Hello from Cuzco! After my last entry we spent our last day in Lima, and got so far as standing on a cliff above the pacific in a harness when we went paragliding. Unfortunately the wind suddenly died and so we couldn´t do it:( It was gutting but we had to rush for our bus so we had to abandon it. Hopefully I´m doing it when I come back here for the Inca Trail on the 20th.

Anyway, we took the overnight bus from Lima to Cuzco which took 20 hours, and arrived pretty exhausted in Quito on Tuesday. We moved to our hostal and I zipped off to find the agency who I have booked to do the trek with. Half an hour and two taxi rides later, I found it about 5 minutes from our hostal. Nightmare! I paid for the trek and for some football tickets for Wednesday night - Cuzco´s team Cienciana(I think) vs. the might of Boca Juniors from Argentina (Maradona´s team) - and then headed off for our hostal. The only problem was that I hadn´t really noted down where our hostal was I had been in such a rush. Cue forty-five minutes lost in the back streets of Cuzco. This would have been fine if the altitude wasn´t such a problem, I found myself easily short of breath and very headachey. Unfortunately this is something which Becca and I are still having problems adjusting to. We´ve just been taking it very slowly and I´ve been drinking Coca tea, which tastes like it looks, leaves in a mug! We had a great meal at a gringo bar and then headed to bed.

On Wednesday Charlie and I went to a Church on the site of an old Inca Temple which in it´s time was covered in Gold. Unfortunately I had to leave early because I wasn´t feeling great, but what I saw was amazing, colonial art and building work side by side with Inca architecture. The Inca masonry is unbelievable, there are almost no discernable gaps in between the blocks. The whole city was buzzing by lunchtime because of the football match which was part of the Copa Libatores, the equivalent of the Champions League here in South America. The fact that Boca, one of the biggest, if not the biggest teams in the continent was coming to town added some spice! We were told to get there for 3.30 with kick-off at 5.30, so we went shopping for some football shirts and picked some fakey replicas you can buy anywhere for two pounds fifty. We also bought bandanas and watched the oriente (cheap-seat, hardcore fans) march through the streets with drums and red face paint. We were greated by everyone who saw us with comments about the team, and buy two we were buzzing! We got back to the hostal to be told that they had been eltitng people in since 12, and so we jumped into a taxi and headed straight there and found some seats perched on the top of a staircase, there was still two and a half hours to go! We sat there and waited, occasionally singing, shouting at tv cameras and doing crazy mexican waves. As the teams came out the riot police shielded the opposition and the home fans through pieces of tiny paper and rolls of toilet paper when their boys came out to warm up. We had a bunch of annoying people sat by the railings in front of us and they soon felt the ire of the fans with seats who threw coins, newspaper and cups at them to make them move. Luckily they did, but they got away lightly compared to the boy with an argentina shirt who stood on top of our stand and jumped up and down. The crowd gave him the finger, called his mother something horrible, and then fired flares at him. It was all a bit crazy but totally fitting with the atmosphere!

The first half came and went without much happening, the oriente had flares lit from the beginning and went crazy for the team at all times. There were a few shots on goal, a couple of penalty calls, and a red card for a Boca Player who tried to play using another ball and thereby deceive the referee. The most shocking bit for us was that a Boca player fainted after ten minutes and then came back on, the altitude really does play its part. The girls said that Ecuador have never lost to Brazil in Quito because of the altitude and I can imagine it being a really issue! Boca weren´t playing riquelme (ex-barcelona) so they lacked a bit of bite but they still had Martin Palermo who has played in Europe at the top level and who is their third top scorer in history. Incidentally, the most impressive player for Boca was their number 24 who came on as a substitute, I think his name is Ever Banega, so look out for him!

The second half began with a bang, we scored! The crowd went crazy and we felt exstatic. The feeling was amazing as we jumped up and down and screamed with joy, we all just got caught up with it, people were hugging, kissing and just really happy! The next goal went our way as well after good work from the bearded striker to hold off the boca defender and square it for his strike partner. We all went crazy all over again and sensed blood, Cuzco - the minnows - could do it. Unfortunately that scorer was sent off for leading with the elbow, but in the final minutes of the game we scored again and the crowd went wild. Boca tried substitutions but to no effect, the Cuzco defense was strong, and when it wasn´t it was lucky!

After the game we walked back into town, getting handshakes from everyone, and honks from the taxi drivers. We sang Championnnnnnnnes again and again and strolled into the square where people had gathered and were waiting for the fans. We quickly went back to the hostal and came back to the Plaza where fans started to arrive, waving massive red flags and singing. We got caught up in it all and it was crazy like a massive concernt, apart from the fact that every few minutes we got pushed back as a firecracker went off. I was approached by some girls with dolls they were trying to sell and as I told them ´non gracias´ they shouted back ´listen!!! watch your pockets here´. I felt bad and thanked them, I found charlie and becca who had both been felt up in the crowd and we stood at the side. We were swamped one more time and i felt the guy next to me reach for my pocket, unfortunately for him my hands were there! We had a great meal for 5 dollars and went to a bar/club called Mama Africa´s where we danced for a while till becca and I needed to go back because of the altitude. Cuzco is the most gringo place we´ve been so far and most people who are around our age are a little older and either European, Isreali or American. There are also quite a lot of older groups here as well as families on Easter breaks. Mama Africa was gringo central which I still have mixed feelings about, but it was still cool, the music was good fun, lots of reggaeton. I think we´re heading back tonight to hunt for travel buddies for Charlie who is leaving us on the 15th because i´m heading back here and Becca might volunteer for a bit and then we´re doing bolivia.

Today we woke up late after a great nights sleep. This was a miracle compared to the night before when we kept being disturbed by our American neighbours Miles and Alex (girl). We´ve spoken to them once and only briefly, the only way I know their names is because we have paper thin walls. They are best friends from Vermont, 18 and 17 respectively, who are on holiday here for a while. That said they are the kind of best friends who have quick and very noisy, breathless sessions of what I shall only refer to as moments of intimacy. I´m not a smoker, but on tuesday night and wednesday morning I could have become one. Anyway, back to the point, we got up and had a quick breakfast before leaving to go round some ruins on horseback. The Inca cities were amazing and their masonry never ceases to amaze me, but it began to rain and it soon got miserable so we cut our trek short and headed back to Cuzco. I had an awesome massage after we got back which cost me 10 dollars and has left me feeling a bit ready for bed! Tomorrow I might head to the Cathedral where they have a Last Supper Painting done by an artist from the Cuzco School, so instead of the traditional meal there is Guinea Pig (or Cuy) on Jesus´s plate! The girls are going to Aguas Calientes and spending the night there before heading up to Machu Picchu early in the morning. I´m going to find something to do back here because I don´t want to spoil it for when I get there on the morning of my final day of the trek! Incidentally Cuzco is at 3,400 metres above sea level and the highest point of the trek is 4,200. Wish me luck! Right, I best be off, I was hoping to put some photos up but I don´t have time today so I will save those for another time. All the best from Peru and Happy Easter! Till next time.....