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So after all the exertion of climbing out of the Colca Canyon in Arequipa we decided to spend a few days (6 in total) just chilling out in Cusco - arguably 4 days too long when you are not interested / willing to pay the extortionate prices to visit all the Inca sites in and around Cusco.
The other reason for spending so long there was to avoid having to spend Liz´s birthday on an overnight bus! Instead we spent the first half of the big day very hung over from a great pre-birthday night out, and shared the second half with another birthday girl, Isobel, eating a delicious dinner starting with guinea pig and then topping up the alcohol in our systems. That pretty much summed up our first 3 days in Cusco.
On day 4 we decided enough was enough and caught the local bus to the small market town of Pisac. Then we visited the Santo Domingo monastery which is a really interesting building in the very centre of Cusco (which was the centre of the Inca empire). The Dominicans built their monastery over the top of the most important Inca temple in the city whose ruins were only discovered after an earthquake destroyed all the colonial buildings and left the Inca masonry standing. Raoul, our guide, was incredibly knowledgeable and told us loads about the significance of all the different temples around the site, the building methods and the Inca empire in general - all good preparation for our forthcoming visit to Machu Picchu.
After a nice cultural morning it was time to prepare for the Inca Trail and meet up with Amy (Liz´s friend from work), her boyfriend Lester and their group of South African friends whose holiday we had managed to crash. Unfortunately they were all suffering from altitude and upset stomachs to varying degrees so, after a pretty subdued briefing, it was time to hit the sack, ready for an early wakeup to head off on our 4 day trek the next day...
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