Cusco and Machu Picchu

The altitude hit us hard, so finding the energy to get out of bed was a bit of a struggle. When we did, we fell for Cusco's charms. For the first time since we've been away, we decided to go on the "free" walking tour to familiarise ourselves with the city. Our guide was a bit of a loon but really enthusiastic and he knew his stuff. He showed us some of the main buildings, told us a bit about the history and treated us to a pisco sours...back at his house!

Kid + llama + Cusco

Kid + Cusco

Model + Cusco

Street + bike

Can I have a pig's head please?

It's Pisco tiiiiimmeee!! 

Burgers as big as our heads

The next day, the time had finally come for us to start our jungle trek to the infamous MACHU PICCHU!! Day one of the three day trip started with a bit of downhill mountain biking (the only kind we will sign up for). We were told that there were brilliant views but unfortunately the day was rather foggy, and all we could see was cloud.

Ready to bike

What we should have seen, and what we actually saw

We stopped for lunch then hopped in a taxi (we chose the non-hiking option) and were taken down a dirt trak, hugging the mountain, to our next port of call, Santa Teresa. With a severe lack of hot water in the hostel (not that we're spoilt or anything), we decided to go for the natural hot springs and what a brilliant decision it was. They were set in the mountains and there was a waterfall to marvel at... we had to be dragged out.

Hot springing it up

The adventure continued the following day, with a spot of ziplining. There five to do, each crossing a huge canyon, putting the fear of God into us as we leapt off the edge.

Ziipp Ziiipppiiiiddddeeee dooooo

Go on slow poke

Whizzing

After lunch it was finally time to do a bit of exercise and we hiked for two and a half hours, from Hydroelectrica to Aguas Calientes; the town at the bottom or Machu Picchu.  It was a nice flat stroll and offered us our first glimpse of the wonderful Inca ruin. After getting the next day's goody bag, we headed to bed early, as it would be an early start to hike up to Machu.

Great backpack

Nice bridge

Having done the nightmare trek up Adam's Peak in Sri Lanka, we thought the one hour hike up Machu Picchu would be a walk in the park. For Park (Kat), it was anything but, and half way up, at around 5:36am, she was to be found weeping on rock declaring she could not go on any further. Imy gave her a swift talking to and by 6am we were at the top. It was definitely the altitude...

An atmospheric Machu Picchu

We had been told time and time again how beautiful Machu Picchu is and we couldn't believe how effortlessly it lived up to it's reputation. As the day went on, our appreciation for it only grew and the hike up to Sun Gate was much more manageable for all involved. Unfortuantely, we ran out of water and headed back down around 2pm, wishing we could have stayed all day.

Off we trek to Sun Gate

A big stone

Loving the Sun Gate view

Bloomin' beautiful

We got the train back to Cusco and slept like warriors after a thirty-year battle. Our last day in Cusco couldn't have been better, as we stumbled across some children dancing in the street. We have no idea why they were dancing, but we loved it!

Peru: Mancora and Lima

After our jungle fun, we also went to Cuenca, but it isn’t worth writing about. We made a slightly rooky error when crossing the border to Peru, as we only booked a bus to the border and not actually over the border. Hence, we ended up in an unlicenced taxi, praying for our lives. Thankfully, he only ripped us off by $20 and we’re still alive to tell the tale. We finally got to Mancora, after being dropped off by the dodgy taxi man in Tumbes, and were rewarded by the delights of Loki – more of a resort than a hostel. The intention was to spend three days sunning ourselves, but after 5 days of sunning and drinking we finally managed to pry ourselves off the sunbeds and onto a bus for Lima.

Suuunshinee

House of Light

Beach horse stroll

Sunset time

You know it..

Kat and the Irish

Tea-cup pool

 Cruz del Sur buses are a lifesaver. Complete with “air” hostess, personal TVs and meals, we were in transport heaven and the 20 hour bus journey went surprisingly quickly.

Did we mention it had bingo?..

Lima didn’t tick our boxes, and we spent only one night in the capital of Peru (just long enough to book a bus ticket out). However, we did manage to get to the local market and buy Kat yet another back pack to replace the $8 Vietnamese North Face knock off. Grimness aside, we found a great little restaurant just around the corner from our hostel, which was cheap as chips. Sooner than expected, we found ourselves back on a Cruz del Sur bus and heading to Cusco.

Sums up Lima pretty well..

Jungle time! Limoncocha

We headed to Tena in order to organise a trip into the Amazon. We found a nice agency, who hooked us up with a trip to his home (jungle) town of Limoncocha. As we had the luxury of a car, we decided to get up at 4am and drive the six-hour journey to the jungle, rather than plodding there on a bus. Juan got us there safe and sound, despite his insistent failure to notice speed bumps, and soon enough we were tucking into a hearty beef breakfast.

Our surroundings were amazing and we could see all sorts of wildlife from the balcony of our wooden hut. The first port of call was the lagoon, around which Limoncohca sits, and we found ourselves with wooden sticks in our hands and meat as bait, fishing for pirranhas. After what felt like a lifetime, and a heavy bout of rainfall, Imy finally caught herself one of the nibbly little cretins. And then another! Kat had long given up. On the way back to our base, we spotted our first Cayman (crocodile-type creature), known locally as Maria Fernanda after the temperamental manager of the reserve.

Ready for the jungle

Junglers

Fish-us-a-fish

Gottchaaa

Cayman

Big girl

We filled our bellies with more delicious food (the chef was amazing) and waited for the sun to set so we could embark on our night time tour of the lagoon. While we waited, a little girl brought over a baby monkey that they had rescued. It was absolutely tiny and made us coo a lot.

baaabaa monkey

The tour in the dark revealed many cayman going about their business and some luminous frogs, as well as a blanket of fireflies that clung to the edge of the lagoon, giving it a magical sparkle.

Froggy

On the second day of our jungle adventure, and joined by Becky (a frog enthusiast), we went for a hike through the jungle to find the oldest tree in the area. Along the way, Ramon (our guide) pointed out all sorts of flora and fauna for us to gawp at. We finally made it to the big tree, which was also home to a baby vulture – one of the biggest and ugliest babies we’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, the Pacha Mama (mother earth) decided it was time to water the garden, and it pissed down on us. Soaked through, we headed back to base for one last meal (fish) before setting off for Tena again. 

Jungle bridge

Old tree

Big boy

Team jungle

Ugly baby

Rose?

Terrapin

After a good night's sleep, Juan and Julio took us to a nearby waterfall and lagoon. It was absolutely stunning and there wasn't another tourist in sight! 

Lagoon

Yoga

Jumpy

After the lagoon we went to a town which is famous for its stealing monkeys. With all our things safely locked away we went and found them. One was playing with a puppy for a while, not sure which was having more fun.

Monkey and a pup

Baños

Eager to experience some of the promised adventure, we hired mountain bikes and were off searching for some huge waterfalls. Along the way, we bumped into three Latino men also on a quest to find the falls – Julio (Colombian), Juanito (Ecuadorian) and Ariel (Argentinian). Finally, we found the monster and marveled at is glory, before clambering behind it for a close up and a quick wash.

 

Look ma, no hands!

Nice view Baños

Caving

Waterfall crew

 

Behind the waterfall

In front of the waterfall

Afterwards, we cycled for a bit more but soon tired and decided four hours was enough for our fragile bottoms. We hitched a lift back, leaving the boys to continue on their arduous quest. After a nice hot shower and a dinner of pasta slop, we found ourselves at the Stray Dog, filling our bellies with draught ale. After a solid two hours of waiting and worrying that we had been stood up, Julio, Juanito and Ariel made their appearance, looking like changed men. The bike ride nearly killed them. A few more bevvies later, we were ready to get our groove on at The Leprechaun. We soon realised how truly awful we are at salsa, but this didn’t stop us giving it a go.

In search of some more thrills, we decided to accompany the boys canyonying, AKA absailing down waterfalls. It turned out that canyoning requires slightly more talent than we first anticipated and Kat-the-klutz found this out the hard way, as she slipped and fell half way down. Unable to right herself due to the torrent of water cascasding down on her, she cautiously lowered herself to rejoin the group. Battered but not broken. Five waterfalls later, we felt like pros until we saw the guide coming front-first down a waterfall like something out of Mission Impossible, putting us back in our place. 

Canyon crew

Talented canyoner

Not-so-talented canyoner

Easy does it

Plop

Another night in the Stray Dog resulted in a plan forming for us to join Juan and Julio on their trip to the jungle!

Ecuador: Quito

We had an interesting journey to Quito, thanks to a crazy American guy on the bus, who insisted on telling us about the punch up he had just had with his hostel owner. He then proceeded to tell us about the time he beat up a Chilean homeless man. Severely freaked out, when we arrived in Quito we hopped straight into a taxi to flee the looney.

However, after a few hours of relaxation at the hostel, low and behold, in walks captain crazy and he is swiftly checked into our room... which we in turn swiftly checked out of.

Itching to see what all the fuss was about, we hopped on a bus and made our way to Mitad del Mundo (the equator for those of you not in the know). Thankfully, Dumb and Dumber (Anne and Chloe) had already warned us not to go to the fake equator, which charges a ridiculous fee for you to take your photo approximately 300m away from the equator, so we headed down the road to the real one, breaking a toe along the way...Imy's feet have taken a real battering this trip.

The imposter

Intiñan museum was a blast. We had a really fun guide, who made up for the annoying little kids in our group, by getting us involved in all sorts of frivolities: we balanced eggs on nails and watched water go both ways through the plug hole, as it was placed on different sides of the line. Of course, a trip to the equator wouldn't be complete without the obligatory straddle photo, although it was hard to get Imy to step foot on the south.

Official equator

Middle earth

Ooooh flexy

We made some cracking mates in the hostel and had a great night out on the lash, with neither of us spending a penny due to the never-ending ladies' night.

Fwends

With slightly sore heads, we had a look at the old town before catching our bus to Baños...the adventure capital of Ecuador.

Totally natural park pose 

Cathedral and mini Kat