Pulled into Peru's Culture capital Cusco after our 10 hour bus journey and got whisked straight to our lovely courtyard hotel Los Ninos which is run by a Dutch woman who feeds and educates 500 of Cusco's poorest children. Feeling very good about ourselves, we all snoozed guilt-free until lunchtime when we ventured out to explore the Inca city. Cusco is a fab place, really beautiful, loadsa pretty buildings and plazas and women in bowler hats, plaits and big skirts walking around holding baby llamas, as you do. Inca-redible!

Admired the Inca walls all around the city especially the famous 12-Angle stone in one wall, which has, wait for it, yep 12 angles cut from the same massive piece of stone. Also caught a taxi for a top view over the city from their mini version of Rio's Christ Redeemer and visited the Inca Museum.

As expected, we also pulled a few more messy nights out of the Peruvian bag, including much card playing in Paddy Flaughty's - the highest owned Irish bar in the World - followed up by traditional South American evening in Mama Africas!?

After a few days, we headed out to trace the Inca footsteps through the Sacred Valley en route to Macchu Picchu. Puffed and panted our way up some pretty impressive ruins in Pisac in the build up to the main feature and spent the night in a lovely little Inca town called Ollaytantambo before our train to MiPi in the morn. Of course we Would've jumped at the chance to do the four day trek/hardest walk of your life but it was all booked up, shame. Anyhoo, chugged into Aguas Calientas, the funny tourist town at the foot of MP, and spent the day monging and checking out the hot, well tepid, springs.

Bleary eyed at 4.45am, we were huddled in the bus queue like proper sunrise eager beavers before weaving our way up the switchback road. And I guess, cliches are not cliches for no reason, and the first view of the city were pretty amazing!!! It really is just a whole city perched on the top of a mountain!

Luckily we were some of the first people to arrive and climbed up to the terraces overlooking the buildings to await for the sunrays to come up over the mountains and bathe the city in orangey glow bit by bit. It really was worth getting up and dragging our sorry arses all that way!!

Spent the whole day exploring the ruins and walked for a few hours to the Sun Gate where we sat and sunbathed admiring the whole site. Tried to walk to the Inca Bridge but all four of us freaked out when we saw the tiny path with no barriers and a massive sheer drop, didn't even try to scale the massive mountain Waynu Pichhu after spotting pictures describing walkways with abysses to one side!

Finally, armed with more photos of ruins than anyone ever needs in one lifetime, we headed back into town for some much deserved beers before catching our train back into Cusco in the morning.

A few more days in Cusco soaking up the sun and eating good food, including a great meal at Fallen Angel eaten over bathtubs with real fish swimming around, and we were ready to say a sad farewell to Ed and Jane.