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Stepping off the night bus early on Sunday morning the first thing you notice is how cold it is.....and as it was before opening time we have to wait outside to get our bags.... Elliot a guy we'd met in Cuzco shared a taxi with us and for once we got a deal rather than a gringo price!

It was great to get a view of the city at this time in the morning when no one was about and first impressions are that its a pretty special place. We dropped Elliot off in one part of town and we headed to the other, both areas in lovely spots with plazas around and about.

We arrived at our hostel just in time for breakfast... Bonus!!!! Much needed tea and coffee, free bread and jam or you could treat yourself to some £1.25 scrambled eggs, which is what we did after the food on the bus not being the best the night before........

The hostel is really big with rooms all surrounding a court yard which is littered with beanbags and comfy chairs.... A bit chilly when we got there but after brekkie the sun was shining and people were catching some rays..... Exactly what we did and I'm sure had a little minute;)

By about 11am we were ready for a little walk so we headed around the block to where there was a lot of noise coming from... Mind you fire works were going off everywhere, so there was noise from all directions... In the square there were stalls serving all types of food and through an archway there was a big indoor market with every type of food you could think of from dried meat to exotic fruits, including the typical alpaca merchandise all around the outside! We spied the perfect spot for lunch, fresh ceviche ......

Outside there were groups of traditionally dressed locals dancing away outside the church... They have the strangest head wear to accompany the layers of full skirts... Hats which are brightly decorated and embroidered and also creepy full faced balaclavas with dodgy moustaches knitted into them... Strange... Still haven't got to the bottom of the significance of these ones!!

Heading back to the hostel we chilled out there until we could check in at 1pm and then headed out with the camera to do the city walking route of all the best sites and take some pics of all the beautiful plazas and churches.... Of which there are loads!

All this walking at 3300m plus the lack of sleep on the night bus helped us into an early bed and a good 14 hours much needed sleep ready for a day of hiking to the highest view points around the city the following day to get ourselves even more acclimatised.

In Cuzco they've certainly caught onto milking the tourist trade.... You have to pay 70 Solis which is about £18 to get into each arcological site or you can buy a 140 Solis pass (£35) for a 7 day pass..... We did neither just walked high and enjoyed the views for free and admired the sites from the outside when we could, and if we couldn't so be it..... The sun and the steepness of the climbing we'd done again helped us into an early bed ready for our last night in Hostel Pirawani before heading off to our Inca Trail Tour.

Big thanks to Nadia and Sina for the hostel recommendation.... We had the best showers in South America we're sure, not to mention the comfiest bed with two pillows!!!!!

Amazing how the small things matter the most hey!!!

You could cruise this city for days....

A really great place and we didn't even party which is said to be pretty good too.... Maybe it's the high altitude magnifying the effects of whatever your poison maybe or it could just be the setting....

Another thumbs up for Peru, who's dangerously close to becoming our favourite country in Central and South America!!!!

Go Peru!!!!

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