I've been dreading the 'guest blog' spot ever since Rob was introduced to the concept back in November, but here goes…….I wasn't well disposed to Cusco having spent my first few hours in the city locked on a freezing bus, but it was impossible to resist the handsome and buzzy capital of the Incas.At the centre of the city is beautiful square dominated by one of the Conquisadors' fine cathedrals and - just as importantly, I believe- some very fine cafes serving excellent avocado sandwiches.Our visit coincided with some sort of Andean country dancing festival when wave upon wave of Peruvian teenagers danced through the streets in their brightly coloured regalia. The Peruvians enjoyed it just as much as the many tourists.We spent only one night in Cusco as early next morning Antony set off to start the Inca Trail (which he'll be telling you all about himself) and then, at a more civilized hour, Rachelle and I set off to spend six days at Urubamba in the Sacred Valley (about 60km from Cusco) where we'd rented a 'holiday home' (for want of a better word!).Our new 'home' is set in acres of beautiful gardens and - best of all - comes complete with three gorgeous dogs:a soppy Labrador; a fluffy Japanese bear-like canine; and an aloof but elegant Great Dane.There was chicken soup waiting for Rachelle's poorly stomach when we arrived (nb said poorly stomach has been a recurring theme throughout the past few days.She is commonly to be seen sprinting at speed through small Peruvian villages in search of the 'bano'…..).

From Urubamba we've explored the surrounding towns and Inca ruins.At Ollantaytambo (what a wonderful name…..) we explored a pretty village whose Inca ruins hang overhead in the surrounding hills.We also had the dubious pleasure of meeting The Worst Tour Guide in Peru (possibly even South America).She was largely unintelligible and we reckon she must have learnt the pages of an English guidebook without understanding a word ("it'saceremonialplaceareligiousplace x 327).On Sundays everyone in the Sacred Valley goes to Pisac for the market, and so too did Rachelle and I.To fully embrace the experience we crushed ourselves onto a bus along with the inhabitants of a couple of small villages and their brightly-coloured Andean bundles.The market was fabulous and had something for everyone: the locals traded their wares (I've never seen so many varieties of potatoes, plus look out for the photo of the fantastically coloured wool dye) and for folk like us there was touristy, but very lovely, jewellery and textiles.There were also a group of Peruvians outside the church blowing seashells - we never did discover why but it was very picturesque and only Amy Winehouse gets photographed more….Pisac also had some very fine Inca terraces although they were remote and for awhile it looked as though Rachelle and I were going to be left standed at the top of a mountain far from anywhere (most importantly, there were no banos!); luckily a kindly Costa Rican anthropologist from Birmingham came to our rescue.

Monday was Machu Picchu day.My guidebook calls Machu Picchu "the greatest tourist attraction in South America" and so it had a lot to live up to!Antony had, of course, walked there from Cusco, although Rachelle and I did also bare our share of hardship in reaching there (getting up at 5am on your holidays anyone?!).As I said, it had a lot to live up to but, to cut to the chase, it did.Many, many, many times over.These are the Inca ruins to top all others - an incredibly well-preserved city atop a super-high mountain surrounded by the most beautiful scenery and miles from everywhere (the outside world didn't discover it until 1911). It's also home to some very cute llamas. It is breathtakingly beautiful and I can't really do justice to it, so hopefully the photos will.What the photos can't convey, however, is how utterly peaceful and lovely it is to be there.And that's even when you find yourself stranded in the middle of a gaggle of very noisy Portuguese tourists, as Rachelle and I did. We were briefly reunited with Antony who promptly went off to climb another mountain and then join his tour group for a final goodbye.When Rachelle and I met them at the end of the day he was clearly established as No. 1 Most Popular Trekker of the Trek (which I'm sure he'll be far too modest to tell you) and parting was painful……

I'm having a lovely time.Thank you so much to Rachelle and Antony for having me along.

Josx