Well I made it to Cusco early in the morning on Sunday 20th July, Veronica was at the airport to meet me which was great. Since then I haven’t done all that much apart from getting used to the altitude again. Veronica was supposed to have a week off work when I arrived but she got called into work so that was dumb.
We took a quick tour on the bus/tram thing which took us up near Sacsayhuamán where we stopped for 10mins at Christo Blanco which looks over Cusco city.
We’ve also been out a couple of nights for drinks with Veronica’s cousins and friends, see photos…

Unfortunately today I’ve become sick again with an upset stomach and more visits to the bathroom than I’d like. This time I’m prepared with some tablets from NZ but I think I should have bought more than one packet with me since I’ve only been here 13 days.
So far I’ve been staying with Veronica’s family in the spare room but we’ve just organised the same apartment I was staying in last time. I’m quite happy with that even though the price has gone up quite a lot as it’s the high season here. I move in on the 11th Aug.

Well I’ve arrived safely in Santiago but I’m quite tired as I didn’t get much sleep. Time passed pretty quickly though which was a nice change. So now I have a only a couple of hours until my next flight leaves for Lima stopping at Buenos Aires “on the way”.

Last Sunday we were invited to do a “5hr walk” by a guy (James) at Veronica and Gissel’s work out in the sacred valley. We were to finish in a town called Lares with some natural hot pools, it sounded really good.
Little did we know it turned out to be the hardest thing we’ve ever done. We had to be at the bus station in Cusco at 5am for a 1.5hr ride to Calca where we hopped in a van for 2hrs to the beginning of the walk.

The Start

We started the walk at about 10am at ~3500m it was all up hill and then it started to rain. At about 12 we arrive at a lake near the top of the mountain and pitch a tent to have lunch inside as it’s freezing cold and raining. I was looking around wondering where we were going head next, I was thinking surely not over the top but yep that’s what we had to do. That’s when I started to get worried, it was sooo high I was thinking I’m never going to make it to the top of that. James said it’ll only take 1/2hr and I was thinking what a load of bull crap. We started to climb up the mountain, it was horrible. The mud and water running down made it even harder, I would walk about 10-15 really small steps and have to stop to catch my breath. When we got near the top I started to feel dizzy, I just wanted to stop but I knew the only thing I could do was keep going. Veronica and Gissel started to ask if I was ok and I was like yeah sure. I started praying that I’ll get out of this that’s when I realised it must be bad. Later on they said they were really worried as I was white and when I answered their questions I was just mumbling, it must have been the altitude.

From near the top

We finally reached the top ~4400m about 2hrs after lunch and I was thinking it can’t be far to go but couldn’t see a town anywhere. We climbed down and down and down, we had to go off-trail a lot as it was so muddy. By now my legs were killing me and to top it off I was still fighting the diarrhea I’d been having, it was horrible.

Another 2hrs pass and we get to a really steep part next to a waterfall and there’s a couple of local guys standing talking, we ask if they can take our bags. Martin, one of the guys wraps all our bags in a blanket and lifts it onto his back, pretty amazing as he wasn’t a big guy. Apparently Veronica asked the Martin how much longer it would take us to get to Lares and he said 3hrs, I’m so glad I didn’t understand that.
It takes about 1/2hr to get to his home town where he gives us back our bags and we give him about 10 soles, I was ready to give up much more. So now we’re following the road to Lares and that’s when I ask Veronica how long to go, she says 2hrs. I was WHAT?! This is ridiculous!

The Waterfall – Martin is in the background

We leave the road after a couple kms on to a track, it now starts to get dark. The going is really slow now as the track is rocky and muddy and we need to use a torch. My legs are killing me, and Veronica starts to get really tired too. Her shoes aren’t suited to what we’re walking over and every so often she falls over or rolls on her ankle, each time she curses more and more at James. I get sooooo close to cursing at him too I’m glad I didn’t though.

At 8pm we walk through the gate to the hot pools, we’re so happy! We pitch our tent and go into the pools to soak are sore muscles and bones, finally we made it.

Haven’t updated for such a long time I’ve forgotten what we’ve been doing. One thing I do remember is we celebrated a lot of birthdays…

9th Feb – Ivette

We went to Veronica’s cousin Ivette’s house for dinner and some drinks (mmmmm Appletons). Then everyone went to El Muki discotec to dance (and yes amazingly I danced, Veronica says I’m quite good hahahaha) and we stayed until about 3am.

14th Feb – Veronica & Gissel

Well this day was a double-banger being Valentine’s Day and Veronica’s b’day. Veronica and Gissel’s friends came around to their house for dinner and some drinks. A guy that the girls knew had the same birthday as them, he lived down the street on the corner and was having a party. We all headed down there and the Pisco started flowing and inevitably the dancing started. So I was roped into dancing again, unbelievable. We headed back home at 3:30am, the girls had to be at work in 3 hours time hehehehehe.

17th Feb – Rosita

To celebrate Veronica’s friend Rosita’s birthday we headed out to a small town about an hours drive out of Cusco called Pisac. It was really great cos it was at a hotel which had an Olympic sized indoor pool with a glass roof. It was nice to have a swim, about as close to the beach as you can get in Cusco I guess. Then we had a BBQ for lunch. After that we headed to Rosita’s family’s house not far out of Pisac township, it’s a really nice house that looks out over huge cornfields (they export corn to Europe).

22nd – Me

For my birthday we went to a restaurant in Cusco (a pretty classy one actually) for dinner with Gissel, Ernesto & Cecilia. I had alpaca, as recommended by Ernesto, it was really really nice. After dinner we went to an Irish pub at the square and met some more friends there for drinks. At about 1am some of us went to another bar (where Veronica and I first met) and danced/talked until about 4:30, then headed home. Some pics:

24th – Vanne

Vanessa celebrated her birthday at her house, where we had really nice chicken for an early dinner and cheesecake for dessert. Of course the obligatory dancing started, there may even be some photos of me dancing floating around somewhere, lets hope they don’t surface. Veronica and I left at about 8pm as we were tired and she had work the next day.

Well another exciting thing that happened in February were the strikes in Cusco. These are nothing like what happens in NZ, here the whole city is supposed to stop work. There are no taxis as they’ll most likely get a rock through their window. There’s a march into the main square where sometimes there’s a burning of tyres, smashing of shop windows etc. Not sure why they destroy their fellow townsfolk property, some of them are just idiots I guess. They closed the airport as apparently 200 people stormed the airport so police fired tear gas at them. I’m praying they don’t organise another strike when it’s time for me to leave.
The bonus was Veronica didn’t have to work so we got to walk around the carless town in the sun.

Well that’s all I can remember from Feb, next update will be very soon as we just got back from the “Trek from Hell”
Does 10hrs walking in the cold rain, mud and over mountains at 4400m (Mt Cook is ~3700m) appeal to you?

Well I’ve been sick again, similar to last time but worse. Luckily I had nurse Veronica to look after me , I spent about 4 days at their house recovering. I had some tests done and it’s not parasitic, so it was most probably just something I ate.
On Thursday we went to watch the local soccer team Cienciano play a Uruguay club team called Montevideo Wanderers. As we were walking in a local TV crew decided they would interview me hahaha it was funny, I hope it never goes to air. The game started and so did the rain By the end we were soaking wet and just wanted to go home. We changed clothes and went out for pizza and mulled wine which was just the ticket

The next day was Pisco Sour (the national drink) Day in Peru so we planned to go to a bar that serves about 10 different kinds of Pisco Sour. Firstly though I was finally going to catch up with Jess. Veronica and me met him up at his hostel (Loki Hostel Cusco) and had dinner and a couple of drinks. It was great to finally catch up with him. Their backpackers chain are planning a resort in Máncora with a point break right out front, woohoo!!!
We then made our way to meet Veronica’s friends and sample some Pisco Sours. I had 3 different types and may have slightly over done it
Then yesterday (Sunday) was Carnival, so one of Veronica’s friends invited us to go out to the Sacred Valley and celebrate. They celebrate Carnival here with a giant water fight wherever you go. So we bought some water balloons filled them up and 2 car-loads of us headed out to Urubamba. One of the cars was a Hilux with an open tray on the back, so 4 of the others were on the back and got soaked as we traveled through all the little towns. I wish I had of been on the back but I was expecting us to have a big water fight in Urubamba but it didn’t happen. We had lunch at a nice buffet restaurant then had a foam spray fight hahaha it was so funny, hopefully I get hold of some of the photos (oh that reminds me I lost Veronica’s camera so I have to buy a new one).