Mexico

So then it was on to Mexico where I finally got to enjoy the birthday present Brian got me which was 5 nights in the Bel Air hotel. It was a really beautiful hotel. It had a prefect white beach and blue ocean out behind it. As I imagine most hotels on the hotel strip in Cancun have. it had a gorgeous pool as well. So we spent most of the 5 days just lying by it and swimming in the pool or the ocean. The pool to cool down as the ocean was actually really warm. The hotel had hammocks and all sorts of little enclosed areas outside where you could sit out in the roasting shade. The room service was really cheap, a lot cheaper then the restaurant so we spent the hotest part of the day getting lunch in our rooms. Though one day we ate in the outdoor area of the restaurant which had chairs and tables in a shallow pool. It was very weird eatting at a table with your lower legs in water. Every day from 5 to 6 in the hotel we watched the sun set drinking free champagne from the hotel and eatting cake. The cake and coffee lasted til 7. It was an amazing trip even if I did walk into a fish tank on my first day as I was looking at the sea. The stairs swept away to the right but I was still looking at the sea. The fish in the tank were ok though and didn't seem to notice the event. They were happen and health at the end of our stay and had their pool clenaed out before that. When we weren't on the beach we did a bit of shopping and went exploring downtown. There was a spa in the hotel and while I had fully intend on taking advantage of it, I was completely distracted by the beach and champagne. On the Friday we had finally finished our stay in the hotel which I would thoroughly recommend.

Peru

Its been a while since I updated this with everything that has been going on.  As lot has happened since then so to be honest I don't remember much of the flying visit through Lima.  We did get a tour around one of the archaeological sites in Lima.  It was pretty interesting as it was very different from things like Machu Pichu.  They made earthquake proof temples out of mud bricks.  When they originally tried to reconstruct it, all the pieces they reconstructed fell down at the first tremor and they original stuff was all still fine.  They seemed to know what they were doing.  There are quite a few sites in Lima itself, its quite the old town.  Brian also went swimming on the beach to take him a step closer to swimming in all 7 seas.  He said it was the dirtiest, most uncomfortable sea he has ever swam in.  It was viciously rocky as well.  I'm glad I decided to forgo a swim that day.  It might have been because that beach was near enough to the centre of a massive city that it was so dirty.  The bright point of the beach was that for less than a euro we got an amazing sandwich.  It was a bap or big bun which plain shredded chicken.  As a topping I got ketchup, mustard and shredded crisps.  It was amazing.  Brian got mayonasse on his and said it was also amazing.  We went to a cocktail bar that night and spent the night talking to a business man named Keith and a Peruvian guy he works with who was introduced very quickly to us.  We had a few Pisco based cocktails.  Pisco is the traditional spirit of Peru (if you ignore the fact Chile is trying to get a court case to say its theirs, Peru has a lot more going for it to say they had it first).

Lake Titicaca

So we had to get out of the hostel by 2. We decided to go down to the bus station as we were getting an overnight bus to lake Titicaca that night. We tried to find somewhere to leave our bags but we couldn't. No one recognised the word that was in my dictionary for left luggage. So in the end we took our bags and did some souvenir shopping along with getting all our soaking clothes from the Inca trail washed. Once we had everything sorted we got food and waited for our bus. We got into Puno at half 4 and met someone from the tour company who took us to a hostel as the tour started at 7. At 7 we got onto a boat on the lake. It was very wet so the tour guide said we couldn't get to the reed islands in this weather. He was going to take us to an island called Taquila and hopefully the weather would clear up by the afternoon. On the Taquila we walked around a very hilly island. We got a great view of the lake and got some lovely lunch and learned all about the customs of the people on the island. They were very bright clothes and mostly do weaving and knitting. By lunch the weather was stone splitting. We were so happy we were going to get to go see the reed islands. So we headed off to them in a boat. When we got there the president of the island met us and helped the tour guide explain how the islands were made. She even had sample reed blocks and strings so show us how they tie together all the blocks of reeds to make islands. Then all the people in the village took members of the tour into their house to show them how they lived. They only sleep in their houses and spend all other time away from them. They are descendants of pre Inca tribes. They use solar panels and energy efficient bulbs to light their houses and its the only electricity. Their houses and boats are all made out of reeds. They even eat the reeds. They only hunt once a week for food and they are the only people allowed hunt in the area. The can fish every day though. There is a school and a medical centre on the island though they don't use the medical centre. The lake only has .01% pollution. Then they sang us songs from the island and then we had to all sing them songs. They were really welcoming people and we even got to get rowed to the final island on one of their reed boats. They have a hotel and bar on the last island as it was a bit bigger and tourist orientated then the little island we started on. It was a really interesting day. We got dinner and Brian got to eat Alpaca meat to get him closer to his goal of eating 30 different none fish animals.

Later we got another overnight bus back to Cucso. We spent the day wander Cusco and got some great food in a place called Jack's cafe. We saw the Inca museum which was nice but wasn't very consistent with what it translated and didn't translate. We then stopped in the highest Irish pub in the world for a drink. Finally we got on the bus to take us back to Lima. It was a 21 hour journey.

The Inca Trail

So in the two days leading up to the Inca trail not a whole lot went on. We were told to take it easy and drink loads of coca tea so we did. We were in a nice hostel with rather temperamental internet. We booked a trip to lake Titicaca and all the accommodation we needed to sort out. I could only get an hour or two sleep for the first two nights. Not sure if it is the altitude or the fact that we were just chilling out and didn't do anything tiring. We also met with our guide for the Inca trail and he went through everything that was going to happen on the trip and gave us a map.

So on the third day in Cusco we got up at 5 in the morning and got a bus to the start of the Inca trail. We stopped off for breakfast in Ollantaytambo and headed on by bus to the 82km marker. I think its a marker for the train as the Inca trail is only about 40km long. There we passed through the checkpoint into the trail and all got stamps on our passport. We headed out on the trip with an Argentine couple called Florencia and Ruan. They spoke a good bit of English as the little bit of Spanish we had never really got us anywhere :) The first day hiking was fine. The weather was lovely and the walk was nice. We stopped for lunch where our porters were waiting for us. They brought all the food and pots and sleeping bags. They are legally only allowed carry 70kg which is a crazy amount. Every meal starts with a soup course and there was always loads to eat. The weather was warm and sunny. We kept going after lunch and reached a few houses together. When we arrived the porters were just finishing setting up our tents. We took a quick nap and had some tea and popcorn and then got dinner. The dinner was lovely. Afterwards I wasn't feeling great so I took an altitude sickness tablet before bed. Unfortunately that night Brian thinks I might have had an allergic reaction as I woke up and my throat was really tight and I had to sit up to breathe and was really hot. So I didn't take any more of those tablets. I also didn't really get a whole nights sleep.

We got up at 5.30 the next day and headed off on the hardest day of the trip. It was up hill for about the first 5 hours. So we headed off and I was completely exhausted after the first section. After just under 2 hours we stopped at a checkpoint. Here we were sitting with a few other groups and a guide came up and said that we should take the whole walk at our own pace and not be rushed by keeping up with anyone else. So for the rest of day I went at my own pace and ignored our guide trying to rush me. It turns out I don't like steps. They have loads on the Inca trail. About half of them were made for people with really long legs. I found it really hard to step up the high ones so it took me a bit of time. It wasn't like I just stopped and sat around, I kept walking and just stopped when I had to catch my breath for a few seconds. Its quite hard to catch your breath at such high altitude though. It was a bright warm day but started to rain a little half way through. I put on my rain jacket but was way too warm so I took it off and went around without a jacket and just got wet. It was actually really refreshing and because it was so warm, when it stopped we dried off quickly (Brian also kept off his jacket). Florencia had brought a back pack on the first day but had given it to one of the porters for the second day hiking as it was slowing her down too much. So Florencia and Ruan were walking ahead of us most of the time. They didn't have as much trouble as me. Brian was very sweet and stayed walking with me the whole time so I would have company and to make sure I was ok. By the end of the 5 hours uphill Ruan had slowed down to my pace because he was still carrying a big backpack. Myself and Brian both had small backpacks. Brian was carrying a 2 litre bottle and little bottle of water and a few other things. I only had a little bottle and bits and pieces like sun cream and insect repellant. After the hours uphill we reached Dead Woman's Pass which is at 4200 metres. It was so misty and foggy we couldn't see a thing. We still got a good sense of achievement. After which we had a two hour walk downhill. For this myself and Brian raced ahead. Quite enjoy walking downhill. There were mostly steps for the whole downhill and I don't have any problems with my knees. Ruan's knees hurt and Brian's did a little too but not enough to slow him down at all. We got to camp ages ahead of everyone which was a big change from the morning. We then got lunch and a nap. After which was dinner. It was a lot of food for 3 o'clock in the afternoon considering we hadn't eaten since 6 in the morning. That night we sat around talking for a while after dinner and then went to bed. That night Brian didn't get a very good nights sleep as there were loads of rocks under the tent.

It rained heavily the whole night and when we got up the next day it was fairly miserable. We got on all our rain gear that days as it wasn't at all warm enough out to dry us if we did get wet. Because it was so wet our guide was afraid of landslides on the last phase of the walk. So in the end we decided to walk all the way to Machu Pichu town and stay in a hostel there rather than be stuck on the Inca trail. So we had about 10 hours of walking to do that day. We got up at 5 and had breakfast and started walking about quarter past 6. We walked until 2 or 3 and got to Winay Wayna. We were soaking wet by the time we got there. There was a pub and shop there and it was packed when we arrived. Our porters made us a lovely lunch and then we had a porter ceremony. There we were all introduced to the porters and they were introduced to us. Then we said thanks and gave them a tip. It was quite an awkward ceremony as we had no idea what we were suppose to be doing. There were 7 porters needed to carry all of our stuff. That included the chief. They seemed nice even though we were only talking to them for a few minutes. Brian had a sore chest for lunch but decided just to ignore it. He decided it was just from being tired, it went away the next day so he was probably right. Then we started off again walking. This time it was downhill for about 2 hours and then flat to the town. We walked along the train tracks for a lot of the flat bit. We had to get off the tracks when the trains came. It seems a lot of people walk along the tracks as the trains beep the whole way along that stretch to warn people well in advance. For the last stretch of the walk we were soaking wet and so was everything we owned. We were so happy when we got to the hostel, we had gotten so excited about having a hot shower. When we got there it turned out the entire town was without water. We got out of our wet clothes and just had to dry ourselves with towels because there was nothing else we could do. I wore my only other pair of shoes to dinner which was a pair of water shoes and Brian wore flip flops and shorts out in the lashing rain to dinner. Dinner was in a restaurant but it turns out that our porters had cooked it for us and we just got it served in a restaurant. It was a very nice rice and beef stir fry. Up to that point we had been having a lot of tradition Peruvian food which was really good too. Then we all went to bed as we were getting up at half 3 to see Machu Pichu. Unfortunately I could still only sleep for 3 or 4 hours it was enough to stop me being exhausted which was a relief. The reason we were getting up so early is that at 10 there was a walk up Wina Pichu to overlook the whole city.

At 4 in the morning we queued for the bus to Machu Pichu. We queued til half 5 and got on the third bus going up there as a lot of people were queuing at that time of morning. It was so wet and miserable in the end none of us decided to climb Wina Pichu. Instead we took a tour around Machu Pichu and saw the city. It was very beautiful. They have tonnes of terraces all the way down the city and a sun dial and compass. There were a lot of structures that showed the two different types of construction in the city. The Inca construction was really impressive. Then we were left to our own devices for the day and all we had to do was be back at the train station for 7. We went to see the Condor temple where there was suppose to be a condor visible in the temple. Brian spent a good few minutes convincing the Argentine couple we were with that it was on a big stone at the back of the temple. Shortly afterwards a tour came by and the tour guide pointed to a worn stone carving on the ground and explained how it used to be a condor. It was very funny. After walking around the city a while we walking about 45 minutes up to the sungate. It was really foggy and misty out so we actually couldn't see anything but grey so we walked back to the city. By the time we got back it had actually cleared up. Even though we never got to see the great view from the sun gate we did get a great view of the city from slightly above it. It was fantastic. There were loads of llama too. We also went to see the Inca bridge. So after seeing everything there was to see we went to get lunch/dinner as it was quite late. We got some beautiful food in town and had a few drinks to relax after the really hard trek. After which we headed to the hot springs in the town. It was still raining when we got into our togs and settle into what seemed like our door pools. There were about 7 pools with different temperatures in each pool. We started in a nice medium heat one. Then tried a colder one and ten the warmest one. We spent a few hours in that and let our muscles relax after the hard walk. It was lovely. They had a bar at the place so we had a last drink before getting on the train back to Cusco. Unfortunately, while we avoid landslides on the Inca trail, we did not avoid them on the train. The train journey took 5 extra hours while we were stuck in front of a land slide. We ended up getting into Cusco at 4 in the morning. So we checked into our hostel and I showered and we were in bed by 5 and Brian was up by half 9. I woke then but stayed in bed. Even if I couldn't sleep, I was really enjoying having a comfortable bed to lie in. And that was the end of our trip to Machu Pichu.

Lima

So the online booking system for the buses in Lima wouldnt let us book a ticket in advance.  We decided that we would just pop by and get a ticket to Cusco when we got here.  We arrived off the plane and got a map from the tourist office.  Then we got a taxi to the bus station.  It turns out the bus from Lima to Cusco is very popular and they had no tickets for Monday left.  So we ended up having to get a ticket for Tueday.  We then had to find an internet cafe and book a hostel for that night.  We chose the closest one to the bus station.  All that was actually really easy to do.  The hostel was very cheap and had space last minute.  It was like 9 euro.  The internet was cheap and there was a place in the bus station.  The walk to the hostel was pretty short and the hostel is really nice.  It is really clean, the beds are really pretty and it has like to sitting rooms and a dining room and a dvd library and big breakfast and a garden and hammocks.  Anywhere else this would cost loads more. Peru has so far been ridiculously cheap.  We settled in to the hostel pretty quite and then went for a wander as an Australian guy recommended going to view an archaeological site down the end of the road.  By the time we got there is was cosed but we werent that bothered as we will be back in Lima after Cusco.  So we wandered around and came across a TGI fridays and it was cheaper then Ireland so we got food there.  Then we tried to walk home.  Turns out we walked in teh entire opposite direction and ended up completely lost.  Both of us were so sure we were going in the right direction.  Anyway a passing American who lives in Lima on the same street as us stopped to help.  She was really nice and got us back on track.  It was pretty late when we got back so we just chilled out and played on the internet and watched a film when we got back.  Tomorrow qwe have a 21 hour bus ride to Cusco.  Lima is really nice.  The people are great and its quite cheap and there looks like there is loads to do.  Peru has made a really good first impression.

Buenos Aires

Arrived back in Buenos Aires after a really comfortable 5 hour bus ride.  First a taxi driver stole 50 pesos off us. He told Brian it cost 35 peso and rian handed him a 50 and then he switched it to a 2 and said Brian only gave him a 2 and then we weren't sure what he was saying as we had been trying to get our luguage.  After we got into the hostel Brian reaised he had taken the 50.  Also ended up in the wrong hostel as one was booked up so we had to boo another one and I got confused between which one was booked and neither of us could really remember.  It wasn't so bad as we were only 200 metres from the right one.  Next day we just spent getting our clothes cleaned and tryign to avoid having a worse time here.  Hanging out in the hostel we met two really nice Irish girls, Gillian and Breda.  They are both going on the Inca trail two days after us.  We organised to meet up with them before we both left for it as we will be in Cusco the same time.  Would still so not recommend Buenos Aires to anyone.

Mar Del Plata

For our last day in Mar Del Plata we took it a nice relaxing stroll the miles to San Salvador.  On the way we say a big heard of sealions.  They were asleep on a beach in a construction site in the port.  They were giant and kept up all sorts of fighting with each other.  Big sea lions are surprisingly ugly.  Not at all like in the zoo.  They have thick furry heads of hair too.  They looked very strong and were still pretty funny walking around on dry land.  They are suppose to have 800 of them but not all of them were on the beach we saw.  San Salvador was a big statue with a littel alter.  Not really sure what it was all about as the Spanish wasn't very easy to understand.  Later we went to the beach as a good bye swim.  Its a great way to cool down. 

Weird thing about Argentina or Mar Del Plata was that whenever there was no waves at the water park or whenever there was no show on at he aquarium, there were these DJs or comedians or something to keep the crowd entertained.  It was like the crowd couldnt stand to be bored.