With Liv being ill we decided we would have a very easy day for both of us to regain energy and health before our hike to Machu Pichu. I walked into the main square to have a wander and buy some items I needed, only to discover that this week in Cusco was a special one! With this month celebrating the start of the Incan New Year the festivities are endless, and we happened to arrive on the week of a massive dance competition. The entire square was cornered off for a parade which went on all day. The first day was kindergarteners, the second primary school children, then high schoolers, followed by Institutes and finished by university students dancing to traditional music in traditional Incan dress and it seemed like the entire town came to watch with flags supporting their schools.

We arrived on the day of the high school children and it really was incredible to see all the locals in such high spirits and more amazingly to watch the dance troops which were insanely good! It was such a fantastic time to be in the Cusco, the town known as the unofficial capital of Peru and the Incas. The town square itself was so pretty, with a church and a cathedral both with intricate and beautiful old architecture and loads of little second floor cafes with balconies overlooking.

We sat and had some lunch down a side street at a cafe, and went to the supermarket to get some snacks before settling in for the afternoon at our hostel, taking it easy and saving some money. We ended up upgrading our room to one with the most breathtaking view over cusco, it was genuinely stunning, and watched some English TV - no better way to recover!