Inca Times

Ok, gonna be brief then try and fill in a few more details later. Have mainly been in Cusco and surrounding area for the last week. Went horse riding around some Inca ruins which was good but a bit painful. The next day headed to Ollytaytambo and the sacred valley which is a really fertile area with loads of well preserved inca ruins. Would post some photos, but the website comes up in spanish over here and it´s hard enough trying to just post a blog! Anyway, it was v cool finding out that all their settlements were built in the shape of animals like llamas and condors and pumas. Did a lot of climbing that day which was good for the legs and practice for a big trek I´ve just done. The Inca trail was full but did the Lares trek instead whcih is about 30km in a slightly different direction. Was really steep the 1st day, but had lunch by a lake which was nice and the cooks did amazing work with limited resources. The 2nd day was a bit more interesting as Rachel who I was sharing a tent with got sick. She made it to lunch but then was absolutely wrecked and had to take the emergency mule to the next camp where fortunately she eventually got a bit better. Went over a pass that was nearly 5000m up and very cold and one of the horses carrying our stuff took a tumble down the mountain but fortunately was ok. Camped at 4,500m which was very cold and next day made it back to civilisation. Just made it back from Machu Pichu which was amazing, was really sunny which was great and there´s lots to see and it´s a pretty massive site. Also climbed up Wana Pichu which is the mountain next to it. Got a great view down, but it´s pretty hard work climbing up nad the route down is somewhat trechourous, like many places I´ve been to on the trip, it´s unlikely that you´d be allwed up there in england! Forgot to mention the bugs at Machu Picchu, they have eaten my legs, got about 30 bites on 1 leg and 20 on the other and I´m not exaggerating...
About to head off to the jungle tomorrow which should be fun as there´s no electricity out there.