Last of the inca trail - Cusco - Prison...

Second half of day 11 - Inca Trail
After being reunited with the group we headed back down the otherside of the mountain for our camp that night.
It was at about 3500m so a lot of down hill. When we arrived at camp everthing was once again set up for us and we were offered snacks and drinks as we arrived. We then spent the rest of the time once again playing cards or chatting. Dinner was amazing as usual and then we sat outside and star gazed for a couple of hours (how very gap year) as the sky was really clear. When it got too cold we retreated back to our tents before once again watching more of sons of anarchy with dave and katie.

Day 12 - Inca trail (3rd day)
Although yesterday had been the hardest today was by far the longest. We were woken at 5:30 and set off around 6:30. It was very up and down and went as high as 4000m and as low as 3000m. Once again the views were spectacular and we stopped half way through the day for lunch. It was a massive buffet affair and at the end they bought dave and tamsin a honey moon cake, which they had cooked on a camp stove! It was one of the most delicous cakes i have ever tasted, marbled with amazing icing. The chef really was god.
After lunch we had a game of football against some of the porters. It was 5v5 with rolling subs for us (we had 7 players) vs 4 porters and our guide. At 3700m a game of football gets really tiring really quickly. We were subbing on and off every 5 mins. We were definately the more skillful team but the porters could handle the alltitude much better. Despite some very dirty tackles and multiple handballs from the porters we managed to scrape a 2-1 victory after an hour of play. We were absolutely exhausted but got the all important win. The porters didn´t look too pleased and we wondered whether we´d return to camp to find no tents and only laughing porters.
After a quick rest we headed down to our camp at around 3200m. The section was nick named the gringo killer as it was 2500 uneven steps down to the camp. It was supposed to take 2 hours but about  40mins in the promise of sit down toilets and showers became too much for me. Desperately needing the toilet i sprinted the next section. It was all down hill and destroyed my knees but was worth it. The showers were pretty pathetic but after 3 days of being covered in sweat and grime they were a gods send.
Another amazing dinner in the eveneing followed by a fair well presentation for the porters and we were told we would have to be up at 3:30 tomorrow ;(
After another session of Sons of Anarchy we went to bed.

Day 13 - Machu Pichu!!!
We got up ridiculously early and hadd breakfast before heading down to the start gate in order to be one of the first people allowed on the trail. We arrived at the gate at 4:30 but it didn´t open until 5:30 - time for another sons of anarchy...
There were only 2 people infront of us when the gate opened and they imediately rushed off in order to get tickets to wynu pichu (the mountain next to machu pichu - sold on a first come first serve basis in the morning)
It was pitch black and stupidly i didn´t have a torch which meant the rocky mountain trail to machu pichu was pretty interesting... We arrived at the sun gate around 6:10 which should of been just in time to see the sun rise over machu pichu. Unfortunately it was completely cloudy and we couldn´t see anything which was really disapointing. We then walked for another hour in order to reach machu Pichu. It was still hidden in the clouds and so we couldn´t really see anything. We decided to head down to the bottom in order to pick up the two girls from our group that weren´t on the inca trail in the hope that by the time we returned the cloud would be gone.
After about 2 hours of faffing around the cloud eventually cleared and the views were spectacular. It was absolutely huge and awe inspiring. It is literally a massive city built on a mountain top. It is incredible to think how they got all the stone up there ect. especially without inventing the wheel...
We spent the next 4-5 hours getting a tour round the complex and then some free time. It became really sunny and was gorgeous. I wished we could have stayed all day but we had to head back to Cusco.
We had to get a train for 2 hours then a 3 hour bus so we didn´t arrive back until 9ish. We decided that despite having woken up at 3:30 it was a good idea to go for a big night out to celebrate completing the inca trail. We first went out for a really nice meal followed by free salsa lessons at a dance club. Nothing else happened...

Day 14
Today we had quite a lazy day as we were all pretty knacked from the Inca trail. We visited the markets and went and watched a huge parade in the main plaza. It was freeezing cold so we headed back and took a nap.
We went out for a pretty nice dinner before deciding we´d all go to the salsa place again. One by one people slowly dropped out until it was just me, matt and rob. We met some american girls and then nothing else happened.

Day 15
We got up relatively early and went for a walk around Cusco just visiting churches etc. At 3 we met our tour leader who siad he´d take us to and all you can eat eat buffet for lunch. It was incredible. There was an amazing salad bar but no one really touched it. There were constant waitresses circling the resturant with huge swords of meat. They would just come to the table with all these various types of meats on these huge swords and ask if you´d like some. Obviously being silly males who ever was the first to turn down an offer of meat lost. There was all kinds of meats from ribs to steak to sausages and even tounge and heart. I must have put on about 4-5kg in just meat. It was amazing.

The prison story...
On the way back from the resturant half of us got in one taxi and half of us got in another. Most of the group being pretty drunk they thought it would be a good idea to have some inter taxi banter... At each set of traffic lights we would pull up along side each other and joke around. At one set of traffic lights they put some rubbish through our window so at the next set one of the people in my taxi jumped out and opened their boot.
At the next lights Sam (who was in my taxi) decided/was egged on to go mooney in front of the other taxi.
Unfortunately this was seen by a nearby policewoman who took offence. She got our taxi to pull over and started taking the drivers documentaton etc. She then told us to get out which we did but being in the middle of the road our tour leader told us to move to the pavement. Despite telling her in spanish what we were doing and walking slowly away to the pavement she though we were trying to escape and called back up and ran after us. She grabbed Sam´s neck and tried to drag him back to which our tour leader told her to let go, we weren´t trying to escape or anything. Thinking we would just get a telling off we complied with everything she said and waited until her back up arrived. While we were waiting a huge crowd gathered and started shouting at us (they obviously hate gringos). One woman started swearing at us in english and being very aggressive saying she had seen sam run across the street naked and our tour leader assualt the police woman. She hadn´t even seen the offence she was just there to make our lives misserable (how do i know this? she told us that she was going to waste all our time and started laughing at us, obviously has a massive grudge against foreigners).
After about 10 mins there were 6 police cars and about 15 police just to arrest us for one of us mooneying a friends taxi, talk about a waste of police time. They took us to the tourist police and made us sit and wait for about 1hour. They didn´t let us go to the toilet or drink any water. we were taken in at about 5:30 but it was about 7 before anyojne told us anything. A man from gap arrived and tried to help us and explain what was going on. The police woman and the lady from the street were able to give their statements at the same time in the same room which is a little dodgy...
We were then taken into the toilets and strip searched and our shoe laces, belts and all other possesions taken. Not official at all or on camera like it would have been done in the uk. We then had our mug shots taken by a camera phone against a wall. Still no charges or explantion given. At around 9 we were taken to a different police station in order to have a breathaliser and blood test.We then had to wait out side while they called a doctor and then had to wait while they went to a local pharmacy to get needles. All very well set up and official. The breathaliser test was a joke, it was a test tube full of liquid that we had to blow into using a straw. I hadn´t drunk anything so mine didn´t change but the others (sam and rob) had drunk around lunch time. Theirs changed a little but they were made to constantly blow for about 2 mins until it change to a suitable degree, again very official and fair. We were then taken back to the original police station where we tried to call the embassy but the woman didn´t want to hear about it and hung up on us.
Eventually we were told that Sam and rob had to stay in over night as they had blown a positive on the alcohol test but i was free to go. Not wanting to leave them alone and being the only one who was totally sober at the time of the incident i decided to stay. We were all put in the same cell and Gap provided us with sleeping bags, water and some snacks as the police didn´t do anything. There were only two beds so Sam slept on the floor. In the morning me and Rob were let out, still no statements taken from either of us, they had just taken the other womans word as fact even though she exagerated massively. Sam was kept in and has to see the judge today to plead his case. The gap representative says he´ll most likely be made to pay a 200-300 dollar fine! What a joke. No chance to plead his case or anything just told thats whats happening.

still got a cool story out of it and can now say i´ve spent a night in a peruvian prison...