We arrived in Cusco earlier than scheduled (damn these Cruz Del Sur buses are good!). Still half asleep we let one of the eager touts escort us to a cheap hostel and after a power nap in our freezing room we went on the hunt for more sutiable accommodation. Accepting that Cusco is a tourist town we forked out a little more for a lovely hotel on a cobbled street in San Blas. Accommodation sorted we happily stumbled across Jacks Cafe and both got totally overexcited about their tasty all day English breakfast.

That evening we found happy hour in Paddy O`Flaggertys and ended up in a club until the early hours. Despite the late night we were both up early eager to check in to our cosy room in our new hotel. Still half cut, we decided to make full use of the phone in our room so that Jona could get an update on the football scores from casa Westland-Alsford where we knew all the Hovites would be drinking their Suday away.

We spent the next few days seeing the sights and museums in Cusco. The city is a beautiful mix of Colonial architecture built amongst the ancient Inca city. We were both impressed with the 12 angeld stone, although no amount of loitering by the wall waiting for passing tour groups enlightened us as to why it was so special.

Getting annoyed with the constant offerings of massages on every street corner we very nearly bought a `No Gracias¨ t-shirt from our favourite Irish bar. Instead we opted for a couple of days out of the city, first to visit Pisac market in the Sacred Valley and the other to go white water rafting. The 3 plus rapids were more adrenalin fuelled than we had expected with our guide trying desperately to flip the raft at every given opportunity. Despite holding on for dear life, we both ended up having a dip in the freezing Andean river.

Our date with the Inca trek was looming so we decided a warm up hike was in order. We climbed up to Sacsayhuaman, the ethereal Puma´s head. Impressive not just because of its location, but some of the massive stones that make up the defense wall are in excess of 300 tonnes and were quarried several miles away, brought to the site by man power alone.

Next we went in search of Qenko ruins which we eventually found after a wrong turn and a bit of back tracking. Unfortunately they wouldnt let us onto the intricately carved limestone outcrop so we soon headed back to the massive Christ figure overlooking Cusco, and then back down the steep steps into the city. It was a good 5hr walk - surely we are now ready for Machu Picchu.