May 26 - 29

We arrived in Cusco around 2am on Thursday morning all feeling pretty shattered after a long and tiring few days, so jumped into a cab and headed for the centre of town. On arrival people were still partying and we are walking around with our backpacks, we bumped into a guy who took Cusco us to his hostel where there just so happened to be a four-bedded room which cost us less than four quid each. It wasn't the nicest of places and the beds were like rocks but it would do for the night.

In the morning we all got up hoping for a nice shower (we were pretty filthy as hadn't been able to shower for three days) but the water was cold and no matter how dirty we were it just wasn't appealing enough! Antonio and Angie were craving McDonalds so we were persuaded to join them for some fast food! After this we all set about finding a place to stay, Antonio and Angie in a nice hotel and us in a hostel. Zara and I actually found a really nice hostel, brand new, amazingly comfortable beds, decent common areas, and best of all, we had an eight-bedded room either to ourselves or between three of us throughout our stay.

Cusco is a colourful city, built by the Spanish on the remains of Inca Temples and Palaces and surrounded by hills and mountains. It was known to the Incas as the 'Navel of the World' and is today one of South America's most popular tourist destinations. It takes many people several days to aclimatise to the 3500m altitude but coming from Bolivia we were fine! Cusco is home to whitewashed streets, red roofs, various cultures as well as numerous museums and bars.

That day was spent lazing around, checking out prices for trips to Macchu Picchu and having a wander around Cusco. We immediately warmed to the city as it is very colonial and clean and just generally has a nice feel about the place. We found ourselves in an Irish bar before going back and relaxing for a few hours. Later that evening we headed out for a few drinks only to find that every bar we went to was empty, so against our will we found ourselves back in Paddy's Irish Bar which was rammed. As much as everyone loves an Irish Bar, this one was not of typical standards, there was no Guinness and all the beer was Greene King from my home county. Not that this mattered too much to us, vodka and pisco were on the menu so that was fine!

After ordering our first drink a couple of middle aged American men got chatting to us, one was a doctor and the other a surgeon, both of which were volunteering in Cusco. Obviously this was quite interesting but soon became creepy and every time we tried to make an escape so we could speak to fellow backpackers they seemed to follow us and trap us. Being British we were far too polite about it all for our own good, but once we heard them say that we were awesome as didn't want them to buy us drinks we made some comments about annoying Americans and made a sharp exit for another room and got chatting to a group of trekkers that were much less annoying!

The following day Zara was a bit hungover, but thankfully I was fine as moved onto water well before going to bed. We lazed about for the morning before going to spend lots of money on our tour of Macchu Picchu and bus to Lima. Once this headache was out of the way we boarded an old fashioned trolley bus for a tour of the city. The tour took us to around the main sites of the city, starting at Plaza de Armes. You will find a plaza de Armes in many South American cities, as this is where all the arms where left for people to run to when they needed to defend the city! The Plaza de Armes in Cusco is very pretty, with immaculate gardens, a nice fountain and of course benches to watch all the weird and wonderful people pass by. It is surrounded by a huge cathedral, churches and the city hall. All in all, a very nice place to hang out and watch the world go by! The tour continued around the city, taking in numerous churches and other squares including Plaza San Francisco (another popular name in SA) which is where many festivals and markets take place. It also took us to the outer edge of the city where the locals live and there are many statues and monuments to national heroes! We even got to watch some cheesy pop video being made by a lady in traditional dress! I don't think we will be seeing it in the Top 40 any day soon though.

Further into the tour we went up to Cristo Blanco - a colossal statue of Christ on one of the highest hills in Cusco (about 3600m altitude). It was built in 1944 and is eight metres high and looks down into the city, it is also lit at night time which looks pretty spectacular. We got to spend a bit of time there taking pictures and laughing at the drunken man playing the banjo next to a little girl with a lamb and llama! Random!

After this we drove past Sacsayhuaman, a walled complex left from the Inca Empire and one of the most important remains in South American as it is known to be one of the first ever Inca settlements. We didn't stop and look around as we were heading to Macchu Picchu the following day which would be much more impressive!

That evening we chilled out and got ourselves an early night in preparation for the early start and long day ahead of us at Macchu Picchu.

We got up around 6am to get ready for our visit to the famous Macchu Picchu and as I was cleaning my teeth I heard a frantic Zara saying we have to leave! The lady we booked the tour with had turned up 15 minutes early and without the bus that was supposed to take us on the first part of the journey. She refused to wait for us so we grabbed our things and headed off to wherever the bus was. Enroute the lady told us she needed more money from us. Basically, Zara has a student card and hence is entitled to a $25 discount, the lady messed up and purchased an adult ticket instead and tried to demand that we pay for it! She wouldn't give us the tickets unless we paid, but knowing that she was the one in the wrong we refused and as a compromise told her to hold the student card for 24 hours so we could head off and not miss the train! This was slightly embarrassing as an argument continued in front of the other travellers, but there was no way we were going to give in.

We eventually headed off, about half an hour late (which was precious sleeping time) for the 90 minute bus journey to the train station Ollyamtambo. On arrival we walked through a very touristy street and waited for the train. We were pleased to see that it was a very nice train (and it should be too for the money) and we had a nice, quiet carriage. We were even given snacks and drinks for free, more than you get in England! The train journey itself was spectacular, winding through the valley with mountains either side of you covered in greenery and amazing peaks, flowing rivers etc. It's indescribable, but take my word for it when I say it really is something out of this world! The journey itself was approx 90 minutes I think, and you arrive in Aguas Calientes. The name derives from the fact that there are a lot of hot water springs in the town, but it is basically set up for tourists. It is full of artisan markets, expensive restaurants and hostels. We opted not to stay for the night and based ourselves in Cusco.

On arrival in Aguas Calientes we were herded to the bus which transfers you to the bottom of Macchu Picchu. This got me a bit frustrated as it was so disorganised and I really wanted to step in and get to work, but then that's not the first time on my travels! The bus eventually transferred us and we met up with our tour guide and got our passport stamps! The initial climb up the mountain was simple yet made me realise that I was quite content doing it for the day rather than the four day trek.

Macchu Picchu itself is famous for its Pre-Columbian 15th Century Inca settlement located approx 2430m above altitude (The Lost City of the Incas). There are many theories as to why it is there, one of which is that they believe it was built for an Incan Emperor, but there are also many theories as to why there were no people or bones there when it was found and brought to international attention. One of these is that they may have fled from invasion. We will never know the truth but just being at the most familiar icon of the Incan Empire was truly incredible. The views are spectacular and the camera just doesn't do it enough justice, Zara and I spent some time on our own just taking in the view and being amazed by everything around us. It is also one of the most intact Incan settlements left and of course it is highly protected because of this. Needless to say that it didn't stop the Israeli's from smoking and eating all over the place!

The guide took us around the most important and wonderful parts of the site, including the Temple of the Sun. This is an amazing construction, dedicated to the sun god and positioned in a way to make the most of the daylight and to get a perfect capture during the solstice. Also on the mountain side were terraces used for agriculture and farming. I know I keep saying it, but the brains that went into every aspect of the settlement is incredible. The houses were built on different levels and depending on your seniority you lived in a certain place, but many houses had a couple of floors, the windows were all positioned accurately for the sunlight and each window even lined up to the windows in the house behind! There was also a Royal Palace which had a lounge area, sleeping quarters, a bathroom etc! Up on one of the terraces is the Guards House as they could see every entrance point into the city and see who was coming and going. Upon another hill are more buildings with more fabulous views!

When you stand near the Guards House, you can see Wayyu Picchu which is another mountain you can choose to climb if you get there early enough. When the sunlight is right, you can turn you head sideways and the shape of the mountain is the same as the face of an Incan Man, all of which was formed naturally. There are even some buildings made in the shape of the Condor (a native bird which is the biggest in the world) and others in the shape of other animals which has religious and cultural meanings. I don't want to bore you with too many details of the visit, but it really is indescribable and one of the best places I think I have ever been. Truly amazing! I highly recommend very one of you to get there and see for yourself!

On the way back down to Aguas Calientes we kept seeing a young boy in local dress running down the side of the mountain, beating the coach every time as we had to wind around the mountain. He would jump out infront and wave at us all the way to the bottom. At this point he jumped on the bus and of course wanted money from us! It put a smile on everyone's faces and after such an amazing day you couldn't not give him a few cents! We treated ourselves to a nice Mexican down in the town, before wandering around the markets and taking the train and bus back to Cusco and crashing for the night!

We had a nice lay in on Sunday morning but then remembered that we had an argument on our hands as the lady from the tour agency was about to return to try and get some money from us. Of course she sent a man to try and scare us, plus an hour early at that, meaning that we were still in our PJ's! The man didn't speak English and as is the case with our culture men and women are equal and as such we were not frightened by his presence. If anything, we could probably have won him over easier than the scary lady. A few minutes later one of the ladies arrived and a Spanglish conversation began. In some ways it was a bit embarrassing as all the other guests were looking at us as the lady kept raising her voice, she also got the hostel owners involved even though we kept telling her not too, but thankfully they knew we were in the right and helped us out. We held our ground and refused to give her any money but she decided to get in my face a couple of times which still didn't scare me! Eventually we told her to keep the student card and to leave the premises. She tried to scare us with the Police but we knew she didn't have a leg to stand on, so eventually left the grounds never to return again. Crazy Cuscan woman (that was a phrase from the local girl working in the hostel)!

Anyway, after that palaver we headed to the bus station for our epic 21 hour journey to Lima. The first few hours of the journey were pretty bad as the roads were mountainous and windy, but I'd also had a dodgy McDonalds which led to me being sick. On the plus side it has temporarily put me off fast food! We shall see how long that lasts. A few films were shown during the journey but in Spanish with English subtitles, which was kind of annoying when most people were English speaking. We also got a couple of meals and enjoyed a game of Bingo - I got a little excited as only needed two more numbers but some guy ended up beating me to it! We managed to get a bit of sleeping once a crying baby shut up and were awoken by calming music for breakfast before arriving in Lima around 11am.