Peru

So I entered Peru by myself on a short bus ride to Puno, a town on the edge of Lake Titicaca.We stocked to see that Peru has Gum Trees (heaps of them!) I chewed on a leaf, just cause i could. After getting in late at night, I booked a tour of Uros (the floating reed islands, for the first thing then next morning. We headed out to the islands around 9 o'clock. I was really impressed with the way the communities were run on the island. There was many separate islands, with there own leader. And they barter what ever goods, they can harvest from the water or the islands, with the markets on the mainland. We learnt how the islands where made and anchored to the lake. However it became quickly obviously that the whole environment have become very touristy and the people of Uros had lost a lot of their true tradition. After arriving back on shore at 12:45, I still had enough time to drive back to the hostel, then to the bus station in time to catch my 12:40 bus to Cusco! Thank god for Peru time...

Arrived in Cusco around 7pm that night, keen to meet up with all my mates I'd had to leave in La Paz. Un fortunately most of them where doing their Machupicchu tour, so after a qucik tour of Cusco I called it a night and anticipated their arrival the next day. After a fun night with Sydney and Sammy the following night, we we're finally all back together and ready to party in Cusco. After a reunion celebration we all took a day or two off and chilled at our hostel, The Point, watching some movies until we got bored and hired a 4WD to explore the Sacred Valley around Cusco. A lot ofit was just some old Incan ruins, nothing too exiting, but two sites, one used to practice and perfect farming methods, and the man made salt mines were awesome sites. We were all very grateful to Scotti who did a good job of driving us round all day and getting us safely back to Cusco. The four of us who were brave enough went out that night to sample the local meat, koui (guinea pig), was quite nice, but doesn't compare to a good roast lamb or scotch steak. Afterwhat felt like no time at all I had to say goodbye to everyone as I set out on my own Machupicchu adventure.
I left for my 4 day jungle trek on the 20th of April with a new Irish friend Mary and a Melbournite Isaac. First day consisted of downhill biking where we started and around 4500m above sea level and finished under 1000m high, heaps of fun. We spend the after noon during some rafting, my first time ever. (small tip: never sit at the front, its hard work!) despite the effort it was well worth it, and managed to negotiate 3+ rapids without losing anyone. It was dark by the time we loaded the boats onto the van and our drive through the jungle didn't last long after the van's fan belt blew and we were left standing at the mercy of the millions of thirsty mosquitoes. After about ten minutes we managed to hitch a ride in the back of a ute, 13 tourists crammed in made for a fun trip back to Santa Maria. I surprised myself the next day with my fitness as we trekked 9 hours, mainly uphill though some stunning jungle, including walking part of the original Inca trail. The following morning we decided to skip 3 hours of walking by doing a Zip Line just outside of Santa Teresa, some of the best fun of the trip. After 3 more hours of walking we ended up in Aguas Calientes, the town just outside of Machupicchu. We awoke at 3.30am the next morning in order to win the challenge of getting to the gates of Machupicchu as early as possible, we managed to make it 11th in the line, no top ten, but still no mean feat. After a tour of the forgotten city, we climbed Wanyu picchu, and got and amazing view of Machupicchu and the amazing surroundings. Machupichhu was absolutely breathtaking, well deserving of its world wonder status. The net day we boarded our train back to Cusco.

Met Scotti back in Cusco. He only had three days till he had to fly out so we spent the next three days parting and celebrating our trip. We were lucky to meet up with a big group of friends, we'd met along the way, to celebrate our last night. Scotti left early the next morning, meaning I was flying solo from now on, I was excited and scared at the same time, I knew the rest of my trip would be very different from now on. I absolutely loved Cusco, could very much imagine living there, a nice laid back, chilled vibe. I also left Cusco on Thursday the 28th of April with Mary,on a 15 hour bus ride bound for Ica.

From Ica bus terminal we jumped into a taxi straight away and headed to a little oasis town called Huacachina, an awesome little town surrounded by massive sand dunes. We spend two hours driving the buggy around the dunes, stopping every now and then to do some sand boarding, Awesome fun. After watching the sunset from the dunes, we headed back to town and spend one night checking out the Huacachina nightlife. The following morning I boarded my 4 hour bus to Lima.

I arrived in Lima around 5pm on Saturday excited about seeing some friendly face from back home, Morrow and Mauve were due to meet us there. We had a good three days of parting and catching up, telling stories of our separate trips. I needed to get to Ecuador to meet us with Jack, Sydney and Sammy, but was unable to get a bus straight there, so too the first bus to Mancora, on the Peruvian coast.

Mancora was a beautiful little beach town. Unfortunately because I was in a hurry to get to Ecuador I had to book the first bus out of there, which only gave me about 3 hours in Mancora. I made the most of it by chilling by the pool and the beach drinking beer. Laying on the sand and listening to the waves reminded  me a lot of home, a good feeling. I soaked up every second of it, knowing I'd soon be leaving Peru bound for Ecuador. At 12:30 I boarded my, rather dodgy looking, bus to Guayaquil, Ecuador, an 8 hour bus trip. Had someone try to steal my computer along the way, however they did a pretty poor job of it as I'm writing on it now!

As I said goodbye to Peru, I knew it wouldn't for the last time. I truly loved Peru, my favourite country so far, and that's saying a lot cause I've love a lot of the countries I've been to. I thought the people in Bolivia were friendly despite being poor, but almost every single Peruvian I met was so willing to help, loved the tourists and just wanted everyone to have a good time. Defiantly have to visit Peru again at some point!