Well im back in Cusco after quite possibly the best week of this trip so far! The trek was absolutely amazing, so despite feeling slightly exhausted and sleep deprived i'm still on a high about it all, so this is likely to be too long and too detailed, so feel free to scroll on if you get bored!!! Our trek group had 8 of us in total which was fantastic because we all got on really well, we had a couple from Australia ( although the guy was in fact dutch) and a couple from St Helena ( a tiny island 64sq miles with popn of only 4000 and a wks boat ride to anywhere else!) and finally an older couple from Hampshire! As soon as we arrived in Cusco we immediatley felt the effects of the altitude, Cusco is around 3000m. We had thought that some people were unlucky with altitude sickness but everyone in our group seem to feel dizzy and a bit out of it. Claire and i stumbled around getting a few last minute essentials, like tissues and plenty of cocoa leaves ( you drink them as a tea of chew them for the altitude!) But in the end we had to give up and head back to the hotel to crash out feeling quite rotten! Up at the crack of dawn we headed to a quechua village community in the Sacred Valley. The village was tiny and very basic and all the women were in traditional dress spinning and weaving wool to make hats and gloves and table runners etc. We both bought ourselves some Alpaca hats and gloves and then we were off to the Pisac ruins. Our tour guide Freddy was great, he told us all the history of the Incas and about the different sections to Pisac, the priest quarter and the famers and terraces and we saw the Sun temple. It was really amazing stood there looking it the valley surrounded by ruins and then a guy started to play apan pipes just to set the mood! We headed on to Pisac Market, where we mooched round all the jewellery and bags and tried not to look and some of the dodgey meat and fish there, and then we were off again to a Chicha bar. Chicha is one of the traditional drinks in Peru along with Pisac Sours, its made from Maize and is like a beer but very strong. Freddy said that because we were gringo's we were only given a shot- the locals swig back 9 or 10 of these jug size glasses and don't even feel the effects!! We were also given the chance to try some guinea pig, but i'm ashamed to say i didn't- but in my defence the poor b*****s were running around next door and Anton was sat next to me spitting out there leg bones and skull- so it didn't really get me in the zone!! We played 2 games of Frogs, where you throw these gold disks into various slots including a frogs mouth- i managed about 3500 points ( about 3 slots) and Freddy aced it with around 18000!! He reckons the more Chicha the better the score- but alcoholic sweetcorn doesn't slip down too easily! The following day we set off from Ollantaytambo and began to climb the Andes mountains where we stopped at around 3400m to visit some of the village schools. The children are all from families that farm or work the trails or sell their crafts and they speak quechua, so on the way we all learnt a few words. They were tiny and very friendly and both the infants and juniors sang us a song and wanted to shake everyones hands. We gave them some bread and pens and pencils and then headed back to find 3 horsemen, 2 chefs and Ramero- Freddy's right hand man, and a long table and chairs with an amazing 3 course meal! After Lunch our trek began!