Monday 28^th January – Cusco, Peru.

s="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"> Bus was an hour late arriving in Cusco. Met by Mark (who is English but has lived in Cusco for the last 15 years) and a driver and went to our hotel.

After being given our itinerary we were left to relax and ge
t used to the altitude. Nesta went to have a sleep and Ian and the kids went out and found the “highest Irish pub in the world”!

In the evening we all walked down to the main square and had a mediocre meal in what looked like a nice little restaurant!

 

Fiona having a little "me" time in Cusco

Tuesday 29^th January – Cusco, Peru.

Met Silvia, who will be our guide for the next few days. She is brilliant! She speaks very good English and is really enthusiastic about everything.

We drove by minibus up to Kenko, which is an Inca observatory and includes a cave where dead bodies were mummified before either being buried in holes in the hillside or put on display in the temples.

We then visited Socsayhuaman which is called the largest Inca fort but was originally a religious site and only became a fort when the Incas were forced to fight a last ditch battle against the Spaniards there.

We then went back down into Cusco and had a guided tour of the Sun temple and cathedral.

We all had a good lunch in San Blas Square (and tried Chicha, the local beer) and Nesta, Fiona and Ellie then went to visit the Macchu Picchu Museum in Cusco where some of the artefacts taken to USA by the original explorers have now been returned.

We had an early night as we are off to the sacred valley tomorrow but did manage to find “Jacks” where we enjoyed some beer, wine and snacks!

 

                                                                            Silvia - our guide

                                                    Rebecca - preparing to be mummified!!