Cusco, Peru

Finishing Puno with Georgie and Scott, we decided to stick together for the next week. On entering Cusco we were instantly enchanted by the old colonial beauty of the city. To welcome us on our first day there was a huge parade dominating the main square with hundreds of locals dressed up in all sorts of flamboyant, colourful costumes. We managed to find a gorgeous hostel that the four of us have practically had to ourselves. The owner, Maria, is very sweet in general, however, when it comes to late night drinking she is not so tolerant. We have been politely reprimanded on more than one occasion for drinking in the common area past 9pm! She is now fondly known between us as the 'fun police'.

Since Cusco was once the capital of the Inca Empire, it is absolutely teeming with history in and around the city. We all booked a half day tour to 'Moray', an agricultural laboratory that the clever Incas built using the natural shape of the landscape . They figured out that the climate between each level (concentric circles built into the mountain valley) differed slightly. By experimenting with different crops on each level, they found the optimum growing conditions for all of their most important foods. We also visited 'Museo Inka' which has amazing collections from Andean tribes dating back to 5000BC!

Like everything else in Cusco, the nightlife is brilliant! The whole jungle crew (minus the whiney old British couple) were reunited for...wait for it....a karaoke night. Yes, we battled against the many awful Spanish tunes that filled the air with some equally tragic english tunes. A cheesy, silly night was had all round! On the night before our Moray tour (big mistake) we were lured to one of the clubs with the promise of a happy hour. The club took an exclusive standpoint when it came to the locals yet it welcomed all gringo money with open arms!

Since the Peruvians are very proud of their national drink, Pisco (similar to an Italian grappa), we decided to visit the Museo de Pisco for a tasting lesson. The museum turned out to be a big bar with hundreds of different types of their much loved liqueur. It was all very tempting to sit and get absolutely pisco'ed with Jade and Paul but Harry had one of several dentist appointments to attend (for not one but two root canals!) It was often necessary to have a few drinks before such sessions since we never knew what was going to happen. On one occasion the dentist, Marco, was aggressively drilling away in Harry's mouth when the power cut out in the whole block and we were left in total darkness. When Marco retrieved a small torch Harry opened wide for him to resume work and was promptly told to close his mouth since it would be impossible to continue with no power. At least some of our backstreet dentist fears were abated.

With 2 hours of spanish class each morning, the dentist in the afternoon and homework in the evening it was like being back at school again. Surprise or not, Harry was often copying my homework 10 minutes before class! It was about time too that we engaged our brains before they turned to Pisco. Our teacher, Cecilia, was absolutely brilliant and we spent much of our time with her in fits of giggles (joking around in Spanish, of course!) Although we still find it hard, we learnt loads and it has helped our confidence so much!

To say it gets chilly here at at night is an understatement. Luckily for me they have market stalls full of handmade al pacha garments. At any one time I am wearing at least 3 baby al pachas! The clothes markets and the huge San Pedro market (which sells everything from snakes in jars to fruit 'n' veg) is the perfect place for us to peruse for dinner and practise our Spanish.

With chocolate being another one of Peru's passions, we spent a lovely afternoon in the Museo de Cocoa learning all about how the cocoa bean is farmed and made into the amazing treats we got to sample! Our mouths were truly watering after the tour so we settled down in the chocolate cafe to stuff our faces with more delights! Not surprising to learn such facts as 'Britain consumes 1000 bars of chocolate to every 1 consumed in China'- we represented the British well that afternoon.

We've now got a few more days left in Cusco before hitting the Inca trail!

Nicola & Harry

Copa Del Sh*thead Scoreboard: NH 122 - 136 HF