.: Cusco

Every street offers a great view

Ali and I arrived in Cusco a few days ago after spending some time catching up with ourselves in Puno, a small city just north of the border. It was only a six hour bus ride to get here but an uncomfortable experience nonetheless. The day before leaving Puno I developed an illness which is why the idea of a bus journey wasn't entirely favourable. I have a feeling it was salmonella, I'm not sure exactly but whatever it was, it rendered me bed bound and curled up with pain. Today is my first day of good health. I knew I was better when I awoke this morning and actually had an appetite for breakfast and a good strong coffee. The thing that Ali was looking forward to the most was seeing her brother Stuart again and meeting his girlfriend Sasha for the first time. Sasha and Stuart (SAS) landed in Bolivia a week ago and arrived in Cusco around the same time as us. For SAS, this is an incredible three week vacation and they will be joining Ali and myself for the Machu Picchu trek tomorrow.

The rooftops of Cusco

The old city of Cusco is nestled within a valley and surrounded by mountains. Religious buildings are the tallest in Cusco which means you can easily count them from any slight elevation in land. The rest of the buildings are all pretty much the same height so when the city is viewed from above it looks like a sea of tiled roofs. The only exception being the number of grand plazas accentuated by a church. There are no modern buildings in the city which is what makes Cusco so charming. It's like one big museum and the architecture around the major plazas is incredibly ornate with woodwork that's slighly reminisce of medieval England. Hoards of tourists come flooding into Cusco every day due to the fact that it is the gateway to many surrounding Inca ruins and the departure point for arguably one of the biggest sights in South America - Machu Picchu. Apparently 1,500 people visit the site every day. As you can imagine, at times it feels like there are more tourists in Cusco than actual locals. Because the city caters to such a huge influx of westerners there are literally about a million food outlets. Fancy restaurants, bars and coffee shops dominate the streets and beg for your custom. The food is generally of a much higher standard here in Cusco than other parts of Peru but obviously you pay more for it. The hundreds of narrow steep cobbled streets are lined with local art galleries, ceramic shops, alpaca wool clothing outlets, jewellery boutiques, tour offices and scary shops selling ridiculous amounts of religious icons including life size statues of the Virgin Mary. At the end of every street there's a woman selling confectionary from a cart. Boys try to sell their art or tempt you with their impressive collection of post cards. Shoe shiners, masseuses, guides, restauranteurs, musicians and beggars all compete to empty the wallets of passers by. It's quite startling to be amid such a hive of activity. Thankfully I'm well enough to appreciate it all and hopefully I will be in good shape for our big trip tomorrow. I have heard many stories about how enduring the 4-day trek to Machu Picchu is and I'm slightly apprehensive about the whole experience.