Eets not a problem...

Well, it is now almost a million years since Peru and I still haven't actually managed to finish this bloody blog. The last section took so long to format I have been permanently traumatised.

So where were we? Oh yes, we had just arrived back in Cusco after a trek of epic proportions to Machu Picchu. Remember? No? Read the blog below, catch up, and then come back to me.

So after, as mentioned, walking for many days, Katie and I had finally arrived back in Cusco where we settled down to happily spend a long, long time recovering and nursing our sore limbs. The first day back we slept until roughly 1.30pm which, all things considered, was not a disgusting lie-in. I can't exactly remember what we did during that afternoon but I imagine it involved toasties, much Facebooking and general lying around feeling a sense of achievement. I forgot to mention in the previous blog that as we were walking up the hill to our hostel at 3am, we suddenly realised that whilst before we had been dying just walking up it normally, we were positively bounding up this time, even though we were laden down with our packs. This 'being slightly fitter than I was before' has actually not left me yet, despite not doing much (any) exercise; there is a hill near my house that used to slay me which I barely even notice now. Totally worth it.

At around 5pm, Tabea came to our hostel having ditched her parents, the dirty teenager, and we did some more lying around and eating toasties. It was, we realised, Peruvian Independence Day, and everyone who was planning to go out was wearing something red or something white (the colours of the Peruvian flag). Katie and I scoured our dirty, dirty packs to find something red/white to wear, and I found a white top which I would live to regret wearing since it was freezing that night. Katie's clothes were all too dirty to be worn, and I actively refused to let her go out in her only white top, so she just chose 'stunning' as a look and decided people would have to be content with it! I realised, worryingly slowly, that actually my hair works as a 'red thing', though by that time it was pretty light red because of the sun. My sunburn added to the delightful 'red' effect on my face too. We went to the bar where we got chatting to the bartender who was from London, and who bought us all drinks called 'bloodbombs' - Red Bull, vodka and the Peruvian equivalent of grenadine. I just had Red Bull and grenadine, and spent the next four hours being unable to keep still or stop talking. Turns out I can't handle caffeine very well!

Bloodbombs in Loki

We went down to the Plaza del Armas at about 8pm, where we hung around for ages, feeling distinctly uncool, because the boys were late to meet us. Eventually two of them (Fer and Santi) sauntered up and we went to buy tickets to a party they had found for later. Then we went back to the guys' hostel - Pariwana - and hung out in their bar for a while. Katie and some of the boys had toasties and everybody set on their way to getting drunk, while I found a hat that made me look like I had a halo and spent my time alternating between forgetting about my sunburn and seeing pictures of it and being horrified. People ended up dancing on tables and stuff in the bar - I suspect after the Pisco Sour-making competition had ended - and Katie got taught how to dance by Barcelona.

Afterwards, we set off on a taxi drive to try and find this party we had tickets too, except no-one was sure where it was, so we spent a while driving around, eventually turning up outside a small concrete building on top of a hill. To be honest, I can think of more entertaining things to write about other than a rave, but in summary: it was cold, there was a guy with fire poi, there was a bonfire and the music was pretty good. We got back at some hideous hour in the morning - the sun was already coming up - and had a small altercation with Fer outside Tabea's hotel, which involved me shouting at him and Katie trying to pacify him. Good cop, bad cop! Neither worked, and we ended up failing to persuade him to take Gasti's hoody back with him.

Consequently, the next day we had to make serious tracks down to the boys' hostel to give the hoody back because we knew Gasti was leaving that day but we didn't know when. Luckily it wasn't until the evening, so we spent the day hanging out with the boys, most of which was spent wandering round Cusco trying to find a restaurant they were convinced existed. In the evening, we went to their hostel, which was lovely and much calmer than ours, and hung out there until about 7pm. Santi and Fer were flying to Lima the day after us and were booking into the Lima branch of their hostel, so Katie and I decided to book into it aswell. In the evening, Katie, Fer and Santi went out, but I was feeling seriously tired so I just went to bed - consequently no interesting anecdotes from that evening.

Four of the boys with Paddington Bear!

Hanging out at the hostel

The next morning at about 9am, we woke up to get to Cusco airport and fly to Lima. Our flight was at 12h10, but it was severely delayed on the runway (due to the wind going in the wrong direction, I think!) so I had a nap. For some bizarre reason, Katie and I were not sitting next to each other, so it was quite a boring flight. We arrived in Lima to freezing weather - it had been so lovely in Cusco we'd completely forgotten it was actually winter in Peru, and I was wearing shorts. We immediately wanted to go back! We took a taxi from the airport to our hostel which was about an hour away in a district of Lima called Miraflores, which is meant to be the 'cool' area, where all the backpackers go! Naturally we fitted in straight away. Our hostel wasn't anywhere near as nice as either of the ones we had seen in Cusco, but it was satisfactory and the cheese toasties were excellent. We spent most of the day sorting out our Bags of Death or, as it is more commonly known, doing laundry. Barcelona (aka Jose-Luis) had got there the night before us, so we hung out with him, and went down to the sea front, where we had cake from the Cookie Factory. Civilisation! There was Dunkin' Donuts and a cinema and Starbucks and Burger King. It was amazing. Anyway, I saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time in my life which was quite exciting, and Katie thought she did, then remembered how much she'd been to the west coast of America and revised her opinion.

There was a seriously strange guy in our hostel room whose name escapes me - Jonathan, possibly - who spent the whole time talking about how much he didn't really like Lima, despite having been there for about three months. We were like 'so, why don't you leave?' and he just kept saying 'well, it's not that easy...' which of course, it is. He was Canadian. He also asked this guy called Hans, who was Dutch, whether he was going to kill him due to some terrorist group in Holland in the 90s or something. Veeeery weird.

That night, while we didn't get murdered by Jonathan - a serious possibility - I did get pretty sick, and spend much of the night, and the next three days, rushing to the toilet. I felt pretty rubbish the next day, but my mood was improved by Fer and Santi waking us up (well, waking Katie up by staring at her creepily) in our hostel room. We hung out with them on the hostel terrace, and then Santi and I went down to the sea front again, which was nice, but still freezing and seriously foggy and gross. After we got back, Santi, Fer, Barcelona and Katie decided they wanted to go back down, but I was feeling pretty sick, so I stayed at the hostel and commiserated with Hans who was also sick.

Everyone except me at the seaside.

That night we went for pizza with everyone and then went out to a club which was fun, although I am incapable of dancing to Latin music without feeling like a pillock. Katie discovered she doesn't mind drinking while I am there as much as she thought, which was a nice breakthrough.

Early the next day, Santi and Fer left to go back to Buenos Aires, and Katie and I checked out of our hostel room by 10am. The original plan was to go down to Pisco and to go to the Ballestas Islands, but unfortunately we hadn't planned very well, and by 'very well' I mean 'at all', so we discovered we couldn't get there that day, and upon reading about Pisco, discovered it had been largely destroyed by an earthquake a few years earlier so wasn't actually a very nice town. After a couple of hours of research on the computer, we decided we couldn't be bothered, and checked back into the hostel, though into a different room, without creepy boy. We spent the rest of the day at the hostel with Hans, and in the evening met a Scottish guy called Pierrick who we immediately adopted and terrified for the rest of the evening. I can't even imagine what meeting me and Katie must be like. We are mental when we are together!

The next morning we met Pierrick's friend Stuart, who has some of the most excellent hair I have ever seen, and they failed to get us to go surfing with them. Instead, we went into Lima and did some sightseeing - we saw the Plaza del Armas, where we reenacted everything my guide book informed us had happened there: the first bullfight; the execution of those condemned by the Spanish Inquisition; and the declaration of Peru's Independence in 1821. You can imagine the hilarity, I'm sure. Unfortunately, the photos were all lost when my camera got stolen. We also saw a really nice church and various outsides of buildings, such as the cathedral and the Archbishop's palace. We bought some souvenirs, from the brilliant souvenir shops of which Lima has an abundance. Anything you want llama shaped, you can get. That evening we hung out with Pierrick and Stuart at the hostel, and terrified them some more.

Me in Plaza del Armas.

Katie, Stuart, Pierrick and me.

The next day we decided we deserved a lie-in, and a lie-in was duly had. We went down to the coast again, and did a bit of shopping, mainly in an awesome shop called Topi Topi which sold some of the most excellent t-shirts I have ever been fortunate enough to see. Katie and I purchased one each, as they were only £10. Mine said 'Lover memory of my ex-woman is a pretty' and Katie's said 'Enter a world of boundless sensual enjoyment'. Classic. I do appear to be wearing mine in the above photo, so I suspect that was not taken the evening I said it was, but whatever, there's all four of us! We met up with Tabea, who was also in Lima seeing her sister, by the coast and had a drink. Seeing her was so nice, but it was sad to say goodbye again! We have failed singularly to keep in touch since then, which is just typical. Katie and I decided to go to the cinema that evening, to see Eclipse (embarrassing, but there you go), which was just your typical vampire/werewolf/annoying girl movie. We definitely hung out with Pierrick and Stuart that evening too, obviously, though I am beginning to suspect my days have become a bit muddled.

Tabea y yo.

The next day was my final day in Lima, and my final day in Peru. Very sad, but my plane wasn't until midnight, so sadness was delayed. I packed up, checked out and put my bag in storage (thank GOD for that, is all I'm going to say). We knew that Isaac, Gasti, Rami and Gonzo were in Lima but we didn't know where, so we messaged them, and Isaac messaged back saying they were going into the centre during the day but we could meet for dinner, which I was sad about because I was going to the airport around dinner time.

Katie and I decided to go into the centre anyway, to finish off our sightseeing from the day before, and we were glad we did because we got to go into the Catacombs below the convent which had been shut the previous day and we also got a tour of the convent. The catacombs were excellent and seriously creepy. Katie took an illicit photo (they were banned, but she's such a rebel). We also saw a version of The Last Supper but where everyone is eating guinea pigs which pretty much made our lives. After we left the convent, the sun had come out too, which made everything even prettier, and we wandered round the square feeling content and trying to pluck up the courage to ask someone to take a picture of us, since we were both wearing our excellent t-shirts. Eventually we did; evidence below (thank goodness we used Katie's camera!), and shortly after this we were accosted by a guy who was doing a survey about tourists. While we were talking to him, we were ambushed by the boys which caused us to shriek loudly and them to have hysterics. We went into the cathedral with them, and got a tour in English (which we appreciated, since Rami and Gonzo didn't really speak English, so there were equal numbers of English/Spanish speakers). The cathedral was interesting and massive. Those Catholics don't hold back!

Plaza del Armas and amazing t-shirts

After that, the boys decided they wanted to go into the catacombs which obviously we had just done, so we went shopping and arranged to meet them in the Plaza del Armas at 6pm. Katie bought some new boots, which I notice she is still wearing in Australia, so job well done! We got to the Plaza nicely on time, but the boys were late and eventually we set off to try and find them, only they got there when we had left, so that was a fail. Eventually we bumped into Isaac, but I can't remember where - probably in the square. We hung out with them for a bit, but it was about 7pm by that point and I was getting kind of keen to get back to the hostel and get my stuff and go to the airport - I did not want to miss my flight!

Saying goodbye to the boys!

I said bye to the boys, which was sad, with many promises of meeting up whenever we were in the same place (which will not be anytime soon, I suspect!), then Katie and I returned to the hostel where we said bye, considerably more sadly, and I took a taxi to the airport. The taxi driver insisted on talking to me throughout the journey, despite my Spanish being negligible (though admittedly noticeably improved since being in Peru). He then stole my camera while I was looking for the money to give him, so I am fully unimpressed by his existence in the world. I didn't notice the loss of camera until I was in New York unfortunately. My flight to New York was nice because I was sitting next to a woman who was Peruvian but who had lived in Queens for about thirty years. She spent the whole trip telling me what I should have done in Peru, which was largely unhelpful since, as you can see, I barely did anything, but interesting nonetheless!

I had a long layover in New York so I went into the centre, where I discovered the loss of my camera. This instantly put me in a bad mood, so I ignored the Empire State Building pointedly, and went to get a smoothie in Borders (bankrupt in England!), and used the wifi, hoping that Katie had found it in the hostel. She hadn't, obviously. After a while I stomped back out into New York, where it was crazy hot - in the high thirties, which didn't exactly improve my mood. I noticed Macy's which intrigued me since I've heard of that, then spotted an Old Navy store across the road, which I have always wanted to go in. It was beautifully airconditioned inside, so I spent a while in there and bought some jeans, some pyjama bottoms and a top, and instantly felt better. I also changed into my shorts which helped considerably. I made my way up 7th Avenue to Times Square which was pretty cool - though all the while feeling the loss of my camera - and then started making my way towards Central Park. Halfway there, the idea of disposable cameras came into my head, and I made my way back to Times Square, where I knew there was a supermarket. I bought one and went round taking lots of pictures of what turned out to be identical views. It all looked different at the time! After about three hours, I got tired and overheated, so made my way back to the airport.

The plane back was good because I was sitting next to a cute, funny Australian guy, and also because I got a bit of sleep! I got in at like, 7am - early, I think - and then got a coach back to Hitchin from Heathrow which was excellent because getting the tube at 7am with my rucksack possibly would have finished me off. Bit of an anti-climax coming home because, naturally, my brother was still asleep, but I just went to bed and slept for most of the day.

Well, bit of a crap ending, but it was a bit of a crap end to be honest - in that it had to end at all. I did some speech therapy work experience in the week after that, and then went to Angers in France to stay with the kids' grandparents for two weeks after that. Since then I have been in Paris and have made some excellent friends and am having a wonderful time! I shall start updating this on a fairly regular basis now I do not have the guilt of this entry hanging over me.

Dude, it's a llama!

So I've been trying to write a journal about my trip to Peru but have so far only got to my third day and I'm worried I'm going to forget it all before I actually get down to writing about it. I type much faster than I write and also I spend way more time on my computer than I would ever spend writing stuff down, so I figured I'd write it here.

I flew out from Heathrow Airport at 16h45 on the 19th July - my mum drove me to the airport to see me off which was really nice, and saved me trekking across London with a heavy rucksack. It was the first time I'd been on a transatlantic flight since I was fifteen - the rest of the (many) flights I've been on since then have been with Ryanair or Easyjet, so I was naturally pretty impressed by the size of the airplane and the fact that there were TVs in front of the seats. I also got a window seat which was awesome. The flight went pretty quickly, I watched a myriad of trashy films (The Time Travelers Wife - good, made me cry; The Last Song - Miley Cyrus film, fine if you're in the mood for trash/are trying to while away 8 hours in a confined space; The Bounty Hunter - similar to The Last Song only funnier) and enjoyed some cardboardy food. I didn't sleep at all which was the start of a trend that would continue over the next 40 or so hours. My connection via New York was easy but really boring, then the next flight I got put in an aisle seat which was rubbish - not only that but an aisle seat in front of a screaming baby. I managed to sleep for about an hour and a half, but very very badly, and watched some films I can't remember.

I landed in Lima, Peru at about 06h30, ready and just thrilled to wait seven hours in an airport. I found a shop that sold Dairy Milk chocolate (happy!) and wandered round, eventually deciding to go to Starbucks where I tried in vain to remember a single word of Spanish (I eventually mustered up enough to order a frappacino and a sandwich). There was no internet, so I read a book (Dreamland, by Sarah Dessen - really really good) and then ended up talking to three girls who were leaving, having been travelling round Peru for a couple of weeks - they told me all about their trip, so it was nice to have some sort of vague idea of what was to come! (Illness and lots of walking, by the sound of it) My flight to Puno, where I was meeting Katie, left at 14h45 and I fell asleep briefly going down the runway which was bizarre because I woke up in the air thinking 'eh??'. We flew via Arequipa which is in Canyon Country - unbelievable scenery, I had my nose pressed up against the window for about 85% of the flight, it was phenomenal. Here is the only picture I have of it:

I landed in Puno around 5pm, where it was freezing, and after a brief serenade from a typical Peruvian band, a minor panic when my bag was literally the last one put on the conveyor belt, I got a minibus (colectivo) to the town centre. I managed to befriend some bilingual people and they asked the bus driver if he would drop me off at my hostel which he did, thankfully, because Puno was a real dump, and I was a bit nervous about walking round it by myself with my huge rucksack - I definitely wouldn't have been able to run away from potential muggers or anything - I'd have just fallen over on my back! Anyway, Katie was waiting for me in the hotel foyer so we scared the hotel manager briefly by screaming and hugging a lot, and then got shown to our room - oh wait, sorry, I mean ROOMS because they hadn't put us in the same one, I ended up sharing with three German girls who hated us because we kept accidentally being really loud when they were trying to sleep (who the hell goes to bed at 8pm??). We went out for dinner and despite really liking my dinner, I was so tired (having not properly slept for nearly 2 days) I eventually just had to lie my head on the table and wait for Katie to finish. Getting into bed was pretty traumatic because I was on the top bunk and there wasn't a ladder! I had to climb up the frame at the end of the bed, which wobbled alarmingly (I got Katie to hold it steady for me) and then when I got up there I discovered my water bottle had leaked in the middle of my bed. I was far too delirious to think properly, so only got under two sheets which meant I was freezing the entire night and consequently slept appallingly. The grande finale to my escapades with the bed came when, in the morning, I realised that the lack of ladder prevented me getting down easily as well. Katie had irritated the German girls some more by waking one of them up to get into my room to wake me up, and so she made the helpful suggestion of just jumping off - it wasn't that far, only 6 feet, and I decided to just go for it. Unfortunately I was wearing fluffy socks and the floor was lino so I landed flat on my arse. It was quite spectacular. We fled the hostel pretty quickly after that, and caught a bus (a snazzy bus with a tv and reclining seats! A coach, to be honest) to Cusco. On the way, we stopped for a break just before we got into Cusco territory (the department, not the town) and the most AMAZING alpaca strolled into view, being led by a woman in typical Peruvian dress who was also holding a baby llama. It was brilliant. Here is a picture:

Cusco turned out to be a lot nicer than Puno - it's way more touristy, and consequently a lot richer. People only go to Puno to see Lake Titicaca (which, I am proud to say, I completely failed to see), whereas Cusco is a destination in its own right. Our hostel was on the top of a crazy steep hill - we literally jumped out of the taxi because it was parked at such a precarious angle! Here is a view from just outside our hostel - the buildings at the bottom are Cusco town centre. Yeah. I know.

Anyway, the hostel was called Loki and is notorious as a party hostel. It served amazing food (we lived off toasties and chicken sandwiches for like, three days). We had a little wander round Cusco where I nearly got us robbed and got nagged into buying a hat from a small child.

The day before our trek to Machu Picchu (the reason we were in Cusco), we went to the office of the tour guys we were going with and met the people we were going to be trekking with for five days - our tour guide, Manu who was native Quetchua, so very Peruvian, and a Dutch German family - Tabea (18) and her mum, dad and aunt. They were really nice, so that was cool, and Harry, the dad was so funny. Tabea was amazing, we got on really well with her which was excellent! We were informed that we would be collected from our hotel at 3.30am (I think?) the next day which was naturally greeted with whoops of joy. So, after buying me a llama jumper (which probably prevented me getting pneumonia), we went back to the hostel fully intent on getting a full nights sleep. You have anticipated the punchline, I'm sure - stupid party hotels. We went to the bar to check the internet and get a toastie, and ended up staying there til just gone midnight, talking to various people and dancing.

At some godforsaken hour in the morning, we stumbled out of bed and amassed our various belongings, then went to wait in the lobby, where there were loads of people coming in after crazy nights out on the town. How cool did we feel? ;) We were driven to a town where most people start the trek, but were we were merely given breakfast (and saw lots of guinea pigs!) - I learnt the word panqueque for pancake which was just the start of many brilliant words I would learn that holiday and then use at every available opportunity and some opportunities that weren't really available but maybe there was just a silence or something. We were then driven along an insane road which had me and Katie clutching onto each other in terror. We also spent most of the journey terrifying the rest of the bus with our hysterics - such gems as 'Hey, this is pretty!' - 'Eh, it's no Letchworth' (about the Andes) were bandied around and, due to minor sleep deprivation and the general hysterics Katie and I fail to avoid every time we are together, were treated like the joke of the century. (It was pretty funny, to be fair). You could just hear the rest of the bus thinking 'holy crap, I have to spend the next five days with these madwomen', sometimes actually out loud.

Oh boy, now I have to write about the trek! This will probably be less of a mission than actually doing it, but we shall see! We set off a ridiculously long way from where the rest of the world normally starts on our trek (as in, we walked less than everyone else!) - called the Salkantay trek because it goes round the Salkantay glacier, and is in no way related to the Inca Trail which goes a completely different way, takes half the time and is considerably lower in altitude to this insane route. We set off and the altitude was immediately noticeable. Luckily we were only carrying our daypacks because the horses had our big packs - phew! Katie and I were sharing one so that would have been particularly horrific. I can't remember how high up we were at this stage, but we were about to climb VERY quickly. We set off around 9am and stopped for lunch (by which time I had already fallen behind quite dramatically) around 12pm - soup, hot squash, chicken, rice and something else I think. Pretty good!

This photo was taken I think just before we started climbing what normally would not have been a troubling hill, but as we must have been at about 4,300 metres at the least at that point, there was not a whole lot of oxygen, so we got out of breath insanely quickly - it was like we'd been running for ages (Well. Not ages in my case, that's for sure!). I was seriously struggling, Katie seemed to be doing a lot better than me which was slightly galling, as the only reason I went on the trek with her was because I thought she'd be struggling with me ;) Only kidding, but I was not having a happy time. This was the last ascent before we reached the highest point of our trek - 4600m, right next to the Salkantay glacier which was stunning.

The rest of that day was a steep descent into a valley (it was really gorgeous - a mixture of Jurassic Park and a fairytale, particularly with the glacier looming over the whole picture) which I completely failed to do with anything approaching speed or grace. It took me about half an hour longer than the rest of the group, though Katie waited for me and chivvied me along so I caught them up eventually! Our tour guide, whose ability to completely misjudge distances and the time it might take to do them became legendary by the end of the trek, told us it would take ten minutes from a certain point. Tabea and I were falling behind by then and once we had been walking for about 45 minutes after this point began to get a bit worried because we couldn't see anyone. Then we saw Manu, Tabea's dad and Katie waiting for us to tell us that the campsite had moved and it was just 20 minutes further on. Manu disappeared ahead, and another 45 minutes later it had got dark - luckily I had a torch - and we were stumbling through this dark forest with absolutely no idea where the hell we were or whether we'd missed the campsite or anything. It was pretty scary, and Katie and I were on the verge of tears pretty much the whole time - hey, you try dealing with a situation like that on an hour and a half's sleep and after a full days walking. NOT cool! Eventually it turned out that the campsite had moved yet again and the chef, whose name escapes me even though I spent a whole freaking day trying to learn it, came to get us with torches and the offer of a horse (which we had also had for the steep climb, though none of us had accepted it because as if you would!). We were seriously pissed off with the world by then! However, we were also exhausted so we slept phenomenally well.

Woke up the next day to discover that I had managed to burn spectacularly - a special trick of mine, which I have now refined to the point of being able to burn despite having factor 30 on (stupid altitude). Nothing especially notable happened on the second day - lots of walking (lots). We saw chickens with eagle preventing capes on, a small Peruvian baby, many rivers and rapids, crossed a crazy bridge, saw some waterfalls, did some successful and not so successful Gandalf poses on a bridge (Katie's were excellent, mine were rubbish) and finally arrived at our campsite while it was still light! Amazing. We saw much fauna and flora, e.g. caterpillars and orchids. (We saw a condor on the first day which was so cool!)

Our campsite on the second night was pretty cool, but the best bit was the turkey who was wandering round getting MEGA pissed at everyone who was tramping over his turf, haha. Did you know that turkeys' red bits on their face turn blue when they're angry? This one did, anyway! It was hilarious. The chef kept running at it and then it wouldn't back down and he'd get scared and run away!

The third day was really easy. We walked up a bit, then down a bit and then had a rest, and then it was almost completely flat until lunch. It was excellent! My kind of trekking, THAT'S for sure :D Not to mention what we did after lunch which was get a bus...! We are so lazy, but I don't think we had another option for that. Anyway, so once we'd really rapidly and easily reached the campsite for the night (called Santa Theresa), we went and hung out in some hot springs. Oh yeah. Definitely my kind of trekking. It was really nice swimming around and being warm and not walking and then, just before we left, a big group of guys got in the water and started yelling stuff at us (like, chicas, and stuff in spanish), and they made us laugh, but then we had to leave...only to, a bit later, see them all sit down at a table opposite us at the campsite - turns out they were staying there too (pretty much like everyone else we even vaguely made eye contact with at the hot springs!). We got talking to them eventually, turned out they were largely Argentinian plus a Mexican and a Spaniard. These adorable kids who I guess lived on or near the campsite put on a show for us with dancing to music, it was really cute! Then, just to ruin the image, most of us got dragged into dancing with them - Katie, I seem to recall, nominated me as a candidate. Turns out, I cannot dance for love nor money. This little 10 year old kid was doing all these steps and I was just standing there going 'WHAT? WHAT?!'. It didn't go well. And then all the Argentinians got up and were excellent, it was very depressing. English dancing culture is rubbish! Isaac is the guy in the picture, he is the Mexican, and he was similarly excellent.

Also running around was a monkey called Pancho (word for monkey in espanol = pana, apparently), who fell asleep in Ruth (the Aunt, who isn't called Ruth, but something crazy and German like Ruth) and Isaac's arms. So cute:

The next day we set off bright and early, after having provided the Argentinians with medical assistance (plasters). We drove in a van again (oh, the shame!) and we actually drove past the boys who were walking! We drove to the hydroelectric plant thing which is at the entrance to the Machu Picchu Sanctuary (though not Machu Picchu itself) where we had to log in with our passport numbers and everything. We had lunch with an adorable puppy and then the chef took our bags with him on the train (we love him!) and we walked along a railway track which was delightfully flat. I was suffering quite badly by this point because my sunburn was still there and it felt like my face was being burnt off everytime I went in the sun (naturally I didn't have a hat, so I had to borrow one from Ruth). Also by that point I had developed some really attractive spots on my chin which would gradually, over the next few days turn into hideously painful scabs. Walking along the railway was nice, Katie, Tabea and I had nice chats about stuff, and it was really cool in the shade. Then, we rounded a corner and... got our first sight of Machu Picchu!

We had nearly made it! We followed the railway round the mountain, eventually turning our back on MP, and ended up in Aguas Calientes, the town where the railway finishes and where everyone starts their Machu Picchu visit from - you have to get a bus up (well, you can walk, but obviously we didn't). We were staying in a hostel that night - seriously, we did not do this thing properly - and then going up to Machu Picchu in the morning. Really early in the morning. That evening we found the hot springs after which the town is named, which weren't nearly as nice as the ones we'd been in the night before, but hot nevertheless! The Argentines came and found us after a bit which was cool, and then we had to go back for dinner (after having very naughtily skipped helping with the bags!). We met a couple of the boys in the square after dinner, which was fun, and then went back to bed - another 3am start for us! Joy! The reason, incidentally, we had to get up so early was in order to get on the first bus, or nearly the first bus at least, to see if we could be in the first 400 people into Machu Picchu in order to be able to climb Wayna Picchu, the mountain you see in the background of all the classic shots of Machu Picchu. It's protected because of erosion so only 400 people are allowed to climb up it each day - guides, like Manu, are never allowed up, because there's so many of them. Obviously he could go up if he wanted but I think he'd have to pay to get in, and not be there as a guide.

So, the start of day five of the trek - the day this had all been leading up to - Machu Picchu Day! I was woken up at some delightful hour (about 2.30am) by lots of people shouting outside my room, and then Manu roused us all and we sleepily ate breakfast and made our way down to the bus station, where there was already a long queue. I was dreading having my face burning like yesterday so I bought a hat at one of the shops that were open - a serious error in fashion, but a win for face protection! Katie begged me not to buy it but under some delusion that I looked fine, I did, and thankfully didn't wear it in any of the MP photos otherwise I would have had to burn them! Anyway, we got the bus up (yet another twisty road, more terror!) and joined the queue to get into Machu Picchu which was fairly dispiriting because it looked like there were already roughly a million people ahead of us. Anyway, as it turned out, Manu has contacts or something, because he managed to get us a place climbing up Wayna Picchu! We must have been some of the last people allowed up - Manu told us we were definitely in the last 40.

Manu accompanied us into MP to give us a bit of a tour, after which he would leave us to climb WP, and he would go back to Cusco. His tour was actually really good - interesting and informative. He told us to view MP like a university - because no-one actually knows what it was there for. He said that when the Inca (only the King was called an Inca, the actual people were called Quetchua) wanted to conquer people, he'd send diplomats or something to say 'hey, look, in exchange for all this gold and food and stuff, we want you to be on our side' etc. but the condition was that the rulers had to leave their countries and come and live in Inca-dom (Cusco). This obviously caused some bitterness amongst the conquered people so, to combat that, the Inca built a place that was miles away from anywhere and practically impossible to get into where he could put all the children of these people, so they would grow up viewing the Inca as a god and not have bitterness towards him instilled in them by their parents. Pretty harsh, huh. Obviously this is speculation, but there are records showing that this place for the kids was built - whether it was MP or not, is not certain. Interestingly, Machu Picchu is the name of the mountain near the city (citadel? what is it?) - no-one actually knows what the Incas called it. All the records were lost when the Spanish came and took over - they burnt them all. Way to go!

Anyway, it was so amazing being there - when we arrived there, however, it was completely covered in fog, we couldn't see from one end to the other (which we could when it cleared, later). In the midst of this delightful cloud cover, we climbed up Wayna Picchu which was INSANELY hard - steep steps all the way up. Given that we'd just been walking for four days, we were not exactly in the best condition to do it, although having said that, at least we were used to walking. I think I probably would have died if we'd done it without having done any walking at all! This is how much we could see on our way up:

Afterwards we looked back at the mountain and there was much eye popping - there is no WAY I would have gone up that mountain with anything remotely approaching enthusiasm had I seen how steep it was beforehand. Katie nearly fell off the mountain on the way up because she was dying of laughter as I was wearing a really stupid outfit (no need to show you :D). When we got up there we couldn't see MP because of all the clouds which didn't really make the effort seem worthwhile, it has to be said. Still, it meant we got to sit down for ages, waiting! Also, it felt kind of like we were in heaven or something:

Eventually the clouds did clear and we saw Machu Picchu in all its glory which was weird 'cause we hadn't really seen it from the ground yet, but there you go. It was a lot bigger than I expected. Nothing else really happened up there except we took many photos and a woman got stuck on a precipice and had to be rescued by some people which was kind of hilarious. Then we had to go down which was terrifying and there were people running down which made it even more terrifying!

Once we were back down, we were free to wander round MP by ourselves, so after having sat down and recovered for a while (honestly, going down was almost worse than going up), we set off with my guidebook and had a look round. Describing it does seem a bit pointless, and I'm not going to upload all my photos of it because they're largely all the same! Go there! We spent a reasonably large amount of time trying to find the classic Machu Picchu picture - with all the buildings and Wayna Picchu in the background - and eventually succeeded! Katie and Tabea took amusing pictures of them "leaning" on WP (ah, perspective!), but my face was burning too much for me to want to spend time positioning myself in the sun so unfortunately I don't have a picture of me doing that. There were many many llamas which was excellent although they are actually kind of weird up close. Still! Llamas!

We spent a lot of time sitting down soaking in the atmosphere and trying to find me shady spots (I'm pathetic). Walking round MP was pretty hard because it was all stairs and frankly I think we'd all had our fill of them going up Wayna Picchu, but we crawled our way to the highest point (or, as near as we could be bothered to get) and then went back down and had to sit down again! We were sitting down on one of the terraces for a while, and when we stood up wolf whistles and shouting came down to us - the boys were sitting right up the top on a wall. None of us could be bothered to come down/go up, however, so we didn't talk to them.

Soon after that we left MP to go back down to Aguas Calientes and back to the hostel (via another terrifying bus ride). For some slightly bizarre reason, since it was about 5pm, everyone decided it would be a good idea to have dinner then. I wasn't remotely hungry, so Katie and I decided to go and have a wander round the town - we went into the square and sat down there and talked generally, which was really nice, as we hadn't really had any time just us when we weren't walking for ages and obviously any successful relationship needs alone time ;) Haha. After about an hour, Fer, one of the Argentinians came into the square too, and sat down with us. We arranged to meet up with them all in the square in Cusco the next day in the evening - we were all getting a train back that evening, although they were getting a sensibly timed train at 7.30 and we were getting one at 10pm that got into somewhere outside of Cusco at 2am. Tabea arrived at some point, and then Katie, Tabea and I went to get dinner in a restaurant off the square, with a seriously incompetent waitress, and then we ended up being conned regarding free drinks. Still, my burger was pretty good.

After that we went to the train station where Annette (Tabea's mum) gave Katie and I presents - a fluffy llama and a stolen purse each (heh). Then we got on the train, and I promptly fell asleep and slept pretty much the whole way back to Ollepata (or something) where we got a minibus back to our hostel - except he dropped us off at the bottom of that hill (we were staying at Loki again) so we had to walk all the way up it at 3am with Katie carrying both our day packs and me carrying the big rucksack! Not cool! We got into our room and crashed around a bit, giggling hysterically, miraculously not annoying anyone, and then crashed out in our beds, happy to be back in the real world!

Spring in my step

I have observed this week that I am a lot better at looking after children when it is sunny. When it is grey and miserable i.e. winter, every fibre of my being protests at expending any energy not devoted to remaining warm and reading nice books. That's what being an supremely lazy student for three years does to you. However, for the last two days the weather has been delightful! I'm talking "taking your coat off, running around in the garden for four hours and throwing open all available doors and windows" delightful. It has reached the giddy heights of 15 C at some points. Spring is here!

My body has decided it likes this state of affairs; yesterday Juliette, Ernest and I spent two and a half hours playing in the garden, I spent an hour today running around with Ernest inside (or, more accurately, running away from Ernest for fear of being eaten by a soft toy. The dangers of childcare...) and prior to that we had spent twenty minutes jumping from pile of mud to pile of mud in the garden. I will admit that I spent most of the rest of the day, before Ernest got back from creche, reading a book, but that is because Juliette had a friend round and my French isn't good enough to join in their imaginary games. Also, I resent being told which crayon I can use to colour in with. However, I now feel more like I want to run and play outside - that fresh, relaxed feeling has come back into the air, and it is fun playing with Ernest because his little giggle when I do something he enjoys is something even the laziest, most hard-hearted fiend couldn't resist, and I am consequently powerless.

The cynical part of me that accurately predicted the weather last May - three hot days in a row? People cracking out the shorts? I wisely remained in my trousers and was right to do so - suspects that this atmosphere change will not last for long, but the running, jumping, happy, relaxed part of me wishes it could be like this always and forever.

Snowsick

Well, it's been a couple of weeks since I last updated. Interestingly, after saying that I was going to keep a tally of the kids injuries, Juliette managed to burn her face. I didn't feel that merited an entire blog post, but it was quite a significant injury! She was very brave about it, but still has a mark. I got praised by the chemist who said I was sensible for only having put wet kitchen towel on her face - what else would you do? I considered running her face under the cold tap but I had a feeling that would drown her so refrained. The day after that, Ernest developed chicken pox - but bizarrely and very thankfully didn't have any symptoms other than spots. No itching, no fever, no whinging. What a lucky kid! I'm almost disappointed I've had it - might have had a couple of days off work, avoiding him... heh. Nevermind.

The Saturday before last I went to Leeds on holiday. I stayed with Martha, and we had a really fun time - lots of Sex and the City and good food. Lucie had made fun of me, saying I was only going to be eating pasta while I was there - student lifestyle! - but we cooked fajitas and corn chowder, both of which were deeelicious. Admittedly we ordered Domino's pizza one night (I count that under 'good food', but definitely also under 'student lifestyle'), and I had sandwiches for dinner two other nights, but still, not bad! I didn't do a whole lot while I was in Leeds; saw the vast majority of people I wanted to see, although apparently I am too popular to fit all my friends into four days, and went shopping, to the pub and to the union a bit. Mainly just hung out at people's houses, like the good old days! I don't miss the student lifestyle really. Obviously it would be nice to have loooads of free time, but everyone was incredibly busy with work while I was there - it's nice that my free time now is true free time. The plus side to everyone being busy was that I didn't spend too much money! I bought 3 pairs of jeans in Primark for £24. Oh, how I miss you Primark. Still convinced shopping in England is better, but no nearer explaining why. I suppose it's the familiarity of the products. I would have gone mad with spending if it wasn't for my luggage allowance - damn you hand luggage! I had to shove my handbag into my suitcase in order to get through security on the way back and the woman made a snarky 'wonders will never cease' comment to someone else about me (I was struggling somewhat). I don't know why people are allowed to be so rude. I would never say something like that about someone if they were less than three feet away. (Maybe if they were further away... :D)

My journey back to Paris on Thursday was a bit of a nightmare - it took almost 12 hours instead of 4 - but I was stationed near a WHSmiths most of the time so I happily filled up on Creme Eggs and True Blood books (new obsession, thanks Martha). I can think of worse ways to spend a Thursday afternoon! The next day was equally travellicious. I had to take a taxi to Gare Montparnasse to catch a train to Bordeaux to collect the kids from their Grandma's. The taxi driver was foreign and insisted on talking to me in heavily accented French most of the way there. I couldn't understand a word - I was still in 'English' mode anyway, so I had no chance. I am getting very good at nodding and smiling confidently. It was nice to see the kids again, and the train journey was surprisingly fun. We had egg salad sandwiches and carrot sticks for lunch (I felt a bit like I was in a Famous Five book), Ernest fell asleep on me as per, and then took over my seat when I got up, and we were in first class! Good times. Then we got a taxi back, relaxed for 5 hours, got another taxi to Gare Austerlitz and took the night train to skiing! Crazy day. At Gare Austerlitz there was a woman giving out free candyfloss! I got some, even though technically it was for kids - I refuse to miss out on awesome stuff like that just because I happen to have been on this planet for longer. Also, that kind of thing is wasted on kids.

The night train was pretty cool - didn't sleep very well, naturally, but it smelt like Brownie Pack Holiday and I felt like I was going on an adventure when I was a little kid, so it was pretty cool. It would have been even cooler to wake up properly in the mountains, but we changed trains at 5am and then took a train to the mountains, getting there at about 7.30am. Ernest was incredibly confused about me being in the night train with him, he kept saying 'byebye Ka'. Why wasn't I leaving? This was family time!



Now I am in the mountains, writing this (well, in a hotel room in the mountains). From my window I can see Mont Blanc, which I am overly impressed with, and also many other mountains and trees. It's very pretty. Unfortunately, all that white pretty = snow, and in my experience, snow = a death trap. It was quite sunny on the first day, and we sat in deckchairs and confused my poor, inexperienced brain (deckchairs? But... that means we're on the beach! So.. why is it all white? And why do I get the feeling that if I was in a bikini I would be very, very cold?), and had baguette and jam for breakfast finally - after being nauseous with hunger for about three hours - it was literally the most welcome meal I've ever had. I was fairly enthusiastic about being there at first; I like a good view, and throw me some baguette and I'm your friend for life, so although I had been viewing the trip with some trepidation, I thought that maybe it would actually be quite fun. Ha! The weather gradually descended into a grey tempest and by the next day was disgustingly snowy and stormy and horrible. I walked down into the town bit from our hotel to get Ernest with Eric, who spent the whole way making cheerful comments about the horrible weather, while I was trying my hardest not to burst into tears at the thought of having to spend a whole week being pelted with small bits of wet cold. Luckily, the next day (Monday), was delightful! Sunny, glistening and beautiful. Sunglasses were required, to avoid snowblindness. I spent the afternoon with either Ernest or Juliette and her cousin Ludivine sledging, which was really fun, and I had a delicious hamburger for lunch, and talked to a French man who told me my french was really good, so I was feeling pretty good about being there by the time it came to go back to the hotel thankfully, because I fell over about 8 times on the way up the hill, one time slamming into the ice, jolting my arm badly and bruising my hip, which then proceeded to get even more bruised as the walk continued. If it had been snowing I would have cried so much - as it was, however, I just thought it was hilarious. Mildly embarrassing, because my trousers kept falling down showing my bum - belt needed! - but generally just funny. I've always thought being clumsy is pretty funny, even if the experience hasn't helped my dislike of falling over. Everytime I walk down that hill now it takes me about five minutes because I'm so scared of becoming more bruised, and I have started taking the bus back up (and given that I fell over twice today, I reckon I'm going to start taking it down too!). To top off the falling over, I discovered I have hilarious sunglasses sunburn - very attractive! Since then I have sheltered in the apartment, bar venturing out twice to go and get Juliette and Ludivine from their ski classes and bring them back. I am definitely not a snow person. Thank god I didn't take skiing classes!
Anyway, apart from the issues with walking, it's been a reasonably nice time - I'm not asked to do too much because obviously the parents are there a lot - I'm only in charge from about 11.30 til whenever the parents get back in the afternoon, normally about 3, and Ernest is in creche all day so I don't even have to look after him. At some point I hope we are going to go up in the bubble ski lifts to see an Ice Grotto (!) and Lucie said she will buy me some grips for my shoes, so I can't imagine I'll have a completely rubbish time for the rest of the stay here, but it has convinced me that snowbound activities are certainly not for me.