Hi all!? Arrived in Cusco on the 23.04.07 so were digging deep in the memory banks for this one!

?Cusco is known as the Inca?s naval of the world and this is evident from first arrival.? The city is built on original Inca footings and there are many, many Inca sites to visit in a very small area including the Sacred Valley and of course Machu Picchu.? Cusco is also only a 30 minute plane ride from the begining of the Amazonian jungle so there is plenty to do.? So the first thing we did was visit Paddy Flannigans the highest owned Irish pub in the world, of course we took little Tel (check out the photo?s) due to the altitude (3500m) we needed tim and beer to help with the adjustment.? The next day with hangovers we discovered that Cusco was no sleepy town!? Packed with tourists and tour agencies you can do any kind of trip or activity inaginable, we opted for white water rafting which was totally awsome!? Emma was totally terffified before hand as we would be doing class 3 rapids (highest is 5!) and Peru has quite a loose grip on health and safety.? She was delighted to discover the only seat available was at the front of thr raft.? All?s well that ends well and we both cant wait to get up to some 4 and 5?s!? Even on the river you can see Inca burial sites and pre Inca ruins, totally amazing.??

Cusco has a very lively night life which goes on until late morning in some club?s.? So much for loosing weight, with the amount of free Pisco Sour drinks around and the great food we are finding it hard to move on...decided for a drastic change and off to the jungle on the 26th.

Back in Cusco - Unable to get on the Inca trail all booked up until the end of July.? For $120 we can get the train for the day but noooo.... we found a better option 4 days 3 nights mountain biking and extreme hiking for $150!

Day one - off into the mountains several hundred meters above Ollyantambo, bikes off the roof of the bus and off we go.?Avarage group age 22 not including us!?? We had a great group 3?American lads, 4 from Sweden (who marveled at Emma?s?Swedish of ?we want?more food? and a Danish couple.?Our?head guide Ceaser briefed us to go slow. Absolutley so much fun going down going up quite tough.? All going well until one of the young guides (on trial for the day don?t think he got the job) hit a truck and needed stitches in his arm!? Spent the night in Santa Maria a fantastic oppertunity to spend time in a toen as the only gringo?s.? Day two - Uphill, uphill, uphill.? The weather was fantastic today (for the beach!).? Emma managed to fall down the mountain and now has knees like a five year old.? Walked and walked (up) for about 8 hours until we reached the hot springs at Santa Theresa.? The one and only time a hot shower would have been?welcome and we get a hot spring!? Spent the night in Santa T and were fortunate that there was a three day festival.?? Unusal custom, the children were chased around with lit fireworks for a couple of hours until a intricate structure that had been created was destroyed by the fireworks and dragged around the streets by a very proud little boy.?? There is so much history and myth to Peru especially surrounding the Inca?s and every day we hear more facinating tales, cant wait to get to Machu^Picchu.?

Day 3 -? The girls went to bed early whilst the boys went drinking.? Awoke to the news that they had all had too much to drink so we would be catching the bus instead of walking the first 3 hours.? Result!? Quite a nice 3 hour steady uphill walk to Aquas Callientes the town that sits below Machu Picchu.?

Day 4 - Up at 4 am and set off for the 1.5 hour walk up to Machu Picchu.? Awake now!

Machu Piccu does not disapoint.? We have a 2 hour guided tour, more myths and legends and a few facts.?Machu Picchu simply means old or?ancient mountain.?For the fun of it we both decide to climb Waynapicchu 1 hour up and one hour down.? This is the large mountain you can see in most of the postcards.? At times this was really very, very steep and narrow but hugely worth the climb.? Blisters to prove it.? Not too many pictures as the camera batteries ran out.? Little Tel was there we just didn?t get a picture!

Back to cusco by train and an overnight bus finds us in Puno.? Tomorrow we are visiting the islands of Lake Titicaca and then head of to Bolivia on Monday.