We then hotfooted back into Peru to meet Sophie´s sister for her birthday in Cuzco, the home of Incas and cheese and fruit pizza, (a nice waiter in a restaurant thought this would be a great birthday suprise. it had this effect...)
We spent 2 weeks with Fran and Rhod ( soon to be mr and mrs frod!) and their mega pap machine which unsuprisingly takes better photos than our Sony ´my first camera´, so here´s a link to their blog for some HD fun.
As the Inca Trail was closed due to the floods in January we had to entertain ourselves with the many, many small walls of The Sacred Valley, which were still Incaredibly pretty (boom boom) and allowed us to escape the constant offerings of massages, weed, fossilised Inca feet and ponchos of Cusco´s plaza.
The lack of tourists due to the lack of Machu Picchu meant that Sophie had the choice of all the small woven bags a girl could ever want. or not want. A bag, a massage and a small fury llama for only $20, now there´s a bargain!
Throw in some dye and you´ve got yourself a deal.....
Instead of moaning about Macchu Picchu we decided to take on a trejk to its less glamorous but far sexier sister, Choquequirau, which is only reached by a 4 day hike there and back climbing to 4000 metres from 1500, pretty damn hard. Nevertheless, Fran, Sophie and her baggy leggings were up for the challenge.
However actually carrying our own gear was asking a bit much so we persuaded this mule to help out.
Along the way we made friends with some animals,
we became quite close to Hyacinth Bouquet here, though we have a feeling she´s probably now in some kind of bizarre soup. A predicament that doesn´t require such an accomplished hairstyle.
but we had to focus and get to the top!
where we were rewarded with spectacular views,
amazing Inca ruins,
and new levels of style in the hair department for Dave.
We were also treated to the national dish as a reward, Cuy. Or roast guinea pig, which had it not come whole with brain, hands and wide open mouth included, could have easily passed for chicken.
But we couldn´t have had this much fun with a chicken. Hell No.
After a good 2 weks of Inca fun, we sadly said goodbye to Fran and Rhod but hello to the, erm, Beatles! Its uncanny.
We headed up the coast in a mammoth 2 day bus expedition and crossed over into Ecuador just in time for Quito´s distinctive Semana Santa celebrations on good friday. This is supposed to be a really sombre, formal parade symbolising penitence and sacrifice, but here they added their own twist by including reggaeton and ice cream...
and Cher.
Everyone was so excited...
Anyway, we spent the last weekend before starting our second jungle project looking around Cuenca and Quito, two beautiful cities;
eating strawberries,
shopping for Panama hats, which they make here in Ecuador. madness,
and cutting Dave´s hair in the style of one Vanilla Ice.
Last day before the off we thought would be best spent at the equator seeing which way round the water drains and throwing some crazy shapes over that there line.
Now its off to the jungle again, so goodbye from Dave and Donald Trump!
