Trek continued

So day 3 we headed off again for a short day (about 6 hours hiking!) in which we would be ending up in the afternoon at a hot Springs - the anticipation of a hot shower and a soak in hot springs was causing quite a lot of eexcitement to generate throughout the group! We soon learnt that ´Andean´vversion of flat is not like the Europena or American version of flat and once again our legs were put to the test and we were very grateful for the hiking sticks we had hired. So far I had only mnanaged to land on my ass once and Im sure without the sticks this would have been a much larer number! Our guide kept us entertained along the way with flora, fauna and history lessons. We took a bus for the final part of our trip today as a couple of peple were unfortunately injured and we all very quickly settled ourselves into the hot springs, making sure to keep as much of our bodies under water as the mossies and sandflies were out in force at htis place. Our campsite had hot showers, proper toilets and even a bar - luxury!! Spent the evening playing cards and even had to get rid of the sleeping bag tonight cus we had dropped so much in altitude since the previous 2 nights.

Day 4 and we were told we were getting alie in, a 7 am start , but no marcileno was stillat our tent door at 6 with the tea so clearly somethign had been lost in translation! The original plan for today was 22 k hike ending in Aguas Calientes where we are now , however it was a hot day a couple of people were injured so we made a new plan and bussed it the first 8 k. There wasnt quite enough room for all of us and all our bags in the van so Jo and me got the ´local´seats - the roof!! Very uncomfortable but very funny! We were soon back on our fet and the days hike began, stopping off at some locals house under a waterfall to see coffee beans growing on the trees, bananas, avocados and we even had Ali become Tarzan of the jungle and climb a tree to get us some papayas!! Its really amazing to see all this stuff growing in the wild. I am taking lots of pictures and absorning as much information as I can to take back to the classroom!

The majority of our walk today was along a railway track and then across a couple of very precarious looking bridges, one of which we had to sign in and give our passport numbers to cross - very official! As we reached our final destination for the day it was clear we were now truly in the middle of the Andean mountains. Ive never felt so small as I looked up and saw these green full of vegetation mountians rise around me like green walnut whips! The town is rteally cute which we are in now and after checking into our hotel - with hot showers nad real beds - very exciting!!! we headed out to get some dinner. Lucily we have 3 medical students in our group as one of the guys was having a really allergic reaction to a bite he got. Betweent he 3 of them the docs have enough suplied to cure most ailments we could think of! An early night tonight as it would be a 4 am start tomorrow.

We boarded half hour bus ride up to Machu Picchu shortly after 5am and up the very windy road we went. It was amazing and very surreal to actually be standing loking at the famous place that I felt I knew cus I had seen so many pictures of. Its so much vaster in real life and so much to see. We got there early nad therfore had the luck of getting lots of photos without piles of random tourists in them.Miguel gave us a 2 hour tour and historical guide to the main area nad then we were free to explore for the rest of the day. Most people climb Huayanpicchu which they only let 500 peple up a day , however our guide recommended we climb actual Machu Picchu mountain which takes twice as long to climb but seemingly was going to be worth every step .- and as we were to soon find out that was a LOT of steps and very steep ones at that!!. So shortly after 10 we were on our way up. It was tough from the beginning and the flag at the top looked an awful ong way away. We were all slightly discouraged when we met a girl one hour in and she told us we were about half an hour away but it was just startign to get steep - clearly Andean steep has a whole new menaing all to itslef!! We clambered on up and the view from the top was definitly worth every step! I even had to do ten press ups at the top as part of a penalty for a game we play in the group that if you say the word spelt ´mine´you have to drop and do 10! We did our traditional jumping shot at the top of the mountain and almost lost the 2 Aussie guys over hte edge who put a little too much effort into their jump. Luckily they are still here to tell the tale! After taking a substancial amount of photos we climbed down adn all subsequently flaked out on the terraces of Machu Picchu. We were all feeling hte effects of 5 days of hiking now!

However I decided If I may not be abck here again I wanted to see as much as my les could manage so I roped one of the other guys into a further 2 hours of hiking and we forced our legs back into action and managed to trek to the Sun Gate and the Inka Bridge which were both beautiful to see and gave another perspective on the main site of Machu Picchu. So worn out, filthy dirty and sweathy we retuned by bus to the town and now you are up top date again! Although our laundry came back in a lovely clean dry and folded state I did have to spend about an hour clenaing the dog poo off my runners which mysteriously got htere as we entered our hotel, I, still wretching from the task! The grips of my hiking shoes proved to be quite a poo trap!

So now we are about to leave Aguas Calientes and are looking forward to the scenic train ride , seemingly with free strawberry tarts onboard back to Cusco! White water rafting tomorrow! And then the plan is to leave on a night bus to Puno tomorrow night with our new travelling companion - Ali the papaya tree climbing Scot! Hope all well with everyone. Aplogies for typos or if htis isnt coherent , am a bit rushed today!! Love to all xo