Hanaqpacha Aguas Calientes

Hooray, our much anticipated 4-day hike along the 42km Inca Trail starts today&#8230; On Friday the 13th&#8230; Oh well, we can't wait!<br><br>We woke up to rain&#8230; not a good start, but we took a small bus from our hotel to Km 82, the start of the trail, where we have to show our passports and get our Inca Trail ticket. We got prepared and handed over our 6 kg duffel bags (strictly enforced 6kg for the porters to carry!) and watched as our 20 porters (for ...

... maybe its just me but i really fear tumbling over and crashing and burning to death!! Luckily that didn´t happen. <br>So finally we arrived at Machu Picchu....ahhh it is just incredible...hidden high up in mountains...a whole city...we got to see the sun come up and watch the light change..and just sat there in awe and silence. Its one of those things you can see a million times in pictures, but its a million times better in person ...

... cat. It turned out to be quite a feat since when I tried to buy the tickets on-line the web page kept recalling the wrong details for passport numbers and dates of birth, and each time I pressed back it lost all the details so I had to re-enter all the details for all four of us. This happened four times before I finally pressed purchase with the right details entered. The total price for the tickets was 124 soles for adults and 62 soles for Jody and Niamh, and these were ...

... to be Lima´s grandest hotel, Gran Hotel Bolivar. <br><br>After taking a few photos of the colonial buildings around, we followed the crowd of people which we knew leads to Plaza Mayor. As we approach the plaza, we saw what sort of looked like a procession of saints... which, to our utmost delight, turned out to be more than just a procession. They were celebrating the Corpus Christi of Cusco - a very elaborate festival commemorated by a parade of performers ...

... love it". He told us about a number of good places to go, where to avoid, and also helped us book bus tickets and a hostel for our next destination.<br><br>After breakfast we headed to some ancient ruins (even older than machu Micchu) called Huaca Pullana, originally built about 200-700 AD, bang in the middle of Lima and not more than about 6 blocks from our hostel. There was a strange atmosphere there and there had been a number of mummies found ...

... house on the way. I arrive at their house at 5:30 and knock on the door. It is immediately opened by Aida's brother Telmo, who assures me is always awake and up by 4:00 am! Not so with Aida, who is under the impression I am arriving tomorrow, and is still enjoying her slumber. Nevertheless Aida gets up and prepares breakfast, and we converse until mid ...

... flight took me back to Lima, Perus capital, where I was met by some family friends Ricardo &amp; Ana (after a misunderstanding in Lima's poshest hotel where, in my backpacking gear, I called down the wrong Ricardo and was met by some big manager of this lush hotel who didn't have a clue who I was!). Joined by some of their friends we all went for lunch on the seafront where I got to try some of Peru's specialities such ...

I´ve been relating American influence abroad, which is usually humorous. Unfortunately, there is a dark side as well. On my bus ride to Lima, towards the end we were treated to Cinderella Story starring Hilary Duff. It gets worse, the access door to the driver is locked from the inside, which made it impossible for me to do the humane thing and steer the bus off the nearest cliff. On a side note, does anyone know if a sequel is forthcoming ...