There's not much to say for Cusco. It's a great city with lots to do. But between organising my s*** for Machu Picchu and feeling f***ing terrible, I didn't end up seeing a lot of it.

One thing I did do is visit the Inca ruin Saqsaywaman (pronounced pretty much as 'sexy woman') on the outskirts of town. Feeling a little lazy and wanting to save my legs for the upcoming Machu Picchu onslaught, I opted to take a horse ride. You see more quicker and it's cheaper. Having done a fair bit of trail riding back in high school, I know some basics of horse riding. Yet somehow I ended up with a crazy ass horse who would not listen to me 95% of the time and not even to the guide a lot of the time. It was particularly nerve wracking when we were crossing a road and the horse just dead stopped right in the middle. It took a good minute or two of encouragement before he would keep going. Pretty sure it was trying to kill me. Never in my time have I met such a cantankerous horse. At this point I will mention that I was not wearing a helmet (not offered and I didn't realise until about 10 minutes into the ride when my head hit a branch) so serious bodily harm could have been on the cards. Also the stirrups weren't adjusted right leading to an uncomfortable ride and given my lack of Spanish I was not able to explain this issue to my guide. After just over an hour, with vague directions given, the guide dropped me off on the side of the road. Safe! Anyhow I managed to find my way to the ruins and they were pretty cool. Then it was up to a viewpoint where I could see the whole of Cusco and where I met a nice American guy who I walked back into town with.

Then given the later than anticipated hour I ran around doing all my last minute pre-MP errands before allowing myself to collapse in the bar and enjoy a hot milo and chicken soup to fix my seriously ailing health. Combined with an early night this must of worked cause I woke up feeling fine!

A note to those who are about to trek Machu Picchu. Don't go on a horse ride the day before. Really not a good idea.