Cusco and Sacred Valley

Been a while, last time we were just on the overnight bus to Cusco, which was another pretty decent 12 hour ride, albeit in luxurious conditions once again. Corry especially slept like a baby lamb. Arrived early in the morning and went up to our hostel which was a pretty cool place. Bit of time for a shit, shower, shave then we headed off on our city tour of Cusco, which really is a marvellous place, potentially a top 5 of the trip (especially for Corry, good bless the wee fella). Went for a look around the main plaza then to some of the local markets, where most people do their shopping. Could buy all sorts of junk there, including any type of fruit, cheese and meat which was stored hygenically on a table with flies partying all over it. yum yum. Good fresh fruit juice tho, and cost next to nothing. Afterwards we went up to a local shop which makes all sorts of chocolates and teas and employs a lot of disabled and marginalised people. really good stuff there and most of went away with a bunch of stuff, some of the girls even bought viagra infused chocolate knowingly/unknowingly. our guide then took the three lads (me, corry and aussie tim) off to the black market while the girls wandered around cusco shopping etc, not our scene tho would have been interesting to watch the two girls who got tattoos. black market was pretty crazy, amazingly cheap electronics, clothes, shoes, food etc, Sir Corry bought an oasis dvd live in rio for 3 soles, about 1 NZ. ollie the guide then took us to the porters soccer competition. pretty sure we were just there to watch but we ended up entering a team Aquipo Gringo (Team Gringo) which went rather well. Had a couple of cervezas before the games and was playing at altitude which didnt help matters, in fact was absolutely buggered most of the time, but the first game we won 1-0 thanks to a left foot rocket from an acute angle thanks to Striker Wild. Shocked the team of porters who had nothing to offer in return although some strong defence from Aus Tim (in bare foot), Ollie and our Inca Trail guide Miguel as well as some nifty goal keeping from El Capatain Corry didnt go amiss. That win put us into the semi-finals where we went up 1-0 early thanks to another goal up front from myself (nutzed the keep then went on to celebrate with the famous ´shoe shine incident´). However, altitude and cerveza took their toll and we went downhill fast, eventually falling 3-1 to a team of guides and porters, good times tho. After that we found an Irish Pub (famous scenes there later after the Inca Trail) and watched the aussies smash the frogs at union over a cheeseburger and more cerveza. Pretty buggered after that so wandered back to the hostel for a nap, which turned into a long sleep so me and the big guy both missed the group dinner. went for a pizza instead then had our briefing with our inca trail guides (Miguel and Fabian) back at the hostel before crashing once more. Early start the next day but some time to kill so went down to Jacks restaurant (famous to travellers) for a massive big breakfast and milkshake, superb cuisine. Back at the hostel hopped back on the bus to the Sacred Valley, where the Inca Trail starts, couple of hours from Cusco. Did a couple of activities (pottery making, chocolate making) with some local families before having lunch at a local restaurant. Discovered a mean game called Sapo, not going to attempt to explain cos its a bit bizarre (basically you throw copper coins into holes on a board including one which is a frog) but definitely going to make a set when i return. addictive. no surprises that corry was rubbish and owes the tour a nudie run for scoring no points in one round. then cruised off to the hostel at Ollantay Town, stopping along the way for Mount Corry to erupt with a fiery vomit which came from nowhere, lucky it was just a once off and the wee fella didnt actually get sick. When we got to Ollantay did a warm up hike up the hills to look at some old Inca Ruins and got a stunning view of the start of the Trail as well as the Town and its surrounds. Really cool little town. Corry struggled his way up, good display of courage on an empty stomach, the guy is a machine. Had dinner on return at a restaurant supporting abused women and children, really good food (vege burgers especially), then one more briefing as we were starting the Trail the following day. Was going to have an early night but Clowno Corry somehow broke his bed (classic photo) so we had to switch rooms and were on top of some guys having a bit of a party. Kept us up for a while. There was a hole in the floor tho so Mr Corry started pouring water through it on top of them which shut them up a bit. Next morning, Inca Trial... Hope you all look forward to the next post - Inca Trail and Machu Picchu, Anthony Corry (a.k.a El Clowno) has promised to enter the game and write the next one so I unfortunately cant promise it´ll be a great read. The guy is fairly retarded as you may have guessed by now. In Bolivia now, about to head off to Potosi, famous for mining including Cerro Rico (the mountain that eats men) where about 8 million people have died mining during the last 400-500 years. Then off to Salt Flats which promises to be excellent. Adios