Day 340, 9 June 2013, In the air for a fair old while... Arrived in Lima spot on time after the overnight flight from San Francisco. Sleep would have to be the highlight of business class. And a steak dinner. As always however, not enough sleep by the time the time changed (3-4 hours?) We set foot in Lima very briefly. Basically walked out of the Arrivals terminal, 10 metres along the pavement, then walked into the Departures Terminal. Before we knew it, the domestic flight to Cuzco was over and we went from sea level in Lima to 11,220 feet / 3,400 metres in less than an hour and a half. By any stretch of the imagination, that ain't healthy. It was however unavoidable due to flight time changes (original plan had been to get off plane and immediately on to train to Machu Picchu... the best laid plans however go astray). Altitude sickness was almost unavoidable given how tired we were anyway and the headaches kicked in en route to the hotel. The beautiful Hotel Marqueses in the historic centre of Cuzco was, however, anything but a headache (www.hotelmarqueses.com). It was a monastery 400 odd years ago and underwent a major overhaul a few years ago - to an oasis of peace and charm right in the middle of town. We immediately tested out the softness and cosiness of the bed and it passed with flying colours - three hours later we emerged like grumpy bears and imbibed several more cups of coca leaf tea... to help with the headaches - essentially from a lack of oxygen. Not ones to let misery get in the way of a good time, we ventured out and enjoyed a massive Peruvian parade in the Plaza San Francisco - marching bands, traditional dresses, drums and noise makers by the hundreds. We're not sure if it's a regular Sunday parade but the vast majority of the crowd of onlookers were locals - incredibly exciting to watch. The climate at this height is unusual - very cold in the shade and positively roasting in the sun. Even the sunlight has an unusual brightness and clarity. Alternately shivering, shaking and shading our eyes we continued to explore the streets of Cuzco - surrounded by mountains, beautiful parks and fountains including the main square - Plaza de Armas. Very hard to describe Peru - our first stop in South America, it is in so many ways like Spain - the saints, the churches, the historic stone arches, the lilt of the language. And yet, so very different - the faces of the local people, the colours, the hats and shawls. And let's not forget the Alpacas! This evening was our only certain chance for some shopping so we got into the swing of haggling and bought an alpaca jumper and scarf for the same price as the very average pizza we had for lunch. Somewhat like Morocco and Turkey, there are so many beautiful textiles, rugs and clothing, we could fill a shipping container with no effort at all! We ended up in a shady chicken joint for dinner (in the alley, round the corner, past the old fellow, up the stairs, up more stairs - seriously getting higher all the time - and finally into the restaurant). Chicken and chips for two and a bottle of water for the same price as an alpaca sweater. One of those crazy places price wise it would seem. Back to our gorgeous little hotel to pack for the trip to Machu Picchu tomorrow morning. It is some kind of universal cruel joke that whenever we get a shocking hotel, we're stuck there for days and when we find a beautiful one, we're in and out in the blink of an eye - fortunately though, we're leaving the big bags here and taking day packs down to Machu Picchu for two nights before returning here for another brief night in Cuzco. Right then. Off to bed, alarms x 2 set for 0600 hours. That's right - Oh My God - that's early