Cuzco and Machupicchu - End of Peru

Cuzco is situated at 3310m and its by far the most popular place for gringos - a lot of partying to be done. My first day here was spent sorting out a trip to Machupicchu and the secoind day i rested before starting my trip. The most common way to get there is on the four day Inka Trial but becuase I hadnt booked anything i was looking at a 6day wait - er, no thanks. So I settled for an alternative route which invloved some biking and trekking - was great fun!! My group had 4 brasilian lads and 2 americans and at the end of the first day we met three argentinian girls who tagged along with us for the remainder..

Day 1 - left Cuzco at 0800 and travelled by bus towards the sacred valley of the Incas. We got of 6hours later in a village called San Luis and started the downhill bike ride to Santa Maria. Forgotten how much fun riding a bike is!!!Spent the night in Santa Maria where we met couple of other people doing the same thing as us.

Day 2 - 8 hour trek towards Santa Teresa. Lunch in village called Quellomayo. Thermal baths at the end of the day in Cocalmayo before hitching a ride to Santa Teresa. It was one of the argies bday that day so we all went out.

Day 3 - Santa Teresa to Aguas Calientes. Walked along a train track for most of it...was a pretty chilled day, nothing too intense.

Day 4 - Machupicchu. Got up at 0400 and started climbing the mountain at 0430...made it there in less than hour and we were sitting about waiting for our guided tour of ruins in the freezing cold and pouring rain. It is the rainy season at the moment and we had good run of luck with the weather up unitl then...it was absolutely pouring down in Machupicchu!! The coulds covered nearly everything and we only had two good moments where we could see it all. To be honest, i didnt really listen to much of the guide even though he was taking us around the site for 2 hours. I was too busy trying to stay warm! As soon as the tour finished we left. I wanted to climb Huayna Picchu (from there you get a really good view of Machupicchu) but it wasnt worth it with the weather we had - plus my boots were soaked to the core and my feet were going to drop off. Got back down to Aguas Calientes and chilled before the train and bus ride back to Cuzco. Had a really good night out with the group on the last day.

The trip was worth it just for the previous days if not for Machupicchu - everyday was different and my group was a good laugh and we all got on really well...gonna meet up with the girls in Argentina and Flavio in Sao Paulo. Yesterday did not do much and said farewell to the Brasilian boys. Today i just walked about with the Argentinians and Paul.

Me, Tyler and Paul are taking the nightbus to Copacabana in Bolivia tonight.