Thursday, December 10th. A bus comes to take us at 8 am to our hostel to bring us to the harbor. It’s already crowded inside! Arrived at the harbor, we meet another group, where we find Christophe and Evelien, with whom we were in the Canyon! We rise in a boat, we are about twenty persons. From there, departure for the floating islands Uros, in 25 minutes of Puno. They are in fact islands made in reeds called Totora. It’s very attractive, rather surprising place. We stop on one of the islands, where women welcome us friendly. It is rather funny to walk on reeds ^^. The guide explains to us how the inhabitants make islands and on which they live. Reeds can serve to the full of things: we can eat them raw, or in soup, they are of use to the construction … It is interesting but really, we find that too tourist, too much organized. The guide leaves us a little of time to see what the inhabitants have to sell us, but it is very expensive. We can see also the inside of their house, among which one is equipped with a hi-fi system and a small TV. According to them, that works only with the small solar panel hung on in front of the house … We have a little difficulty in believing. As it is written in our book, we suppose that the persons who are on this island do not really live here, but stay the day for the tourists. According to the guide, they move only by boats of reeds, but behind houses we notice motorboats … Everything is made to persuade the tourists what they want. Then, they oblige us to take a boat in reeds for 5 soles. Before leaving, the women sing us songs (and even " vamos has the playa "). The boat takes us on another island, smaller, with some persons who sell objects. We stay there only 5 minutes, then we take back the boat, to the direction the island Amantani. At the end of 3 hours, we arrive there finally. It makes not warmly here! The guide attributes us a family (2 tourists by family). We so get acquainted of Elisabet, a very nice woman. We just have a little problem to communicate because she does not speak English (only Spanish). She takes us in her house, simple but with all the necessities. Having settled down in our room, we take the meal. Elisabet prepare us a soup, a real delight (soup of quinoa with pieces of potatoes and other)!! After that, she is offer to us a good small dish made by potatoes, small beans, salad and a kind of pancake of cheese. And to finish, a maté of mugna (a plant which smells a little as the mint). We eat well!

After waiting 2 hours in the room without making anything, we leave to the point of meeting. From there, we are supposed to rise at the top of the island. But at the end of only some minutes of walking, the rain begins falling, and then of the hail. So; we are going to shelter in a small store, until that passes. At the end of one hour, that passes always not... Meanwhile, guide explains to us full of things on the history of the island. Finally, he says to us that it is too risky to rise with such weather, so we return to our families. Once of return, we again have to wait for the mealtime in our room. It is cold, we have to make nothing, the time is long… Finally, Elisabet calls us to go to eat. Another good soup (with spaghettis), then some rice with a kind of purée of unknown ingredients (maybe the reed totora), but very good. We prepare then our affairs for evening. Just before leaving, Elisabet arrives in our room with clothes in arms. They are traditional costumes! We did not expect it, but we lend ourselves gladly to the set! Then we join the others in the village hall. All the others are also in costumes, it is funny to see! A group of 4 young musicians plays the traditional music. It is very nice. During songs, Elisabet invites us successively to dance with her. We have fun well! And then at about 10 pm, we bring in to lie down because we have to get up early the next day.

Friday, December 11th. As the day before we were not able to go at the top of the island because of the rain, so those who wish it can make it this morning there by getting up earlier, at 5:30 am. We decide to go, even if the wake up is not easy because the night was not very good because of the cold. At the present time there, it does already well in the daytime. Having joined the other brave, we begin the walking. 40 minutes for 300 meters of made uneven, it is easier than the trek ^^ There are all the same places which rise very stiff … At the top, the view is magnificent, especially that we are lucky in time because the weather is very beautiful and that makes the lake really much more impressive. At the very top, there is a religious temple, we can’t return inside. Having become soaked with the magnificent landscape, we come down again to have breakfast at the inhabitant's. 3 good pancakes which like well the stomach! We say goodbye to our hosts and we leave for 1 hour of boat. Arrived on the island, we make 30 minutes of walking, at first in rise to take a little of height. The colors of the lake mixed in the landscape of the island return the sublime view. We arrive then at the main place, where we stay some minutes to admire the sight or visit the home-made store. We also cross inhabitants, almost all in traditional clothes. In knowledge that on this island, it is very easy to differentiate the married men of the single men: the first ones have a completely red hat (with all the same symbols above), whereas the single men have a hat half red half the white. For the women, it is more difficult to make the difference, that depends on the thickness of the pompoms which hang at the end of their big scarf.

We go then to the restaurant for the lunch. Necessarily, the price of the meal is not included in the price of the ticket of 2 days. Finally, we eat all the same very well! Then we finish the walking by lowering some 500 marches which join the other end of the island. Throughout the road, persons sell quite typical of objects (it is there that we notice that it is very tourist). Arrived at the harbor, we take back the boat to return to Puno. After 2h30, we arrive finally in Puno. Being taken back in the hotel, we notice that there is any height of stores of small crafts along the road. We decide to go after the bend to the hotel there. Anyway, it is really not far. Stores, there are tens, one not the facts not all! It is impressive as here to Puno it is cheaper than to Arequipa. Especially that we still haggle over the price, as it is necessary! It is the paradise of the Peruvian souvenirs!! At the end of moment, the wind gets up and the rain arrives. We have to pass in town to reserve the bus for Cusco. We decide to test motorcycles-taxis. That cost nothing, and it is funny ^^. After the reservation and a small tour in town, we return in the hotel, in this case with a "moto-cab"! That goes a little less fast, but we take advantage better of the road because we are in front of and not behind as motorcycle-taxi. In the evening, we lie down without delaying too much after a good film to relax a little.

Tuesday, December 15. Today is the big departure for the Machu Picchu (MP), the largest Inca city. To not do as most tourists, we decided to go to Aguas Caliente (the town built just below the MP) in 2 days by bus detours through small towns: Santa Maria and Santa Teresa (first night there) then Hydroelectrica, where we have to walk 3 hours to Aguas Caliente (second night). The classic route is to take the train between Cusco and Aguas Caliente, which takes about 3 hours but costs very much. There are also version trek 4 days, quite intense but beautiful. We wanted to do it but here such as the agencies know that there will be always people to do it and they don’t hesitate on the price (around 400 USD). So, as good as "backpackers", we opted for the cheapest version. So we end up on the road between Cusco and Santa Maria (6 hours of bus, we arrived at 2pm). There, we planned to take a combi (minibus) to Santa Teresa to spend the night. Except that just exit from the bus, the guys we dock and we intend to take us directly to Hydroelectrica. As usual, we hesitate first, then finally we follow the group of tourists who choose to go too. We are 14 people in a minibus and it’s a little bit small ^^, and the road is not very wide with the ravine next to us...

After 2 hours, we arrive at Hydroelectrica where the bus leaves us. Well, it starts to feel a little hungry since it is 4pm. On the roadside, there are plenty of people selling a little of everything. Even if it is not very consistent, we bought a package of crackers (not really good ...) but also plenty of water to keep the road. And then it was gone. The road has nothing exciting except that it follows the railways. It is not difficult either since it remains relatively flat, but to walk on the lines of railway or on the boulders that border, it's pretty exhausting (it was a good idea to buy walking shoes in Cusco for only 20 €, because our baskets had suffered to much in the Colca Canyon!). During the journey, we cross train 2-3 (fortunately, they don’t go too fast and they honk regularly to prevent their arrival ^ ^). After 2 hours and some walking, we finally see Aguas Caliente, while the day goes down. We are not arrived in the city that a guy offers us a hostel. It is unclear. It isn’t very expensive, so we follow him to his hotel. The rooms are correct and we did not want to look more because we are tired, so we agreed. It's good to ask! After a good shower, you go out to buy the entrance ticket to MP and especially to find a good restaurant and then eat a real meal ^ ^ The ticket price is increasing every year because there is currently much more expensive than what is written in our book. Fortunately for us, student ID works, and even the French card. After that, we began looking for a good restaurant. In fact there are only restaurants in the city!! This city is summed up in two main things: hotels and restaurants. Finally, we choose one which offers a tourist menu. On the menu, soup, spaghetti, dessert and fruit juice (and a pisco sour for free ^ ^). We then decided to some course for our breakfast in the morning to go by foot to the MP. Everything is very expensive here (well, in comparison of the rest of Peru!), So we bought only 3 bars each and water. In addition, we read on our tickets for the MP that who had no right to take food on the site. Then we returned to our hotel to finally sleep because tomorrow we must get up early to climb the MP before the first tourist bus arrived (that is to say before all the people).

Wednesday, December 16th. It’s 3:30am, the alarm sounds. We wake up, and then we hear the rain falling in torrents. Disgusted, we decide to wait an half hour to see if it calms down. Finally, it stays the same ... At 4:30am, we must make a decision. Knowing that it takes about 2 hours to get to the MP, the first bus of tourists is at 5:30am and the steps may be dangerously slippery (the way to the MP is filled with steps...) We finally decide to take the first bus. There are already lots of tourists waiting at the bus stop, but must we buy our tickets before. It’s quite expensive, and there is no discount for students... After buying our tickets, we wait on the line for the bus. We begin to be afraid not to be able to get in the first because there are to many people. The problem is that we should be in the first 400 if you want to have the chance to climb the Wayna Picchu, the mountain that overlooks the MP. And we want definitively do it! It is 5:30am, the first bus arrives. It is very small. You say it's fucked, and finally, a second bus arrives, then a third and others arrive too to take all the tourists. We rise in the second and leave the first! After about one half hour drive, we arrive at the entrance to the MP. There are already more than a hundred people waiting in line and had climbed by foot despite of the rain. Until the opening, a guy goes in line and asks if you want to climb Wayna Picchu (at 7am or 10am). We say without hesitation that we want to do it at 7am, while there isn’t too many people. The guy then notes a number on our tickets: 24 and 25. And well, there are not many people who want to climb! At 6am, the gates open and you're off for adventure! To access Wayna Picchu, you have to cross the MP to the other side. It's impressive to be within this majestic site. We go quietly to the entrance of the Wayna Picchu. It opens at 7am, we must still wait 30 minutes. At 7am, a guy comes and gives access. Before boarding, we must register on a book (name, nationality, age, signature and time of departure). We are the first 2 to register this day, and it is even written on our tickets! A big "1" on the ticket, great isn’t it?! And we begin the climb... And it’s really not easy! Again there are only stairs, and often very irregular with large steps. In addition, as it rained, it was still wet and therefore very slippery. Again, we appreciate our shoes!

After 40 minutes of suffering, we finally arrived at the top, Nadège the first of the day! Anais arrived shortly after, in third. But now, the whiteness that surrounds us reminds us of something ... It has the same beautiful view than at the Corcovado Christ in Rio: white! ^^ It's okay, we have time, so we decided to rest a little until it emerges. After 3/4 hours, we begin to see some bits of the MP, but the clouds come back soon. And then finally we see each time a little more than MP, to finally see it completely. Wow! It's really beautiful. After some good picture opportunities and contemplation, we decide to return to the MP. The descent is not really evident either... Back to the MP, there are a lot of tourists (too many ^^) From 10am to 13pm, we visit the impressive Inca ruins along with our map from the main things to see. There arises a time in the grass at the top of the MP to have a nice view of all the ruins and then we made a little walk about twenty minutes to an Inca bridge (a little disappointing for a bridge, but the landscape was beautiful). Finally, around 1pm we decide to go because we start to be tired and hungry ^ ^ Oh yes, we are disgusted because everyone had something to eat on the site, except us...). At the exit we stamp our passports with a stamp "Machu Picchu" Beautiful memories! Just out, it starts to rain. We take shelter under the umbrella of the coffee shop. Of course, it is very expensive here, but we still take a piece of quiche and pizza. After several minutes, the rain finally stops and we decide to walk down to Aguas Caliente to avoid paying again the bus. The steps are more regular than Wayna Picchu, but anyway, it's tiring! After 1 hour walk and end in the rain, we arrive at the gates of Aguas Caliente.

We return to the hotel to take a shower and change into dry clothes. Except that our room was super poorly insulated, it smells inside and it's very wet ... We don’t stay there very long and we go for a walk in the city. We spent a quiet afternoon: we buy the cream for our buttons that we itch (other than mosquitoes, scratching a lot...), we follow the railway to the train station where we bought our tickets for the next day, then we get some internet. We end the afternoon on a bench of the main square by watching the kids play. Then around 6pm, we begin to search a restaurant. After a good half hour, we end up in a restaurant like any others, with a touristic menu! After some shopping for the next day (breakfast again ^^), we go back to our room that smells bad ... We go to bed early, with the fear of get other buttons...

Thursday, December 17. We wake up at 7:45am after a restless night because of these damn buttons ... At 9am, we take the train to Ollantaytambo. The train stops several times along the way to let trains in the opposite direction. Around 10:45am, we arrive at Ollantaytambo where we go down the train to a bus. And there again, a lot of people come to us to offer us a ride to Cusco in a minibus. At first we refuse because we want to take the bus which is probably a little cheaper. Finally, there is a cheap minibus, and we arrive one and a half hour later in Cusco.

We left with the agency from our hostel for 2 days of trek in Colca Canyon. Departure at 3 am… A minibus comes to look for us, with our guide. Inside there are 2 different groups. It is really to cold and it is rather small and not very comfortable … In brief, after 3 hours of road, we arrive at Chivay, small village in 3630m above the sea level, where we have breakfast. We leave later for Cruz del Condor, a place allowing to see Condors. We see some. Then our bus puts us a little farther, in 3300 m of height approximately, loan for a descent in the Canyon, until 2100m. Our group gets ready. We are 6 with a guide: a couple of Belgian (Flemish region), 2 Canadian guys, and us! Honestly the descent is not hard of the whole, we are use to do some descents in mountain ^^ On the other hand we have that baskets in feet (well, yes, for one year we did not leave with walking shoes!) and it is super slippery. We crashed down several times! (And Nadège had a little cut in the knee). In brief, ever 1200m of descent in 2 hours in baskets! (We are a good group, we walk fast!) Small break at the bottom of the canyon (bridge above a river), before making a small ascent: only 10 minutes, but as it is hard! Everybody has a hard time. Anaïs has a cold and in the evil to be inhaled. That does not help in the problem of height. We arrive at the top of the rise completely made breathless, by wondering how we shall survive the next day during the ascent …

Noon in a small village. It is the first time that we eat alpacas (sort of Lama) Not bad! Small break of digestion, but not too long, we restart at about 2 pm! 2:30 hours of walking during the afternoon. It is a little harder than in the morning, seen that we have already the big descent in our legs. Alternation of ascent, descent, flat … A big ascent kills a little everybody (we feel that it is harder in high altitude) But how we are going to make it tomorrow?!? Finally we 2 are every time the first ones at the top (even if Anaïs has a harder time than Nadège!) The end of the afternoon makes long all the same! But when we see the place where we are going to spend the night, nicknamed "el paradisio" (the paradise), that gives wings! Necessarily, swimming pool surrounded with palm trees, that makes dream! And it is necessary to admit that it’s really good to plunge in the swimming pool by arriving! Even if the sun hid rather fast behind mountains…

We have a room with 4 beds just for the 2 of us, nice! We rest there a little after the swimming pool, before going to join our group already playing cards. We are divided a beer at the same time (except Nad ^^), very nice atmosphere. Our group is very nice, that’s cool! Diner is at 7pm: soup, spaghetti bolognese (to take strengths for the next day), mate de coca (tea with the leaves of coca, good for altitude sickness, digestion) At the same time, we discuss the ascent of the next day: it is possible to take a mule (we need to pay naturally!!) The ascent make 1200m high (on 6 km). Honestly seen how we are all tired and seen how the ascents were hard today, that is going to be hard, or impossible! As the ascent with a mule is also a part of experiences to be lived in the Canyon, but as we want all the same to do the ascent on foot, we find a solution between the both: we take a-mule for the 2 of us, and we shall be exchanged places in the middle. Of the blow the Belgians decide to do the same. Our guide, as well as the one who takes charge of the-mules, promises us that we shall cross ourselves in the middle and that we can change. So we decide that Nadège will begin the ascent on foot, Anaïs on the-mule.

The next day, Nadège has to get up at 5 am for begun the ascent. Not easy alarm clock, but the night was good. When everybody who leaves on foot is ready, the group left (Nadège is the only girl in the group, she has the pressure ^^). We leave at 5:30 am, without anything in the flop … (Nadège eats all the same some biscuits to be able to hold). The guys quickly leave in front, while that rises at once rather stiff. And then they already make a break at the end of half an hour approximately. As our parents learn us well, it is not good to stop in full ascent, so Nadège continues to rise and walks past to them. The ascent continues, but it is more and more difficult, especially because of steps in stones, irregular, which break the rhythm. Finally, at the end of one hour, Nadège has a break. A kind Peruvian give her some cereal to eat. Meanwhile, the guys go back in front again, well motivate. But the end is really rough, and Nadège wonders why she does’nt see arriving mules. She would love to finish the rest on her back! Fortunately, the kind Peruvian helps her and gives her the hand to help her to go up some metres. Thank you! Finally, the ascent ends, what a reassurance! The boys are also exhausted, and congratulate Nadège. We made all the same theascent in 2 hours instead of 3 like planned! The guide arrives a little bit later, and we leave with him to the village (20 minutes by feet) without waiting for Anaïs and Evelien. They walk really quickly, Nadège is completely exhausted and has difficulty to follow them,. Finally, a good breakfast waits for us, that we begin without the girls.

For Anaïs, wake up at 6am is enough: her mules can catch up the others in the middle of the ascent. Certain persons of the other groups also take a mule. We are 4: Evelien (the girl of Belgium), 2 Chileans and I. My -mule is in 2nd position, after Evelien. Go up a mule, it is little bit like to ride, but we have no reindeers to guide! And then to be honest, they are a little head of mule ^^ It is funny, safe in every tight bend (and there is a lot), mules absolutely want to take the wide bend, and pass really not far from the edge! Enough scary!! They can easily slide, no? And in that case there the descent is not finished! Lol And sometimes mules want to be coupled, but that front does not leave her … Anaïs is in a hurry to find the group to walk a little. That hurts the hands to be held in the mule (that jumps not bad when there are steps on the road) and sometimes enough scary. Then one hour above, that is enough! But we don’t cross our group … In ¾ of the ascent, we see some groups, but not our … They are so fast as that? Anaïs really wants to work! And moreover Evelien also, her has puddle of it of the mule! So we ask the guide if we can come down and finish on foot, but he does not want? Shit!! Thus we finishe the ascent on the mule. We leave themules at the top, and we finishe on foot. We have no guide, so we are a little bit lost! We put 30 min to join the main square, and there we don’t know how to find the others of the group. Fortunately, Anaïs sends a texto to Nadège who can go to look for them. We have breakfast. Our guide is still not there … We are going to wait for him at the square in the sun. Anaïs and Evelien leaves making a tour in the village, they need to walk! Beautiful photos! Return on the square. The guide arrives later than planned, by announcing a problem on the minibus (leaky tire) It is necessary to wait more. We are going to have a drink in a café. We return on the square at 11 am, as the guide wanted. But it is only more than 11:30 am when we can leave, while we arrived at the top about 8 am!

It is already 1:30 pm when we arrive at Chivay, but we go all the same to the hot waters pool, we shall eat later! And it is sooooo good !! 3 more and more warm swimming pools, the last one at 39°C. Regrettably we can stay there that one hour. Lunch to Chivay, there where we had breakfast the day before. Very good (unlimited buffet). Return by bus, it is long. Stop in the middle in the highest summit of the Canyon (4940m of height) It’s pity we see not so much (grey weather) and it’s cold!

Arrived at Arequipa about 7:30 pm. As we were a good group and understand good each others, we meet ourselves 2 hours later to have a drink together. We find both our perfect dish: Nadège a pancake with Nutella and Anaïs of the hot wine:-D  Very nice evening!