Cuzco, Peru
Being minus a camera for the second half of my trip, it was a little difficult to take photographs of our "adventures".The next few post will be put up, in no particular order, as the photos come in. I have had to use other peoples equipment, disposable cameras, and the hope that some people will forward on to me pictures which they have taken.
We arrived in Cuzco, Peru, a few days earlier than expected (see future post on Copocabana) and arrived at the ungodly hour of 4am. We were greeted at the bus station by the usual 372 touts wanting us to stay at their hostels. We picked one that was giving us that day free and a free taxi ride to her place. Worked out pretty well as the place also included breakfast (which we also got for free that morning) and best of all, cable TV. Cuzco itself is a beautiful city, but can get annoying at times with the amount of street traders and touts. After coming from Bolivia, it also seemed quite expensive, but I didn’t kick up too much of a fuss about the 50c increase in the price of beer from one country to another.
After resting up for a few hours, we walked the 10 minutes into the city, to see the people at United Mice, who we had booked the 4 day Inca Trail with, nearly 6 months previously. We still owed them a percentage of the cost and also needed to let them know that we had arrived. After a little arguing about the exchange rate and how much we owed them, we were all set and ready for the trip in 4 days time.
With 2 days to go before the trek, we went to Gringo Alley to have some good food. We found what we thought to be a decent Mexican restaurant and ordered some grub. To say mine tasted a bit funny would be an understatement, and it’s not very often that I leave half of my food on the plate. Picked up that habit from Caz. “Herself” was still eating hers when I asked,….. no told , her we had to leave. We made it back to the hostel in record time and not a minute too soon. I thought I’d never get the door to the room open quick enough. The poor toilet didn’t know what happened to it. If it knew what was going to happen for the next 24 hours, I’m sure it would have packed its bags and said “I’ve had enough of this shite”. The worst bit was the fact that the water gets turned off at about 10pm, so whatever goes into the toilet has to stay there untill 7 the next morning.
Luckily the food poisoning only lasted a day and I was able to go back on the drink the following night to say goodbye to Paul. We ended up in the highest “owned” Irish bar in the world so I had to have a Guinness.
I told “Herself” that I’d be back by 10 but I lied. It was after 1am and we were getting collected that morning at 4 to start the Inca Trail. I had set the alarm the previous evening and set it to the correct time of 3:30, but what I forgot to do was to change the clock forward an hour. Oops. We had to pack everything in 5 minutes and trying to do this with a hangover and Ing going mad at me didn’t help in the slightest. I got about another hours sleep on the bus before I had to start walking for 4 days. Sure how hard could it be?
We arrived in Cuzco, Peru, a few days earlier than expected (see future post on Copocabana) and arrived at the ungodly hour of 4am. We were greeted at the bus station by the usual 372 touts wanting us to stay at their hostels. We picked one that was giving us that day free and a free taxi ride to her place. Worked out pretty well as the place also included breakfast (which we also got for free that morning) and best of all, cable TV. Cuzco itself is a beautiful city, but can get annoying at times with the amount of street traders and touts. After coming from Bolivia, it also seemed quite expensive, but I didn’t kick up too much of a fuss about the 50c increase in the price of beer from one country to another.
After resting up for a few hours, we walked the 10 minutes into the city, to see the people at United Mice, who we had booked the 4 day Inca Trail with, nearly 6 months previously. We still owed them a percentage of the cost and also needed to let them know that we had arrived. After a little arguing about the exchange rate and how much we owed them, we were all set and ready for the trip in 4 days time.
With 2 days to go before the trek, we went to Gringo Alley to have some good food. We found what we thought to be a decent Mexican restaurant and ordered some grub. To say mine tasted a bit funny would be an understatement, and it’s not very often that I leave half of my food on the plate. Picked up that habit from Caz. “Herself” was still eating hers when I asked,….. no told , her we had to leave. We made it back to the hostel in record time and not a minute too soon. I thought I’d never get the door to the room open quick enough. The poor toilet didn’t know what happened to it. If it knew what was going to happen for the next 24 hours, I’m sure it would have packed its bags and said “I’ve had enough of this shite”. The worst bit was the fact that the water gets turned off at about 10pm, so whatever goes into the toilet has to stay there untill 7 the next morning.
Luckily the food poisoning only lasted a day and I was able to go back on the drink the following night to say goodbye to Paul. We ended up in the highest “owned” Irish bar in the world so I had to have a Guinness.
I told “Herself” that I’d be back by 10 but I lied. It was after 1am and we were getting collected that morning at 4 to start the Inca Trail. I had set the alarm the previous evening and set it to the correct time of 3:30, but what I forgot to do was to change the clock forward an hour. Oops. We had to pack everything in 5 minutes and trying to do this with a hangover and Ing going mad at me didn’t help in the slightest. I got about another hours sleep on the bus before I had to start walking for 4 days. Sure how hard could it be?
posted by Declan Coyle at 8:41 PM
1 Comments:
we too argued over the exchange rate at united mice! and only 3 hours sleep will explain why you were so hanging on that first days climb. i'll email any photos i have. katie
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