Cuzco

(Pic: Roadworks in Cuzco!)

Cuzco is such a pretty little city, with cobblestone streets. Unfortunately, these are often dotted with doggy doo.

As Cuzco was the capital of the Incan empire prior to the Spanish conquest, it was the site of many Incan palaces and temples. Sadly, most Incan stonework was either demolished by the Spanish, or recycled. However, some can still be admired in the foundation of churches.

Hundreds of tourists flock here daily to depart for the Inca Trail. The locals take advantage of this, and little girls in traditional dresses will pose for a photo with their lambs/puppies for one sole. Warren´s given up saying, "No, gracia" (no thank you) to street vendors, and now just shakes his head with a smile. We actually spotted another tourist who had handwritten a "No Gracia" sign and taped it to his t-shirt. It can be quite frustrating.

Over the last three days, we´ve used Cuzco as a base to tour the Sacred Valley of the Incas, the Salt Terraces, and have visited just about every church and museum within walking distance of the city centre.

Tomorrow, we move on to Puno and Lake Titicaca, where we´ll have a homestay with a Peruvian family on one of the reed islands. Am feeling a tad anxious about this, as Rachel had recently emailed:

I saw a documentary last week about an american family that lived with an indigenous Peruvian family for 2 weeks - the Peruvian family honoured the Yanks by washing their hair with their urine (they'd been saving it all up in a bucket for the occasion!), cooked up some guinea pigs for dinner & pierced the ears of screaming llamas with huge needles and bright feathers. Gotta love culture...

I can only hope my Peruvian family won´t feel obliged to honour me in any way!