Hi there Well we were dam pleased to see the back of Lima. We had to get up at 3am to get our flight to cusco (why did I organise that for my birthday?) but arrived ok. We hadn't booked any accomodation in Cusco and had planned to go into the main part of the city and have a look around. When we arrived there were about 20 odd hotels with booths at the airport all trying to get you to stay at their hotel. They were all so desperate to the point where one lady waited while i was in the bathroom and accosted me on the way out. Ashton went around and talked deals but in the end we decided just to go into town. A hint for the fellow South America travellers - the luggage conveyor belt in Cusco airport is a death trap - beware! We went to get a taxi and ended up with this guy Ruben (who organised the taxi for us) coming in the taxi with us. We were all instantly dubious as he was certainly trying to sell us something. We did a deal where they would drive us around the hotels and Ruben would help get us a discount. He was nice and i think he kinda got that we were a bit dubious of him. Anyway, bloody glad that he came along as we spent about an hour driving around with altitude sickeness slowly creeping up on us. We found a nice hotel and Ruben helped organise dinner at a (not so) traditional resturant and it was all fine. Its obvious that he wants to sell us some tours and he seems nice enough (he event went to the chemist for Ashton today as he has a cold) so we are thinking of doing something through him tomorrow in the sacred valley. We keep asking ourselves what he is getting out of this as there is no way the kickbacks from the hotels etc could equal the time he is spending on us. Maybe we are just a little cynical - we hope so! We love Cusco - as Lima was bad, Cusco is good. It's a sleeply little town with cobbled streets and cute little buidlings that open into courtyards. There are heaps of internet cafes and laundrys (very tourist) but also random shops like one that sells stoves??¿¿¿???? Altitude sickness is not fun. It's like a vice around your temples putting extreame pressure and causing the worst headache. We all suffered. It also causes you to be flushed the whole time and walking up a set of stairs results in a headspin and the need for a good sit down. I was feeling crap yesterday (my birthday) but am much better now. Ash and K have caught a cold so are spending today rugged up in bed hoping to shift it quickly. We went to have a birthday dinner (recommendation courtsey of Ruben) last night which was fun. It was the most 'tourist'of all the resturants we have been in so far - the only saving grace was that is was full of Japanese tourists and not obnoxious americans (apologies to any americans reading this). We had alpacha meat which was a lot like veal, but left the guineue pig to others to try (i think they are stupid pets but they dont deserve to be eaten!). The only bad thing about Cusco is the street sellers who try to spruk their wares - postcards, finger puppets, jumpers, photos with them, pats of a baby lama etc. They must have had lots of tourists say 'maybe later'as the standard response to our firm 'no'is 'maybe later?' to which we reply firmly 'no no no' (waving hand in no gesture). Interesting fact about peru - they dont say hola (hi) like in argentina instead everyone uses the more formal buenos dias (good day), beunas tardes (good afternoon) and beunos noches (good night). Our Inca tour is all booked and we head off on Tuesday - so don't expect any blogs from then until the 25th. Off to explore some more......