Tuesday, November 28, 2006

The One in the Shopping Mall

Pretty much as it says. Curitba is a huge city full of skyscrapers and shopping malls.

The weather has turned and with a day to kill, we did what women do best - SHOP!

Off to ilha Grande for 3 days on a paradis island tomorrow - can´t wait!

Sunday, November 26, 2006

The One with 3 Countries and a Ride in a Chopper

Despite arriving sweaty and greasy after a long night on the bus we were straight out the door again to see the Brazilian side of the wonderful Iguassu Falls.

After deciding a ride in a helicopter was a bit extravagent, and that we wouldn´t do it, we completely changed our minds when we saw the chopper coming in and landing.

Feeling like stars (but not looking like them!), we boarded the chopper and took off at great speed towards the rising mists of the waterfalls. All you could see was jungle, and the river meandering through.

The falls were spectacular - how can you describe them! I don´t know what was more exciting, my first view of them from above or the trip in the helicopter itself.

We spent the rest of the day walking through the walkways on the Brazilian side of the falls. Dodging Quatis which popped out of bins, or almost ran across your feet, and marvelling at water in motion at every turn. Hundreds of photos taken!

We then popped over the border to Paraguay for a bit of cheap shopping. H and I purchased some ipod speakers between us and can now pump up the tunes in our hotel room!

That evening we went to a show of South American song and dance. Which included an amazing peruvian dance with a guy on stilts dressed as a condor, and semi clad muscle bound Brazilian men performing the Capoeira, a marshal arts/gymnastic style dance (its been one of the BBC adverts) For the men there was the samba with perfectly toned ladies in thongs and bras shaking their stuff. A great evening out.

Not satisfied with 2 countries in one day, we made it three as we headed across the border to Argentina and even got a stamp in our passport this time!

The falls are even more spectacular from here, and we walked across wooden walkways to the viewing platform over the Devils Throat Falls. Sheer volumes of water tumbling over the cliff face. I think waterfalls are my most favourite thing!

With more walks and even more photos, we headed down to the river for a boat ride up close and personal.

We negotiated the swarm of yellow and green butterflies, which look like autumn leaves in a breeze, donned our life jackets and held on for dear life as the boat sped up the river tilting and swerving and eventually taking us right under 2 of the waterfalls drenching us to the skin. Luckily we soon dried off in the 42 degree heat!

We headed off the next day on an all day bus ride to Curitiba

Friday, November 24, 2006

The One with the Snorkel

With the annoyance of finding that my Credit Card had been fraudulently used, and then with heat, bites, hair that looks like Monica in the Bahamas, and no phone cards in the whole of Bonito, I did not get off to a good start with the town.

However, we headed off for a day of snorkelling and looking at fish! On the way we saw two giant Ant eaters ambling through a field like giant rugs on legs! A rare sight indeed!

In the ever becoming wetsuit, (H had a frog in the foot of hers!) we headed to the edge of the jungle for a walk through the mosi ridden area, stopping to spot the alien looking Tapir on the way, and narrowly avoiding a rattlesnake!

With the lesson on breathing given we went for our first float (we can´t kick, only use our arms in the river) through the crystal clear waters, looking at the fish and trying not to hum "under the sea" from the little mermaid! We also spotted a caymen eyeing us eagerly from the bank side. Great!

The current carries you down stream, and at parts we had to negotiate rapids, and going under a fallen tree, as well as fish that nibble your legs. They are cleaning fish and like mosquito bites. I must have had too many for them to tak eon as they barely touched me!

Eventually the small tributary leads to the big river, where there is a noticeable drop in temperature,a dn you swim the last section.

After an amazing lunch it was time to snooze in the bus again on the way back to the hotel.

Our second day in Bonito was decidely lazy, and we then caught a night bus to Foz de Iguassu

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

The One in the Jungle

After a brief soujourn in Santa Cruz - not much to say about it except nice Ice Cream - we took the night train to Brazil.

A new stamp in the passport, a new currency to get to grips with, and searing heat and mosquitos. We were picked up and driven to our base in the heart of the Pantanal.

Bus journeys now send me instantly to sleep, but I awoke to amazing scenery - green lush marsha dn forest with a large brown river cutting across it like an open wound.

Even before we reached our home for the 2 nights we were turning into David Attenborough and snapping away at the wildlife all around us. We saw Jaribu birds the red throated Storks which are the symbol of the Pantanal, Capivaras - the largest rodent which look like a cross betweena moomen and a giant Guinea Pig, and hundreds of Caymen which lazed by the river side and smiled for the camera.

We went for a walk in the firest, and saw little mroe than mosquitos, apart from some footprints - anteaters, and ocelots footprints to be precise.

Our home for the two nights were a series of hammocks in a mosi proofed room. That said I am now starting to look like I have bubonic plague I have been bitten so much. Time for new insect repellant methinks!

Day 2 and who needs an alarm clock. You awake afetr a surprisngly comfortable nights sleep in a hammock to a raucaus cacophony of birdsong.

We went for another walk and this time were not disappointed. Giant Otters, Howler Monkeys, normal sized otters, and red macaws to anme a few. Plus the amazing toucan. I will never get bored of looking at that bird.

We went Piranha fishing. I eventually caught 4 (and managed to accidentely slap the back of H with one much to her pleasure!) and I even had one for my lunch! (not much meat i´m afraid to say!)




We had a siesta in a hammock, looked at more monkeys, Iguanas, a shy Quati (raccon style animal) and had lunch - I´m beginning to enjoy jungle life!

After lunch time for more horseriding. My horse this time did not like to be over taken so we trotted a fair bit! Robert - new to horseriding - was given the smallest horse, and having the longest legs looked rather silly on it!


Exhaustedly, we showered and went to bed.

The third day we went for a boat ride down the River Miranda. We were invited to go swimming, but after seeing a huge Caymen splash into the water I decided to pass!

We caught the bus to the small town of Bonito, where our hotel is all decked out for Christmas. it seems so wrong in such heat!

Friday, November 17, 2006

The One with the Long Face

After a lazy morning, we boarded another bus for the journey to Sucre. A beautiful city full of white colonial buildings, and with a main square reminiscent of Vera Cruz in Mexico, with Palm Trees and fountains.

We were in an amazing 4* hotel (will I ever be able to hostel it again?!), and even got upgraded to a room with a bath - the bath was the size of a postage stamp, but it was a bath none the less!

We had a whistle stop tour of the city - including a trip to the Dinosaur park, Cal Arko - home to the worlds largest collection of Dinosaur Footprints. The footprints are on a wall upright ar a 70 degree angle formed when the Nazca and South American Tetonic plates collided.

The footprints themselves require a bit of imagination. The Ankylosaur was wearing size nine nike trainers I think, and the titanosaur was tip toeing, - that said I know a couple of certain 4 year olds who would have loved the full sized models, and so I took lots of pictures!

From here we headed to a viewing square where you get a panoramic of the whole of Sucre, to a run down castle, home to a romantic orphan loving prince and princess, and the mini Champs De Elysses park that the prince built to stop his missus going back to France all the time.

This included a small fake Eiffel Tour, an arch which if you squint could be the Arc de Triumphe, and a tiny grubby boating circuit which under no circumstances could be described as the Seine, and yet is. I reckon the Princess didn´t like the boat ride to France.

The next day was the day of the long faces. We were going horseriding, but also were going to have to say goodbye to Fi, Yvonne and Jimmy.


My horse had an afinity with the south end of Jimmy´s horse, and kept his nose permanantly under Jimmy´s horses tail. If I slowed him down, he would speed up, and only a few quick reactions on my part, stopped my horse from having a rather dirty nose.

We moved through the city - rubbish was everywhere, and dumped in ditches where the pigs and dogs rummage through the scraps. We passed through a street where they were selling potatoes in big blue hessein sacks, the women in their trilby style hate over their long dark plaits and with large pinafore aprons, starring at us. I´m not sure if they were morre surprised to see people so white, or horses!

There were dogs everywhere, yapping at the horses, from the top of unfinished houses, or running madly backwards and forwards along the pavement, and of course there were little children running out of their houses to shout Hola!

Soon we were more in the countryside with rolling hills, farm land and the odd house. We headed along a track before dismounting and leading the horses down hill (walkign like John Wayne), to the dry river bed. We left the horses to graze, and walked up the dry river bed towards the 7 waterfalls.

Waterfall is a bit of a loose term. Small dribble, supplied by piped water would be more apt.

That said the final pool was 4m deep, and had murky green water, which in the mid day sun was very inviting, and we sat dipping out toes, and eating our lunch before going for a dip.

On the way back to town, we passed an area where the farmers were drying their corn. Yvonnes horse took a munch (with a large gasp from the farm hand) and walked slowly on like shaun the sheep munching his hay. Very amusing.

That night we went out and partied in style until 4am in a small club which played everything from 80´s, 90´s to modern bolivian music. To be fair after a couple of drinks you can dance to anything.

And then there were eight.

We miss you guys!

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

The One in the Mines

A beautiful sunny day, we headed en mass, sans Irish, to the Potosi Mint, for a rather dull tour, by a pompous guide who was both a misogynist and tried to make everybody feel stupid. Talk about diminishing your tip! We arrived an hour into his tour (through no fault of our own, as even the signs downstairs did not display a start time).

For such a pompous man he was also a terrible tour guide - he managed to lose us twice!

Anyway, i did manage to fathom that the silver was melted into blocks, rolled through 12 stages of Mule driven wheels, cut into circles and manually stamped with the denomination. I also leartn that the pirates "pieces of eight" refer to the 8 reals coin! Somethingto mention when it goes quiet in the snug!

To be honest the building in itself was well worth the visit, and although I´m no architect I can appreciate that a curved brick ceiling looks good!

During the tour we heard dynamite going off in the street - enough to make any person jumpy - and as we left the building we walked into the middle of a protest. The students were revolting!!!! Apparantely the teachers don´t really teach and tell them to look things up on the internet and they were protesting trying to get real lessons! We tried to avoid the mad throng and the explosions that went with them!

In the afternoon we met for our tour of the Cerro Rico (Rich mountain) Mine. We went first to get togged up, and looked fantastic in a mixture of red and yellow shell suits, hard hats, head torches and wellies!
At the base of the hill we stopped to buy the miners presents. For just over one pound we got coca leaves, crackers, dynamite and fuse, and cigarettes made from eucalyptus, coca, tobacco and cinnamon)

Boys start working at the mine aged 12 and the mortality rate is high. You could well believe it as we made our way in through one of the 10,00 entrances avoid vast drops into nothingness.

The mine is full of all sorts of minerals - Silver, Zinc, iron and Fools Gold, and you earn more dependign on where you decide to mine. The lower in the mine you are the more money you get, but the more dangeropus it is the less time you will live.

The miners also "worship" the devil - although I´m not sure worship is the right word. Statues of the Devil are all over the mine, and he is respected as a fellow miner as he is associated with the underworld, and also fertility. The Miners leave him offerings of alcohol, cigarettes and coca in the hope that they will be fruitful in their mining - they are paid on commission.

Getting about the mine was tought work. We had to crawl and wiggle up through small holes, with drops into the abyss all over the place. Who´d have thought that a fear of heights could kick in underground.

We found some miners, to hand our goods to. One was 17 and had been working in the mine for 5 years since the mine took his father. His mother is also dead, and he provides for his family, going to school in the evenings after an eight hour shift down the mine. Puts things in perspective.

With a new view on how lucky we are in the UK, we headed back to the hotel. That evening we murdered a few tunes in the local Kareoke, and tried to keep up with the Spanish on a couple of Bolivian classics!

Monday, November 13, 2006

The One with the Perspective

After a train trip to the small town of Uyuni, we began another 3 day adventure into the Salt Flats, by bumpy 4 wheel drive. Our jeep was made up of H, myself, Jimmy and Martha, and our driver, who had only 2 tapes of bolivian music to play, but also played one song over and over again. You´d find youself humming a random tune before questioning - what the hell is this music!!!

Day One

We headed into the large open expanse of the Slat flats, passing tiny mud brick houses, with women washing their clothes in the stream, and Llamas grazing. The brilliant blue sky was broken only by the odd fluffy white cloud (I think its the one from the Expedia advert following us about!)

Our first stop was the Valley of the Rocks - guess what was there! We spent a while clambouring and spotting faces with the boys adamant that they could run the 100m sprint and climb a rock to get in a group photo set on timer on my camera. We have photos of Jimmy and Roberts bum as they try and get there.... some might say it was their better side!

With dusk setting we reached the Laguna Colorade (red lake), but with poor visibility and a wind picking up we headed to our lodging, with a promise to return tomorrow.

Our lodgings for the night boasted "Quality and Elegance for you" on the sign - debateable use of these words, I feel, as we didn´t even have running water!

Day Two

4.30am start (eugh!), and out in time to watch the sun rise over the sillhouetted hills.

The landscape is arid and rocky - as I imagine the landscape of Mars would be, and our first stopwas certainly something out of science fiction. The view was of large areas of steam rising out of the middle of nowhere, and with the sun rising behind it casting shadows and sillhouettes of tourists throught the steam you could believe that you were in themiddle of an alien invasion, and this the crash site of the UFO, the Geysers and the bubbling pools of mud were very impressive.

We stopped for breakfast at Laguna Polques, where a thermal pool at the edge of the lake sat invitingly in the morning sun. Impolite to refuse the invitation Terry, Jimmy, Robert adn I sat in the warm water, admiring the sun twinkling over the large lake, spotted with Flamingo´s - and it was not even 7am! Pure Bliss!


From here to Laguna Verde - (Green lake) which, imaginatively, is in fact both green and a lake. The arsenic, and other minerals give it its colour, and the water was so still there was a perfect reflection of the rolling hills behind it in the water.

Back to Laguna Colorade, and today the red in the water is clearly visible. We sat for ages admiring the flamingoes, and trying (and in my case failing) to get the perfect photo of a flamingo in flight!

Then back to arid landscape and the Pampa Sidoli, to see the Dali - esque Arbol de Piedra (Stone Tree - can you guess what it is yet?), and then past more lakes, a random Andean Fox, amountain of 7 colours (which were all beige!), the ollague Volcano, the border of Chile, and views of dust tornados sweeping the plains. Each sight more amazing than the last.

To top it all off, the view of the stars when we went to bed was amazing!

Day Three

Someone had been partying all night, and there was evidence of this the next morning - it wasn´t any of us and I was just praying that it hadn´t been our drivers!

The stars now made the 3.30am (new meaning to stupid o´clock) worthwhile, especially as now they had moved we could clearly see the Southern Cross twinkling above us.

A the sun started to rise, we watched in awe out of the jeep window. The sky turns every colour of the rainbow, from the red at the horizon right through tothe violet sky still with twinkling stars. The hills turn a lilac colour and as the sun rise go darker and sillhouette against the sky. Photos and words just can´t do it justice but this morning was one I will never forget.



We stopped in the middle of the salt flats for the moment when the sun poked its nose over the brink of the horizon. The Salt Flats in themselves are a wonder. You could believe that you were at one of the poles, the white expanse goes on forever. A polar bear would not look out of place here, apart from the fact that it is warm.

The feeling of being insignificant in such a desolate place is very real, as is the absolute silence.

We stood in wonder for a long time, admiring the shadows cast, and the tesolation of cracks in the salt, almost like a lino of hexagons.

Our next stop was Incahuasi or Isla de Pescasdo (Fish Island - named after its shape), which stands in the middle of the flats and is covered with Giant Cacti. We breakfasted and then spent ages mucking about with the use of perspective to take some silly photos. Below are some of my favourites:

Finally we headed to Hotel de Sal Playa Blanca, a hotel made of salt, and then to see how the locals refine the salt for cooking.

Our last stop of the day was at a Train Graveyard, where with silly pictures on the brain the boys re-enacted some Indiana Jones Style Action Shots!


The day ended with a 7 hour bus ride to Potosi on the bumpiest road in history. My teeth are now all loose in my head!

Thursday, November 9, 2006

The One with the Disappointment in La Paz

We took a private bus along the shores of Lake Titicaca to the Bolivian Border, and headed through the quickest customs control I have seen!. All stamped and legitimate we headed on our way.

We stopped at Tiwanaku - the ruins of a Pre Incan civilisation. I'm not sure if it was our un-impressive guide, or more that I was expecting it to be on a par with the pyramids in Mexico, but the partial sand dune hill was rather a dissappointment!

To be fair the sun gate, and the one or two remaining monoliths were better!

From here to La Paz, the large metropolis which nestles in the hills. Like Lima, La Paz is dirty and grubby, and is full of markets selling everything from socks to Llama Foetuses on the street corners.

We headed out for dinner. Our last night all together before joining a new group tomorrow (although Jimmy, Yvonne and Fi will be continuing with us as far as Sucre!)

The next day we had a free day and headed round the city. We had an English Breakfast at an English Pub. Unexciting , you may think, apart from the fact that I had my first decent cuppa in over 2 months ( a pint of Tetleys Tea!) mmm!

We visited the Coca museum, and the Witches Market. Another diappointment - I was expecting a larger tarpaulined area of stalls selling the dried llama fortuses and other potions, but instead we had just a couple of tables outside a couple of shops - and not a broomstick or pointed black hat in sight!

That night we met up with the remainder of our new group - Melissa our leader, Roz and Terry (UK), Mary-Ann and Andy (USA), Martha (UK) and Robert (SWE)

Let the new adventure begin!

Tuesday, November 7, 2006

The One with the New Mum and Dad

Woozy start to the day, for the trip to Puno (shouldn´t have had the last Gin), but looking better than some members of our group who had been out until 5am.

The trip to Puno was uneventful, and we got ready for our trip to Late Titicaca the following day.

Our transport to the port was by bicycle style rickshaws. Apparantly it was not a race, but I´m sure the drivers hadn´t heard that rule. Ours was 2nd for the whole way but we got overtaken at the last stretch by those with lighter loads!

We bought our presents for the homestay - sugar, porridge, candles, rice, oil and colouring pens in case we have children in the family. Nikolas and I also bought pens, rubbers, paper etc, to hand out to any children we met on Taquile Island. You can´t give them sweets as there is no real dental care, so this they could use at school!

We boarded the boat and headed off through the algae covered water. A bit further out, however, the water became clear, with the distant hills reflected in it, as well as the ever increasing clumps of reeds. We sat on top of the boat, with the wind rippling our hair and the sun reflecting in sparkles on the water.

We rode for about an hour and arrived at Taquile Island. We went to the opposite end to that which all the other boats were headed, and walked throught the mediterranean-esque landscape. It was how I imagine the greek islands to be, with the hot sun beating down over the blue water as far as the eye can see, except for the emergence of the odd island here or there!

On this island it is the men who knit, and the married men wear a red hat (a bit like a decorative santa) while unmarried men and boys wear a simpler white and red hat. The married men also have a bag (Man Bag) full of coca leaves, which keeps them strong.

The women wear a large black shawl over their heads which has a pom pom on the end. The size of the pom pom determines whether or not they are married.

We had a lovely lunch (King Fish!) and headed back to the boat for another hour or so´s ride to Amantani Island, our home for the night.

We met our family, Maruja (Mum), Reuben (Dad) and our two teenage brothers Joel and Wilber. Nikolas was also staying at our house, and one set of grandparents also lived there. As we headed up the hill for our first glimpse of home Maruja continued knitting a hat. It was knitted circularly up like a cone, and the spare wool hung around her neck.

As the locals can't tell us apart (?!) we were all given a hat to wear, identifying us to our Mums!

We headed off to play football against the locals. As the boys were short I stepped in, and after a few bad passes instantly got told to mark the smallest child on the opposition, and even then I had to hold him still to stop him getting to the ball. I subbed myself off, but got subbed on again later in the game (through pure desperation)and was in goal. After a couple of spectacular saves ( or flukely making sure my body was in the way of the ball) I let in 4 goals in as many minutes, losing us the game. There is no glory being a goalie!

The boys continued and won the second game, so there was a golden goal decider which we also won. The first tourist team to do so!

We headed back home, and helped with dinner by shelling peas and cutting up a carrot. My limited Spanish and even less Quechuan made conversation difficult, but we got by, and having Nikolas there was like having our own personal translator. Nikolas, H and I also helped one of the boys with his English homework!

After dinner, we got ready for the party at the village hall. Mum dressed us in the local costume - two skirts heavily embroidered, an embroidered blouse, and a tight belt, which certainly held your stomach in but also your lungs! We also had a shawl to wear on our heads but I spent most of the night with it on like a stoal as it kept falling off.

We danced and we danced and we danced. Pan pipes rule ( maybe I exaggerate about the pan pipes, but the dancing was certainly fun), and before we knew it out mum was nearly asleep in the corner and it was time to go home.

The next day we said our fond farewells and headed back to the boat, for our trips to the Uros Floating Reed Islands.

These islands really do float, and are rather bouncy to walk on! We tried a bit of the reed, and looked around the tiny reed houses (one bed sleeps four, Charlie Bucket Style) before taking a reed boat to another island. Really amazing.


Then it was back to Puno for our last night in Peru!

Saturday, November 4, 2006

The One with the White Water Rafting

With most of our party at the jungle, H, Martin, Susan, Grant and I had 3 days to explore the wonderful town of Cusco at leisure.

While we had been away there had been a thunderstorm and the local church to where we were staying had been hit by lightening, knocking the cross off the bell tower, which in turn broke the stone cross at the churches door. With hail also falling, one over enthusiastic Cusconean spread panic as he ran around the square yelling that it was the end of the world. I wish I had been there - the image still makes me giggle now!

We met up with Milly again! (fab night out at the Irish Bar) before, with legs barely recovered, decided to test our arms with a bash at White Water Rafting on the Urubamba River on a level 3 rapid!

Resisting the urge to say "does my bum look big in this!" in my wetsuit and life jacket, we boarded our dingy (thankfully not the one that got a puncture and had been patched up with duck tape), and had a chance to practice the commands of forward, back paddle, left back, right back, inside, and most worryingly rock side (the one where you fly across the dingy putting all your force on the side praying that it won't capsize!)

Prepared, we headed down stream for 2 hours of arm aching fun.

I had a great time. We lost one dingy member as we paddled upstream into a rapid, but he was an austrian wuss anyway and was collected by the safety Kayak and soon returned to the boat!

We also managed to change positions in the boat, so I spent the last part at the front with a face full of water, while H was given the opportunity to steer the raft and nearly sent us crashing into the rocks!

We finished the day with a sauna and a late lunch before heading back to town, where I was unfortunately used as a cushion by a japanese tourist with a lolliping head.

The next day we purposefully lost ourselves in Cusco and found the local market selling animal stomachs, live chickens, and most gross, the muzzles of cows complete with nostrils, teeth and tongues.

We also visited the cathedral where the last supper, painted by locals features a guinea pig as the main course. How the scriptures gets that I have no idea! Also a mural of Daniel in the Lions Den features the lesser known Monkey Lion. The locals had never seen a lion and could only draw what they knew. A body of a lion looking animal with a monkeys head!

That night we joined the whole group at the Cross Keys pub(!) to watch the rugby, but as they had advertised the time wrong we took advantage of happy hour instead!

Wednesday, November 1, 2006

The One with the Final Ascent

We set off at 4.30am - don't we all look awake! - and Jimmy decided to wake all those who had insisted on partying to all hours, waking us up last night:






Is this the Way to Machu Picchu (Sung to the tune of Amarillo!)

When the day is dawning
On an Incan Wednesday Morning
How I long to be there
Machu Picchu waiting for me there.

All across the jungle (ba ba ba ba ba)
Hikers passing by (ba ba ba ba ba)
In a race to get there
To see the Sun Rise

Is this the way to Machu Picchu?
I've been walking for days just to see you
Dreaming dreams of Machu Picchu
And Machu Picchu waits for me.

We were the second group in the queue waiting for the gate to open at 5.30am, and then the "race" began. The competition between us and the other gap group was fierce. They had the leggy Dutch girl who was obviously European Power Walking Champion, but soon (at a fair trot I might add) we had passed 5 of the lead group.

Following Mauro's instructions we reached the 70 near vertical stone steps scrambling on hands and knees knowing that the end is near.

Except it wasn't.

Mauro had used poetic licence and with hearts sinking we had to carry on at a slightly slower pace allowing some of the others to overtake us. grr.

Still, we eventually reached the Sun Gate for our first views of Machu Picchu. It had taken us 35 minutes to walk the 5km - which explains why I am like a beetroot in all the pictures, and hence why they are not on here!




We had a triumphant group photo, and spent some time marvelling at our goal, nestled in the dawn, accompanied by Llamas.

We had a 2 hour tour of the site, visiting the Temple of the Sun (where the sun lines up exactly at the two Equinoxes, being channeled through the sun gate and a V shape in a mountain.)

We visited the temple of the main Creator God called APU ILLA TECSI TITI CONTIKI APU HUYUYUC PUNCHOU WIRACOCHA PACHA YACHACHIC or Mr W for short.

I, personally, was most impressed with the hitching post of the sun. Standing at the highest point of Machu Picchu , the sun hits the stone at the two solctices . The smaller stone on the top also acts as a sundial determining Anti, Inti or Conti (morning, noon or afternoon).

The stone is also a rhomboid, matching the Southern Cross constellation and lining up exactly with 4 surrounding mountains and the compass points. Plus, the top of the smaller stone slopes at a 13ยบ angle - the exact same latitude postion below the equator as where Macchu Picchu stands.

A delta force of the group (myself, H, Katy O, Jimmy and Chris) decided that our legs had not been challenged enough and decided to climb Wanaypicchu (Young Mountain) as well. Wanaypicchu is the big peak in the background of all the famous pictures, and also has ruins on the top. As we rounded the first corner and saw the steepness of the stone steps, I began question both my decision and my ability to complete the task ahead, but we ploughed on and reached the top (even having to practically crawl through a tunnel on the way!)

The way down was slightly more hairy, being scared of heights and facing some incredible steep steps down. In the truly British way, I politely stepped aside for the annoying woman complaining at my speed, and stating she had to be down by 12 noon and quitely muttered things under my breath. By the way, we reached the bottom at 11.35am, about 2 minutes after her!

Sadly, we had to leave. I could have spent a lot longer there - althougth as the train loads of people had now arrived and it was starting to get very full.

We bussed down the hill to Agua Calientes, caught the train back to Ollantaytambo, and then a bus back to Cusco. Triumphant but exhausted!