Travelling to Cusco, missing the jungle and being emotional - Day 12

I left the jungle feeling quite sad even with its big beasties, I was only there for 3 nights but I felt like I had been there for much longer - the Ayahuasca ceremony took me back through so many lives that I think that in those 5 hours I lived a thousand years.

I have so much information to process from the Ceremony I am not really sleeping very well and I keep having Epiphany moments.  It has meant I have started crying at moments where I really wouldn't want to - like checking in for my flight or at the security X-ray!  and its not even just quiet tears it sometimes comes all the way up and out of my mouth as a bit of a hiccuping, sobbing grunt.  Better out than in - I wonder how do you say that in Spanish!!

Also I had to leave behind my lovely sweet house man - he was the man that looked after my room and would come and put my mozzy net down each night - he took a bit of  shine to me I think!  on the first day he came into take down the net so I helped him - it really was like no one had ever helped him ever before - he was so happy that I did such a simple thing - we chatted whilst doing it - him in spanish me in english and once done he came over to shake my hand and then pulled me in for a kiss on the cheek!!!  cheeky man!  so every day we would have a bit of a chat and he would try to shake my hand and pull me in for a kiss and it definitely felt like he kept trying to aim for my mouth!!!  on my last day he must have shook my hand about 10 times trying to get a kiss on the lips - very very funny and very sweet.

Here is a pic of the brazil nuts that are harvested from this jungle - in the falling season you have to wear a hard hat in the jungle incase one bops you on the head!!!

and a fantastic Jungle Christmas tree!  Merry Christmas everyone!

I have arrived in Cusco after a bit of delay with the flight from Puerto Maldonado.  Leaving Cusco Airport was a bit mental - I was supposed to have a driver meet me but I couldn't find him so I had about 10 taxi drivers chasing after me shouting 'Taxi Taxi?' while I wheeled my bag around the car park looking for my driver - eventually I found Roberto my driver who had my details scribbled on the back of his fag packet!  no name board or anything!  and there was no way I was getting my personal security number out of him but since he had my name, my flight number and the name of my hotel I decided to go with it - he was a nice driver who gave me instructions of keeping my purse safe from pick pockets and pointed out landmarks on the way to the hotel.

The first thing I felt when we landed was that my head was going to burst - Cusco is at 3200m so the altitude can be hard to adjust to but the hotel gives free Cocoa tea which is the solve all treatment in Peru so I had plenty of that and headed out for a wander about and to get something to eat - my fasting diet before and after the ceremony meant I had cabbage soup twice a day for 3 days so I deserved something nice - even though I am supposed to keep up the light diet for another 3 days I had a pizza!  It was amazing (not as good as Mark's though!) but it was nice to have something that wasn't cabbage or fruit.    Walking back up the hill to my Hotel was hard work because of the altitude - oh how I remember the concrete feet and the legs made of led from my Nepal/Tibet trip to 5700m!  hopefully my body will adjust quickly.

I am heading for an early night - I think all my adventures are catching up with me!! the Ceremony certainly takes a lot out of your body so with that, the flight to Cusco and the altitude it will be really good for me to just rest.  I have all of tomorrow morning to relax too as I have my tour of the city in the afternoon so I plan to sleep in, do my washing and just relax.

suzxxx