Step 1: Choose YOUR trek. Choosing the right trek for you depends on your how much time you have before, during or after your Spanish studies, and on your personal preferences. The Classic Inca Trail Trek lasts 4 days and 3 nights and the Short Inca Trail Trek lasts 2 days and 1 night. It is important to note that this trek involves a lot less trekking and camping.

Step 2: Check available trek dates. Our travel partner Dos Manos Peru recommends booking your Inca Trail Trek approximately three months in advance, especially for the high season, which takes place from June through August. The Inca Trail is closed during February for maintenance every year. The Peruvian government limits the number of people, including trekkers, guides, porters, etc., that are allowed on the trail to 500 per day. To check the number of spaces available for any day, visit the official Peruvian Ministry of Culture website: www.machupicchu.gob.pe or send an e-mail to info@dosmanosperu.com for updated info.

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I wake up early. This week I will have morning classes. My shoes are still drying up on the window sill. The weather this time a year is “loco” here. They do not have seasons as in Sweden or in many other parts. As my Spanish teacher says, “here the birds always sings”. Not as the silent winter.

Cusco has two types of seasons, rain and sun period. And the moon is opposite than when seen from the skies of Europe. During the mornings, the clouds are still hovering above the distant mountains. My peruvian sister use to tell me that “when it rains in San Blas, it will start rain in Cusco city”, but I think it is very hard to foretell the weather here.

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Carnival: comes from the Italian word of carne vale and means something in the lines of “farewell to meat” which was not eaten during Lent.

The tradition of Carnaval was brought by the Europeans who celebrated this feast during late winter just before the forty day Lent period of fasting and prayer began. According to ethnologists it has elements of old celebrations and cultures and it is said it gave the opportunity to rural societies, dominated by Christianity, to rebel against the sexual repression and formality opposed on them.

Nowadays it has practically nothing to do anymore with rebellion. However it is the perfect opportunity for the people to let go of all the stress and just have a great time!! Carnaval is celebrated in many different ways all through South-America.

The celebrations in Bolivia partially do have a religious background even today. In the city of Oruro Carnaval is celebrated most grandly and they always begin with a special dance called the Devil dance also known as the diablada. This dance is based on the ceremony in which they give thanks to the Pachamama, mother earth. It commemorates the eternal clash between good and evil and it was allowed by the early catholic priest to keep the natives quiet during the conversion by the Catholic Church.

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Roaming around the narrow streets of Cusco in the night there is now way you won´t bump into small white trolleys which make tourists frown, as they have now idea what is being served. Neither had I… They are usually packed with several bottles filled with colourful liquids. The strange mixture is called “emoliente”.