"Deepest Darkest Peru"

Anywayz, after the oppressive heat of B.A, I flew into a place called Arequipa, in southern Peru.. saw a couple of 500yr old sacrificed ice-mummies in the local museum & then went on a 2 day tour of the Colca canyon, the 2nd deepest canyon in the world, looking for Condors. The deepest canyon is a few miles away, but less accessible without a serious amount of trekking... need I say more?!

Travelled to Cusco next, which is the popular base for visits to Macchu Picchu & the 4 day Inca trail. Even though i´d already been at altitude for a few days, I hadn´t counted on having to climb (precisely) 115 steps to my hostel! Even after 10 days in & around the area, I still couldn´t climb these damned steps without panting like a dog! This one time ("at band camp") it was pelting it down, so I ran up the last 30 steps to the hostel, got to my dorm room with 4 people sleeping at 3pm (this is what travellers do!) and spent the next 10 minutes trying to recover, with my head buried deep in my pillow trying to suppress the heavy breathing! I´d just like to point out that this IS due to the thin air at altitude & not my lack of fitness!

At one point I challenged myself to walk twenty paces without stopping... and lasted about twelve!

Anyway, "I survived the Inca Trail!" and it wasn´t as bad as a lot of people say. The 2nd day was really hard in that it was a relentless 5hr uphill grind starting at 2700m altitude, climaxing at 4200m (3X the height of Ben Nevis!) At one point I challenged myself to walk twenty paces without stopping... and lasted about twelve! But it´s not so much that you´re physically tired, more a case, as i´ve said, of just being so breathless at that altitude with such thin air. A real challenge, but loads of fun & the scenery quite breathtaking (no pun intended!)

On the 3rd day, one of the guys in my party actually fell off the Inca trail!! 100m before or after & he would no doubt have fallen to his death, but I guess he got lucky. The funny thing was, he stayed in the bush long enough so we could all take photos of him!! Funnier still, the next day, at Macchu Picchu, he (again) fell 6ft off an ancient Inca terrace in front of a bunch of tourists! No comment!