Well we'd come this far, so it only made sense to scrap our initial time lines and head into Bolivia. So having just crossed the border, we're sitting having lunch in Copacabana and waiting for our bus to La Paz. I think I left off with us finishing the Colca Canyon and arriving in Cuzco, so let's start there, shall we…

We spent a couple of days just bumming around and enjoying the city. Finally REAL COFFEE!!!! It's shocking how difficult it's been to find a cup of non-instant coffee, and it was beginning to make me crazy, but since they grow the beans in the surrounding valleys and have hoards of tourists, they do save a little bit from being exported. Yay, happy Shayne!! Cuzco is overly touristy , but very nice. Certainly cold at night, but the fifteen blankets they piled on top of us, while very heavy, have certainly kept us toasty.

A bizarre happening that seems to have fully kicked in upon arrival in Cuzco was what we've come to term "gas wars". I don't know what they put in the food here, but the eruptions coming out of us have been unbelievable. It's become a game, albeit sick and twisted, but when your body starts doing things you can't explain, you may as well have some fun with it, right? I think we've been scaring the other travelers, and are certainly keeping people up at night. Damn Peruvian mountain ducks won't leave us alone!!

We did a day tour of the Sacred Valley which was…nice…the colds we'd been fighting off finally caught up with us and we, Dair more so than I, were more than a little snotty. About half way through the bus ride to Ollantaytambo he looked at me dismayed and a little whimper slipped out, "I phlegmed myself"; I'll leave the visuals to your imagination.