Cuzco and Lares Trek

In Cuzco I met two old friends Gav and Trev but they were really locked and either they think I'm an asshole or else they were too locked to realise that we weren't in Ireland and that it actually IS a bit mad that we met in Peru.

Cuzco is one of the best places we have been in South America due to cleanliness and stuff. I won't say the food was good though. On the first day we sat in the sun, got locked with a giant group of people and jammed on the guitars. It's amazing how when someone says "play a song", I take about 5 minutes to remember which songs I know.

There were 3 assholes in our dorm who listened to terrible dance remixes of Bryan Adams and that dance music that has the chipmunk singing. Here's how bad they are... There was a Muse song on ..

Asshole #1: Who is this?
Asshole #2: I think its Pink Floyd. No, it's Muse.

Asshole #1: It's not bad.

Asshole #2: Yeah.... It's not really 'going out' music though.

Asshole #1: Nah.

Infuriating.

The Lares Trek

The Lares Trek is a trek that you can do if you don't want to do the Inca Trail. We did this one. It was very VERY tough. Elaine at some stages had awful problems. We reached altitudes of over 5000 ft. Trekking through mountains. On the third night, our tent wall was over our faces and we thought it had collapsed. It had happened to many tents that the weight of snow had pushed the tent walls in. We woke to a snowy freezing morning with llamas lying in the snow nearby.

The people we trekked with were really sound and so we motiviated each other by making jokes and being positive. It was one of toughest things we've ever done. 41km trekking over mountains, over a stretch of 4 days. We met many locals in the mountains and gave the children gifts of colouring pencils because they really dig that stuff. They can't get enough of the old colouring pencils.

We were in this house where they had around 15 guinea pigs running around the place. It's a Peruvian custom to have them in your house. They think that the noises a guinea pig makes can alert you to someone going to die, or be sick, or other general local ocurrences.

So guinea pigs are handy to have if you are a Peruvian. But if there is a special occasion, then they eat a guinea pig. So its like, "thanks for letting us know the future all those times, little fella, but eh, now we're gonna eat you. Sorry about that." I like their style.

There was a lot of epic scenery on this journey. It was great. Camping and trekking for days. And looking at HOT llamas. Nah it didn't get that desperate.

In the town below Machu Pichu named Aguas Calientes ('Hot Water/Springs') we went to a natural hot springs for a nice relax. It turns out they are more natural than we wanted. They were full of kids and the water was so murky you couldn't see your hand just under the surface. There was a horrendous smell of piss but we tried to convince ourselves it was some lovely chicken being cooked somewhere along the street. MINGIN.

Well the climax of this adventure in particular was Machu Pichu, an ancient settlement on a mountain which is now abandoned and is a tourist attraction. I cannot really describe this place despite my exceptional eloquency (which is spelled wrong, ironically). You will have to go see Machu Pichu for yourself. There are no words for it.