I left Ayacucho for Lima to once again become a hostel-staying backpacker. Over the course of three days I was joined by four friends: Ciarán Aylward (Lima was his first stop on a round the world trip); Antonio (a Mexican guy I met in Mexico City last year); and Ciaran Luttrell and John O'Leary (who came to Peru for a two week holiday).
After showing the lads around Lima, the five of us flew to Arequipa where we rented a jeep and hit for the Colca Canyon. I hiked here six months earlier when I first got to Peru but was happy to do it again as the scenery is stunning. After a nice hike we spent a memorable night at the bottom of the full moon-lit canyon.
Back in Arequipa we discovered that in typical Peruvian style the only road to Cusco was blocked as part of a dispute. All the reputable bus companies cancelled their services, but as we had to get to Cusco to start the Inca Trail we took a chance and went with one of the few companies that were operating. This involved having to get off the bus at 4am to walk with our bags past all the blocked vehicles and through the roadblock to a bus that was waiting on the other side. But it all worked out and we made it on time to Cusco - the backpacker capital of South America.It was nice to finally get there as I had heard so much about this city, the former capital of the Inca empire. Here we met up with Elaine, my former Ranelagh housemate, and her four Cork friends who are travelling in South America for four months on their way to Australia - after travelling solo for so long, I was now surrounded by people I knew!
After the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu (more about this in my next blog entry), I flew back to Lima with Ciaran and John for the last night of their holiday. Unfortunately we couldn't have a drink to celebrate as the "ley seca" meant that no alcohol was allowed to be sold in Peru for the three days leading up to the elections - imagine if they tried to bring that rule in in Ireland!
It was a great two weeks and I'm happy to be back on the road again.
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