Alison: We arrived in Cusco after a very long bus journey from Arequipa. The bus journey was 12hours long but it felt like a lifetime because I developed severe nausea and my stomach gurgled and cramped as it tried to rid itself of whatever nasty that had got in there (number 1 suspect is the raw fish we ate on the way to Paracas)....this is the last thing that anyone wants on a bus that doesn't stop because it has a toilet but you aren't allowed to use the toilet for number twos (let alone emergency number twos!!) I'm not an overly religious person but I turned to God that day!

Thankfully we made it to Cusco without me causing a scene on the bus and we were immediately really impressed with what we saw. Our hostel was situated in San Blas which is an area in one of the hills overlooking the main square. The area is comprised of lots of small cobbled alleyways lined with small shops, restaurants, tour agents, and hotels. On our first night we went up to the roof of our hostel to rustle up a snack and were blown away by the view. The hills around Cusco sparkled with hundreds of small lights and the main square was also beautifully lit. To add to the scene, there was some sort of celebration going on in the square so there was hoards of people and music and dancing.

Cusco is a really beautiful place and, as with every place we visit, we tried to appreciate how lucky we were to be there but for the first time on our trip we struggled. We had our first real low. I won't go into too much detail but the events leading up to the low were: a dark, damp, freezing cold bedroom with one tiny window overlooking a brick wall; me in and out of the toilet all night with an upset stomach; me and Nigel in and out of the toilet all the following morning with upset stomachs; showering in cold water; a toilet roll shortage; a power cut at lunchtime which plunged our room into darkness (for the entire day) and meant we needed to put a head torch on each time we raced to the toilet; and the final straw was the water going off so we could no longer flush the toilet. Things were pretty grim in our room that day! Luckily we weren't down for long. We moaned for a few hours and reminisced about how nice it was to shower in hot water and then we pulled ourselves together ready for another day!

Nigel: Apart from the problems which Alison mentioned, it was a great hostel and we had a great time!! A lot of people head to Cusco as it is the main city before you set off to Machu Picchu. When you get there, however, you realise that the city has more to offer then just being a stop off point. Many hundreds of years ago, Cusco was the centre of the Inca tribe civilisation, who became one of the largest tribes, not only in Peru but in South America (more on them in the next blog).

When we were able to leave the hostel without fear of filling our pants, we saw several parts of the city and several historical sites. One of the places which we visited, was sections of Inca walls which had survived the Spanish colonial time. These walls were special for many reasons but the most impressive one was the precision which they achieved when cutting the blocks. They were cut so accurately that when they laid them on top of each other, the joint was not visible and you couldn't insert a cigarette paper into them.

Other parts of the city included the large San Pedro market (which sold everything you could think of), Plaza de Armas (the main square which housed a large fountain), and the original Spanish churches. We also had to go around several tour companies to try and get a tour to Machu Picchu. As there are many companies which offer the service, it is difficult to know which one to choose. We ended up going with a company called Marcelo's which is located in the main square. They were not only the cheapest in price (not that you should always go cheapest), but they were also the most consistent in the price they told us and the itinerary of the tour. Most tour companies, when you ask them how much the tour costs, would look at you blankly, try and think of a price which they think they they could get away with, let the dollar signs roll around their eyes for a few seconds, and then spurt our a silly number. A bit similar to what a quantity surveyor does! They would also tell you what you wanted to hear, regardless of whether it would happen or not. Marcelo's didn't come across like this and we decided to give them a chance. The tour was very good (more in next blog) so we even went back into their office afterwards to give them positive feedback on the service which they had given (we heard some horror stories about other tour companies!).

During our time on the Peru hop tour, we got to meet some great people and in particular, a couple from America. Their names were Kim and Alisha and we didn't realise that Cusco would be the start of us travelling together for several weeks (your introduction guys!!!).