We arrived in Cusco early in the morning on October 4 after yet another terrifying bus journey from Arequipa.

Despite the road running right along a cliff edge, the driver felt the need to take most corners on two wheels!

Coco, the owner of the guest house we had booked, El Tuco, did make our arrival a lot easier however by volunteering to come and pick us up from the bus station.

After a few hours nap we spent the rest of the day exploring the city and adapting to the altitude.

The next day was Alan's Birthday so we decided to sign up for a horse-riding trip. The horses were really tame, thankfully, since our horse man wasn't much help when it came to giving us advice as he didn't speak one word of English.

After a two hour uphill trek we stopped on the edge of a mountain at the request of our horseman, who told us to be back in one hour, with no other instructions.

We had a vague idea that we were meant to buy a tourist ticket somewhere in order to see four of the local attractions but couldn't find where we were meant to do that anywhere.

In the end we just had a picnic by the side of the mountain and waited for our hour to be up.

The horseback ride back to the city wasn't quite so pleasant as we ended up teaming up with another group of six.

Not only did the horses become a lot harder to manage but the other horseman took great delight in giving mine a kick and sending him galloping across the field.

We were both definitely feeling the pain afterwards!

To recover we decided to treat ourselves to a massage at one of the many places around the main square in Cusco trying to lure in customers.

Alan was terrified we were going to be robbed or worse, but in the end it turned out to be a great hour long massage and all for the equivalent of €5.

After a delicious dinner in the Inka Grill (So good we went back the following night) we headed for home, for what we thought was going to be a quiet Pisco Sour (the local drink of choice) with the hostel owner, Coco.

What we weren't expecting was a full blown session in his downstairs bar, with Coco forcefeeding also shot after shot of straight Pisco in honour of his Birthday, before he moved onto straight rum.

We found a few other travellers to join in the festivities and had a great night but God were we, in particular Alan, feeling it the next day. Probably not our best call when we had the Inka trail the next day!

(I think those four days definitely deserve an entry to themselves so more about that later)

We spent a few more days in Cusco upon our return from the trek and managed to celebrate our successful completion in style with a night out with our fellow trekkers at Paddy's bar on the Square.

Needless to say we made our mark and the staff won't be forgetting us anytime soon.

The next morning was pretty hellish as our hostel had a strict rule about checking out at 9am.

After killing some time online we checked into our next abode, Loki, which we quickly learned was not the ideal place for those in need of sleep.

As has been typically our luck on this trip our room was located next door to the bar so we figured we had no choice but to join the party.

After a couple of vodka slush puppies we were feeling slightly more human and managed to stay going until the bar closed at 2am.

Thankfully we had sense and didn't join the rest of the gang who were heading into town to continue, as we had to be up early again the next morning to go white water rafting.

Despite my initial reservations, it was a great experience and we all managed to stay in the raft when we went over the rapids.

Alan and particularly Katherine did have a hairy moment however when they willing jumped into the river at the end and encountered one nasty hidden rock.

Once back in Cusco we decided to move hostels, yet again, for the quieter and more central option of Jacaranda Inn.

Service was awful but the place itself was exactly what we needed before setting off on our next adventure, a Jungle trek to Manu.

Again that experience definitely deserves an entry to itself, so more about that later!

Adios amigos x