A nice late start this morning...9:30am. We did have a meeting at 8:30am for an Inca Trail briefing and then another meeting at 9am to discuss what we needed to know for the coming days but we could eat breakfast at the same time so really a nice late start.

This morning was taken up with a 4 hour walking tour of historical Cusco. It was amazing to see old, original Incan walls in amongst more modern (as in late 1800 and early 1900's!) buildings. Our tour included a visit to the San Dominican Monastery where they discovered Incan architecture that has been covered for centuries. We wandered the streets towards the San Pedro Markets, the biggest in Cusco. Again, a bit disturbed by the fact they each part of the animal is sold in the markets (this time it was horses) but was impressed that you could buy tins of Milo. I didn't stop to check where it was made ;)

Next stop was the Basilica Cathedral, which actually has about 3 or 4 chapels, as the first one was not good enough so they built a bigger one next door. It is a huge building and dominates that Plaza de Armas, although the inside is much more impressive than the outside!

Last stop on the tour was the alpaca factory (no they don't produce alpaca's here - they produce alpaca wool products!). We had a demonstration of how to tell the difference between real alpaca and synthetic materials and also the difference between alpaca and baby alpaca, as many places claim to sell 100% baby alpaca but the number that actually do is much, much, much lower!

Next was time for a very quick lunch (so we had Starbuck's) before heading to horse riding. Kate, Jarrod, Chris, Emma and I enjoyed a couple of hours riding through the Cuscoian hillside. The views were amazing from every angle! My horse had a it of a problem with being overtaken by any of the other horses and wanted to have a go at every one!

Firstly, we had a nice gentle ride to some Incan ruins, the Temple of the Moon. It was quite a cool experience as you could get right inside (although you had to remove your shoes in order to do so..and no, not the horse, the horse and his shoes stayed outside!). From here, we rode back to where we started and then carried on up the hill on the opposite side of the road.

We walked, trotted and galloped till we came to a fabulous viewpoint at the top of the hill (although as an Aussie, would definitely call it a mountain!). We rode back along a different route to the start point and all the horses took off for home (Chris' horse in particular! haha!). Emma's horse had taken one look at a police car sitting on the side road we were going along and stopped dead in its tracks and the guy had to go back to give her a hand get it going again. Emma said the police took great pleasure in laughing hysterically at her!

We got back to the hotel and showered, ready for an interesting night. First stop was for dinner, but this also involved making our own drinks in a quick lesson beforehand. I chose to make a maracuya sour, which is a variation of the classic Peruvian drink called a Pisco Sour, but made with passionfruit. I was so proud that I didn't spill or drop anything...and my drink tasted ok. I went at the same time as Emma (hoping for some help from her!) but ended up in another group from her...oh well. Dinner was quite nice, although we'd chosen what to order a few days beforehand and none of us could remember what we'd ordered...still, it was very nice! I'm really liking all the variations on quinoa soup we are having!

After dinner (even though it was almost 11pm and so close to bedtime for me!), we headed to a salsa club, supposedly for lessons. We were quite late though so had missed most of it and the stuff they were doing now was a bit more involved...and it wasn't so much a lesson as just follow the people on the stage. And it was happy hour so needless to say, we got drinks and just watched all the others salsa. It didn't take too long and Emma and I headed back with Shizuka (one of the new girls from Japan) to the hotel as another busy, busy day tomorrow! And I need to finish packing...yet again!