So thought we would have plenty of downtime to update you with our adventures but of course that has not been the case. So will have to put some photos up asap on facebook (no idea how to do them on here) to tell the Mancora story and just going to start from where we are now...
Just finished the Inca Trail to Machu Pichu. Sophie was shocked to find we couldn´t shower till the third day and has been over compensating ever since we got back. The whole experience was absolutely amazing and we´re all so stoked we did it as we weren´t going to initially.
The trip is like luxury camping. Porters carry absolutely EVERYTHING - our stuff, tents, packs, food, gas tanks..... its ridiculous they carry 25 kg on their backs and wear these cheap sandals and literally RUN past you on the trail to get there before you to set everything up. And they´re all about the height of Talia. Meanwhile we struggled up to the highest point with our wee day packs. Soph bought a bottle of oxygen from the moment we landed in Cusco (because the high altitude can knock you around a bit) but we didn´t end up needing it so she has decided she´s going to save it for future panic attacks in Dunedin. (Possibly put to better use there anyway).
Each morning you are woken up by a porter who brings you coffee in bed, then half an hour later breakfast is ready in a tent all set up with tables and chairs, then you walk for a bit then more food then walk for a bit then a lunch of entree and main then walk for a bit then tea time then dinner of entree main and dessert. It rained quite a bit on the second and third days as its the wet season here. So as you can imagine all dreams of returning skinny and brown are well and truly out the window.
The second day was bloody hard as you are walking vertically up to the highest point of the whole trip. We literally had to stop every 15m to catch our breath meanwhile it was hailing on us. Getting to the top was probably the funnest part of the whole trip and we all had a bit of a cringe out at the top, pretty proud of ourselves.
The last day you have to get up at 3.45am to wait at the gate as you genuinely want to beat all the fat useless tourists who just catch the train up and see it first. To go into Machu Pichu you have to show your passport and you get a stamp because apparently you´re ¨entering another world¨. When we first got there it was completely cloudy and we got a small view of it and I sort of thought that was it. It was pouring with rain and nothing was visible so it was hardly the massive climax we had been expecting. But once it cleared up suddenly you could see just how massive and completely insane it is. You could literally spend hours walking around it and the photos just don´t even do it justice AT ALL. (Though not for lack of trying. We have an absurd amount of photos of the four of us with ruins and llamas and mountains.....) It´s amazing that people could even build something like that and its surrounded by the most beautiful mountains.
Also while we were there a llama gave birth to a baby llama and we got to watch it stumble around trying to stand up for the first time!!!!
Now we´re in the town at the bottom of Machu Pichu called Aguas Calientes which means Hot Water i.e. Hot Springs where we went after finishing yesterday. We followed that with a 40 minute massage which cost $10 NZ and was absolutely amazing (though soph had a male masseuse and I think came out feeling more uptight than when she went in.)
Back to Cusco today for a big night out (which is the cutest little town!!!) before catching a bus to La Paz tomorrow in Bolivia...
There is just wa2much to say and not enough time to tell all but everything has been absolutely amazing and our biggest worry is how quickly time is going.
Have a few hours to kill before our train back to cusco and we have made a solemn pact to STOP going to five cafes and restaurants a day as we are all well over budget so might even do this backwards and write a post after this one about Mancora/Lima/Cusco, which was also insane but completely different to our Inca experience.
Hope you´ve all had fab holidays, Rhythm sounded like so much fun!!!
Will put photos up soon. Bill and Paddy lost all of theirs so we´re learning from their mistakes and trying to get ours on a disc now.
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