Bye Bye Bolivia, Hello Peru

30 Jan I didnt get to go to Isla Del Sol, the island in Lake Titicaca, as I was feeling under the weather. I was afraid of getting sick out there, delaying the others and wanting off the island. Didnt do much otherwise other than watch videos, read my book, do internet and change my Bolivianos into Peruvian Soles.


31 Jan Up and out at 8am to catch our bus to Cuzco in Peru. We crossed through the border with great ease and efficiency (what a surprise). An Italian couple on our bus had overstayed their visa by a few days and had to pay a E50 fine in Bolivianos, which they didnt have. The driver started taking their bags off the bus and told them they would have to get a taxi back to Copacabana in Bolivia to get cash out and take the bus the following morning. The girl was upset and started asking if anybody could help her, and I said I would. In exchange for her passport as security I gave them the money. We stopped at the next town and they got the cash for me. We arrived in Cuzco that night and were glad to get to bed and have a nice meal.


01 Feb Went into town today for a brief look around and book our tours to Mattchu Pitchu. Frog booked his 4 day trek there and we got the neccessary details to take the train there.

02 Feb Frog left at 4am for his trek and we did a bit of sightseeing. We went to the Cathedral, which had an amazing art collection from as far back as 1650. In the building there is a black Jesus on the cross, but the guide insisted that it wasnt always black, apparently this particular Jesus had candels lighting underneath it for years and the candels blackened it. We reckoned that that was a load of codswallop as the Jesus had an unblemished shiny black skin, probably carved from a nice piece of mahogany. The guide wasnt impressed with our laughter.
After that we went to this place that housed Incan ruins, not all that impressive but apparently the Spanish conquisadores had knocked down loads of Incan buildings and monuments as they were considered pagan and used the beautiful hand carved blocks to build their churches and houses.

03 Feb Caroline joined us this morning from Lima after a 2 week absence. I guess she missed us. We showed her around town and had a relaxing day generally. That night there was a quiz in the hostel in aid of Cuzcos homeless kids, which we won. We donated our prize of a bottle of champagne to charity on the condition that the organisers auctioned it there and then. It made about 3 times its value. They were delighted.

04 Feb Headed off this morning from Cuzco on our journey to Mattchu Pitchu (M.P). We were told by our booking office to be at their offices by 10am. We were there at 9.45 and were told the bus had gone and we had to get a taxi at our expense (4 times the price) , the theiving shits. We had no choice and got our cab to a town called Ollaytaytambo to catch the train. Travelling at breakneck speed to board the train on time we were subsequently told that due to track work we were going to be delayed another hour or so. Eventually after a very nice train journey we reached Agua Calientes, a thermal springs town at the foothills of Macchu Pitchu. Our train station pick up person never met us and we had to find the hotel ourselves. Not that we minded that much but another false promise by our, soon to be bad mouthed, tour agent. We hoped to meet Frog that night and trek with him up to MP the following morning but didnt work out.

05 Feb Up at 3.30am for our 90 minute trek to MP. We walked in the pitch dark up old Incan steps and mucky paths and eventually arrived for the 5.30am opening. We met Frog there and had a walk around the place. Its an amazing feat of human achievement to build a town on top of an isolated mountain. Its not known for sure why the Incans built it, but its believed that is was done to escaped the Spanish invaders and preserve their culture. The Spanish never knew about it. That evening we got the train back and arrived in Cuzco at 10.30pm and exhausted.

06 Feb Didnt do a whole lot today except go to the local Irish owned Irish pub, which is the highest Irish pub in the world, and have a customary pint of Guinness. It is the highest commercially available pint of the creamy black in the world. Went out to dinner and had the local speciality... Guinea pig. Hmmmmm. The night was kindly paid for by Carolines mother who gave Caroline 40 pounds sterling for me and frog for looking after her while she was sick. Great!