Ha, saw that not all of the last blog was uploaded. Stupid internet. Uhm... after the steaks (which were awesome) I can't remember what happened. All good. So! Onwards.

On Friday afternoon we took the overnight bus from Lima to Cusco-- a nice cruisy 20 odd hours. Fricking stupid idea but when you're going on the cheap, travel time vs cost matters. Let's just say we both survived the bus ride and leave it there.

We got to Cusco early afternoon on Saturday and grabbed a taxi to the hostel which is in the San Blas area of Cusco-- by the mirador, which means lookout. I was feeling a bit dizzy- put it down to travel sick- so the thin thin air wasn't helping but you didn't hugely notice the lack until you get to stairs. There were quite a lot from the street up to the hostel (thank god only half way up the hill, think we would have died if it was much further). To put it in perspective, most people could walk 3ish flights of stairs pretty easily even with 10kg backpacks. Me and Nick had to stop a heap of times to get our breath back. Horror!

The hostel we're staying in, Home Sweet Home, is lovely (apart from/including the location) Our room has orange walls and a small bathroom which, utter bonus, has HOT water in the shower! I know- mental! We were shattered just getting to the hostel- god knows how the owner felt when he arrived a couple of minutes later, after carrying a mattress up the stairs.

Anyway had a lovely walk down the stairs into the main square on the Saturday, paid off our Inca Trail trek, had dinner (which cost a whopping 25 soles, about 6 GBP or NZ$10) then dragged ourselves up the stupid stairs (whose idea was it to stay up a hill anyway?!).
Sunday the 24th- Inti Raymi, or the Festival of the Sun. We were woken at frigging 6am to cannons and horns which carried on for 10 mins or so. Managed to squeeze in an extra few minutes sleep before the alarm went off. After breakfast I was still feeling poorly, headache, a bit dizzy etc but Nick was fine so we stumbled down to where the festival started. The streets were apacked with locals as much as tourists and we couldn't see a hell of a lot. After the performers had done their first bit which lasted maybe an hour and a bit there was a mad dash (by the locals. The tourists gasped their way uphill) to the main square where the next part of the ceremony would be.

I watched for a while then went and had a sit-down in the sun while leaving Nick in charge of photos. Special me forgot sunblock so ended up a lovely red colour by day's end but oh well! The Italy vs England quarter final football game was on so we found a nice Peruvian bar showing it and settled in for the game-- I didn't particularly care who won but Nick was mad for England...everyone else in the bar were Italian supporters so mad for a fun match- especially when Italy went through with penalties. I was then talked in to going to a chemist just in case I had something serious- the nice ladies said rest, don't eat heavy foods, and sold me some altitude sickness tablets..which work fine (am keeping most for the Inka Trail as for part of it we will be almost 1km higher than Cusco!

We're in the process of figuring out where to go next etc, so far it will probably be Inca Trail, stay in Cusco an extra couple nights then head down to Lake Titicaca and Copacabana for a few days. Hit La Paz (Bolivia's meant to be crazy cheap so we'll bum around there for a while) before heading up to Central America and summer. Trouble is it will take waaaay to long to travel overland so flying is going to be the most sensible option- except it's so incredibly expensive! We'll figure it out but if anyone wants to buy a lotto ticket on our behalf feel free!

So, it's Monday today. We've got our I.T (Inca Trail) info session tomorrow evening then a pretty early start on Wednesday. The idea is to pack as light as possible (except it's winter here so will be a bit fricking chilly at night time) but it's only 4 days so shouldn't be too bad.

Anyway have been taking heaps of photos so will get them thar organised now. Till next time!