Arrival of the pachamama

Cusco airport - 1pm

Hills n' thrills and bellyaches

It's been about a week in Cusco now.

Hills

The hills around Cusco are still taking some getting used to. We've been at an altitude of more than 3,000 metres for more than month now, but the hills are still as difficult to walk up as ever. Alcohol seems more potent up here and the nights are bloody freezing. Still I wouldn't want to spend a week anywhere else.

Thrills

Last Sunday we went white water rafting on the Rio Urobamba about two hours outside of Cusco. What a great day - more than two hours of rafting surrounded by spectacular green hills and mountains topped of with a sauna and a hearty lunch.

Gemma jumping off bridge into Urobamba river

Radical raftage (l-r Nick, Kate, Boysters, Caeser, Gemma)

We've also had four days of intensive one-to-one Spanish language lessons, which have really paid off. Our Spanish is really coming on well and personally I feel much more confident as I can actually have a conversation! Hopefully this will make a big different to the rest of our trip - we'll actually have some idea of what people are saying, and much more than that, be able to have normal conversations.

Bellyaches

Believe it or not, I am now recovering from my THIRD stomach bug / food poisoning / whatever it is, and Gemma her first. It is getting a bit ridiculous. At this rate I'll be coming home with bed sores! We went to an expensive restaurant (relatively speaking) on Monday and both ended up laid up in bed the next day. Please no more. Even if it is just for the sake of the cleaning staff who have to clean the room afterwards.

However, we do have a TV in our room which means we have been able to catch up on all the news, including the death of Osama bin Laden and Will n' Kate's wedding. Every cloud...

Today is the day my mother arrives. So I am currently sitting in a coffee shop just down the road from my language school before heading off to the airport to meet her.

Que bueno!

Colonial Cusco - ancient capital of the Incas

Loving Cusco.

It's been two full days here and it seems that there is no end of things to do - museums, bars, restaurants (expensive or otherwise) and a whole host of excursions, including one that people are recommending called Macchu Picchu? Me neither.

We've enrolled in a language school today and had our first lesson. It's going to be an intensive week of one-to-one Spanish so hopefully I'll be able to communicate more than just "Hola", "Gracias" and the odd question asking where the nearest bathroom / hostel / cheap bar is. Congratulated ourselves with an afternoon sitting in the Irish pub overlooking the Plaza de las Armas.

Today has also been the wedding of Will and Kate. I was actually quite surprised to see two channels covering edited highlights of the event over here. I honestly thought that there would be nothing. Apart from that there's been nothing here. Checking facebook reminds me that this is actually a big deal back home, even if it is just an excuse to get pissed!

All aboard

	grockle
	A holidaymaker, or one from out of town. Particularly used in the South of England, generally as a mildly derogatory term. I wish those grockles would all go home, 'cos I can't find anywhere to park the car.

(Source: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=grockle)

Cusco is great - we have been here less than 24 hours but there's plenty to do here to keep us happy for the next ten days - bars, restaurants, beautiful colonial buildings and sights. We've also got Parita and Tom here which means we have evening entertainment sorted!

However, the journey getting here wasn't so great. The protests in and around Puno and Juliaca meant that we had to stay another day in Puno. No great problem, but did result in us drinking our body weight in beer, pisco sours and wine, washed down with alpaca meat and a side smattering of late night karaoke.

We decided to get the sight-seeing bus from Puno to Cusco. Rather than hurry our way through missing out points of interest along the way, we decided to take it more slowly. We became full-on bone fide grockles for the day. But the grockle bus can be unforgiving when you are used to doing things your own way.

The bus broke down just outside of Puno delaying us for about 45 minutes to an hour. This made things worse as the guide still wanted to get to Cusco at the original time (we left at 7.30am and he was still aiming for a 5.30pm arrival as well as taking in the sights). This meant we were herded on and off the bus like sheep: a brief explanation of whatever statue, monument, church, ruin, 5 minutes to stretch our legs around the prison yard before being ordered back on the bus and bussed on to the next attractions. The process is repeated ("If you are not on the bus in 5 minutes, you can make your own way to Cusco" says guide).

Grockles are generally not a friendly bunch. We spent nearly 9 hours on, next to and around the bus and the only communication were some small pleasantries and half smiles...and everyone looks miserable. No one is really enjoying themselves! Especially the guide who had to explain everything once in Spanish and then repeat the exact same thing again in English to a group who really would prefer to either have a bit more time to look around themselves, or have a cold beer in Cusco.

Okay - so it wasn't all negative. Along the way we did see some pretty amazing stuff (it was just frustrating that we didn't have the comfort of time in order to enjoy it) - llamas, beautiful scenery at La Raya, a good buffet lunch (everyone sat on separate tables) and an enormous Inca temple and town at Raqchi along with a beautiful colonial church.

The one at Andahuaylillas is apparently the South American equivalent of the Sistine Chapel and has the oldest organ in South America (take that fact fans!!) The town of Andahuaylillas was also stunning, a colonial town that if empty would look like it hadn't been touch since the conquistadors were walking the cobbled streets.

The setting changes quite dramatically between Puno and Cusco. In just a few miles you go from the flat altiplano to the lush green Andean valleys. The scenery is quite stunning, and despite being on a Grade A Grockle Bus, I couldn't stop staring out of the large windows.

Hangover day in Puno

Oh dear...

"Please look after this bear. Thank you."

There are better places to spend Easter Sunday than at a Peruvian checkpoint.

Getting into Peru was accompanied with much the same palaver as getting into most countries (with the exception of Chile). There's always the long queue and the customs officials with the disdainful looks. This border crossing had the added delight of the officials telling the gringos to "shut-up" whilst waiting in line.

However, the crossing was not without its cheap thrills - exchanging Bolivianos into Peruvian soles at one of the roadside money-changers was not a complete rip-off! Almost no commission (UK Post office eat your heart out). Unexpected bonus.

We took the gringo bus into Peru, which despite the grumpy and argumentative gringos and being in a hermetically-sealed tourist bubble, is definitely preferably to the buses / mobile toilets of Bolivia.

On first gaze Peru seems a lot like Bolivia - there's the women in the boaters / bowler hats and colourful Andean clothing, the unfinished red brick buildings and the large expanses of uninhabited plateaus and mountains. However, Puno feels a little more "developed" compared with Bolivia. For starters, the food is better and I could swear that the shower water smells slightly chlorinated (does this mean no Peruvian stomach bug? We'll see.) There is also a notable absence of backpackers - rather the more well-to-do tourist who can splash the cash a little more freely exists here.

It's refreshing to enter a new country. Interested to see what Peru has in store - home to Paddington Bear.

Copacabana, Easter and the birthplace of the Incas

Copacabana

The hoards of pilgrims are starting to leave Copacabana. They have walked here all the way from La Paz (a good four-hour bus ride away) and now are heading home, presumably by bus? The beach next to Lake Titicaca and the various squares and parks are starting to resemble the aftermath of the Glastonbury festival - covered in plastic bottles and toilet roll. It's been a good few days here in Copacabana.

All-in-all the Easter period has gone a lot easier than anticipated. We've managed to get transport and accommodation without any problem at all - particularly considering the crowds that have come here to celebrate Easter. Our fear was that everything would be booked up and we'd be joining everyone else camping by the lake!

It was a memorable Good Friday - a swan pedal boat on Lake Titicaca, a lung-bursting climb up the Cerro Calvario beside Copacabana (really felt the altitude at 3,800 metres above sea level) and a round-off with a mournful candle-lit procession of pilgrims through the streets in the evening. They were in their hundreds, some carrying effigies of the Virgin Mary and Jesus, others dressed simply in Klu-Klux-Klan outfits (I'm hoping there's some religious significance there)!

The top of Cerro Calvario was pretty crowded - full of people lighting candles, browsing the various stalls selling model cars and houses (a local good luck tradition) and admiring the scenery. There were also a lot of ladies melting down metal but I have no idea what this meant.

Isla Del Sol
The Sun Island (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isla_del_sol) is where the Inca god created the Inca people along with the sun and moon and everything else. It's also the setting of some of the most outstanding scenery in South America.

The island has a very laid back, morning Mediterranean feel - the smell of various herbs and grasses, the brown colour of the earth and the cool, dry air. The views of the lake from the island are amazing - the little uninhabited, rocky islands and the endless clear blue water stretching in all directions off into the horizon.

We took a boat to the north part and then walked 8 km south along a well trodden mountain path south passing by Inca ruins of houses, altars and temples. It was hard work, particularly considering the steep slopes and the altitude but definitely worth it. We followed a lady and son herding two alpacas along the way, passing through several checkpoints manned by elderly Bolivian men (with little / no change) who charge you a small fee for using the path.

Goodbye Bolivia - a beautiful end to a country that has had some memorable highlights but also a few lowlights!

PS - A general rule about South America: Just when you think a walk / road is finishing, you've likely got another 2 hours to go (the number of times we have thought - "just over this next hill and then we're there" only to find we are nowhere near our destination, has been countless).