Back on the road we took an obscenely early bus to Arequipa. A place famed for it's churches and Colonial buildings made, as our guidebook explained, from white glittering volcanic rock. Expecting something as sparkly as showgirls underwear we were, unsurprisingly, let down....mmm, we thought, the place had been a tad oversold to us...not a single glittery building to be seen! We quickly put the massive disappointment behind us though and headed off to canyon country along with Shane and Colleen,  a couple from Canada we had met in Ecuador. Our plan was simple....spend a couple of days trekking independently through Canyon del Colca, staying in quaint little lodges and oases along the way. After a couple of Alpaca-meat sandwiches (yes they are good for more than just wool) and one rather overcrowded bus we arrived in Cabanaconda, stored our bags, took the last hot shower we would have for several days and set off on a six hour hike. Along the way we stopped to watch an inactive geyser.... exciting stuff.... before arriving at our first stop conveniently located alongside some hot springs, perfect for soothing those achy muscles. We spent a night in a quaint little hut made predominantly from mud and dead bugs before setting off again on what turned into a gruelling seven hour slog. A large part of our day was spent walking uphill, catching fleeting moments of respite from the blistering sun behind the occasional cactus....a plant not best known for it's shading properties! When we finally arrived at the oasis exhausted and with a fair few blisters on our feet we checked into another mud hut and headed straight to the pool.....yep we had another pool!
The following day we had intended to trek out of the canyon but nobody could quite face leaving so soon. Instead we chilled out, resting our aching bones and blistered feet and chatting to the several tour groups who arrived in the afternoon. Much gloating was to be had at the fact they had all spent so much cash on a tour while we had spent peanuts in comparison. We could have stayed even longer but our time in Peru was beginning to run short, plus we were becoming a little bored of every meal being rice and veg. So we reluctantly pulled on our hiking shoes and began the climb out of the canyon after which we caught a bus back to Arequipa on the promise of a hot shower. A promise that quickly evaporated. Upon our arrival in Arequipa we found the entire city in the midst of a water cut, we couldn't even flush the loo which believe me after a few hours wasn't pretty! Eventually the water was turned back on but the shower gods were not finished with us. After a teasing thirty seconds of scalding hot water the shower went cold and that's exactly how it stayed....great....
With personal hygiene at an all time low we headed off to Puno to check out Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world. We checked into a hotel on the promise of that elusive hot shower....it remained elusive. We are honestly at a loss as to the local opinion of what constitutes hot water....the hoteliers will, with a completely straight face, stand there with their hands under a freezing cold shower trying to convince you its hot. No amount of telling them it wouldn't melt ice cubes cuts it! At an altitude of around 4000 metres it gets very chilly at night so we were starting to worry about post-shower hypothermia!
 With ice for blood we signed up for a trip out to see the famous Uros floating islands.... islands made entirely from reeds. To say it is a tourist trap would be an understatement but it is a must see and so off we went. In all fairness it was ok... Sam won a prize for guessing the depth of the water under the island, a tacky plastic necklace and a big sloppy kiss from a rather well fed lady.... no tongues though! As we left, the local ladies lined up along the islands edge and serenaded us in an ancient Incan dialect. We were pondering the meaning of this old and mysterious song as it echoed out hauntingly over the lake towards us up until the point they neatly switched into English... a near perfect version of 'row row row your boat' then accompanied us on our way.
Leaving Puno behind us, along with another year for one of us, we arrived in Cusco and set about working out whether we would actually be able to visit the famous ruins of Machu Picchu. Due to the recent weather conditions and resulting landslides the ruins had been closed for the previous couple of months and had only just reopened while the Inca Trail still remained shut. The train company, which has something of a monopoly over reaching the ruins, was operating a severely reduced service due to track damage and was covering only the last half of the journey, of course though they weren't charging half the price... The only other option open to us, aptly named 'the backdoor route' involved several days of local buses, hitch hiking and trekking. However rumours were rife that tickets for the site could only be bought if you had a return train ticket.... and of course the train itself was fully booked out for months ahead. Things really weren't looking good.
We visited the local tourist office hoping for some clarification and turned on the charm. Luckily for us most Peruvians don't like the train company as they are preventing a road from being built to the site and therefore the lady we spoke with was pretty helpful, giving us all the info we needed on how to make it to the site independently. We set off early on Easter Sunday, all of us wary that even if we made it to Agua Calientes, the gateway town to Machu Picchu, we might still find ourselves unable to buy a ticket for the ruins.... 
Along the way we got chatting to a little old local lady who lived in Agua Calientes. In our best Spanish we told her our plan and she quickly talked us out of it. She and her hubby were also going to Agua Calientes but via a different route so persuaded us to go along with them.... after all, she explained, it was quicker and cheaper! Trusting in local knowledge we agreed to follow our Easter Bunny down the proverbial rabbit hole.... which turned out to be a long rabbit hole... a mere 30km or 7 hour walk along the train tracks. She was about to do this walk carrying a calor gas canister which must have weighed about 15kg and a large bag containing a stove. Looking at the small bags we were carrying we couldn't really back out with any intact pride so we joined this little merry band of locals and headed out. Along the way they explained how over the last couple of months they have had no choice but to walk in and out to get food supplies every few days...we really had no reason to complain!
After a quick lunch stop we got chatting to the hubby who, as it turns out, was a guide. What luck! He took over 'gringo babysitting' and happily led us along an 'alternative' Inca Trail pointing out old ruins and medicinal plants along the way. All the time we were walking parallel to the original Inca Trail and not having to pay a penny.... pretty cool! Even when we started slowing him down our gratis guide refused to leave us and when we finally arrived tired and hungry he found us a cheap hostel. Along the way we tried to thank him by buying him lunch...he refused, we tried to buy him a couple of beers when we arrived.... again he refused. After much arm twisting he finally agreed to take a bottle of Coca Cola... what a great guy.... he was just happy to see tourists returning!
Having come all that way we hurried down to the ticket office only to find a bunch of tourists arguing heatedly with the guy behind the counter. Not a good sign, or so we thought. As it turned out they had four non-refundable spare tickets they were arguing the case to get refunds for and we were conveniently in the market for four tickets....what luck! After negotiating a discount with them (foolishly they wanted full price) we had our tickets and the miracle was complete! After taking a day out to rest and visit some more hot springs we finally got to visit the ruins and snap the photo that made us want to go travelling halfway around the world in the first place....!
And that was that. We trekked back out along the train tracks, parted ways with our Canadian friends and headed off to catch our flight. Our Peruvian and pretty much our world adventure was practically over. Peru had been an interesting place. We will never forget Inca Kola, a luminous yellow and sickly tasting fizzy drink that gives coca cola a run for it's money and of course ceviches, a dish of raw fish marinated in lemon and spices....we're pencilling in a parasite test for when we get back!
Only 5 days in the big apple left. A second bite of American Pie awaits us, our main aim, aside from seeing that great big green statue, is to find a decent hotdog....we still haven't recovered from the disappointment of the hotdogs in Los Angeles! | 