Lare´s Trek and Cusco

We have been all action since our last update. Our whole group successfully completed the Lares Trek. It was very hard in places and the rain that we had every day didn´t help the positive thinking. At its height we reached 4600m and it was very hard to breathe. The group photo is taken at the top of the trek. I really enjoyed reaching the camp each night, especially as our tents were already up and dinner was cooking. The Aussies complained alot about the cold weather, maybe they should have been more prepared as Nath and I were very toasty (my puffer jacket was my life saver) with all our winter woolies. On the 1st night of the trek we camped at the local school. Our tour leader told us to buy fruit and toys to give to the children along the way. While it seems like a nice guesture Im a little synical as the children expect you to give them something and will hide fruit to get more off someone else. I guess in the end the children do benefit because they dont get fruit from home. It would be nice to give them something more sustainable like planting fruit trees but they dont have the climate for it up in the Mts.

On our way to starting the trek we had a night in Ollantaytambo which is a stop over spot for a lot of tourists. It is a lovely town that has been built at the bottom of Inca ruins. We looked around the ruins and they were amazing. We visited a local farming family and had a go using their hand tools to plough fields and plant potatoes. The family cooked us lunch and we had cuy (guinea pig) for the second time. My highlight was playing a football game against the family who roped in some locals to play. We lost by 1 in the end. The Peruvians are quite small so are easy to push off the ball!

We are back in Cusco and spent yesterday morning looking at ruins. Mostly of Incan origin, but some pre Incan as well. There are always people trying to sell stuff at all these tourist stop offs. Nathan took quite a fancy to one object in particular!

At the moment there are 4 other Intrepid groups in Cusco. As a kind gesture because we didnt get to Macchu Pichu Intrepid took us out for dinner and organised a quiz night for us. We were 2nd heading into the last round and some how managed to come last!! Go figure. The night continued on to some local night clubs and I taxi´d home at 3am. Luckily today has been a free day.

Paul has turned very metro on us and today had a massage, hair cut and back wax. Always nice to have more ammo to hassle the Aussies with.

Tomorrow we have a bus trip to Puno which is really a stop over on our way to Lake Titicaca. We are having a home stay with a family in the Llachon community, which has those of us that cant speak Quechua (language from the highlands) a little nervous! We will be spending the night with this family so it could be a little awkward.

Only 7 days left on our tour. Time has gone really fast. Nath and I will then have 2 nights in La Paz and 3 nights in Santiago. Obviously with the earthquake we are making enquiries into travelling to Santiago and may see if we can change flights. Will keep you posted.

To sum up our tour thus far Nath and I tried to compile a list of our top 5 memorable moments. It was very hard and so much has been left off. In no particular order they are:

Nath´s list:

1. Amazon jungle lodge

2. Lares trek

3. Huaca de Luna

4. Dune buggying and sand boarding at Huacachina

5. White water rafting in Banos

Michelle´s list:

1. White water rafting in Banos

2. Amazon jungle lodge visit to the animal shelter and playing with Lucas (the monkey)

3. Flying over the Nazca lines (even tho at the time I was in tears cause I didnt think our pilot was very professional dressed in jeans!)

4. Visiting the ruins at Ollantaytambo

5. Colca canyon

Hope to scoop some good purchases at the black market tomorrow morning. 5:45am departure, but it will be worth it for the cheap shoes.

3 days in Peru then off to Bolivia.

Adios.