Cusco and Around

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After yet another long bus journey on unmade roads we arrived in Cusco, which is a really lovely City, if a bit crammed full of gringos. It is an odd mix, with colonial buildings sprouting out of Inca foundations, and llamas on street corners with brightly coloured tassels in their ears.

After a few days of exploring nearby Inca ruins in the rain (finally our luck with the weather broke..), we started on the Inca Trail. After being a little undecided on whether to book or not (you have to do it with a tour company as part of a group, and it is expensive - hugely so in Peruvian terms), it was a fantastic four days and well worth it. You start off in valleys surrounded by snow covered peaks, and end up in cloud forests and the jungle. The weather was good too, and arriving at the sun gate above Machu Picchu in time for the sun rise was quite spectacular. Even though you see so many pictures of it, you don´t get a sense of the whole setting which is quite magical. And arriving by the Inca Trail seemed the right way to see it. I could get used to going with a tour operator too - you don´t have to carry your own tent, and you get woken up with a cup of tea in bed each morning! Either that or I need to train Scott better...

After a few (too many?) beers with our group when we got back to Cusco, we booked a flight to La Paz in Bolivia. Feeling pretty altitude fit now after about 6 weeks abve 3000m!

As you may be able to tell, we are having a fantastic trip! Seems like we have been away for much longer than two months.

Hope all is well with everyone,

Tom and Scott xx

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Photos

Football at 3500m
Inca Trail - Peru vs the rest of the world!