Twenty Fourteen : Cusco - Historical Capital of Peru

WE MADE IT!
The bus ride to Cusco, which I had been dreading, turned out to have some unexpected perks... gran and I opted to bump ourselves up to first class for an extra $4 and, wow, it was worth every penny! Comfiest seats I could have imagined, and I managed at least 3 hours sleep :)

At our hotel we met our guide for the Inca Trail, and had a long briefing on everything we needed to know about the trek. For dinner we ate at a tiny, hidden away pizza joint that did not disappoint! Next Giscard took us downtown for a late-night shop to buy whatever we were missing from our long list of 'must haves', including ponchos, head torches, waterproof pants and the list goes on...

Right now it's nearly 6pm, Thursday 30th of Jan. The five of us had a great day strolling through the enormous city and admiring the endless supply of beautiful buildings and squares; we even got to enjoy another fresh juice from the locals market, my pick was piña con fresa (a pineapple and strawberry juice at these markets costs AU$2, and you get one glass refilled three or four times!!) After a long day of shopping for awesome Peruvian style shoes and other souvenirs, all four of us are packing for the Inca Trek!

The main square in Cusco, amazing architecture

Classic family pic

Classic handstand pic

Tomorrow, the 31st, marks the first day of the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, and is supposedly the slightly easier day, consisting of 15km of gentle rolling hills until we reach our first camp. For Jules, Zac, Gran, Giscard, our guide and me, we have 10 porters and 1 cook. Seems ridiculous I know, but I think we will be greatful for their help the second day when we trek over two passes; the first and highest peak, 'Dead Woman's Pass', reaches 4215m! (Our starting point is at 2600m...you can do the math haha)

We are all nervous and excited to start, what we expect to be, the most challenging activity we have ever partaken in. But we also know it will be such a satisfying trek to complete, and what awaits us at the end will be well worth cold nights, rain, wind and, more shockingly, no showers for four days!

See you in four days!
PS. I forgot to mention Grans birthday is the third day of the trek, after we have completed the hardest day over the two passes! It will be great to relax and see some amazing historical Inca sites on her birthday :)

BELOW ARE SOME PICTURES FROM OUR LAST NIGHT IN PUNO, WARNING THEY INVOLVE A GUINEA PIG, ALPACA, MACHU PICCHU AND KARAOKE...