Emperador Plaza Hotel Cusco

... area, and how the Spanish conquered the Incas. We also learned about how the Inca sites were made and a little information about the Inca Trail which we are trekking in a few days. <br><br>Last night we did enjoy a lovely dinner at a local restaurant for one of our group members&#8217; birthday. Our guide Roland went all out and arranged a cake and some balloons with Janey&#8217;s name on it and a party room at the restaurant. We had a great time ...

... we may get a bit of rain on the trail.<br><br>Cusco is really nice - it feels very safe and the shopping (in case you hadnt noticed) is just awesome.<br><br>There is also a restuarant here called Real McCoys. Its catch phrase is something like - food from home - and I partook of marmite on toast for lunch yesterday and had a full roast dinner last night complete with yorkshire pudding! Was sooooo good!<br><br>Hope all is going well in ...

... all at the same time. I decided that I could not talk to anyone at this time and put my earphones in and listened to music for the next hour or so.<br><br>After 4 1/2 hours of going up we reached 4,400 meters, we took a quick stop to look around from the peak of a mountain, we could see a village a thousand or so meters below, buzzards flying around and in the distance the Veronica glacier gleaming in the sunshine. I gave Dee a hug and had a few pictures taken ...

... the arduous climb and by the last 30 minutes we were walking at the speed of a 94 year old woman in the last hour of her life. When we summited, we took a group picture in front of a sign denoting the current altitude, 15,200 feet above sea level. The altitude of Machu Picchu is about 7000 feet but we had to cross a mountain range, hence our 15,000 foot mountain pass. The view was amazing. Equally amazing was the fact that there was nothing up there but ...

... that he suffered on behalf of mankind. As the Hispanic took over they enforced their religious beliefs on the natives. <br><br>In the evening Ian was hit by altitude sickness and spent the evening in bed which a dodgy tummy and headache. Virginia and the kids joined Edgar for a Peruvian show similar to the one in Lima but slightly more professional, Fynn ate Guinea Pig and Alpaca both of which he liked.

... around the main plaza. It's clear that it's not only Yorkshire that has a penchant for brass bands, as in the Andes the tuba seems to be the preferred instrument of choice.<br><br>Cusco has some magnificent colonial architecture and the plaza has a couple of humungous churches which date back to the 16th century. All very impressive indeed.<br><br>If you look hard enough however there are still examples of Inca ...

... 7am to Amazonia to contnue the trip so we go for a goodbye drink with them.Raggea music, they dont like it, complain....usual stuff you know! I quite like it actually! The group played really well!<br>We then try another bar, I am on water (yes!! La verdad!!), place is full of drunken english girls and searching guys.....few dance steps but I am not rocking the dancefloor!<br>By 2am we are back to hotel. I send my answer to your very nice email risk analysis and go straight in bed<br><br><br>

... We climbed the steep stone stairs along the agricultural terraces at the archaeological site, imagining the transportation of the large boulders from the quarry across the river and marveling at the dramatic mountain setting of snow capped mountains and river valley below. There is lots to absorb.<br><br>http://www.margieswebgal lery.com/galleries/peru/Ollantaytambo/< br><br> http://www.margieswebgallery.com/galler ies/peru/ToSV/

... to the fortress we saw 2 little girls sitting in some high grass playing with each other. They were having a good time together and were oblivious to anyone or anything else around them. They were so sweet and so cute it would have been a pleasure just to watch them for awhile. However, we pressed on and had about 15 minutes to explore the ruins. More climbing. Those Incas made some big steps on their stairs! Again we had a good view of Cuzco from ...

... to find out more about it. Maybe when I have some free time on the internet I will. However, I was not inspired enough to have a guided tour - I just listened in on the back of others until I got bored - about 10 minutes! <br><br>The girls where quite tired and one had an ankle problem, so we got the train back. They have now gone south to Bolivia - they were good fun and obviously, being Irish, liked to drink.