hi there, im still in cusco, but ive booked my bus ticket, and ill leave tonight. i dont think ive really done very much since ive been here. on the first day i was here, there was a parade which lasted over 12 hours! people were dressed in local costumes, doing traditional dances round the plaza de armas. i went mad taking photos there! and the following day was the day of the inti raymi festival, to mark the winter solstice. the main part of the festivities was held at the ruins of sacsayhuaman. there were maybe 250,000 people there, so i didnt get a great view of the ceremony, but it was really interesting to see. i havent gone mad visiting museums here, mainly because most of the ones round here feature religious art. ive been to some markets, tried bartering with stallowners, bought a few souvenirs, but not seen a lot of the sites there are around here. however, i spent 4 days this week walking the inca trail, and that was an absolutely fantastic experience. the trail follows the course of an old inca roadway leading from cusco to the city of maccu picchu. the walk is around 40kms, over the four days, and we camped at night. but we had porters who carried all camping equipment and the food, and they arrived at the sites before us, to set up tents and prepare meals etc. now thats my kind of camping!!! we saw ruins of different inca sites along the way, as we made our way to machu pichu. the walk was fine, my new shoes only managed to produce one blister and the scenery was spectacular. we had a really good group, all around the same age, and level of fitness! the first day we didnt walk very far, maybe only about 5 kms. day two is the toughest, without doubt. starting at around 3000m above sealevel, the route reaches a height of 4215m, it seemed to go on forever!! id try to walk for five minutes, but then id need to rest another five! but actually, the group i was with climbed really quickly, and in fact we reached our camp about an hour before we were expected! but it was tough. however, as wed set off around 7am, we had the afternoon to relax, and recover for next day. day 3 was really good, lots of downhill, and we visited the sites of several different ruins. and that night we had something of a party at the campsite, but it was a quiet affair, with all of us in our beds around 9.30, as we had to get up at 4am!! we walked by torchlight to maccu picchu. we (along with a few hundred others) were there early enough for sunrise, but it was a little cloudy. we spent several hours at this amazing place. our guide explained about all the different parts, what they were used for, the symbolism, its just breathtaking. despite all my exertions of the previous few days, i even found the energy to climb the wayna picchu peak, a near vertical climb, with VERY steep drops on either side, for which i was rewarded with stunning views in all directions, including a great overview of maccu picchu. it was an absolutely fantastic trip, definitely a top three experience. when we got back to cusco, we rounded off the trip by celebrating in an irish pub, followed by a trip to a nightclub. how we found the energy to dance, im not sure, but it was a late night!!!! and so, its back to bolivia on the bus tonight. im not sure how long ill be there, but ill keep you posted!