CLUB . . . Redefining Our Parameters Since 2003

This guy is gonna get whacked for sure.

I saw looking at some of the old post about Peru, the topic, of Bricheras one Specifically named Celeste. I dont know of her but I have heard of her. What Secret Squirel didnt mention, is that she is actually one of the biggest brichears in all of Lima, she is young and innocent looking. Her real name is Maritza

It is really a huge problem and dangerous as Secret Squirel mentions. You can see what she looks like on her web spaces at msn.com She shags many unsuspecting guys per month.

In her post she writes:

Como es Shirley Yajahuanca Lloclla y Flor Garay Martinez y Vanessa Garay Martinez. Pucha !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hay tantas !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To which she should add her own name.

Whining lefty eco complainers are apparently urging the UN to force Peru to cut back on the 40,000 or so visitors who come to Peru to visit Machu Pichu. They claim that the sheer volume of tourists visiting the site and "clambering all over it" are ruining it for future generations.

The BBC article is here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3335315.stm and has some amusing quotes both from sober minded realists and the airy fairy campaigners such as ( and see if you can guess which is which )

"It is quite unbelievable how they managed to build this all those years ago," said Evelyna de Beer, a Dutch tourist who had just finished the Inca Trail.

But she wishes the throngs would approach Macchu Picchu with more caution, and stop carelessly clambering over the site.

"Because otherwise we will have nothing in 20 years."

and

"There are natural limits caused by its remoteness. You can only get here by walking the Inca Trail or by taking the train,"

Hmm, it must be pointed out that "getting the train" isn't a particulary hazardous or difficult method of reaching the site.

This is a Panaromic View of the area around the Colca Canyon which I have been able to stich together from a number of photos I took whilst there. The photo was taken from an lay by area off the road to the Cruz Del Condor where the locals gather to sell their wares.

You can see the canyon it's self snaking across the landscape but at this point it is far from it's deepest.

This is Ollyantaytambo, I stayed here for a few days and it is a nice little town. Firstly I stayed in the square at the top of the picture - on the right by the market then later I moved down the road you can see in the middle going off to the right in a much nicer hotel.

It is almost time to leave Peru, in the next hour the plane will arrive and I will have to go home :-(

Today has been quite a good day considering all we really had to do was catch the plane from Puerto Mandanaldo to Lima and then hang around to catch the plane back home.

Last night we ended up quite drunk in a lot of really empty clubs and pubs in Puerto Mandanaldo, we ended the evening talking to a lot of locals who were hanging around the benches in the park drinking rum from the bottle - I think we must have felt some empathy for their situation somehow. Later I got a taxi back to the hotel around 4:30AM but Paul decided he wanted to walk back and could not be persuaded otherwise so the last I saw of him was as I passed him in my taxi staggering down the road, he seemed to have met 3 Peruvian gentleman who were leading him off down a side road. Assuming Paul probably knew exactly what he was doing I left him to it and continued on my way.

Today is the last proper day in Peru :-( Tomorrow we will just be engaged catching the plane back home which will no doubt be really depressing.

The three weeks we have spent here seem to have lasted a lot longer, it seems like ages since we arrived in Lima.

This last week we have been staying at the Eco Amazonian Lodge ( enter "[Jungle Joe]" ) in the middle of the jungle and going on tours of the jungle and rides up and down rivers in Canoes, for me I think this has been the highlight of the trip.

We arrived in Puerto Mandolano ( where I am now, a town at the junction of two huge rivers in the Amazon basin ) last Tuesday and immediatley noticed it was very very hot, and humid. I like the heat though so it is nice. From there we saw the rest of our group arrive for the boat journey up the river to the lodge and wandered around the local market.

Yes, it's Easter Sunday and everywhere is closed. Have spent the afternoon sitting in a resteraunt reading a book I have just bought called, misleadingly, "Machu Pichu". I thought it may have been about Machu Pichu but instead it is some weirdo american woman take on Peruvian mysticism and how great and effective it all is. I have discovered that apparently the Sphinx in Egypt is over 10,000 years old - according to latest scientific analyses. Apparently. I am sure that that particular piece of scientific analyses has since been proved to be not particulary scientfic after all.

Anyway you may be interested to know that this Web Site ranks number 1 if you search for "how to poision rats" in the UK.

Yesterday was an exciting day visiting [Machu Pichu], the stronghold of the Incas.

It started pretty early at around 8:30 when I had to get up to have breakfast - some horrible Peruvian bread, hot cross buns, cheese and some ham which tasted pretty normal.

The hotel had managed to get me some tickets to Machu Pichu returning to [Ollayantaytambo] rather than [Cusco] though because there were no seats left on the Ollyantaytambo - Cusco section of the journey. No problem, I could either stay another night in Ollyantaytambo or catch the same buses as I had come on back to Cusco.

The train ride was quite spectacular, the track runs beside the [Urumbamba River] which is the same river skirting Machu Pichu. It is quite a big river and very fast flowing with lots of rapids. I am going rafting on this river tomorrow. On each side of the valley are huge steep hills with some fantastic snow clad mountains and glaciers just behind them.

Today in a kind of show of sympathy for Paul who is now climbing up huge hills and then walking down the other side, camping occasionally in freezing temperatures gulping down his gruel before setting off for the next killing leg of his journey I have booked the night in the nicest hotel I could find here in [Ollyantaytambo]. It is a bit expensive but it is very nice, towels, hot water everything.

Yesterday I was wondering about [The Train] tickets to [Machu Pichu] but today coming to Ollyantaytambo has proved to be a smart move because since it is the Easter festivities tomorrow there are no trains from [Cusco] but only from here. The kind people at the hotel have even gone down just now to collect my ticket for me, now that is what I call a good service.