Machu Piccu ... check

Well we have checked Machu Piccu (Old Mountain: Quecha) off our list having done the four day Inca trail. To be quite honest we are pretty disappointed. The trail MUST be done now in a tour group. This is good in some ways, the porters only carry 43kgs on their backs, the rubbish is weighed on the way out and the number of ppl is limited to 500 per day. Still seeing that many trekkers is way to claustrophobic for the likes of us used to more pristine conditions. The pass on day two we saw thin figures on the pass, that as we got closer precipitated out of the fog into the forms of backpackers waving the Union jack wildly or chanting in French Ros got sick on day two and is even now laid up in bed with bacterial infections of the throat and intestines. I have her dosed up ciprofloxin and she has me running around like her mother. I managed just now to sneak out and send a quick mail while she sleeps. The city of M.P. itself was the best bit, being an almost complete site, and we did get a sneak peak before the other tourists were bused in.

The trek up Auzengate is most likely out, Ros has lost her spirit for a short while at least. Cuzco is a gringoville and the majority seem to be French for some reason, not Israelis, which is a surprise.

So next will most likely be Bolivia, were there are some ongoing protests against the gov. for not filtering any of the money given by the US to the campesinos. It was given for allowing the US to spray the coca crops and now they have no money and nothing to eat. They in turn are blocking the roads and making it generally difficult to get around. The border between Peru and Bolivia is also in a state of flux, so hopefully it will be open when we get there.