The Past Few Days.

Machu Piccu was fantastic. We left Cusco at 7am on Thursday morning on the train for Agua Caliente. The train ride took almost 4 hours and wasn´t very exciting - other than the food we purchased on the train was better than the food we were provided by on our LAN Chile flights.

When we arrived at Agua Caliente, we went in search of our hostel. Which isn´t hard, as there´s one main street in town, and everything is off that street. The place town and the hostel were lovely. Mind you everything is up-hill.

We had lunch in the local Hari Krishna restaurant and the food was great and cheap. As were were eating it, we realised that some of the best food that we had had on this trip had been in the wierdest places - Krakow, Agua Caliente and Edinburgh.

We then wandered around the town for a bit (didn´t take long as it´s not that big) and then headed to the towns market. The market seemed to be almost as big as the town. Of course we managed to spend heaps as it´s all pretty cool stuff - but oh so very touristy (strange that!).

So after a very tiring day we headed to our room for a quick "nanna nap", which basically lasted until Friday morning. We had to be up by stupid o´clock to catch the 5.30am bus to Macchu Piccu. We managed to get on the bus ontime, and the adventure began.

The road leading up the Macchu Piccu was .... interesting. It had been raining heavily overnight so the roads were very muddy and slippery and very narrow road that is zig-zag up the mountain. The edge of the road is very close, particularly when a bus is coming from the other direction. By the time we got to the entrace our heart rates were very high! Mind you , what were we worried about - we arrived safely.

Weather wise we were very lucky. The weather reports showed that it was going to rain for the 4 days we were in Cusco/Machu Piccu. It rained pretty much all day Wednesday and Thursday, and Friday morning looked very bleak and we were sure we were going to be rained on. But as we got closer to the Macchu Piccu the sun started shining on the mountain tops and we had fantastic weather while we were there. Sunny, and warm - it was beautiful.

Macchu Piccu is spectaculor. The altitude wasn´t fun. Being scared of hights - again not fun. But the views were well worth it. The first part of the tour took us up and up and up. Nah, it wasn´t really that bad, but the altitude just made it hard to breath. But the view - spectacular. I would upload some photos, but this computer doesn´t have a USB port (well not that I can see anyway).

The tour took about two and a half hours, and was very informative. It was well worth it, and there are some amazing stories that go with the place. I can certainly see why it´s one of the seven wonders of the world.

By about 10.30am, we were starving, and decided that we had seen as much as we wanted to see. So we headed back down the hill. Again the bus drive made our hearts race, but at least the road had dried out.

We got back into town, and had an early lunch (Hari Krishna food again). Then headed to the hot springs. They were fabulous. Any tension that our muscles were feeling melted away in the mineral spring pools. Mandy and I ended up having a water fight with this cute little kid who spoke no english but he kept spalshing us telling us that the water was ¨caliente¨. Clearly his parents had told him he wasn´t allowed to splash frio water. We had everyone laughing at us as we were splashing and squeeling. Then the rain set in. It´s a very weird sensation being in hot springs, getting rained on by very cold rain.

After the hot springs, we then decided that we needed a drink. Something local of course! So we had a Pisco Sour (very nice) and a Caipirinha (this is what we were drinking on Copacabana beach). Both were very nice, and went down a little too easy. As did the pizza and beer afterwards.

The train left Agua Caliente at 5pm and took almost 4 hours to get back to Cusco. The ride back was fun though, as we ended up sitting with two gay guys from New York who were a hoot. They really enjoyed having 2 Aussies to stir, and I think we almost convinced them to come to Australia for Mardi Gras.

We got back to the guest house, and pretty much hit the pillow. We were exhausted. We awoke this morning not feeling so great. We of course blamed the altitude! Couldn´t have anything to do with the alcohol (which you´re told not to have at altitude).

We didn´t get to see anymore of Cusco as we left this morning, but it´s a lovely place, and our experience there was was very positive. I´ve read a lot of comments about Cusco, and a fair percentage of them made it sound like a terrible place - and this was certainly not what we experienced. Everyone we met and dealt with was lovely and everything "is possible!"

In the guesthouse that we stayed in, the people were lovely. They organsied our Macchu Piccu tour, accommodation in Agua Caliente and transfers to and from the train station. They couldn´t do enough to help us. They were fantastic. The guy running the place was very concerned about us going to Lima, and checked where we were staying to ensure it was safe. He gave us a couple of tips on how to survive in Lima. He said that he wanted us to stay safe as we were nice people. Sweet!

His Mum also helps out in the guesthouse, and she´s a true ¨Mum¨. She takes care of everyone and makes sure that you´re ok. On our first day in Cusco, one of the lady´s staying in the guesthouse suffered quite badly from the altitude and Mumma took care of her. She fussed over her, and gave her something and within about 20 minutes she was feeling better. Honestly - if you´re thinking of going to Cusco I recommend you stay at that guesthouse.

We´re now in Lima, staying in one of the safest suburbs of the city (so we keep getting told). We´re staying in Miraflora - it´s on the coast and it´s lovely, but very touristy. We walked along the coast for a while this afternoon and it was lovely. Mind you we ended up walking considerably further than we planned.

We made the owner of our hostel laugh, as we bought some black corn to try and as we were trying to eat it and cracked up, as they don´t eat it. Apparently they use it to make Chicha, which we need to try. He said it´s made from the water that the corn is boiled in, pineapple and cinnamon. So Mandy and I are going to give it a go.

Tomorrow Peru is having a census, and all Peruvians have to stay at home from 8am to 6pm so there will be nothing open, no shop, markets, buses, taxis or anything. So we´re being forced to have a very slack day and do nothing. Jealous??