Miss Maps Goes Solo

Happy New Year everyone!

During the day on new years eve we took a tour to the Sacred Valley, an amazing area between Cusco and Machu Picchu with fantastic scenery, great ruins and cute towns. We loved it, although none of us are suited to doing guided tours and we all felt a bit rushed. In one place the incas built a prison into the side of a mountain. It was just lots of little individual rooms overlooking the town and the important inca buildings on the other side of the valley. Apparently they would put the lazy people up there, they could see what they were missing below, good idea. Oh, and we stopped off for lunch and I ate guinea pig and alpaka (llama) on the same plate! Llama was bloody lovely, guinea pig was hideous. Maybe because I had two legs and they were still hairy.

We had a pretty good night, we sat with our legs hanging out of the hostel window and let off fireworks over the town. That was definitely one of those “this is why I saved all that money for 2 years” moments. After that we danced, drank way too much rum and staggered into our dorm at 4am to find that my mobile phone and my stinky trainers had been stolen. Not a big deal in the whole scheme of things but after so much alcohol I cried like a baby, I loved having that phone and I needed the trainers for white water rafting.

So this is how I think I´ve changed. Me, scared of water, terrible swimmer, non-sporty Sharleen went WHITE WATER RAFTING and loved it! Justine was off on the inka trail so Pip and I headed 2 hours south of Cusco for two days of throwing ourselves around on rapids in a rubber boat. I couldn´t have been more scared. Day one was class 2 and 3 rapids which is the lower level. After strapping myself into a really attractive wetsuit and life jacket (see photos), we stood around and listened to our instructor as he told us how to live if the boat flipped, I thought I was going to throw up. 3 boats headed out on the lower section and after about 20 minutes I couldn´t take the smile off my face. It´s so much fun. Apart from the constant fear of falling into the rapids and smashing your face open on a rock of course.

2 hours later I was totally soaked, freezing cold, exhausted and incredibly happy. The camp site had a sauna, absolute genius, anything less and I don´t think we ever would´ve warmed up. It turned out that Pip and I were the only ones staying there which was actually lovely. Our guide walked us up to the local village, Cusapati which is the indigenous language for Happy Town. It was possibly the least gringo place I´ve ever been to and really friendly. I loved the pigs running around the streets.

One note on animals and Peru. The RSPCA would have a lot of work here. I´m not going to preach because I understand that in a third world country they´re not going to treat their animals like humans as we do in England. I´ve seen some horrible stuff though, donkeys with their front legs tied together so they don´t run away but they have to hop everywhere, dogs being kicked and whipped, all sorts. Santiago (our guide) told us how they cut one ball off the bulls, horses and donkeys to make them work harder, apparently it makes a difference and of course they don´t put them to sleep first.

Anyway, we bought a few beers in “happy town” and spent the evening chatting to Santiago and eating popcorn. We each had our own tent and went to bed pretty early, wearing as many clothes as possible, it was bloody freezing! The scenery was amazing to wake up to, I opened my tent to see the rushing river with huge mountains behind it covered in cloud, magic.

Day two was up to class 4+ rapids, that´s serious. On the first day one of the guides flipped a boat on purpose, just because they do that sometimes. Apparently some people think it´s part of the fun! We had to go and rescue this poor girl who was floating down the rapids and seriously panicking. So I was pretty terrified that the same would happen and made sure my guide knew I wouldn´t be impressed. I might be facing my fear of water further by doing this but I´m still not a strong swimmer. The rapids were amazing, really high waves and huge holes, a couple of times we had to follow emergency commands to stop the boat from flipping, absolutely bloody terrifying. I kept going between panic, swearing at the top of my lungs, laughing like a mad woman and screaming in delight like I was on a rollercoaster. About an hour in the rain started, I felt like I was trying to survive a shipwreck.

Absolutely bloody brilliant.

So, now we´re in Aguas Calientes (literally hot water because of the hot springs here). It´s the nearest town to Machu Picchu which we´re visiting tomorrow, can´t wait! Should be some great pictures from that.

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