Cusco

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Next stop on our itnerary was the cty of Cusco, famous as the heart of the Inca Empire, and the start off point for trips to Machu Pichu. we flew here from Arequipa, and once we managed to get on the plane (they tried to bump us to the next day), it was a pretty interesting journey. Well for Neil anyway, as the pilot flew over the live Areqiupan volcano and dipped the whole left side of the plane so the passengers on that side could see right into the crater. That´s probably a once in a lifetime opportunity, shame I was on the other side of the plane. Neil also managed to get upgraded to business class for part of the flight, so all in all, a great start to the day for him.

We were collected at the airport by a very enthusiastic fella from the hotel, who seems to be their only employee other than the manager. We´ve not seen anyone else there in 4 or 5 days now, so he´s doing airport runs, reception, portering, cooking breakfast and we think he even did our laundry. In fact, we haven´t even seen any other guests, so it could well be just the 4 of us. They also keep the front door padlocked at all times, which isn´t the most reassuring, but so far we´ve had no problems, fingers crossed.

Machu Picchu is the reason most people come to Peru, and in fact is apparently the biggest tourist draw in the whole of South America, so Cusco is by far the most touristy place we´ve been so far. That means it´s a little bit more expensive but also means there are lots of cafes, bars and restaurants (including an amazing place called the Fallen Angel which wouldn´t look out of place in London or New York. It was quite the surprise coming across it). It also means there are lots of street vendors, but they´re not *too* persistent and we´ve learned some key phrases in Spanish, all of which begin with "no, gracias", for example:
"No, gracias, we´ve already eaten"
"No, gracias, we don´t smoke"
"No, gracias, we are both already wearing sunglasses"
"No, gracias, we don´t want to buy a finger puppet" and
"No, gracias, that huge alpaca wool rug wouldn´t fit in my rucksack".

Although, I think i will actually splash out on a few finger puppets (people with birthdays coming up, watch out!) as we´re talking about 15p each and at least the kids seeling them are trying to earn some money rather than begging.

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Photos

Lets make fashion happen
Us in our hats

The square at night
Yes, that´s a second hat!

The main square
Yet again, from another persepctive.