In Casita Cusco

... has been built on top of – and incorporating – the old Inca Sun Temple. It was amazing to see the old original Inca walls surrounded by the Catholic paintings – all in the interesting Cusqueña tradition of which you could buy replicas at every street corner. When we went out onto the street, it started raining. I said my goodbyes to Silvia and sought cover for the rain in the small Koricancha Site Museum that contained more Incan artefacts – and mummies ...

... we called the dining room and played the harp throughout dinner, I would like to say that I enjoyed the sound of his music playing however it was not good and when he sang it became painful, oh well I guess not everything in the mountains was to my taste.

Tomorrow is our longest trek, 10 1/2 hours and we would be reaching a height of 4,440 meters, I decided that an early night would be a sensible idea and headed off to bed around 8:30pm.

Another great day in the mountains!!!

... the best I could say was slop! it was a nice curdled cheese, egg and potato mix with a portion of plain rice, I can tell that your taste buds are going crazy at the thought of it. I ate a small amount and decided that at the moment I had enough energy to complete the day, or at least until meal time without subjecting myself to it.

Lunch over, on with the trekking. We now had a steep climb up to Socma, a small (very small) isolated village high up in the mountains ...

... around the town (which is very hilly) in an effort to acclimatize to the altitude before head onto the Sacred Valley.

I am please to say we have an excellent travel group with the Canadians balanced out nicely by a large contingent of Kiwis. They are great fun, so I expect to get into a great deal of trouble with them!

Other highlights from todaÿ - we went down to the market to see some of the local produce ...

... jolie balade, mais on se les caille
le soir, derniere soiree avec chab, alors on fete ca. direction bottle of the night : salsa, cumbia, reggae ton...on a passe une bonne soiree, et on apprecie de retrouver nos lits, avec certainement grasse mat pour le lendemain

... inca es una de las excursiones de aventura más populares en Perú.
Perú es una experiencia única en la vida que muy pocas personas llegan a conocer. Motivación, amor y respeto por una naturaleza mística. Pasión por la historia ancestral y espíritu aventurero. Perú es simplemente maravilloso. Tanto su gente como sus coloridas ...

... with a few chambers, each dedicated to a different god, especially the Sun, the Moon, the Rainbow, the Rain and the Sky. Inside of the temple you can appreciate the famous stone architecture, and you can recreate the process of the construction of Inca buildings with stones closely put together as if they were a puzzle.

In the evening have dinner in a traditional ...

... the campsite under the clear morning sky. It was so amazing and beautiful to look at...even though it was freezing cold! We had a full breakfast prepared by the porters which included the mate de coca for the altitude. I was slightly nervous for the hike ahead and was hoping that my level of fitness wasn’t going to let me down as day two was going to be the toughest day of the trek.

I have to say that what actually gave me the ...

... local diner where there were many locals on their working lunch breaks. We had the alpaca meat and juice that came from a large bucket to be served to the customers. Brenda was a little nervous in trying her alpaca dish and didn’t finish it. Even though it was a bit thin and tough, I really enjoyed mine. Later that evening Brenda was starting to not feel so well, but I assumed it was because of the large greasy Chinese meals we had for ...

... type entertainment that was probably pretty good, but it was a bit loud, interfered with the path to the buffet, and I was tired so I guess I don't have much to say about it. I was also seated with my back to it and my neck was a little sore so I did not turn to watch and I was not going to swing my chair and block the aisle like some of the people I had to knock out of my way when I went for food. Yeah, I was/am a grumpy old man. So whats it to you ...