Weeks Nine & Ten?

La Paz - Copacabana - Isla del Sol y Isla del Luna - Cusco - Machu Picchu - Aguas Calientes - Cusco

La Paz, the highest capital city in the world, was a cold and difficult place to breath. We spent a night out at Cholitas Wrestling which involved traditionally dressed Bolivian woman, and costumed others, fighting WWE style. It made for a fantastic night out and a great laugh!

From La Paz we bused to Copacabana on Lake Titicaca - one of the highest altitude lakes in the world (are you catching the theme of this area?). Here we climbed the cerro (hill) next to the town and looked out on the lake. Although it was only apporximately 40m high, it took about half and hour to climb and I had to stop to catch my breath a number of times due to the altitude. The view was spectacular as the lake glistened. We then climbed the hill with inca ruins on the other side of the town. Unfortunately, noone told us we had to pay to go up, so when we got to a man who asked us to pay for our tickets we told him we werent paying as we have been ripped off a number of times in scams like this. After about 5 minutes of altercation, we marched passed him and climbed the hill anyway. I was a tad afraid of facing him again when we got down so Ollie and I scaled rocks and cliffs to go down the back of the hill. In my paranoia, I thought a young boy was following us home so the man could know where we lived. Once we got back to the hostel,the receptionist let us know that yes, we do have to pay to go up that hill... whoops!

After a night in Copacabana, we took an extremely slow boat out to Isla del Sol - an island known as the birth place of the sun. From here we walked from North to South of the island past some awesome ruins. We stayed a night on the freezing island - only once venturing down to the lake as it was steep and took us 4min to get back up the hill (again, altitude... I swear Im not that unfit). The next day we caught a boat out to Isla del Luna -  an island known as the birth place of the moon, I think. The boat left us for an hour to climb the island and wander around. From here we returned to Copacabana.

We caught an overnight bus to Cusco, Peru. We spent 3 days checking out inca ruins above the city, affectionately known as sexy woman (i.e. Sacsayhuaman). We wandered the San Pedro market, again marvelling that you can get a $NZ1.75 meal of two bowls of soup, rice, salad, lentils, meat and fruit juice. Plus loads of fresh fruit and vege for very little money. Dont be fooled though, cafes and restaurants are as expensive as home.

From Cusco, we departed at 6am for Ollantaytambo to start the Inca Trail for Machu Picchu. This was a 4 day, 3 night trek. Day one was super easy, day two was up a huge steep hill, then down the other side, day three was up and down and up and down, and day four was an hour race to get to the Sun Gate to see the sunrise at 7am. All in all it was amazing and not nearly as hard as I had envisaged. Turns out all that climbing hills at altitude paid off, and I was up there with the best of our group - granted I had Ollie carrying some of my clothes, and a porter carrying my sleeping bag and mat.

Anyhow, Machu Picchu was well worth the trek, and a really spectactular place to see. Our guide took us around for 2 hours which really helped us to respect and appreciate the Inca ruins.

Tired and worn out, we bused down to Aguas Calientes and bathed in the hot pools for an hour or so to relax our muscles. We spent a night in the small town, took a train and collectivo back to Cusco last night, and here I am again in Cusco having a relaxing day. Been shopping, cut my hair ($NZ 2.50!!! I hope I dont get nits!) and went to the chocolate museum. Time for some reading, a movie and a night at the pub.

P.S. I dont us apostrophes as they are different on this keyboard and will give you funny symbols.
P.S.S Paragraphs are back Nick!