Cuzco

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We were excited about getting to Cuzco to catch up with Nicole and spend some time chilling out before the big Inca Trek, so we jumped on a bus to Cuzco and settled down for the long journey.

When we arrived at our hostel after getting very lost we gave Nicole a big hug, had a shower and headed out to check out Cuzco. After wandering around for a while we decided it was dinner time and time for a famous Pisco Sour which is a traditional Peruvian drink made from sugar, lemon juice, ice, Amargo Angostura, a lot of Pisco (made from grapes) and beaten egg white. Seeing as the first Pisco Sour tasted so good we decided to head to a bar Nicole knew and have another....and another.....and another.....the end result was us all heading to a cocktail bar till 3am chalenging some americans to a pool competition.....i think we lost.

This is the last time I will drink a Pisco Sour.....the hangover was shocking.

We then spent a week not doing a lot except walking up the hills of Cuzco to try and prepare ourselves for the Inca Trail (little did we know this would not help at all), getting lots of much needed rest, eating good food and spending time with Aaron's big sis.

We made an amazing discovery whilst in Cuzco - we heard about a cafe called Jack's which served western food like steak sandwiches, full english breakfast and salads (which we could eat as the salad was washed in treated water!!!)......we ate here about 5 times in our week in Cuzco and were not disappointed or sick from the food once!!

Two things we noticed about Cuzco is that the people love a parade - there was one huge one the day we arrived and then 2 more later in the week. The other was that they seem to think that all a gringo wants is a massage. We would walk from our hostel down to the main square (about a 5 minute walk) and be offered 10 massages along the way......and exactly the same ladies would offer each time we walked past and each time we would say "no gracias".....only to be offered again the next time we passed!

This is a very short blog because we really chilled out and just relaxed......

We had a 5am start for the Inca Trail so the day before we stocked up on the essentials, like trail mix, baby wipes and a big bag of sweets for emergency energy needs. We packed our day packs and were set to head off bright and early, terrified of what lay before us after hearing stories of the size of the hills from other people along our travels....

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