Entering Peru was uneventful in itself, a painless border crossing, no money; a few stamps and you're off. Nevertheless the bus journey was eventful to say the least!

We changed bus companies in Puno Peru and hopped on another bus. My seat was broken on the second bus so I could not sit in it so had to sit far from Sarah down the front of the bus. There were a number of Cholita's (old Bolivian grandmas) bustling around at Puno; they always have about 20 bags each, full of complete tat and extra garments to rent to people on coach journeys. After everyone was settled we got on our way. Only to stop about an hour along the road to pick up another Cholita who had a huge wardrobe, so the after the rearrangement of the luggage under the bus (which took about an hour), to fit the thing on we were again finally on our way after!

Not really sleeping just drifting in and out I awoke to the bus company holding up a sign saying: all tourists should check their bags now and if anything was missing they could do something about it because they could do nothing when we got to Cuzco. At this point I went back to see Sarah who said a man had been crawling down the aisle and under her seat and trying to steal stuff from her bag. She had caught him mid act (finding her bag upside down and open) and he had scampered back to his seat and pretended to sleep so she was not sure who it was. He had come back a second time to try and retrieve a pouch we normally keep our passports in but had touched a girls leg behind us and people had shone torches around. Luckily this time nothing was in the pouch as for the first time we had decided to use the money belt. After a short talk with Sarah I had followed the man down to the bottom of the bus but he had done a disappearing act! I really wish Sarah had come and got me but she was really really scared and couldn't move, but was also questioning herself as it was so dark and it was difficult to tell who the person was.

Before I finish with the bus journey tale it must be mentioned that Sarah was also not feeling to well, had a soaring temperature and was burning up! Maybe she should not have bragged so much about her 100% record in the stakes of not being ill (Obviously I am way behind in this contest considering the giardia, collarbone and now infected wound!) Sarah's 100% record diminished into 5 days of being bedridden with fever, loss of appetite, shortness of breath and dizziness - basically mild altitude sickness.

Cuzco

We arrived at the bus terminal without a hostel but quickly picked one up with a free taxi thrown in. It was early morning so perfect timing for me to watch some of the summer tests! Sarah was still feeling sick - we now suspected minor altitude sickness - considering our leap from Rurrenabaque (100m) to Lake Titicaca (3812m) and then to Cuzco (3600m) in a matter of days. We wanted to move to a new hostel and found one called Yuri's House Hostel for 15 Sols per person per night (4 sol = £1). We ended up staying at this hostel for our whole time in Peru. It had a great kitchen and views over Cuzco. The family that owned it were really nice and it was almost like a homestay.

Our first impressions of Cuzco were that it was very touristy but well kept. What do you expect from the town where most people travel to Machu Picchu from? We had decided to book the Salkantay Trek an alternative 5 day Inca trail trip which is cheaper and not so touristy. We booked the trip for $200 US, this included guides, food, entry to Machu Picchu and Hynapicchu, tents, sleeping bags, a hostel for one night and the train back from Aquas Caliente.

The day before the trek Sarah was still feeling sick, Max had vomited half way through a lunch and felt ill, Jana had terrible cold sores and I my foot had just about recovered. So we decided to delay the trek by two days which gave everyone time to recover from their various ailments. Sarah was touch and go but seemed to come back to life the evening before the trek as if her body knew it had to!!