Ok first of all apologies for the absence of blog posts of late . . . quit grumbling you big moaners . . . but we´ve been very busy bees and internet is not always easy to find . . . but we love you all really . However, not only are you now getting a post (three cheers!) but we´ve also updated the “wild animals” and “numbers” posts too . . . very exciting! Unfortunately there are no new photo uploads (boo!) as once again the fates are conspiring against us on the internet front, but we´re doing our best, they´re tricky ladies those fates!

Right so, where were we? Ah yes . . . so we took a bus (yes another one) from Puno to Cuzco and got a room in a nice hostel, San Isidro Labrador. Cuzco, which we though would just be a convenient stop for Machu Picchu, turned out to be lovely and we ended up staying 5 or 6 days in total (split up in the middle by Machu Picchu). It´s a lovely town with two very impressive churches and lots of nice cafes and restaurants. It did however spawn a new “disease” as pretty much every restaurant/cafe that we read about in the Lonely Planet and then attempted to visit, had vanished! We started referring to this phenomenon as “cuzco-itis” (actually several places had this problem as we continued on . . . but it remains “cuzco-itis”).

Due to its proximity to Machu Picchu Cuzco is very touristy and it is impossible to walk down the street without being offered a hundred massages, manicures, and various tours from either side. You spend your time saying “no gracias” . . . but it´s all very friendly having said that. We did end up in an Irish Pub there (Paddy O´Flaherty´s . . . best shepards pie I´ve ever had!), where incidentally we met the family from Cork again (so that´s the second time since the Salt Flats, as we met them in La Paz too!), but the pub were selling tshirts that had “no gracias” printed on the front . . . classic!!

Organising Machu Picchu was slightly more complicated than previously thought but we managed on account of our fabulousness We ended up getting a bus from Cuzco to a place called Ollantaytambo and then getting the train from there to Aguas Calientes (the town you visited Machu Picchu from). However we would actually recommend this route to people over the direct Cuzco/Aguas Calientes train as there are some ruins in Ollantaytambo which are well worth the visit.

Machu Picchu itself involved a 5am start to the day (shudder!) but it was worth it as not only did we get up there when it was still all misty and mystical but we also managed to get two tickets to go up Wayna Picchu (one of the mountains you can always see in any Machu Picchu picture) . . . they only allow 400 people up per day (200 at 7am and 200 at 10.30am) so we were pretty lucky. The “walk” up Wayna Picchu (it´s really a vertical scramble) was very tough but the view at the top was well worth it, it was nice to get a different view of the ruins, and not just the typical one everyone knows. The ruins themselves we must confess, we weren´t overly impressed with (sshh!), the ones in Ollantaytambo were probably better (sshhh!), I think the real magic of Machu Picchu is arriving early in the morning when the sun is rising just in time to see the mist roll back to reveal the ruins leaving you feel as if you are discovering the lost city right then and there, which, it must be said, is a pretty special feeling.