Hi guys Sockey wrote this really funny blog but I screwed up helping him with the upload and lost the whole thing....sorry sockey. look out for comments from sockey as we go along. Yesterday Kirsty and I went to the sacred valley. Ash has been sick wth a cold and chose to spend the day in bed to try to recover before the trail. The sacred valley rocked. We went on a private tour organised by our good friend Ruben - bascially it was one of his 'tour guides'in a clapped out old 1980s Toyota station wagon (think no seatbelts, lots of rust etc). There is no need for extream sports when you have a Preuvian driver taking hairpin turns without slowing down and overtaking on blind corners. It actually was a great way to do the tour as instead of being stuck on a sanatised tourist bus we got to stop wherever we wanted and got to see stuff that tourists wouldn't normally go to. The drive through the countryside was wonderful - you had to keep blinking to remind yourself that it was real. We drove through a series of townships with adobe brick houses and dogs and kids and washing everywhere. The highlight of the day was the trip to Ollantayambo where we got to climb some inca ruins and had the full historical rundown from our lovely guide. The rando werido thing for the day was to see a person dressed up as minnie mouse standing on the roadside in this rural town spruking for customers for a reaturant. Of course Minnie mouse is in the sacred valley, near cusco in Peru. Where else would she be? Had fun bargining at the markets in Pisca - via calculator. The vendor would put the price into the calcuator and show me, then I would respond with my own price by putting it in the calculator etc. Had to stop myself when I realised i was haggling with a 12 year girl over a 60 cent difference for a pair of pants (but I wanted to win!). Her cries of 'no misses, no' started to get a bit pitiful and I ended up paying 15 soles ($6) instead of 12 soles ($5). We went to a local chinca (sp?) house where they brew and drink chinca the local drink. It tates kinda like a fermented sweet beer but is yellow in colour (but we did see some pink stuff too). Played a game of Sobba (sp?) Peru (our guide) against Australia (me). Its like an arcade game where you have to throw things in holes to score points. I wanst too shabby but the guide won (predictably) Peruvian drivers believe that the horn is another (rich and complex) form of communication.They beep everyone - adults, children, bicycles, sheep, cows, dogs - A few examples of what a horn beeps mean below watch out I'm coming through No really I'm here right beside you Move over you stupid head you're in my way Hello I'm a taxi and you might like to take a ride No really I am a taxi and if you noticed no one is in me and I can take you anywhere You stupid gringo stop walking and get in the frigging taxi - I cant believe you are choosing not to spend time with me We are off on the Inca trail tomorrow so expect lots of blogs and pics later in the week.......