The Irish get absolutely everywhere..
19.01.2012
23 °C
This morning saw us strolling through the busy and colourful fruit market of the town with our guide! The fruit was piled high to the rafters and there was a mind blowing selection of exotic fruit on offer. Stopping by one of the stalls we were invited to try a mini Papaya...it was delicious and apparently the seeds are ground down to make ‘Macca’ the Peruvian equivalent of Viagra - a fact which I duly noted! Later that day though, I made the crucial error and bought some Macca toffees instead of Coca Toffees (which are recommended to overcome the altitude) and proceeded to share them out amongst the group..I’ll leave the rest to your imagination! Following another bus ride we arrived at our hotel in Colca Canyon (3,600m) and was shown to our room...the matrimonial suite no less! Sorry darling but I actually do have a headache, and altitude one at that! 
Now for those of you not in the know, there are 2 things you should avoid doing as you acclimatise to high altitude..the first is alcohol and the second is physical exertion....all i can say is someone should have reminded us of these facts a little earlier! Our dinner that night consisted of some lovely local dishes complete with Andean music....clapping away with gusto i was completely unaware that a colourfully dressed woman had sidled up alongside me.....indeed, I was to be part of the floor show! Dancing as best as a man with 2 left feet can manage I was soon reduced to a state of exhaustion as the altitude took it’s toll! However having set the bar high my fellow travellers were then summoned forth to participate in various dances each more complex and colourful than before...some even involved the gents being dressed up as the local women and whipped - Quite Bizzare! Later as we staggered home i spotted what is possibly the greatest discovery since Machu Picchu....an irish pub in the middle of no-where...with no more than a nod we piled in and filled the bar (which was not big enough to swing a cat). Mustering up my best Irish i ordered a Guinness only to find out it came in a tin, was shipped in from Australia and cost £9....sacrilege! Having found our new home, we partied the night away until the wee hours drinking ungodly concoctions with the locals!
Posted by Rosscopico 15:11 Archived in Peru
