were in control. It was great to finally get down after that, even though it was great to do it. Wayna Picchu was the hardest stretch for me, after 3 days of solid walking it topped it off for my body, we were all pretty buggered at the bottom.
One last thing that capped off the tour was the bus ride down to Aguas Calientes, down the mountain. A little kid ran down the mountain in Peruvian gear, going through a path while we snaked down the mountain. This was a fair effort, the bus ride was about 20 minutes, all this to earn himself a few bucks at the bottom when he jumped on the bus...and supposedly he does this a few times a day.

Having 2 passports isn't always a good thing

When I check the ticket I realised that I had used my Aussie passport for the trek, these details were on the ticket, and the problem was that my Aussie passport was in the safe of my hotel back in Cuzco. This was a big problem I was told by my guides...I might not get in. I tried to get in, but the rangers wouldn't have a bar of it...so while the rest of the group went through, I was standing around like a tit. Anyway, after some deliberation by the guides, and a call back to the company in Cuzco, the only thing that could be done was head back to Cuzco to pick up the Aussie passport. As you could imagine, I was pretty deflated, but was lucky that the assistant guide, Cessar, was such a top bloke. With the help of Mr Speedy González taxi driver we made the return trip back to Cuzco, and were back at the start by 3pm, only 4 hours after we should of started. The taxi ride cost 120 soles, about 40 bucks, so it wasn't that bad after the trouble I got myself in. The trouble gave me a chance to get to know Cessar and now I have a Machu Picchu entrance stamp on both of my passports for the trouble..I bet not too many people can say that!

Start of the Inca trek

Everything worked out great last Wednesday, I got picked up at the hotel 6am. I managed to organise everything the night before so I was all set. There was 13 others in the group, and everyone kept fairly quiet for the bus ride, except for Cristal (from Vancouver) and me. She had slept in so she was too amped, and I was too excited to sleep.

We arrived at km 82 at about 10am after stopped in Urubamba for brekkie, and it was great to see the sign showing us that we were about to start the trek, all we needed to do was show our passport and ticket to the park rangers so we could begin the 45km walk over the next 4 days.

Two Nations Restaurant

I have managed to find my favourite restaurant on the trip so far, it not just because it's extremely cheap, but that is one very good reason. The food and the service is great, and the place is pretty funky as well. Funny enough, the 2 nations that it refers to is Peru and Australia. I believe an Aussie bloke met this Peruvian sheila, and the rest is history.
I have eaten there the last 2 meals, and for 5 soles at lunch, or 10 soles at dinner (6 soles to a pound) you get garlic bread, soup, a choice of mains and a drink, how can you go wrong with that. To think I was eating a crappy pizza for 18 soles alone earlier in the week! They used all good quality stuff, and they wash all the veges in purified water, which is good to know..I don't want to be sick again on this trip! Anyway I only have one more meal until I embark on the Inca trail tomorrow morning, so I will be heading to the 2 Nations again tonight. I tell ya, I wasn't expecting to find an 'Aussie Burger' in South America....beetroot here we come!

Cuzco the city of Museums

Over the last 2 days I have managed to visit 7 museums of varying quality with a ticket (boletoturistico) bought to access 6 of them. The only 1 that I thought was any good was the one outside of of 6, Convent of Santo Domingo, which has some interesting stuff on the Incas, and the best painting out of any of the museums. The ticket costs 70 soles, or 35 if your a student, thank's again STA! It also good for some of the Inca ruins, but to access the fancy churches in the main square of Cuzco you have to pay extra, gotta love the catholic church trying to make a few extra bucks, like they need it! Besides getting some culture into this trip, I visited the closest Inca ruins to Cuzco, Sacsayhuaman, try saying that after a couple of cervesas. It is only about a 15 minute walk from the town, but pretty good exercise as it's all up hill. I had a good time checking it out, but this young Peruvian soon-to-be shaman took a liking to me, so I spent 25 minutes with him practising condor arm waves and depth breaths, while he told me some history of Cuzco. I decided against one of his little practises, he said that urinating is one way of releasing negative energy, but I told him that I released all my negative energy earlier.

Pisac to lift the spirits

Now you can't go nearly 4 months travelling alone to have a few down days along the way, and due partly to my fault yesterday was one of them. The day wasn't bad, it just that since I'm not staying in a hostel, I'm having dinner by myself the last few nights, and in a restaurant, that can sometime be a bit off-putting. I actually don't mind it, I picked a small little place, decided to have a pizza and cheer on Peru as they played Paraguay in the 2010 football world cup qualifying...they have a bloody long road in South America! Anyway, 5 minutes after I sat down, a group of 9 sat down from some tour..filling out the whole of the floor, so I felt like I had crashed their party, plus the service towards me was non-existent after that.
This morning didn't start off in a good way either, I went to buy a couple of bottles of water and a chocolate bar from a supermarket, but I only had a 50 sole note, with the goods coming to just under a 5er. Now when I pulled out the note the bloke looked like I'd pulled out a knife. So I couldn't buy the stuff, so I walked out of the store f'ing and blinding...unfortunately not in Spanish!
Thankfully the rest of my day was fantastic. I took a little bus to Pisac, only 32kms from Cuzco, but a good hour journey with it travelling at a snails pace up the winding road. I got to see Peruvians with Lamas or Alpacas..I can't tell the bloody difference, their mud brick houses with pigs and dogs running around.
Pisac has a massive market on Sundays, but I decided to quickly bypass this, and hike up and see the Inca ruins, which is a 5km walk up and a fairly difficult one especially in the mid-day sun. It took about 2 hours to climb and see everything. The walk was also good, I met a really cool French couple on the way, it was great to have a chat with someone after a day cruising by myself. We then shared a taxi back down to Pisac and had a quick walk around the market, I didn't look too hard, but there was some very cool stuff there.
After have a drink with them at their funky hotel, I just caught the bus back to Cuzco, and I meet some cool Israelis on the bus. It's the people that make travelling fun they say.....