Once we left Pisco and our most amazing hostel hosts (our surrogate parents for the night) we returned to gloomy Lima for a quick day of sightseeing and a chinese “Chifa” fix in Chinatown. It’s never as good as we hope… (A bit like the pizzas in South America)
Looming over us, the prospect of four days hiking on the Inca trail. Cusco, a short flight from Lima, was one of the primary Inca cities all them days ago before the Spanish pillaged and made themselves at home. It is a great mix of Inca ruins and colonial buildings and churches. However to be honest we spent most of our time trying to catch our breath (3300m) and avoid theives! Three days were spent breathing heavily, eating Gringo food and generally lazing about in order to acclimatise. Met a great couple on our way to Cusco (Hi Dave and Aileen!) who were set to do the Inca Trail with us but due to an unfortunate turn of events – damned pikey Cusco theives – lost theit gear and had to drop out. There’s now a couple of Peruvians trying to pass as Irish physiotherapists with their passports…
We may mock, but unfortunately we were victim to the Cusco theivery racquet… fortunately only a few soles and adirty bag to which Fran was quite attached…
So, three days pass and on the eve of the hike we met the rest of the group (minus Dave and Aileeen) in order to familiarise ourselves with the days ahead. We met Orlando and Maurlo (Peruvian Borat) and Selso (porter cheif) and a breif introduction to the others with that awkward atmosphere of people sizing each other up (who are the slow coaches??). The whole occasion put our nerves at rest, ready for an early night and an alarm set for 5am…
