Overwhelmed by Machu Picchu

I´m very happy to say that I have finally been able to see Machu Picchu and it only took 3 years or more of waiting...

Thankfully it didn´t disappoint. Particularly as we had to do a 9 day trek to get there which apparently was 4x harder than the Inca trail and one of the hardest treks in Peru (quite glad I didn´t know this before I set off). The first few days involved trekking up to and away from Choquequirao another mountain-top set of ruins set in beautiful surroundings. Day 4 after this was the worst, a 14hour hike 10 hours of which were uphill to 4,600m, starting at 5.30am and getting to the next site to camp at 8pm... Hardcore is indeed my middle name. Seriously, I loved the trek and am glad I did it, it was really hard but the scenery was some of the most beautiful I´ve seen in my life. The only slight downside was on the eve of day 8, 6 girls out of our 8 person group got really ill and puked out of their tents all night (I like to be graphic). So instead of hiking on Day 8 we had to rush by bus then train to the doctor in Aguas Calientes right by Machu Picchu where much interpreting of symptoms was needed! On Saturday, we went to Machu Picchu at the break of dawn and I was completely blown away. It´s a shame it will be taken over by tourists quite soon but I can see why it was voted a wonder of the world, it was beautiful. I only wished I could have seen it when it was full of Incas but I gave it my best shot at imagining it...

After a day of recovery in Cusco we have just been horse riding around the sacred valley courtesy of a random guy called Cesar who gave us a taxi ride a month ago and also owns a farm of horses, fortunately it all turned out well and wasn´t at all dodgy! Tomorrow we go white water rafting before I head off alone to the south of Peru and towards Bolivia on Wednesday while the others head to Lima. Am sad that the Peru stage is almost over but the rest of the continent awaits... as one great house mate suggested, I will try not to shake the rest of the world by my travels, one earthquake and plane crash is probably enough.

Over and out, xxxx