Graeme booked us on a tour bus with Tour Peru and we were once again treated to 1st class luxury with reclining seats and legroom for longer people than Graeme. I was very snug and cosy under my sleeping bag and soon fell fast asleep. Graeme fell into a deep sleep as we rolled our way towards Cusco. I was aware that the bus had stopped and thought nothing more of it since there was one stop en-route. However, it turned into a very long stop, since the bus had broken down. We were woken to the plaintive sounds of "Senor, senor!" Well, the trip was completed in a not so luxury thirty seater bus and we were dropped at some non-descript terminal. A taxi driver more or less managed to communicate with us and took us to a hostel close to the centre of town. However, it was too pricey. For the price of 5 Soleros, they allowed us to use their wifi to search for back packers digs and we ended up in an Irish owned backpackers called Wild Rovers. The shower was the best thing that I had encountered in two days....

It was a relatively pleasant digs, but of course, filled with 20 somethings who had very little interest in getting to know two old fogeys. We spent the day wandering the streets of the main town and joined the free walking tour. This we discovered was also aimed at young people and although it covered a number of interesting spots, the main objective was to point out all the nightlife hotspots of the city. We did get to see a lot of the city though. A rather smelly city with a lot of garbage and packs of strays scrummaging through the garbage for whatever takings they can find. In the main square though there is a very strong police presence which would be very refreshing to see at home. Made our way back to the hostel after tasting the Pisco sour....which turned out to be really pleasant. Upon arrival I became aware that a bladder infection was on its way and I blessed my doctor for the precautionary meds she had supplied me with. I took them and went to lie down. I have no idea how long I slept, but Graeme woke me to come for a BBQ supper in the hostels pub. It was good. Back to bed I went and slept even more. Both Graeme and I obviously needed some much yearned for rest, since we only woke after 9h00.

We rose for breakfast and then made our way to the buses to take us to the zip lines at the Sacred Valley. Now, you have got to understand the process......all the drivers of these mini-buses stand shouting their directions and compete against each other for customers. They also wait until every seat in the bus is taken before they leave. So you could wait for anything up to 3/4 of an hour before you leave. We noticed one bus filling faster than the other and bargained our way on to it. Graeme is a haggler of note. So we arrived at what we were informed was our destination only to find that no one knew anything about the zip lines. Fortunately two very friendly and very helpful young men from Argentina were there to help us and they found someone who knew about the zip lines. There was a whole lot of confusion about whether we would have to pay in Soleros or in US Dollars, so we tried to find a place that would exchange our dollars for us. Hey ho......it was a public holiday, so no place was open for this kind of business. One of the young men exchanged his money for our dollars and the taxi driver who had agreed to take us to the zip lines agreed to be paid in dollars too. To cut a long story short, we found ourselves rumbling along a 4x4 track in a car that rattled at every pebble it encountered.

We arrived at a very primitive looking outfit in the most stunning valley I have seen in a long time. More haggling took place as it was arranged that the taxi would wait for us. Oh man, what an exhilarating experience. My husband is turning into quite the adrenalin junky......even did one of the lines hanging upside down. My favourite was the last line in superman position. The adrenalin was enough to give me energy enough for our next leg to Machu Pichu. Arrived back in Cusco, after more haggling, getting the driver to drop from 10S to 4S each. Then back to the hostel to await the arrival of our couch surfing host. We are staying the night at a boarding home for children from the rural farming areas who have been identified as having academic potential. They are then boarded in this home and sent to the city public schools. They have the capacity to lodge 45 children, but due to limited funding, can only afford to keep 20 children. We enjoyed supper in the hall with the children and Graeme and Fernando have gone out to do laundry, banking, ticket booking etc, while I do this blog. And there you go....I am all talked out.

Until next time. Hope you are all well.