Peru: Amazon Rainforest, Inca Trail Trek, Lake Titicaca

Ive finished my Geckos tour now, the 17 days just flew by. The main highlights were the Amazon Rainforest, the Inca trail trek and Lake Titicaca. The Amazon Rainforest was really great, we stayed at these lodges in the forest which were really beautiful but with no electricity (cold showers, yikes!) and we had excursions and activities and the such. For example, we went pirana fishing and I caught one! (we let them go again afterwards), ok so it wasnt very big but it was still a pirana. And we also went for a night hike which was probably my favourite activity, especially when we were all standing in a swamp shining out torches into caimans eyes (small crocodiles) very close by and then our guide tells us to turn our torches off to enjoy the atmosphere of the jungle! Some girls sounded like they were about to hyperventilate, but i thought it was fun. I loved it, it probably didnt hurt that I had another mini but secret romance there.

The Inca trail trek was, ummm, interesting, Machu Picchu is as amazing as I thought. The first 2 days I was sick. During the second day, which is the hardest, I thought at times I wasnt going to be able to get up those passes, the altitude nearly killed me, and I seriously wondered why I had ever thought it a good idea. I practically crawled up the second pass, the last one in our group by a fair way. But it turns out I kick arse on the downhill, overtaking heaps of people and I actually made it to camp first that day, yay for me! The second night it poured with rain and everything was wet and the water started coming into our tents, so we decided to finish the trek in 3 days rather than 4 and stay in a hostel, which was such a great idea particularly as it rained again that night.

We stayed in Cusco for a few days, which is a fabulous place, and some of us went for a horse ride with this random guy we met on the road who turned out to be a Quechua teacher who gave us an amazing tour with a Quechuan spiritual cleansing as well, it was fabulous.

Towards the end of our tour we visited lake Titicaca where we had a homestay on one of the Islands, most of our group was a bit hesitant about the homestay, but it turned out to be fantastic. My family was so nice and welcoming, the food they cooked was delicious and we got to dress up in traditional dress and go to a party. It was definitely a highlight of my trip.

Other than that we went to the black market in Cusco, the Witches market in La Paz, in Puno there was a disturbed man screaming and cutting his arms with a knife and that was pretty much the tour.

20 Jan 2008