The week has passed in a blur of Spanish classes, Salsa dancing, long lunches with my fabulous host family, mooching around the city, people watching in the Plaza De Almas and a few cervezas in the many bars of Cuzco with new found friends.

The school where I am learning Spanish is a thirty minute walk from Los Rosales, the residential area of the city where I am living. The walk takes me through various `barrios`of the city, down the Avenue Sol, past the giant statue of Mano Capac, the Incan founder of Cuzco, who presides over the city. Various artisan markets line route, and the temptation to buy beautiful brightly coloured local fabrics is proving quite a challenge!

Following a placement exam, I am studying Spanish in a class with Moniek, a Dutch Nurse who speaks about 6 languages already, and Jeremy, a very funny (and very American) Ski and Rafting Instructor from the USA. Classes are taught completely in Spanish, and Oscar, our fabulously funny teacher, leads the conversation, with most of the classes passing in raucous laughter as we joke our way through Spanish Verbs and make fun of each other in Spanish.

On a typical day, following school I return to my new Peruvian home and eat a big lunch with my host Family. Due to the high altitude, Cuszcuenians generally eat a large lunch, consisting of delicious home made soup, followed by a main meal of fried rice, salad, vegetables or pasta. If it wasn`t for the eight miles I walk daily I think I would need a new wardrobe! Following a siesta or a relaxing afternoon, I usually amble back into the city to meet with friends from school at la Plaza de Aramas, before deciding which bar to frequent that evening.

Salsa classes on Wednesday were hilarious, with much laughter and little dancing, as we tried to coreograph a routine for a grand finale, which ended in chaos but gained much applause. The music is fabulously uplifting, and I found if I forgot what my feet should be doing, shut my eyes and just moved to the rhythm I was much better than if I did what I was supposed to be doing! Whether it looked good or not is a different matter...

The city itself is beautiful, with steep, cobbled narrow roads leading out in all directions from the main square. Ancient Incan walls form the foundations of modern buildings, and fountains and stutues can be found in the many plaza`s where people gather to people watch. Many of the inhabitants are Catholic, and I have been lucky to witness the celebrations of Semana Santa, which lead up to Easter. On Sunday evening, thousands of people crowded the main square while an effigy of Jesus on the Cross, adorned with Incan symbols, was paraded around the square while music played, ending at the door of the cathedral to the sound of ringing bells. Yesterday was the feast of Doce Platos, where twelve delicious dishes, with many local deserts and wine, were eaten at home with my host family.

The central market is a hive of buzzing activity, with hundreds of stalls selling everything from alapca hats and brightly fabric to every fruit and strange exotic looking vegetable under the sun. The meat section, with its rows of unrefrigerated trays open to the elements, was full of local delicacies such as rabbit and frogs, with huge cows heads with vacant eyes still intact staring up from the floor. Rows of bread and empanadas lined the central avenue, and smell of local fruits and flowers gave pleasant respite from the rows of dead flesh. Some stalls sell offerings to the gods for protection, with dried llama foetuses for fertility and luck, and bags of gifts which are burried in the earth under the cover of darkness to appease the gods. Vendors sat knitting and feeding small babies wrapped in brightly coloured shawls, while locals and tourists mooched between the stalls.

A ten minute pause on a bench in the Plaza de Armas will be filled with a stream of passing street sellers, with children as young as five trying to sell all manner of goods, such as knitted finger puppets, shoe shining services, paintings, dolls in local dress, cigarettes and postcards to passing tourists. The children love to talk and show off their English, and will stop and chat and answer questions in Spanish about their lives and school, before wandering off to the next potential buyer. Stray but friendly dogs roam the streets, dodging the bustling traffic, lying under benches, rolling on the grass and making friends with the tourists.

A large cross, illuminated at night, looks down over the city from high in the hills at the ancient Incan ruins of Sacsyhuaman. Celia, Jeremy and I wandered up to the top of the hill yesterday (good training for the Inca Trail next week!), passing Llama`s grazing in roadside fields who were happy to pose for photos (or would have been had I remembered to put my memory card back in my camera...) and eucalyptus trees filling the air with a delicious fragrance. The view of the sprawling city from high up in the hills was amazing, and the church yard of Santa Blas provided a good stopping point to sit and take in the scenery.

Following a lazy morning, a late breakfast, and a blog update, I`m heading out shortly to explore some local incan ruins, followed by a visit to the market at Pisac tomorrow, where the temptation to buy wool and fabric might just be too much...