Topic: Peru
As this was our final day, we thought we would be able to have a nice lie in to say, 5.30. No such luck. If we had any hope of seeing Peru's national bird, the cock of the rock who lives in the cloud forest, we had to be on the move by 4.30 at the latest. Nicolas gave us a shout at 4am and by 4.23 we were in the truck eating bananas.
When it was just about light, we stopped at a place where you could peer through an opening at a place where the male cocks pick up females. We spotted something red in the trees - it was the guy himself! Funny looking fella. Big, bright scarlet with no sign of a beak. We watched 2 males for a while until breakfast was ready. After breakfast, we walked through the beautiful cloud forest for a while. I loved the cloud forest. the air seemed crisp and cool and thin compared to the thick, soupy, festering air in the rain forest. The path was lined with rich ferns and beautiful wild orchids. There were no mozzies, but a few strange butterflies.
The truck picked us up. Nicolas, full of cheer as ever, told us that because of the rain, there had been a landslide on the road ahead and we might not make it to Cusco. We found out later that a bus full of passengers had perished on that road but we had a smooth ride back.
As we came nearer to Cusco, we passed through small towns specialising in particular food - bread in one place, Cuy (guinea pig) in another and pork in another. We stopped at the pork one for a set lunch. The first restaurant was rejected (thank god) because the special of the day was stomach. David and Vaila seemed disappointed. We went to a place that had bits of fat and scraps on the menu instead.
We arrived in Cusco around 3pm and said goodbye to Nicolas, Cristian and the driver. They seemed pleased with our tips and we wished them a happy Christmas. We arranged to meet Vaila, Mark and Ann on Christmas day for lunch.
We checked into the Royal Inca hotel. Luxury beyond our wildest imagination (all relative). Crisp sheets, clean bathroom, separate sitting room downstairs, phone, balcony, carpet. Our first job was to get clean and get our laundry done. Then it was to eat. Then sort out an apartment in Buenos Aires for after Christmas.
Amazingly, we couldn't sleep. I had slept fine in tents in the rain, in lodges full of insects and on hard mattresses with damp sheets, but I couldn't sleep there. I think it must have been because of re acclimatizing to the high altitude again - we had gone up 2000m that day. The following nights were fine.
Posted by jo mynard
at 12:01 AM
