23 August: Cusco

Woke up at about 08h30 this morning and after breakfast @UselessRob & I headed back to the market. I bought a few more things there and we ended up bumping into The Ageing Aunt there too, so we made a plan to meet up at the hotel in half an hour and then go for lunch. The Ageing Aunt won the trip-shopper award by far. I couldn't believe how much she bought over our few days in Cusco, it was quite incredible that she actually managed to pack it all!

We found a really nice little cafe near Seven Snake Alley (I feel like I'm in Harry Potter every time I say that :P) called el cafe de Mama Oli for lunch :) And then after lunch, the three of us went to the Museo Inka, which was pretty cool. My favourite parts were seeing photos of Machu Picchu shortly after Hiram Bingham discovered it, before it had been restored. Quite amazing since we'd seen the real thing only yesterday! And then, of course, seeing the elongated skulls we'd heard about and only seen pictures of before. And they had a whole burial display with a whole lot of mummies, which I completely enjoyed.

After that, @UselessRob & I took a wander down Sol Ave, which was pretty boring and just about all banks. And then we headed back to the hotel where we finally tried Pisco with Inca Kola. Haha. Not so delicious. Strangely the flavours seem to cancel each other out. Weird.




At 17h45 we all met at the hotel to celebrate the American couple's 35th wedding anniversary. They'd bought a bottle of the Perfect Love in Pisco and kept it, so we drank that and toasted them. And then we all took a walk up to San Blas (the artists district) and visited a Coca Shop. They apparently buy the Coca leaves and make chocolates and other stuff out of it instead of the leaves being sold to make Cocaine. The ginger & chili chocolate we tried were my favourites.

Then we went to dinner at Marcelo Batata, which seemed to be quite a fancy place (although we were the only people in the whole place!!). It was our last official dinner together as a group (since all the food in the Amazon is provided). I had a Pisco Sour and Alpaca Tenderloin with Andean Cheeses. The dinner was lovely and then @UselessRob, the 2 Aussie girls and I headed off to Paddy's for one last drink. It was funny to realise that @UselessRob and I have been to Paddy's every night we've spent in Cusco!

@UselessRob and I left early at 21h30 and the girls stayed with some of the others from our Lares Trek who we'd met up with again. Straight to bed for me, I have to get up at 7am to pack for the Amazon tomorrow :) !

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