7 hour bus ride today, well actually it was a double decker coach, with a loo, on proper tarmac roads, luxury! No beeping in Peru either!!! Journey went quite quickly, which was good, arrived in Cusco about 3pm, checked in, then went for a bit of a tour round the town. Really nice feel to the place, the city is surrounded by mountains, has lots of olde worlde buildings and narrow cobbled streets. Looking over the city is an almost identical statue of Rio's Christ the Redeemer. This one lights up in white with a bluish tinge to it at night though, which to be frank, looks a bit weird (almost ghost like). Got my first Peruvian jumper today ready for the trek, bartered down from 45 to 20 Sol, result, £5 for a new jumper!!! Evening meal was fantastic, not least because we were welcomed in by the most beautiful man, not sure if he was the owner or just worked there, but certainly provided a nice view for the night!!!!

More strange dreams last night, must be the altitude, or hoping so!! Today we left Cusco for Ollytatambo on the Sacred valley tour and were introduced to our guide for the Inca Trail, Johan. Really nice guy, although can tend to go into "school teacher" mode when he is giving us information. He's really passionate about the Inca history and knows his stuff, but being spoken to like children unfortunately meant we were zoning out, and or giggling when he was talking, hence some of my info may be a bit hazy!!! First main stop was a village project the travel company supports. The village is one of the only places that still uses natural methods to dye alpaca wool, using amongst other things, cochineal (red, mixed with salt or lime to create different shades, and eucalyptus (greens). They then weave and knit the wool to create items to sell such as hats, scarves, gloves etc. Bought my final item for the Inka Trail, a bright orange and purple scarf. If nothing else, they're not going to lose me!!! Good to see how things are made from the source to the scarf!! They had a few alpacas at the site, none looked particularly happy, but think that's just their general facial expression - I do empathise, with my permanent frown line, I can feel really happy and still look like this - }: (

Next stop was Pisac, a site which beautifully illustrates the terraces the Incas used to use to cultivate their crops. Each one is about 5 by 4 metres and they all face to the East. They are huge, can't believe how much work it would have taken to create, especially with the specific soil/stone layering process the Incas used to enable irrigation and to keep crops warm at night. The Pisac site is also home to the biggest pre Columbian tomb in the world - over 2000 bodies, each one buried in a foetal position. Not a huge site so difficult to believe that that many bodies were buried there, then again the Incas were pretty small (men about 1.5metres), so could probably fit in double the amount of your average ancient civilisation (see, did listen a bit). After venturing round the site, we went to Pisac town where we had the mandatory, this is how they make stuff (in this case silver), and then keep you hostage until you buy something.....I didn't, 1- 0 to me. Also of interest (and I've since noticed this in a few places), is that there are woman and children who walk around holding lambs (some with hats), asking if you want your photo taken with them. Now, I know there may be some people who find it a bit cute, but frankly, not something I would pay for!

Lunch was a buffet (pronounced with a T at the end by Julio, which some of the school kids, namely Jane and I, found quite amusing) just as well we are fluent in Spanish and pronounce every word correctly!!! Nice food, but got distracted with the Pan Pipe covers CD they had playing, which included such classics as Total Eclipse of the heart, Two Hearts, Roxanne, and, you guessed it, my favourite, Careless Whisper. Deep, deep joy!!!

Final stop was Ollytatambo, really lovely town with a massive Inca Site at the heart of it! Hotel was lovely, big beds, pretty room and magnificent view of the mountains. Johan took us round the Inca site, showing us the architecture and telling us about Pachacuti - "The most powerful Inca King". The stones they used to build the sites weighed several tons, so would take hundreds of people to shift them up the mountain. They also didn't use any kind of cement to bind the stones together, instead using a few different methods, like fitting together jigsaw pieces or Lego, pretty impressive stuff to see. Took a walk to the top of the site (most Incas built at the top of mountains) so good practice for tomorrow, managed to keep up with Johan which is a good sign! We were then left to explore, so a few of us went "off piste", further up the mountain. The views were great, really is a breathtaking place.

Back in the town, stopped at the market to look at souvenirs. Interesting observation, they seem to sell a lot of willies in Peru. They come (excuse the pun), either on their own or disproportionately attached to small statues. I say disproportionately, as most Peruvian and esp Andean men are quite small with small feet, so assume they follow the old saying of little feet......little....... Although I may be wrong, could be the reason there are so many women carrying babies!!

Evening meal entertainment was provided when at the end of the night the electricity keep going on and off, with the whole restaurant going ooooooo and ahhhhhhh every time it came on/went off......

Very excited for the next 4 days.......