Machu Picchu, losing my memory and going AWOL for a few days.... (Sorry!)

7 months and countingggg! It's been a while and I think I have to say that being away for so long really makes you appreciate what you have back home and the people you have in your life (long pause...) ok, gayness over!

So after Lima, I joined a tour group which took me to all the places I wanted in the short time I had available! Walking onto the bus, everyone was either in a couple or groups (intimidating!) bar a couple of other solo travellers. It was for four days and I met the nicest bunch of people!! An English and an Irish couple and German guy, whom I ended up travelling with for the next couple of weeks, a group of six Irish girls who just absorbed me into their group and were unbelievably nice to me and a guy with his mum and aunt from Pelsall, in Peru for his 21st awww! And not forgetting the two lovely Colombian girls, who spoke like they were running out of breath! Haha!

My Bewitched girls haha

Visited a whole bunch of places along the coast like the slave tunnels of Hacienda San Jose, had amazing ceviche at El Silencio beach and watched the sealife at Ballestas Islands! Huacachina was next and it was definitely one of the highlights of my trip! Sandboarding and sandbuggying over the huge dunes here was so sick! Trudging up the hills with our boards were a hell of a lot of work but all worth it once you saw the views on top!

The hostel we stayed at had a club literally next door to my room, vibrations were felt throughout! Amazing night at the club that night, felt absolutely horrible knocking on my door room for the old(er) lady (who we were sharing with) to open up at 5am! The 21year old in my group ended up passing out and hitting his head on the floor, and then ended up having a french paramedic and english doctor arguing with eachother over how to treat him, was quite funny watching that!

Headed straight for Cusco after that and booked a trek to Machu Picchu asap! The altitude was affecting me and I didn't have alot of time so I booked a three day trek which inc. a day of biking and little bit of trekking.

 

Finally the day for MP arrived!!! We woke at 4.30am and got through the gates at 6am, the moment I saw the actual city, I couldn't believe it, I was actually there! Took sooooo many pictures, climbed up MP mountain and even had to hide behind some rocks to eat our lunch since you're not allowed food there LOL

Was a loooong three days, but so happy I did it! To reward ourselves, we got back to Cusco and celebrated Independence day! :)

Next stop was Bolivia, made a quick stop in Puno and visited the floating islands of Lake Titicaca, then got stuck in Copacabana for two days since I couldn't walk on one foot, shitty trainers for Machu Picchu was NOT a good idea!

Now onto La Paz, surprisingly spent quite a few days here and visited a few 'strange' places..!

THIS is where I did the Death Road... mountain biking on (apparently) the world's most dangerous road! I was having the MOST fun and it was such an exhilarating experience, riding along a narrow dirt road and being able to stare down a cliffside, what made it more exciting was that I was the only girl keeping up with three guys leading the pack! Naturallyyyy, this would make one even more competitive..... *covers eyes*
So! We're on the last stretch of the ride, the last bloody 5 minutes, trying to catch up with two of the guys cos I stopped quickly to check if another guy who had fallen was ok. Didn't realise how steep it had gotten when I turned a curve and narrowly missed hitting the wall, instead, bounced off of one rock and into another, got THROWN off of my bike, slamming into the ground on my left side and the bike landing right on top of me. Thank F**K I had a motorbike helmet on. People stopped to check I hadn't broken anything, but I waved them on, the ego was bruised enough! I felt the pain on my side but was fine enough to finish the course, as soon as I got to the bottom I handed my bike over and sat down. Next thing I knew I looked up and said to the guy next to me 'Where am I?'.

I was expecting to be in London, at home or work, but no, I was on the side of a dirt track in the blazing heat in Bolivia?! Not remembering the past 6 months! I started crying and hyperventilating, and then remembered I'd been to Machu Picchu! The guy next to me was called Ignacio and he was from Chile and he was a bloody lifesaver. He'd had experience in emotional counselling and stayed with me for the next two hours helping me to piece together the past week! If it hadn't been for him I would've been an emotional wreck! I honestly think the adrenaline kept me going til the end of the track and then the shock kicked in. When we got back that night I couldn't even walk properly, everytime I tried to move in bed I wanted to cry.
It took about a week before I could walk properly again, I told my family and they were not impressed! If I hadn't hurt myself, I would have done that ride again, SO much fun.

Met back up with the group I met in Peru and did the Uyuni Salt Flats with them. A three day tour through a desert, lakes and salt flats, not knowing that I'd have no signal whatsoever did not bode well with my sister. After messaging her nearly every day during my travels and then nothing for three days... she started to panic (adding to the fact that I'd just lost my memory!). Obviously you're reading this now, I apologise again for putting you through that.
The salt flats were soooo much fun and COLD, we did the usual jumping and miniature shots, had dinosaur and Hulk props, we had a blast!

The next couple of days were spent going around various lakes, mountains, rock valley, fumerals and a whole bunch of other stuff. On our last night we stayed right next to a hot spring, me and the girls screamed our way from the hostel to the spring in our bikinis because it was so cold! As soon as we stepped in... it was heavennnnn!! And with only the moonlight and lake as our scenery, pure bliss.

It was sad once the tour had finished, but hey, onwards and upwards! Next stop was a mine tour in Potosi where they worshipped the Devil underground...! And then Sucre, a pretty little town but the weather was crap so I was heading straight outta there and onto Chile!!

I'll continue this in my next post. xxx