Sasquayway-what??!

Thursday 20th September: Cuzco, climbing up to the ruins of Sasquayman

Having given myself 24hours to adapt to the 3400m altitude shock, I decided that today I was ready for a bit more of a challenge! And so I tackled the hill directly outside of Cuzco- a 3 hour round trip up this hill/mountain. Felt quite proud of both my boots and my walking prowess! The afternoon was spent at Spanish school again, going through all they dry stuff like grammar and verbs and tenses, quite excited about how quick it is coming back! (Gracias a Patty, la mejor professora de español!).

6pm was the trek briefing and introduction to our guides and the rest of the group. I was quite nervous after walking in to the room and finding out that the rest of the team were made up of couples- Irish, Dutch, English and Australian... and one little Saffer girl! On first impressions, they seemed like a nice enough group but I was a little hesitant... Our guides- Mauro and Cesar then took us through a really thorough briefing of what to do and what not to do when we´re 4900 m above sea level (ie, drink litres of coca tea, keep warm, chew on coca leaves, walk slowly, take coca sweets!!). Coca is basically leaves from the coca plant (yes the same plant that you make cocaine from), but ofcourse at the quatity we´re chewing/drinking it, it shouldnt have the same effect hee hee! Basically, the Peruvian people have been drinking and chewing on this stuff for centuries, meant to be really good herbal medicinal stuff... It kind of reminds me of drinking Mate in Argentina...

Then it was home to pack my duffel bag with my cardboard thin mattress, arctic-style sleeping bag and some warm fleeces (only allowed 9 kilos per person!). Packing light is not my middle name... hope my donkey and porter are ready for the chicken´s arrival in the Andes!

Caribbean Chicken´s Backpacking tip:
When sitting down to eat a solo dinner in a little cafe and some friendly local guy asks to join you, and then subsequently invites you to the party of the month (which he is producing), dont forget your travel savvyness! He might just turn out to be the biggest drug dealer in Cuzco (hey, he seemed like a nice enough guy... but now it makes sense why the street kids were staring reverently at him through the window of the cafe...).