Cuzco was everything we'd hoped - a really adorable little town with loads of character, lovely little cobbled streets and great food and bars. We spent our days here exploring local churches, side streets, markets and enjoying a couple of nights out on the town. All the shops had colourful clothes and blankets for sale, along with cosy alpaca jumpers and the usual tourist tat. I loved it all, mostly because everything had llamas on it. The market was a great place to wander through, with all types of food, meat and fruit on offer. We shared a delicious freshly squeezed pineapple juice which spurred us on for more purchasing madness.

We spent far too long on one afternoon in a fantastic little chocolate boutique with the most incredible chocolate creations involving marshmallows, smarties and other wonders, as well as hot chocolate, chocolate biscuits and the like. An afternoon well spent I say. Then we dragged ourselves to the local Irish pub ('the highest Irish-owned pub in the world' - although I saw a sign in La Paz claiming the same... I wouldn't like to take sides, I'm sure they're both very high) for the first taste of cider I've had since my arrival in South America. It cost an arm and a leg, but made my day, and settles quite beautifully on top of a belly full of chocolate.

Our hostel proved to be a strange little place, but cosy enough and with cable TV, which is always a pleasure. No running water though. Bit of a nuisance to say the least. Turns out the whole of our sector of Cuzco was undergoing some kind of waterworks issue which wasn't going to be resolved for some 3 months or so. Our hostel owner, needless to say, did not seem too chuffed by this. Neither were we. Can't say it had been my intention to impress my boyfriend on his 8 day trip to Peru with a bucket of cold water for showering, teeth cleaning and toilet flushing purposes. I tried washing myself from the bucket once and it was so freezing that I felt my scalp burning. I refused to wash again. Lucky Addam. 28 hours flight from the UK for a filthy, greasy lady who refuses to wash. Actually, I guess it's not so different from how I am back home, so maybe he's used to it.

After much deliberation over the best company to go with, we booked our day-trip to Machu Picchu. The train journey to Aguas Calientes (the town at the base of Machu Picchu) was incredible. As the tracks are so steep the train had to zig zag up and down the hillsides going backwards and forwards for hours to make the hefty climb towards the Inca city. The weirdest moment (apart from being given a green orange, but that's a whole different story) was when the surrounding terrain changed suddenly from rocky mountains and sparse countryside to thick jungle with vines and dense greenery, completely without warning. Four hours after setting off from Cuzco, and after a series of intense and mind-expanding conversations to pass the time ('what's your favourite fruit?') we arrived in Aguas Calientes and headed straight for the buses to Machu Picchu. AC seemed a strange little place, essentially only in existence as a holding spot for tourists on their way up the mountain, and consisting mostly of concrete hotels and restaurants. Yet it had a strangely likable character and atmosphere.

Hopped on a bus here which took us up the insanely steep hill to Machu Picchu. First views of the ruins were breathtaking, the sun popped out especially for us. Despite all this I still found myself a touch disappointed, I guess because I'd heard so much hype and seen so many pictures in the lead up to actually seeing the place that it all seemed a bit of an anticlimax. All my disillusionment faded away once we got to actually explore the ruins though. Then the real beauty of Machu Picchu really hit home. It's undeniably cool. The fact that it's been there for so darned long for a start, and then the way the rocks are pretty much carved out of the mountain and all slot so perfectly together, the irrigation system, the awesome acoustics (I don't know why, but there were) and the fact that there were llamas just wandering aimlessly around. I couldn't help but love the place. The views were out of this world too, perched up on the top of the mountains you could just see greatness in all directions.

After hours of explorations, a butter meets rucksack incident, an episode in involving lack of ID that almost meant us missing the train back to Cuzco (ahem... Addam) and having to jump in a random taxi from some godforsaken town thanks to our shoddy tour operator booking the wrong train, we finally made it back to the hostel. We enjoy transportation issues, it keeps us on our toes.

The next day we flew to Lima for Addam's last night, which we spent eating Dominoes (the biggest pizza EVER) and transferring all of my junk into Ads' bag for him to transport back to Blighty for me (worth noting that I've regretted that since, as I've needed all of it at least once).

Only this wasn't Addam's last night. Flight issues (aka booking the wrong date by mistake, whoopsie!) meant that we got another sneaky day to roll around Lima, eating ice cream and watching old people salsa in the park. A much better final day than the flight/hotel room/pizza day we'd had before. And then Addam scooted off early the next morning for another gruelling 24 hour plane journey, while I continued to roll around Lima eating ice cream (it's what he would have wanted).