Cuzco
-=[ DAY FIVE - Wed 14th June ]=-
Once again an early wake up call had us packing our bags for the return trip to Puerto Maldonado, and then onto Cuzco. Kirsty & I have a habit of turning up at places in the middle of festivals - in this case the start of celebrations for the winter solstice. As a result a lot of the streets of Cuzco were closed to traffic, including the one our hotel was on. Instead it was lined with dozens of food stalls selling mostly beer and roasted guinea pigs - an Andean favourite.
Without too much time to relax, we were straight into a city tour, seeing some of the Incan ruins around the outskirts of Cuzco. I’m pretty much ruined out, and forgot the names of most of the ruins, but one that sticks in my mind is Saqsayhuaman, which is Quechuan for ’satiated hawk’, or something of the like. It is pronounced ‘Sex-ay woa-man’, or for us westerners just ‘Sexy Woman’.
In the evening, we met our Inca Trail guide Jeremy, as well as Bob & Darren who would be joining us the trail.