Cusco and back to School!

Yaaaaay, we´re here in Cusco ahead of Spanish school and eventually Machu Picchu!

We arrived back to Arequipa from the Colca trip to the news that there were no buses to or from most places including Cusco due to the strikes ... an unsuccessful attempt on Friday to board a bus left us feeling pretty nervous about missing our first day of Spanish school on Monday.

On the Gringo grapevine, however, we had heard about a mysterious bus that left once a night and was willing to brave the road blocks - we had to track this down immediately! Saturday consisted of visiting various travel agencies trying to plan our exit - luckily we happened to meet Livvy, a lady who had been trying to get to Cusco since Tuesday night and wasn´t taking no for an answer anymore! She had poached several travellers from tourist offices along the way so we managed to cobble together enough cash between the eleven of us to hire a private bus to take us overnight to Cusco. Sure enough, Battle Bus II, working on Peruvian time, rocked up an hour and a half late at 4.30am!

We arrived in Cusco some 11 or so hours later after lots of bus banter and no sleep - we managed a short walk around town before a quick cerveza and then bed ready for class at 9am.

Spanish school has been absolutely excellent - Rich and I can now (almost!) string a sentence together in Spanish and can pretty much get by with the basics we have learnt ... wish we could have stayed for more than the one week but sadly we don´t have the time here in Cusco. Have made some excellent friends here at the school and hope to meet them further down the line in Bolivia should our paths cross.

Out homestay has been slightly weird in that the Mama of the Casa is more keen to practice her English than she is to help us with our Spanish ... she´s pretty scary too so anything mis-pronounced is quickly scorned and corrected and then we move swiftly back to English! We´ve been staying in a lovely apartment though, off the beaten track, and have been eating three massive meals a day when we can, so have done quite well out of it - plus HOT showers at any time of the day, hurrah!

Rich and I spent the weekend post-school with a Canadian couple touring the Sacred Valley here around Cusco. Lots of Inca ruins on Saturday followed by a hefty 4-hour uphill hike in Pisac on Sunday - was worth the sweat and stamping of feet when we made it to the top though as the views were great! You can really feel the altitude here as the breathlessness kicks in unexpectedly - made for hard work on the way up! Honestly, it was soooo hot, as it is most days here, I can´t believe Peruvians think this is Winter ...

We´ve a couple of days here in Cusco now to explore the place properly before we head to the Inca trail on Thursday.