Hello. Today is our last day in Cusco. We've been here for what seems like a long time - about 9 days - primarily because I was diagnosed with amoebic dysentry, which has somewhat slowed us down! Anyway, I'm fine (having caught it early), and Simon has taken great delight in telling me that I have eaten someone else's poo...! Argh!

Onto more pleasant topics...(!), we've done some lovely things here. We know the centre of Cusco, the Blueberry Lounge and it's menu, and this internet café just nextdoor to the Backpackers Family House where we've stayed with Carola and her family all very well...!! But we have managed to venture beyond the city, too. We had a cracking day in Pisac, north of Cusco, visiting its very colourful and happening Sunday market where we decided to do a bit of Christmas shopping! The ruins perched high up on the hill behind Pisac are brilliant too, largely because of their position (Simon has a much greater appreciation of what we're actually looking at at these archaeological sites!)... and the paths that are cut into the hillside that run between the various parts... the fort, the temple, the old village... We really enjoyed our day there...

We also had an afternoon walking up to Sacsayhuaman (you can work out how the non-Quechua speaking tourists pronounce it!), the nearest ruins to Cusco, just up behind it on the hill, and where there are enormous rocks (weighing up to 120 tonnes) forming part of the remains of the old Inca fort. We also that same day wandered around the Museum of Pre-Colombian Art... also very good with lots of intact beautiful ceramics, including one that reminded me of you, dad!

For various reasons including illness, expense, knowing that we'd done the best of the treks already in Peru anyway(!), we opted out of doing the Inca Trail up to Machu Picchu (perhaps a tinge of regret will always hang over that one for me), and instead went up in a day on the train yesterday. The train takes four hours from Cusco (even though it must only travel about 30 miles!!!) up to Aguas Calientes, from where you get a bus up hairpin bends to Machu Picchu. The train we got was 'Backpacker Class', the cheapest one that tourists can get and it was FULL of us! Tens of coaches met us off the train to take us up to Machu Picchu and my suspicions that this must be one of the most touristy places on earth were all confirmed! There were crowds and crowds at the entrance once we got up there, too...

Nonetheless, Machu Picchu has left a lasting impression. Its setting is incredible, perched on a ridge and falling away extremely steeply on both sides, all the way down to the tiny river and trains at the bottom on one side. The famous picture of Machu Picchu has Waynapicchu rising in the background and I was determined that we would climb it, knowing that Pete, Cal, Jo, Jonny and Graeme all had! It was well worth it: a hard climb up to sit at the tippy top, knowing that in several places you really had to watch your step so as not to just fall off the mountain. It happens, apparently. If it was England, nobody would be allowed up. Fortunately, it isn't (even if I do wish the restaurants here were all regulated by our health and safety laws!!). The views were fantastic and it was exciting being up somewhere so scarily high!

We're back now and just about finished here in Peru. Tomorrow we're catching the train to Puno on Lake Titicaca. For once we're travelling during the day (the journey is supposed to be lovely). Yesterday we met a German-Austrian couple on the train who had hired a car and driven around Peru and got to see a lot more of the landscapes than perhaps we have on the night buses! (But then they hadn't been to the Cordillera Huayhuash!)

Lake Titicaca lies on the border between Peru and Bolivia, our third country, and our fourth month. See you there. Lots of love, L & S  xx

PS If it makes you feel better at this the beginning of November, the weather reports for Puno and La Paz are as cold and rainy as they are for you!!!