¡Hola a todos! I arrived back in Cusco late in the afternoon, mere hours after departing from Machu Picchu, exhilarated, tired, content. My trek-mates and I spent one night more at the nice hotel – once again I enjoyed a room all to myself – and headed out en masse that evening for a final, farewell meal. The location for this meal (which I doubled up as a birthday meal in my mind at least) was chosen by one of the girls and revealed itself to be suitably r...

¡Hola a todos! Cusco has thus-far proven itself a city of startling contrasts, quite capable of dismaying and delighting in equal measure. It has become quite a normal, daily occurence for me to stroll from my hostal down into the bustling heart of the city centre, solicited for anything from massages to drugs of all kinds and even sex. In each case I am to be the paying client of course and every instance needles me afresh, sometimes infuriating me (no, I do n...