Machu Picchu

Still feeling ill, we managed to get to Machu Picchu and do it, i was very proud and in that moment it was very special, it was beautiful and everything I imagined...

There is no words to describe a place so beautiful and photos dont compare to the real thing so you have to see it for yourself!!

Cusco & The Sacred Valley

We arrived in Cusco very happy but it turned out to be a bady night, I have became very ill here in Cusco with Altitude sickness and I caught a bacterial infection it seems from the jungle.  I spent 1 night in the hospital, having oxygen and medicine.  It was a horrible experience and very painfull, i was giving medicine to take and thought i was all ok but it seems not.  After a few days, we went to machu picchu and i became very ill again, sickness and dirorhea, I pushed myself to see the sights even whilst been sick but i was glad to be back in Cusco, where right now im still in the hospital, i will be here again for 2 days.

We have had to cancel our trip of south america, i am devastated but it has to be done for my health, we will fly to lima, then rio tomorrow to catch a flight back to Scotland, for me to rest and get checked up more and of course take my medicine to recover from this infection.

Apart from the drama of been sick, my beloved wife took care of me and has been by myside at all times, so thank you Zaira.  I love you with all my heart..

On a good note, Cusco was a beautiful city and i was taken very well care of, the hospital here is very nice, the staff are friendly, i have everything private and even tv and wi-fi, so its all ok.

The sacred valley was very beautiful also, everything is beautiful in life and here...

The Amazon Jungle

When you think of the Amazon Jungle, what do you think of? Bugs, Danger, Dirt and a vast amount of Trees, well its completely TRUE!! The Amazon represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests, and it comprises the largest and most species-rich tract of tropical rainforest in the world.

We arrived in Puerto Maldonado which is the Peruvian side of the Amazon, we didnt know what to expect but the town of Puerto Maldonado was small, dirty and very basic, isolated from everything really.  We were excited to get to the Amazon as soon as possible and finally our tour guide picked us up on the oldest bus ive seen ever I think...

The ride was scary to get to the port to catch our boat to the amazon jungle lodges, the roads were bascially mud, and an old bus and mud, DO NOT MATCH... hehe but we made it finally.
We jumped on the boat, again it seemed very old and basic...looking scared we jumped in and we were on our way.  An hour and a half later we arrived at our lodges in the jungle, with a little rest and lunch we went for an evening boat ride on the Amazon river to look for Caymans, these are basically Peruvian Aligators.  We managed to see a few, it was a productive and interesting night.

The following day it was an early start and it was time to get dirty in the jungle, we began a jungle trail for the Amazon, with over 6 hours of walking and seeing a lot of the jungle, we were very tired and smelly but it felt good to have achieved it :-)

The next day was new years eve, to celebrate new years eve we went for a different trail walk again and catched a canoe, we started rowing around and spotting some beautiful birds.  gain we had to rest after this day before new years night came, to celebrate we first went for another trail in the jungle to look for insects, spiders, snakes and anything else which would appear...  This trail was the scariest but it ended up been fun and we did manage to see some snakes, toads and other weird insects.

We had a new years dinner and fell asleep before midnight even came upon us but it was one of the best new years ive ever spent.

Whilst in the Amazon it made us think about the outside world, we lived in little lodges without electricty, hot water or any electrical appliance, it was really interesting to do and it makes you think about how much we depend on this modern world we live in.  This experience has made us see how lucky we are to live in a world so beautiful but we made us realize how we have adapted in a modern era to make it even better.

People dont get to see the natural beauty of the world though which is a shame as it doesnt compare to anything else in the world, im very proud that we have seen somthing so special to the planet.  It was a great new years eve.

After 3 days of not washing were happy to be traveling to Cusco!





Lima

Lima is the capital and largest city of Peru.  It has a population fast approaching 9 million, Lima is also the fifth largest city in Latin America, behind Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro.  Lima has been defined as a beta world city.

Arriving in Lima, we never knew what to expect... was it going to be as crazy and dirty as Rio de Janeiro?  Well it was crazy but surprisenly not as dirty...the grass was very green and some parts of the city where really taken care of.

We had just one and a half days to see the sights of Lima so we had to move fast and limit ourselves on what was best to see.  Miraflores is a cute little neighbourhood with the beach, nice bars & resturants, with everything close by and a tourists heaven, but this isnt really Lima? so we took a trip into downtown, to the hussel and bussel and it was crazy, total LOCA! loud, with so much traffic, we noticed there isnt many traffic lights here or little green men to say when its safe to cross the road...  Also the taxi drivers have a cage wrapped around them whilst driving, I guess for protection?

Anyway the hitsorical part if Lima was nice, many beautiful squares, churches and buildings.  We took many hours going from one place to another, the heat was unbearable at times but we made it out alive!  People like to stare here, it felt like we were pop stars and that we were the attraction, one guy actually took a picture of us, how strange...but everyone was friendly enough which was nice.

We are now packing and heading to Puerto Maldonado for our trip to the Amazon Jungle!!