Rotarua

Rotarua is an intriguing place. Home of the Zorb (those giant balls that you get inside and roll down a hill in) and also home of the world's highest raftable waterfall (we have done neither of these activities yet but hope to do them on our way back to Auckland). When we first arrived there, our driver took us to a big, boiling lake that would kill you within 7 seconds if you fell in it. He told us how he used to come as a child with his dad and boil eggs on the little pockets of water around the lake. There is steam coming out of the ground all over the town and natural mud pools and hot pools everywhere. We decided to stay in the YHA there as we had a discount card and after we had dropped off our stuff in the room, we met up with our Malaysian friend Lee and walked around the town with her, visiting the lakes, museum and park. We then went to Pak'n'save (NZ's cheapest supermarket, that is like an Ikea for food – a big warehouse with birds flying around inside). We bough a cooked chicken, potatoes and cauliflower and then went back to Lee's hostel where we cooked and ate together and she gave us some Cadbury's chocolate for pudding. (The hostel was run by a dj hippie guy who played loud dance music on his decks all night.).

The next day the Magic shuttle took us to a kind of natural marvels theme park in Rotarua where you can see all kind of wonders. The first thing we saw were boiling, bubbling mood pools and then we went to watch a geyser erupt. After this, we entered a park where there are red, blue, yellow and fluorescent green lakes. NZ is often referred to as the world under a microscope because it has so many natural wonders packed into it. At the airport on the way in, we had to go through strict controls to check we weren't carrying and organic matter in that would disrupt the ecosystems. One sign said 'NZ was undiscovered for x,00000 years, meaning it has some of the most unique ecosystems on earth (eg. 90% of the birds in NZ only exist in NZ), please help us to conserve this by not treading any foreign mud in on your shoes (or something along these lines). The woman looked at the bottom of my shoes to check I didn't have any Bolivian soil on there and luckily they were clean enough to go through. Anyway, back onto Rotarua. The park had lakes like those we had seen in Boliva (so we weren't THAT wowed by them) but they were pretty impressive, especially the fluorescent green one. There was also a big sulphur lake that blew clouds of sulphur over you and various multicoloured caves formed from exotic mineral reactions. After the park, we had to wait about an hour because the Magic bus had broken down somewhere. When it came, it took us to Taupo, where it stopped at Hukka falls so that we could get out and take photos. It was, without a doubt, the bluest, clearest natural water I have ever seen in my life! The falls were stunning and you could go on a speed boat on the river they ran into. The guide told us that no one has ever successfully rafted the falls and of those that canoe them, only 1 in 8 survive. After the falls, we were dropped off at our hostel, Urban retreat in the town centre of Taupo. Taupo is a gorgeous town by the lake where many New Zealanders spend Christmas in the sun. We were pleasantly surprised to find that we had booked ourselves into a private twin room as a Christmas treat back in July when we made the booking, so that was nice as I had forgotten all about it. So, here we are in Taupo for Christmas. It was a great choice because there are so many good things to do here and we have treated ourselves to a skydive and bungy jump (because Taupo is the cheapest place in NZ to do both). I absolutely loved the skydive as it is something I have wanted to do my whole life and it was even better than I expected. The bungy was an achievement for me as it has long been something I have said I will never do as it is too scary. However, it wasn't that bad, once I mustered the courage to throw myself off and it was the highest water touch bungy in NZ. I am really glad we chose one over water because it was so refreshing to be dunked. To round off a thrilling Christmas eve, we treated ourselves to a slap up Indian in the restaurant around the corner from our hostel. Lovely.

Photos: North Island

Auckland to Rotarua

Auckland city centre

So, time to catch up on what has happened since we arrived in NZ. We arrived in Auckland early in the morning after a 12 hour flight (around 5am). We caught a bus from the airport to Auckland city centre, to our hostel - Base. Base is a big backpackers chain in New Zealand and I was actually dreading it because I had images in my mind of it just being a big party hostel full of English gap yahs. I was pleasantly surprised however, to find a big (very big), clean, hotel/ halls of residence type building right in the city centre with not so many English, but more Asians. We had a 4 bed dorm to ourselves and it was really quiet. The kitchen was huge compared to what we had been used to in South America (about 8 sinks, and 8 hobs), and it was like a students union, with a travel agents, dvd room and computer room. It was like being back at uni. However, one massive down point was that it did not have free internet. In fact, nowhere in New Zealand has free internet, apart from McDonalds, which has it, but wont let our net book connect to it for some reason. So if we want to go online, we have to pay and there is usually a download restriction. We were so jet lagged when we got there on our first day and really wanted to sleep, but instead, we had showers (and blowdried our hair for the first time in 3 months!) and then we went out for the day to look around Auckland. Jemma bought a new macpac fleece and we had a subway. I keep getting headaches at the moment which is really annoying. I am 99% sure its linked to my back, because if I press on the right point on my back, it relieves the pain, so I have been sitting with a water bottle pressed into my back. Anyway, a bit off subject there. After the subway, we went to bed, exhausted.

The next morning we had to be up early to catch our magic bus. We are travelling around NZ on the Magic bus network. We have a pass and can hop on hop off all around both Islands. Its kind of a tour bus but you aren’t stuck with the group because you can hop off any time you like and stay where you want, but you have a driver who gives you all the information about where you are and what there is to do. You also have the 'magic bible' which is a handbook of all the activities and hostels in NZ. It takes all of the hard work out of travelling. So the next morning we had the free breakfast in the hostel and then caught the magic bus outside, where we were greeted by our driver 'Buzz' who made us do a Maori style greeting where we had to rub our nose against his. New Zealanders are very big on their Maori culture and like to remind you of it at every opportunity. All the towns have Maori names and all the schools and buildings too. The bus driver keeps playing Maori songs and going on about the haka (or however its spelt) all the time. We had a lovely set of people on our bus and got talking to a girl from Malaysia, one from Vietnam and one from Korea. We spent the rest of our time with them. Our first stop was Hobbiton where the Lord of the Rings was filmed. We had lunch there but didn't go onto the set as it was too expensive. We actually bumped into a Scottish couple we had met in Bolivia whilst horse riding which was very strange. That was our first cross-continent reunion. After Hobbiton, we carried on to Rotarua which is the stinkiest place I have ever been in my life. It is a town built on bubling mud pools of sulphur and the whole place smells of rotten eggs...

Christmas Eve Bungy

SKYDIVE

I just did a skydive over lake Taupo. Best experience EVER!! Check out the photos here: Jenn's skydive!
and the video here: Jenn's skydive vid

Merry Christmas from the skies of New Zealand!

New Zealand

We are now in New Zealand and the first thing I have to report is that there is NO INTERNET. Well, certainly no free internet which is very frustrating. We are now in a hostel for Xmas which has 3 computers and you are allowed 20 mins each but the queue is always massive (so many English people here, unfortunately) and it is just impossible to get online. I guess I will have to blog offline and then post it all at once at the end! (If I can find wifi anywhere!). You would think that the internet situation would be better in a developed country than it is in a developing one, but no. I miss speaking Spanish and I miss cheap prices. I also miss being the only English person. I am enjoying having hand soap and toilet roll though.

Santiago de Chile

How the city looks in winter with the Andes in the background (we are in summer)

We have been in Santiago now for about 6 days and tomorrow we fly to New Zealand! I am writing this in bed, having just gotten back from a huge (free) opera concert in the city centre. Santiago has been fantastic. When we first arrived, we took a taxi to a hostel that we looked up in our guide book and it turned out to be great. We had a 6 bed dorm all to ourselves in a friendly little hostel with a very cosy feel to it. On our first night here, we had a little girl about 7 sharing the room with us and we watched the X factor final. On our first day, we wandered to the local supermarket and were overjoyed with what we found – the first proper supermarket we have seen since we arrived in South America. I celebrated by buying a box of cocopops and ate them with full fat milk. The weather has been perfect – 32 degrees and the city is really modern, clean and organised. It is nothing like the rest of South America. On the second day, we wandered up to a famous viewing point on top of a hill next to our hostel (Santa Lucia) and randomly bumped in to Ben and Waime – our two friends from Cusco! So we spent the rest of the day with them and then went round to theirs at night for drinks (they were renting an apartment). We then went clubbing and went to watch a drag queen, who Jemma ended up successfully heckling in Spanish. We didn’t get in until 6am and we spent most of the next day in bed. Then, yesterday, my friend Georg from Germany arrived (he had come to visit us) and on Friday night we went on the Santiago pubcrawl which is a big organised pub crawl where they give you free shots and wine/ beer. We met a really nice Chilean guy and spent most the night with him.

Earlier in the day we also visited another town outside of Santiago called Vina del Mar and Valparaiso. We went with Georg and another German boy from the hostel on a tour bus that took us to the main sights and the beach. I wasn't that impressed with the other towns. Santiago is great because its modern but the rest of Chile just seems a bit unexciting and too similar to the UK. I don't feel we have missed out by not spending too long here. The people are really friendly but the men can be very chauvinistic – a lot more than in the other countries. For example, tonight I asked a police man for directions, and he replied (in Spanish) to Georg, who cannot speak a word of Spanish, rather than replying to me! Also, the Spanish dialect here is meant to be really hard to understand but in my opinion it is easier than Argentinian. All in all, we have had a really relaxing time in Santiago and feel really at home here. The city is modern, the hostel is very friendly and the staff make you feel part of a family. Also, we have had some good nights out and seen old friends. It has been a perfect way to round off our South American experience and I can honestly say, I am really going to miss this continent!

 Chile photos: Santiago

The summary I wrote on Facebook earlier:

New day, new continent. Tomorrow we fly to New Zealand for the next chapter in our rtw trip. Will miss: friendly Latino people, speaking Spanish, brilliant hostels, South American culture and favourable exchange rates. Will not miss: not being able to flush the toilet roll, having to carry toilet roll everywhere, finding black hairs in every other meal, and, having to bathe in hand sanitiser.

Adiós Perú ...

Guinea pig. Yum

After Huacachina we took a long bus ride to Arequipa. We arrived there late on a Friday night and had to go to a late night take away to get food (we were starving). We stayed in the flying dog again and got a 15% discount. We only intended to stay one night and then leave the next day to get to the border with Chile. Funnily enough, at breakfast, we bumped into a Spanish guy we had met on our Inca jungle trail, so that was really nice to catch up with him and the hostel breakfast was excellent - the first cereal I had had in 2 months! We then went to the local bus station to get a cheap bus to the border town of Tacna. We arrived too late to get the bus with the toilet, so we had no choice but to get on a bus with no toilet - for 7 hours. This was hard! But luckily we stopped after about 5 hours and we all scuttled off to go to the toilet. We arrived in Tacna and decided to cross the border straight away into Chile. We went to the bus station and a man tried to sell us immigration cards for $10 (when they're supposed to be free) and was hassling us telling us he would take us over the border. I was too tired to think straight and said we should spend the night in Tacna and then go over the border early the next morning. So this is what we did. We got a good deal on a hotel room in the town centre and then went out for our last meal in Peru, where we tried the local delicacy - guinea pig. Yuk!
The next morning, we went to the station early and shared a taxi over the border with a Chilean family. It was all quite a smooth process and only cost about £5.
Once over the border, we went to the bus station and most buses were booked out to go to Santiago due to the proximity of Christmas. However, we managed to get two cama seats on a direct coach to Santiago. 30 hours later, we were in Santiago! :)

Peru photos

Huacanchina – sand boarding

Huacachina - a town of 200 inhabitants in the desert

After Huanchaco, we went back to Lima for a night and had another Lucha's sandwich and chips (plus a McDonald's) before we took the coach to Huacachina. Huacachina is an oasis in the desert with big sand dunes all around it where you can do sand boarding and sand buggying. We arrived at our hostel late at night due to a delayed bus and it was closed. Luckily that taxi driver had the number of the owner and rang him to let us in. I didn't particularly like the hostel. I found the staff and the travellers there quite unfriendly (mostly British and English speakers) and it wasn't very good value for money. Nevertheless, there was a pool and some hammocks, and we also got a cheap deal on the sand boarding. We spent the day chilling out in the sun and walking around the little town by the lake of 200 people. Then, at 4.30pm, we got in a sand buggy with some others, and went sand boarding. The sand buggy was really scary. It was just a little cage and you were all strapped in with seatbelts like you get on a roller coaster. The guide drove like a maniac over the dunes and the dunes are very high. He drove us up some really steep ones and then straight down the other side. I can't express how steep these dunes were, but everyone was screaming. One Kiwi was telling me not to worry because the buggies was designed to be able to roll so if it flipped, we wouldn’t die. Nevertheless, I was still scared, having had to sign a death waiver before we set off that gave us all of the accountability should we be injured or killed!

He drove us to the top of a really steep dune and then showed us how to lie on our stomachs on the boards and go down the dune like sledging down a hill. One by one, we shot down this dune. I took a bit of coaxing to go down as it was really fast and steep and I had heard some horror stories about sand boarding. Two Canadian snowboarder girls decided to go down stood up as they had proper snowboarding boots.

After doing two hills like this, he drove us to a hill that wasn't as steep, where we all had practice going down stood up, like you would on a snowboard. Then, onto the last grand finale hill, the highest yet, where he dropped us at the top and told us to meet him at the bottom. We looked over the edge and it was almost vertical. Everyone was too scared to go down without him at the top to set us off. But Jemma, taking the initiative, decided to go first and whistled down this sheer drop to the bottom. After that, we all had no choice but to do the same. I was happy to have finished at the end – I can't say sand boarding is something I would ever want to repeat. However, the buggy ride back in the dark after sunset was excellent and like a roller coaster and because I had got over my fear of the buggy flipping, I could really enjoy it. (The buggy thankfully never flipped, by the way).

Huanchaco - surfing

The beach where we learnt to surf

We spent 2 days in Huanchaco learning to surf. We stayed at Surf Hostel Lily, which was a very basic, but chilled out hostel on the beach and had kittens for Jemma to play with. Our surf instructor was called Tigre and we had a 2 hour lesson on the first day for £10. He gave us both a wetsuit and then we carried the extra large surf boards to the beach where he taught us how to lie on them and then paddle when a wave came and spring up/ The first time we tried it in the water was a success and we both stood up and surfed straight away. The subsequent times were not so much of a success for me. Once I was up on the board, I could surf quite easily and keep my balance, but the actual getting up to the standing position was really hard and a hell of a lot of sea water was swallowed and many belly flops performed. Jemma was quite good at getting stood up on the board but would always seem to walk backwards off it. By the end of the lesson, I think I had stood up about 5 times.

The next day we had another go, but it was even harder psychologically, as I now knew how difficult it was, meaning that I actually stood up less on the second lesson than the first. It suddenly dawned on me how dangerous it was when I asked him: 'I'm scared, is this dangerous?' and he said 'well yes, all extreme sports are dangerous'. It hadn't hit me until then that surfing was an extreme sport and I worried I might injure myself for the rest of the trip. In fairness, I don't think it is that easy to injure yourself whilst surfing, although the board did conk me on the head a few times, and the waves were massive and there were a few times I thought I might drown. I also stood on a sea urchin and had a spike stuck in my toe. But apart from that, we were fine. The only thing we did have, were very achey muscles, Particularly my stomach muscles for some reason. After the second lesson, I had managed to stand up about three times and was really disappointed because, surfing itself is such a nice sensation once your'e up, but getting up is just ridiculously hard. Jemma did much better and stood up that majority of the time. I think its because she has less fear. I definitely want to give it another go when we next get the opportunity; looking back, it was quite fun.

Lima

 We booked to go with the 'luxury' tour company, Cruz del Sur, to go to Lima , because we had been told that to go with any other company would be dangerous (plus our hostel had a deal with cruz del sur so it made it easier).Why dangerous? Because in the last month alone, there have been three cases of buses being hijacked in Peru. We immediately noticed the heightened security when we got on the bus. First you had to walk through a metal detector, then you were frisked, then a man came round with a video camera and you had to look at the camera. Add to this that there would be no toilet stops – the bus just went straight for 21 hours. They played us a video when we got on about how safe it was and about how they were the best company. It was actually a really nice bus. Big wide leather seats that reclined and everyone had headphones to watch the films that were on (some good films, like Shutter Island). They also served meals. So the journey was quite pleasant for the first 18 hours, we were making good time. And then we hit a road block. A group of protesters were gathered, blocking the road with rocks, stopping any traffic from entering Lima – Peru's capital – the main artery in and out of the city. We waited for an hour or so for the protesters to leave and were told to draw the curtains in case any rocks got thrown at the bus. We waited another hour or so, and another. In the end, we sat still in that traffic jam for 7 hours!!!

The traffic tailback

 The bus did not move and the police did not come! The traffic was lined up all along the motorway with people just sat outside their buses waiting in the heat. The whole place stank of toilets too as people werent allowed to use the bus toilets when the buses were stationary. Nobody knew what was happening either or when the block would be cleared. All we could do was sit and wait. A Scottish girl off the bus realised I could speak Spanish and asked me to talk to the driver and ask him how long it would take. We had been sat there since 11am and it was now 6pm and she had a flight to catch at midnight. She had reshuffled her whole trip and payed extra to get a flight out of South America as she needed to get home (something had gone wrong on her trrip) and she had paid twice to catch flights that she had missed. She had paid £500 for this one and couldn’t afford to miss it as she had a connecting flight in Rio. Well, it didn't look good for her because from the road block to Lima would take at least 2 hours and from Lima to the airport would take one hour. If she was going to make the flight, we would need to move by 19.00. The coach finally moved at 19.10. Only to stop again a few metres along because someone lit a fire in front of it. 30 minutes more of waiting and we were finally on our way. If the Scottish girl moved quick, she would be able to catch her flight. As we were pulling into the bus station, an Argentinian brother and sister latched onto us and talked at us for about 30mins. They wanted to share a taxi with us and wanted us to come out to dinner with them in Lima that night. By this point we had been travelling 32 hours and were very tired. They followed us to the hostel we had chosen and expressed the desire to share a room with us. As we couldn’t really say no, we ended up sharing a room with them, but I drew the line at going ut for a bbq at 11 at night. I made an excuse and Jemma and I went to McDonald's instead. After McDonald's we were so tired, we flopped into our bunks, ready for a good night's sleep after a very long day (s). Didn't happen. We just so happened to be in the dorm that was actually IN the bar and there was a live music session on until 2.30am. We may as well have been sleeping in the bar because the music was that loud, it was as if there were no walls. The next day, after a quick (and horrible) breakfast at the hostel, we swiftly left and looked for another one, leaving our Argentinian room mates behind.

We wandered over the road and luckily stumbled easily into a new hostel called the Flying dog that was a lot more peaceful. We spent the day wandering around Lima. For lunch, we went to an incredible sandwich shop that is famous in Lima. It is called La Lucha and they do the best baguettes, fruit juices and chips in the world. Jemma had read that the down town area was nice and wanted to walk there. So we set off, on what she assured me would be a 40 minute walk. An hour into the walk, along a motorway, she checked the guidebook again and realised that she hadn't read the map properly and that down town was actually a 7k walk. We gave up and turned back, and decided to get an open top tourist bus to down town and the fountain park. We had tea at a cheap Chinese chain restaurant and then caught a night time tourist open top tourist bus to the downtown area. It was excellent. We paid about £15 and the bus took us all around the centre of Lima, which is beautiful, contrary to what we had heard. We had heard so much negative press about Lima but it was not what we were expecting at all. It had some lovely grand buildings and was quite historic and regal. We had a lovely evening, wandering around the fountain park (which has about 20 different fountains, all different colours, with music to go with them). There was even a fountain tunnel you could walk through and some magic fountains that stopped and started depending on where you stood.

Fountain tunnel

 After the fountains, we went to the Sheridan for tea and cakes and got chatting politics to a Peruvian lecturer who had lived all around the world and two American University International officers who were working with her. All of this, plus a little Peruvian concert in the hotel, was included in the tour. It was the perfect end to the night.

Photos of Lima (at the bottom of the album) : Lima

Cuzco – partying, relaxing, getting massages

Some of our Cuzco family

Well we spent the next few days in Cuzco in our wonderful hostel (Pariwana), chilling out. It was brilliant – probably some of the best few days of my trip. Cuzco is such a quaint little city, and such a nice place to hang around for a while. And the hostel we were in was perfect. It had very comfy beds, comfier than any hotel bed I have ever slept in, a chill out room for watching dvds, an internet lounge, freshly painted in the style of Machu Picchu, and a great bar. Add to this the fact that we had loads of friends there, Ben and Waime who we had met before we left, plus two Ozzie girls who we had also met before Machu Picchu, an American couple off our tour, some Swedish people we had made friends with and a load of randoms we had met on the way up Huayna Picchu and it really felt like home. Oh, and I forgot to mention the best part: the hostel was next to the wild rover hostel: the hostel that does all of our favourite British meals, like chips, cheese, beans and curry sauce :) .

On the first day we just recovered from all the hiking and did some washing. I think my first meal was chips from the Wild Rover. We had arranged to meet up for drinks with some of the people off our tour in the evening, so we spent a bit of time wandering round Cuzco and napping before our night out. I went to the supermarket to get some alcohol and bought a bottle of unkown 40% spirit called ron and some orange juice to mix with it. I then met Jemma and the others in Viking's room, where we spent several hours pre-drinking and chatting before hitting the clubs of Cuzco. It also happened to be the hostel's 2^nd year anniversary party, so there was a club night on in the bar and free drinks. It was an absolutely fantastic night. We saw so many people we knew off the tour in the nightclub and we had a really good laugh.. The Americans got very drunk, and upon seeing a beggar by the roadside, one asked me what the Spanish was for 'get a f*cking job!!' so I translated and he proceeded to shout at the beggar in Spanish that he should get a job. Flying the flag for American-Peruvian relations.

Ben & Waime (right). Me, feeling worse for wear

The next day I wasn't feeling well. I wasn't really hungover, just felt shivery all over. We went for Sunday lunch with Ben and Waime and another boy off the trek and Jemma met with an Irish couple we knew from La Paz and Iguazu who told her how difficult the real inka trail had been for them. The pub we went to didn't serve Sunday dinner unfortunately (despite being an English pub) 

so I had chilli con carne, which I later threw up in its entirety and was then ill for then next 3 days with fever, muscle aches and stomach pain. Despite this, I still managed to have a good time in Cuzco and went for a massage which cost £3.60 and really helped with the muscle ache.

One day we went to the chocolate museum, which briefly helped me forget my stomache ache. I had a chocolate fountain and our friends had energetic bread. On another day I visited the Inca museum and saw all of the artefacts our guide had told us about at Machu Picchu, including the knotted ropes the Incas used for communication. The rest of our time in Cuzco was filled walking around markets, drinking chocolate ice cream milk shakes and meeting with friends from our tour. It was a lovely week. The night before we left Cuzco, our friend Ben, who is a celebrity hairdresser (has cut the hair of Cher Lloyd, One Direction, Olly Murs, Jessie J and various Catwalk models at fashion shows around the world) cut both of our hair for free. It was sad to say bye to Ben and Waime (pronounced Jamie, with a W). It was like we had a family in Cuzco and felt like we were leaving a second home. On our last day, we had one last helping of chips, cheese and beans from wild rover, before boarding our luxuary Cruz del Sur bus to take us to our next destination: Lima – capital city of Peru.

View of the city

More photos of Cuzco: Cuzco

Inca Jungle Trail – Arriving at Machu Picchu!

The night we arrived in Aguas Calientes, we had a few hours to hit the shops to get supplies for Machu Picchu (water, snacks etc) and then we all had dinner together one last time and the guide gave us our tickets to Machu Picchu. He wasn't going to accompany us for the final part of the trek at 5am. Instead, we would be walking the last part ourselves and meeting another guide at the the entrance to Machu Picchu at sunrise who we had left on the first day at the bike ride. It was all very cryptic, as the guide gave us instructions of how we would need to climb the final part of the trail – take the last path after the bridge before sunrise, a troll will guide you along the last part of the river and you will need to ask the toadstools which way the wind is blowing in order to determine your path etc etc. Some people (Jemma and one other girl) decided they wouldn't be able to walk the last part (Jemma had really hurt her knee again at this point) so would be taking a bus in the morning and meeting us at the entrance to Machu Picchu. I went to bed that night as if it was Christmas Eve; in awe of what I was about to experience. I hadn't realised just how massive a thing it is to do Machu Picchu until that night, in the restaurant, when the guide was making checks over and over again to make sure we all ad the right documents, passports and were ready for the experience.

After dinner, we tipped our guide and then went to bed early (about 22.00), ready for the 4am wake up the next day. 4am came and I had slept really well. I actually woke up a split second before my alarm went off, which was weird. I got ready in the dark so as not to disturb Jemma and our other Mexican room mate, and then I went down to reception with my torch, ready to meet the rest of the group.

Me at the start

We all waited in the hotel reception until everyone arrived and then we all set off together, walking along the dark road of Aguas Calientes at 5am with only my torch as guidance. It took about 20 minutes to reach the bottom of the Inca steps, which we were then told would take about 1.30 mins to climb. ONE HOUR 30 MINUTES OF CONTINUOUSLEY CLIMING STEPS IN A TROPICAL CLIMATE IS EXCRUTIATINGLY DIFFICULT! Thank God I did not have diarrhoea like half the rest of the group, that's all I can say. Sometimes not eating the salad pays off. The Canadian vegan had it worst, so we concluded it must have come from a piece of dodgy lettuce washed in tap water. By the time I had climbed a couple of steps (which, by the way, are high steps), I was drenched in sweat. And I know I have written that a few times in this blog, but this time I really really was more sweaty then I have ever been in my life: I looked like I had been swimming:

Half way up

I climbed up with various people for company along the way. Started off with the Spanish man from Barcelona, who was too fast, did some steps with the Ozzie guy who had to go slow due to diarrhoea, and then did the last bit with a Swedish couple. It was the most physically demanding thing I have ever done in my life. I actually reached the top on my own, which was nice, because it gave me time to really take in and remember where I was and feel the atmosphere. When I got close to the top I heard panpipes playing and thought it must be a nice gesture from the locals to will people on at the end. I think it was just the music at the entrance to Machu Picchu. When I got to the top, I was so happy with my achievement. I sat on the steps with the others at the entrance to Machu Picchu and waited for them to open the gates. We had actually got there before the first buses so I sat and watched for Jemma arriving. Our guide arrived on the bus with Jemma and once the gates opened we all went in and had our passports stamped (I hope this hasnt invalidated my passport, as one American suggested). We then had a 2 hour guided tour of Machu Picchu with our guide.

At the top with the group, looking like I've been swimming

At first there was mist covering the mountains and the ruins and it looked really mystical, but as the day went on, the mist lifted, revealing spectacular views of Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu (the mountain opposite that you see in all the photos). After the tour, we had an hour to look around before it was time to climb Huayna Picchu (I had bought the ticket for Huayna Picchu back in Cuzco, not knowing how exhausted I would be after Machu Picchu). By this time it was midday and boiling hot. This time Jemma decided to give it a go, despite her knee. It was very very steep. Incredibly steep. I'm not afraid of heights but I just couldn't look down as we climbed the tiny narrow steps up the mountain that is even bigger than Machu Picchu.

Huayna Picchu in the background

At one point we had to go through a cave, on our bellies! I did not like that part! As we neared the top, we were cheered on by people coming back down, who told us we did not have long to go. It was a really difficult climb, but we made it to the top and the views were spectacular. You could see all of Machu Picchu and parts of the trail we had walked. You could also lie on the rocks at the top and relax at the summit of a very high mountain. Coming back down was petrifying, because you were forced to look down, and at many points, I had to come down on my bum because it was too steep. Some parts had ropes that you could grab onto for safety. When we got to the bottom, I couldn't walk another step. The only toilets at the site are at the entrance, so we had to work our way back through the maze of ruins to the entrance, which involved lots of going up and down stairs.

Some of the steps

At this point, I never wanted to see another step in my life. We relaxed in a café at the entrance (but did not buy any of the extortionately priced drinks, we had carried several litres of water with us). And at about 14.00, we decided we had had enough and went back to the town with our 2 friends Ben and Waime. I caught the bus back with them because I could not walk any more. When we got back to the town, we went to pick up our train tickets for that night to get back to Cuzco. Our guide had told us that some people would be on the 18.00 train and some were on the 21.30 train. Ben and Waime were on the 16.00 train. The poor beggars who were on the 21.30 train we thought, smug in the knowledge that the lady we had booked with had told us our train would be 18.00. Can you imagine having to hang around all night until 21.30 in sweaty clothes, exhausted, and not get back to your shower and bed in Cuzco until 2am? We were on the 21.30 train. I don't know why or how – EVERYBODY ELSE in our group was on the 18.00 one, but for some reason we were the only ones on the 21.30! I was really angry, and tired, and tried every way to argue with the ticket people, phone the tour company etc to get us on an earlier train. The thought of hanging about on our own until 21.30 in wet clothes and not get back until 2am was awful, especially as we had no hotel room to relax in or showers to get clean. In the end. Nothing worked and we had no choice but to wait for the last train. Our only other option would have been to pay $30 for an earlier ticket which I was not prepared to do. We deduced it must have been because we got a cheap deal with the tour company in the first place so they stuck us on the cheaper train. We went to a restaurant and an internet café, and the time passed quite quickly.

At the top of Huayna, looking onto Machu Picchu

We then got on the train, absolutely shattered, which turned out to be a scary journey. The train was going really fast and was rocking from side to side, as if it was about to come off the tracks. I was so tired (having been up since 4am), that I nodded off for a second, and dreamt of a white feather, and then immediately woke up and told Jemma in a semi – conscious state that I had dreamt of a white feather and it meant we would die. Jemma, already scared, did not respond well to this and was angry that I had frightened her and said that she would not be able to sleep for the rest of the journey. I didn't sleep either from that point, despite how tired I was, because I was scared. After a 2 hour train journey, we were met at the station by a man with a minibus and then had a 3 hour bus ride back to Cuzco, I think I fell asleep several times on the Peruvian woman's shoulder next to me. We were SO TIRED when we got back to the hostel, that Jemma snapped at the man at the reception for daring to ask for our passport details. 'But we have already stayed here before! Why the hell do you need our details'! (I have never witnessed Jemma have an outburst before). And then the man showed us our beds, and I snapped because they weren't the ones we had asked for when we booked, and said out loud that we couldn't possibly stay and would have to find another hostel . Not a wise idea at 2am when you've been awake nearly 24 hours and climbed 2 mountains. So in the end, we decided to stay, and after a quick shower, I flopped into the most comfortable bed I have ever slept it, and felt the cleanest I have ever felt, and had the most amazing night's sleep of the whole trip.

Machu Picchu Photos

Inca jungle trail – day 3

Back to Jenna writing now. We got up on day 3 of our inca jungle trail with neither of us feeling too good. Jemma had a hangover and I felt sick – not because of alcohol (I hadn't drank), possibly because I took a malaria tablet on an empty stomach. So, it was not the best way to be feeling a few hours before doing South America's longest and highest zipline! We ate breakfast and then we all set off on a minibus to the zipline place which is nestled amongst mountains and gorges with long ziplines that criss cross rivers and dangle you between various mountains. I wasn't feeling particularly nervous, even though it was my first ever zipline, I just felt nauseous from the tablet. We got there and we all got kitted out with helmets, gloves and harnesses. Then they gave us a big speech about safety etc and about how to slow ourselves down (using a rubber glove, pressed down on the cable). They told us that on some of the ziplines it would be possible to go upside down/ take photos. The Spanish speaking people in the group got a bit pissed off at this point because, as had tended to be the case throughout the tour, the guides forgot to repeat the explanations in Spanish. I was in a daydream the whole way through the English explanation, so I was glad to have the instructions repeated in Spanish. I think at this point I was sick in a bush and then I felt a lot better and ready for some adrenaline rushes. To get to the first zipline we had to hike up a massive tropical mountain in all our gear. They told us it would only take 10 mins, but we had learnt by this point that in Inca time, 10 mins actually means 30 mins. Once at the top, after having sweated off all our suncream, we all zipped one by one down a massive wire that spanned across two mountains and dangled us above a dangerous white water river. The first one was scary; I was really scared my clip would come off like in cliff hanger so I made the men check it was secure several times. I was also paranoid about spinning around so sprained my stomach muscles trying to keep myself straight. By the time it got to the 3^rd zip however, I was setting the pace for everyone else, and was quite proud of myself when I did, what everyone declared was, the most impressive upside down dangle along the 3^rd zip. Basically, you just let go, wrap your legs around the metal bit and hang upside down as you hurtle between mountains. It is one of the most amazing experiences ever! I think I am now ready for my bungee in New Zealand!

We did a total of 5 different ziplines and one bit of rappelling, which was where we had do clip ourselves to a wire and then rock climb up a cliff to get from one zipline to another (that for me was far more scary than any of the actual ziplines. It was one of those 'dont look down' moments). After all the ziplining, we got a bus to the next part of the trail where we had lunch (uncooked chicken which would later lead to problems on Macchu Picchu for some unfortunate members of the group). The weather had been very hot all day and you can't carry all the water you need with you for the whole trail so you have to buy it from little stalls as you go and it gets gradually more expensive. I had to wear trousers for the last part of the trail as I was being eaten alive by mossies. I have NEVER had so many bites in all my life, and they were the kind of bites that bled as soon as you were bitten. Also, I hadn't realised that 100% deet is illegal outisde the UK (not sure why its still legal in the UK?!) and I had been rubbing this poison into my bites to try and ward off the mossies. After lunch, we set off on the final bit of the trail that would lead us to Aguas Calientes (the town of Macchu Picchu) and the walk went by quite quickly as we chatted to Kelly from New York who had lived in Korea for 3 years and told us all about the dogs she had eaten and how in Korea, they have vending machines that sell shirts and ties because the business men never sleep.

We lost half the group at one point because the Swedish realised they had left their Iphone in the cafe at lunch and the guide refused to wait for them whilst they went back to check so we just left them and marched on. At one point it started to rain and we all got our 50p pochos out. Big mistake. You actually get more wet in a poncho than you do in the rain: because of your own sweat. Its like being in a greenhouse! By the time we got to Aguas Calientes, my vest was rotting in sweat! We walked along an old train track and there was mist and mountains and a river next to us with huge rocks that looked so big they seemed fake. It was absolutely beautiful, and very mystical. We arrived in the mystical town of Aguas Calientes (literally translates as hot waters) just as it was turning dark and it was a very beautiful sight to behold. On the one side you had a lovely little cosy, town, twinkling in the darkness, and on the other there was a river, with the back of the Macchu Picchu mountain and clouds of mist all around. For me, it was one of the most amazing moments of the trek.

The mystical Aguas Calientes

More photos here! Jungle trail photos

Inca jungle trail

(By Jemma)

I haven't blogged for a while because we have been very busy and I've been ill (fever, shivers down my spine, sick, feeling like I've been punched in the stomach). So I haven't had a lot of time to write and I let Jemma loose on the blog to fill in the gaps. So here is what she has written about our inca jungle trail...

(Also, we have been latched onto by a really annoying Argentinian after a hellish 33hour bus ride that was meant to be 21 hours so I am hurridly cutting and pasting this in an attempt to escape this hostel in Lima)


Inca Jungle day 1

We got up about 6.00 for our Inca jungle trail and the bus picked us up at 7.00. We said bye to our two English friends (Ben and Waime) as they set off on their bus, knowing that all of the groups would probably merge anyway and we would see them along the way. In our bus were 9 other people of all nationalities: French, Spanish, Mexican, American. We soon all got chatting and the journey to the mountains went quite quick. I took an altitude tablet because we were going up to 4800m which was the altitude I got sick at last time. The bus went up and up, winding along a narrow mountain path and I thought to myself, god I can't believe we are going to have to bike back down along this. When we got to the top, our tour guides explained how the bikes worked and we all got a full face covering helmet and gloves. Our two friends we had met arrived shortly after us but we were ready to go by this point so set off, behind the tour guide, down the mountain.

As Jenna is sleeping at the minute I've decided I'll take over the blog for today :)

As I can get quite competitive I got straight to the front of our group, just behind the tour guide. It was so much fun! The road was well paved and nice and smooth almost all the way down. The view was incredible and although Jenna had been a bit nervous she really enjoyed it too. As we got closer to the bottom of the mountain we crossed a few streams, which soaked most of the group, but I copied the guide and picked my feet up, keeping more or less dry. Jenna didn't. Whilst going down the hill we were overtaken by another group who must have been doing at least 50mph! The were overtaking cars and looking like pro bikers. When we got to the bottom we discovered these 'pro bikers' were our friends, and far from being pros Waime had come off at one point and Ben had nearly been hit by a lorry. Our whole group made it to the bottom unscathed, and feeling very proud of ourselves. I came in first and Jenna was far from last finishing in the middle of the group. The whole ride was about 60km

After the bike ride we were packed back into the bus and taken for lunch. We had a quinoa soup to start and chicken with rice as a main. It really was quite nice. We sat in the middle of our bi-lingual table with Jenna on the Spanish speaking side and me on the English speaking side.

Not all our group was doing the rafting, so after being shown to our hostel (again very nice, but with the standard cold shower) and dumping some of our stuff, we were bundled back in the van and taken to the place where we would go rafting. Again we bumped in our friends and got chatting to them as well as others in there group. There was an Aussie, Brazilian, Swedish and German, so again a pretty mixed group. We got to the river and watched as the guides threw our rafts down the embankment. We were all given a bright yellow top, life jacket, helmet and paddle, apart from one guy who was told not to fall out (he was given his equipment later)! After a quick safety brief we climbed into the raft and paddled out into the brown and grey river. Unfortunately there were 7 of us, which meant only 6 could paddle at a time, so Jenna had to get in the front bit. It was great fun, and halfway down I swapped with Jenna so she could have a go. Ben was sat behind Jenna and said he was quite scared that he'd get knocked out at first, but Jenna soon got the hang of it, and was a pro by the end. The rafting was only a grade 2, so quite tame, but it was good for Jenna's first time, if not a little short. They said as there had been a lot of rain we couldn't go any further down the river. We all got back in the van and went back to the hostel for a lovely cold shower before dinner. We were sharing a room with an American couple from Seattle, who had just been chilling out whilst we went rafting. As soon as we were all ready we went for dinner in the village.


Dinner was the usual soup, followed by a meat dish. We had 'lomo salteado', or something along those lines. It was strips of steak with various vegetables and rice. Right after finishing tea it started to chuck it down with rain. Jenna has sensibly brought her poncho, however I hadn't. Luckily the shop next to the restaurant sold them, so for 50p we both stayed dry (minus the fact that I stood in a huge puddle).

Day 2

We'd been told at dinner the night before that we needed to be at breakfast for 6am. Jenna had pancakes and I had a delicious fruit salad, with yoghurt. We then all got into the van and drove for about half an hour, passing 3 or 4 groups all walking! I felt like we cheated a bit here but I also knew we had an 8 hour trek ahead of us, so was happy to cheat. We stopped on the side of the road and our guide explained to us about the Machu Picchu national park. He explained that all the different cities were meant to look like animals and mirrored the animals you can see in the Milky Way, including a frog, puma, and Machu Picchu, which looks like a condor. After looking at the various towns after the tour, I can safely say that the Inka's were high on something most of the time. You have to have a very vivid imagination to see any of these animals. Our guide also explained the rules on the fruits that were growing all around. We were free to help ourselves but not to take any from the ground. 

We then set off up a very steep footpath, amongst mango, coconut, banana, orange, avocado and lime trees. It was a pretty tough walk, but stunning. After walking for about 1 hour we got to a house with a monkey, some kittens and some puppies. I'm glad I had my rabies jab! They were so cute, I couldn't help cuddling them. They then brought out some strange animals that looked like a type of beaver, called P..... We were told not to touch them as we had insect repellent on and this could kill them. Our guide then sat us round a table and explained about all the different plants found in the area. There was recently a new plant found which is now being used to try and cure cancer. He also told us about a plant used for make-up and proceeded to cover us all in face paint from this plant.

 Then he got us to sit in a circle and try coca leaves. Jenna had had enough of coca leaves in Bolivia so didn't have any, however I decided it might help with the altitude and joined in. They were as horrible as I remembered, but I lasted a bit longer with them this time. After this our guide brought out a load of clothes and we all dressed up in them for photos. By this time another group had arrived so it was time to get moving. Our guide told us that we'd now be walking along part of the actual inka trail.

I'm glad we didn't do the full inka trail as this was the hardest part of the trek. Once we were at the highest point the trees cleared and we were basically walking along a shear cliff face! The path was very good though as it was lined with stones all the way. 3 people in our group were scared of heights so had to crawl for most of this part. We got some fantastic photo's!  We made our way down

and got to our lunch spot where we all relaxed in hammocks until it was ready. Again we had a quinoa soup, followed by something like a chicken korma. There were more cute animals here, with the smallest kittens I've ever seems. I nearly took one with me. We set off again making our way down towards the river. Our guide was going at a real pace now and we were almost running to keep up. We crossed a few rickety bridges and some more beautiful scenery, and got to the place where we were to cross the river in a 'cable car' as the bridge had collapsed. One of the girls in our group thought the 'cable car' was just for our bags and that we would cross another way, but we were soon shown that this was our ride. It was basically a metal basket that was pulled across a wire over the fierce rapids below. It was an experience! After this we had about a 1 hour walk to the hot springs. We were all ready for them. They weren't the cleanest hot springs I've been in but they did the job and helped my aching legs. We were in them for about an hour before we decided we should probably get out. We'd been told we could get a bus back from the hot springs, but we kept walking, and no bus appeared. We weren't happy as it was now almost dark and my knee was really hurting. After 45 minutes uphill we got to our hostel. We had a room to ourselves this time, which was nice. We both had another cold shower and got ready for dinner. Jenna had steak and eggs and I had chicken and chips. We were also given a shot of inka tequila. We'd had an Aussie guy join our group that night and he encouraged me to stay out for a couple more drinks, whilst Jenna went back to the hostel. These drinks were greatly regretted in the morning!

The hot springs