6th November

Nothing on this morning apart from return to airport. Took photos of the parrots at the lodge and we were away promptly at 7. The tranquility of journey back upstream was broken by the sound of an animal not endemic to the region - the American abroad. We were lucky enough to travel with 7 American spiritualists who were training to be shamen. One was heard to say "Gee, we should give so much thanks for all the colors (sic) of these heavenly trees".

Caught flight back to Cusco and bussed it to the hotel. From a distance Cusco looks like a small Quito. And that is where the similarity ends. We were at M above sea level so breathing is again strained. But I know all the tricks now. The centre is made up of 3 plazas, has good restaurants, bars, shops, quite cheap and the people are really friendly. Hotel was great too. We tried coca tea on arrival (this is the local brew supposed to give energy and fight altitude-sickness. Oh yeah, you make cocaine from it too). Went for an "orientation walk" with Paul who did the history bit. Went to buy duct tape to repair my walking boots. They have nearly fallen apart in 2 months but it is too close to the Inca Trail to buy and break in new ones. Spoke a fair bit of Spanish to the shopkeepers which was good and I can now tell you that "Cinta plomba" is duct-tape and bloody expensive at 25 soles. There are also a lot of women touting Andean massages in the town. I do hope they are pucker as after a 4 day trek they will be most welcomed. There are also a lot of people trying to flog pictures, ornaments, leather work etc which was a bit of a drag after a while.

We had lunch in Jack's cafe which should be called Gringo's cafe but the food was good and there was lots of it and a nice change from jungle food. Had ham and cheese toastie and ginger, lime and honey tea for about a fiver.

At 6.30 we met our guide for the Inca Trail, Ruben. He gave us the duffel bags we are allowed to fill with 5 kgs of our stuff. These will be carried by the porters on the trek. My sleeping bag, liner and energy snacks came to 2kg! It sounds like day 2 of 4 will be the longest. We have 3 passes to cross. The one on day 2 is called "Dead woman's pass" and we reach 4200M which will mean breathing will be even harder.

Dinner was in a very posh eclectic restaurant serving traditional Peruvian fare. Our new joiner to the tour, Bernadette from Dublin, had Roast Guinea Pig (Cuy) and seems well up for the Craic. Jane had Llama and I had Alpaca and chips. Mine was pretty dry but it is amazing what can be achieved with a bit of vinagre balsámico.

Went back to hotel, watched Seinfeld in Spanish. Rechecked 5 kgs and went to bed.