9/6/09 Today we travelled in a local bus to Cusco. The trip was lot better than the one to La Paz. Locals who couldn't afford to pay for a seat stood in the aisle, and Tanya ended up having a 6 or 7 year old girl on her lap the entire way! She didn't mind, though, and in fact she and some of the others tried to speak to her in Spanish and made her laugh, and had a good time in all. We only stopped once in about 6 hours at a place where there was a toilet and a small market of women selling clothes, textile and souvenirs. We saw an alpaca for the first time! - a close relation of the llama, but white and much woolier, and with a shorter neck. There was also a fantastic view of the mountains, some of which were snowcapped.

We arrived in the late afternoon, and after K ike showed us around briefly some of went to a local set of markets where we bought some alcohol at a cheaper rate than we would have elsewhere. In the evening after dinner we all sat around in the basement of the hotel drinking for a while and then we went out to a club in town and danced. Nic said goodbye to us all there, because she was leaving the next day, Dave and although Dave and I left at about 1am others stayed until much later.

10/6/09 Today was the first day of the Corpus Christi celebrations in Cusco, something we only found out about when we arrived yesterday. At lunchtime Dave and I went to the main square and had some lunch at the highest Irish pub in the world, which is on the first floor of a building next to the cathedral. We had just begun watching the England vs. Andorra world qualifier match when we heard loud music coming from outside. I went out onto the balcony and looked, and got a fantastic view of some of the procession going by in the square. I took lots of photos before going back to my lunch, and at half time (when England were leading 3-0) we left and just wandered round the square, taking everything in. The procession was a blaze of colour marching around the square and out down the street through which they had entered, and I kept a firm grip on my camera as we stood watching it. There were several floats of various saints (San Jeronimo and San Pedro were two) as well as of the Virgin Mary in different forms, carried on long poles on the shoulders of lots of men. The floats were large models dressed up with lots of decoration around them, and must have taken a very long time to make. As for the rest of the procession, it was made up of men in traditional dress marching, blowing conch shells or both, women in traditional dress marching, groups of dancers in different colourful outfits, important men in suits, children, and the occasional brass band. Nearly every part of the procession had people at the front holding up bright embroidered religious banners (though not exactly banners - I've forgotten the right word for them, but you can see pictures of them on the blog).
Dave bought some candyfloss for us to share, and I took lots of photos. I'm so glad our visit to Cusco coincided with Corpus Christi, though by all accounts there are about 20 festivals celebrated in June alone, so if it hadn't been Corpus Christi it would probably have been something else. Although very Catholic in Cusco, like all over the Andes they still retain certain pre-Christian aspects of life, and on 24th June every year they celebrate Inti Raymi, the Inca winter solstice. 'Inti' is the Quechuan word for the Sun God, who the Incas worshipped above everything else. Inti Raymi is the festival which a Peruvian man told me about on the street when I was working in Sydney, and I was excited because I thought my visit might combine with it. Although it doesn't, I'm very glad to have caught Corpus Christi there instead! The whole of the main square, surrounded by the beautiful cathedral and other old buildings, was filled with people; hawkers selling candyfloss, icecream out of coolboxes, sweets, Corpus Christi leaflets, toys, helium balloons, hats and foldable stools, hundreds of spectators standing around or crowding the wide steps outside the cathedral, looking outwards to get a good view of the coming events, and those in the processions, variously marching, dancing, holding up the floats or playing musical instruments.

11/6/09 The next morning Dave and I went to the Inca Museum, and although the amount of English translation was hit and miss, they had some interesting exhibits, like skulls which had been trepanned, weapons, portraits of Inca nobles, household objects like jewellery, combs, pins and hair decorations, and a small exhibition about the importance of coca leaves. Before we went in I stopped outside the cathedral for a bit, because there was a large crowd outside it and an altar had been set up at the top of the steps. A big religious service was clearly going on, for Corpus Christi, with at least one bishop present and lots of incense-swinging and organ music coming out over loudspeakers involved. Most of the floats from the day before were standing on each side of the altar.
After we left, we went into a shop, where I bought a book called 'The Royal Commentaries', written centuries ago about the history of the Incas, by the son of an Inca princess and a Spanish conquistador. Then we went to a cafe called 'Jack's' for lunch, because Roz & Adey had recommended it when they visited Cusco a couple of years ago, and **** had also recommended it the day before. It's so popular there was a queue outside, and unfortunately while we were waiting Dave started feeling ill. He ended up going home, but said to me to stay because once he got home and had a rest in bed he should be OK, so I did. The long wait was worth it, because my steak sandwich was lovely and came quickly into the bargain (in contrast to Bolivia, where we often had to wait ages between ordering and our food actually arriving.)
Feeling replete, I went back to the square, where the first floats of the procession were just about to start moving from their position next to the cathedral. I wandered round like I had the day before, taking photos and taking everything in. Bubbles blew around in the air, and I noticed some dancers I had missed before, like a set of female dancers who wore papier-mache masks. Another group of men passed by blowing conch shells, and unlike the day before, this time I happened to be in the prime position to get a good photo. After an hour or so I left and went on the internet for a while, because I had a lot of catching up to do in that department, and then I went home to check up on Dave. He was feeling a bit better, though still a bit lightheaded.
That evening we went out with some of the others for dinner at a place with a cheap set menu. A Pisco Sour cocktail, soup or salad, a main course and a soft drink for only 12 soles (about 2 pounds fifty)! Unfortunately in this case we got what we paid for, because although the drinks and soup/salad were OK, the main courses weren't very nice. Like the evening before, Dave and I were offered drugs by locals on the way down the sidestreet the restaurant was on - on our refusal, they just waited for the next tourist to pass by them. Apparently the drug dealers, attracted there by the amount of tourists, are in league with the local police. The only other thing that we didn't like so much about Cusco was the fact that unlike anywhere else so far, every time we stopped for more than a few seconds in the square or nearby, people would come up to us trying to sell us stuff or get us into their restaurant/bar/cafe, which became annoying after a while. Overall, though, I really liked Cusco, because especially in the centre, it really is very beautiful, the celebrations were amazing, and there was a wide range of shops and places to eat.

12/6/09 Our last full day before we left for the Sacred Valley and then the Inca Trail, and in the evening we had our Inca Trail briefing. We had to leave our big bags at the hotel for the duration of the Trail, just taking with us what we needed for it in duffle bags we were given. We weren't allowed to put anything more than 6kg of stuff in them, because that's the limit per bag the porters are allowed to carry. Anything we wanted to access during the day, like suncream, water, snacks etc., we had to bring in a daybag, which we had to carry ourselves.
We'd had a lie in that morning, because we knew we'd be up very early over the next few days, and bought water and snacks. Dave still wasn't feeling 100%, so I went by myself to a church/monastery which is built on Inca foundations. It's also a museum, and has several old religious paintings along the walls in the courtyard. It had some fantastic views over the rest of Cusco, too.