White water rafting

Hi all,

This will most likely be the last blog post until at least next Thursday Melbourne time. Last night we had our inca trail briefing and the four day hike is now just two days away! I'll give you a bit of a run down on what happens....

On Saturday (very early Sunday morning Melbourne time) we head off to a small village called Ollaytantambo (don't ask me how to pronounce that, I keep calling it 'the O place'!!). We spend the day here and then at midnight Monday Melbourne time we head off on the inca trail. We are leaving all of our big backpacks and suitcases in Cusco and we take a small daypack and a duffle bag that we are allowed to have 6kg in including a sleeping bag and air mattress that a porter will carry for us, meaning I can only take 2kg of belongings plus anything I can be bothered carrying on my back. I won't have the iPad with me. 

After we leave for the inca trail it goes for four days. Here's the rundown our guide Israel for the inca trail gave us:

Day 1 - Fairly straightforward. Six hours of walking. 

Day 2 - Hell. 8-9 hours of walking pretty much uphill all day. Ascending a total of 1000m. I've heard this day is awful! Highest point we reach is 4219m at 'Dead Woman's Pass'. 

Day 3 - The longest day. Ten hours of walking, mostly downhill. 

Day 4 - We get up at 3.30am so the porters make it to Machu Picchu in time for their train. We get to Machu Piccu about midnight Melbourne time and then have a tour and explore by ourselves a bit. Then we get a bus and train back to Cusco and collapse in a heap!

As well as this, the wifi at this hotel is awful. I posted yesterday's blog in a restaurant and am doing the same with today's. So even after the inca trail, when we have two nights in Cusco it'll still be hard to put the blog up. But I will bring the iPad to dinner those nights so I can hopefully post the blog. Worst case I think I could use the computer in reception :)

Anyway. So I'm feeling a bit less nervous about the inca trail now. I feel a lot more prepared. I've gotten out all the clothes I'm going to take. Lots of other people are bringing thermals and proper hiking gear, but I just couldn't justify that going for a whole year. So I'm bringing leggings, shorts, tights for at night, four tops, a jumper, a poncho and my rain jacket. Please keep your fingers crossed for us all that it doesn't rain much at all and that my throat is ok!!! I picked up my duffle bag at the meeting. You have to remember your number to identify it and mine is #12 - I'm Luke Ball! Easy to remember. 

Last night after the meeting we went out for dinner for Kathleen's birthday. I was absolutely exhausted and my stomach was playing up but I managed to eat a full meal and then collapsed into bed when we got back!!

Today 11 of us went white water rafting. We drove for about 1 hour 40 minutes southwest of Cusco. The scenery was absolutely beautiful! I had previously been white water rafting in 2006 with the family on the Tully River with in Queensland. At that time I was terrified because four months prior I had nearly drowned at the beach in Phillip Island. But this time I wasn't scared at all! We had rapids up to class 4. I held on tight and didn't fall in apart from a practice run where we were told to fall in on purpose! We passed beautiful mountains, waterfalls and you'll see how lovely it was in all the photos! Our team did so well. It was me, Ash, Rachel, Courtney and Kathleen. Girl power! The others had three boys. We did awesome! We also went cliff diving halfway through - no fear for that either! Don't think, just do. That's fast becoming my attitude for scary things. 

We had our included lunch afterwards which was delicious. It had chicken, bread with cinnamon in it, veggies and rice. Yum!!! On the drive back we nearly got in an accident. People drive like psychopaths here! We were overtaking a truck with a corner coming up and I had just thought to myself that someone might come around the corner when a double decker bus did! We just squeezed past in time - phew! Fun fact I learned on the bus too - eucalyptus trees were introduced here from Australia in the 1950s by the Spanish!

This afternoon Ash, Rachel and I went to the Coca Museum. It was really interesting! My student card is coming in very handy. I'm not technically a student anymore but the student card I got from the travel agent says I am until October - yay! Every museum we go to once I show the card they assume everyone else is a student too!!

We learned a lot about coca. The legend of the coca leaves comes from a goddess Koka who was green and had almond shaped eyes. Every man who laid eyes on her fell in love with her. Eventually she was wreaking havoc so the Incan leader ordered her to be killed. Her body parts were dispersed across the land and wherever they were, coca leaves sprouted out of the ground. The same colour as her and almond shaped like her eyes. 

Coca leaves provided the incas with energy and calcium. They are 20% protein and are good for arthritis, osteoporosis, depression and digestion. We also learned that coca leaves are still used in Coca Cola, but the cocaine alkaloid is isolated and not included. Initially when Coca Cola was created it was included though!! And advertised as a way to fix headaches and fatigue. Interesting! There was also an exhibit about Sigmund Freud which I like because I can use that in my Psychology teaching (he is in the year 12 course). 

After this we packed for the inca trail. I'm right on 2.5kg which is the maximum. Feeling more organised now :)

Right now we are at dinner. The four of us and Anthony. I had better go and stop being antisocial! Three course meal and a wine for $10 Aussie - I love Peru! The view is amazing too. Picture included below!

So it's goodbye for now everyone. I may possibly post tomorrow if we have wifi in the small village before the inca trail. But I'll say goodbye now just in case. Please keep your fingers crossed for me that my throat is ok and that it doesn't rain too much! And while you are all sleeping in Melbourne Wednesday night we will arrive at Machu Picchu. I will try and post that night if I don't collapse of exhaustion. Thank you so much for reading so far, I've had so much positive feedback about the blog and am glad you're all loving it. 

Miss you all, thinking of you all, and any time I doubt I can go further up the hill (especially day 2!!) I will think of you all to spur me on!

Lots of love to all

Claire

Xoxox 

PS: The last photo is a joke of part of the Sistine Chapel paintings. Instead of giving Adam knowledge, god is giving him coca leaves!!