Lots of walking

It's been great that Jenny and Roland's kids have been off school for the first two weeks of our trip (so still off this week). The kids have been able to get to know each other and have been having a very good time. We're especially enjoying the extra space.
It's good to be staying outside the usual tourist area. When we came last time Jenny and Roland were staying in the centre of town where all the tourists gather. Now they live to the east of Cusco, closer to San Jeronimo. We get a few funny looks, 9 Europeans wandering round with 2 Peruvian girls clearly part of the clan! But people are very kind to us, and cope with my stuttering efforts to communicate in Spanish!

Having said that we did go into Cusco centre on the first Sunday we were here. The idea was to watch an Independence Day parade. Unfortunately (though there are usually parades on Sundays, and Jenny found notice of parades on a website) there were no parades. Still we had a good time wandering round and taking pictures. Not much had changed since we were last there. It was interesting to see McDonald's, KFC and Starbucks in the main plaza. There we the usual plethora of people trying to sell stuff to tourists, or get you to go on their tour bus. Since we were last here red, opened topped double-deckers have been added to the tourist sightseeing fleet! We did our own little tour of the three main plazas, found a chocolate museum (yum) and stopped for an ice-cream before we came home.
The bus rides remain entertaining. Fitting 40 people on to a bus the size of an old VW Camper is fun! To be fair the busses have improved a lot recently. Most of them are bigger now, and actually designed to be busses! Kids under 7 go free, so Bekah is still free. "Dos y dos" is a phrase I have learnt quickly. It means "2 & 2", two adults and two children. A ride for the whole family costs two soles (about 50p).

Over the last week we have been doing a lot of walking. The scenery is breath taking continuously.

Even pictures like this can't really convey the scale of the mountains around the city in the valley. I took this picture on a walk to San Jeronimo market. It took perhaps an hour to get there. Last Saturday I was left at home (asleep) while everyone else went for a trip to Saksaywaman (look it up!) and spent a long time walking and looking at wildlife. When I finally woke up a walked up the mountain behind the house (not all the way up). And that is where we went yesterday afternoon and evening. It is quite a height, and again went no higher than I did previously. But we had a lot of fun with a little camp fire and marshmallows.

On our way up there!

Up there!

The view from up there!

The views only got better as the evening closed in and the stars and city lights came out. The temperature difference is remarkable between day and night. As soon as the sun goes in the temperature begins to plummet from over 20C to very close to 0C. Our little fire was very appreciated.

Toasting marshmallows

The view of Cusco after the sun disappeared

There are lots more pictures on my Facebook page. Hopefully that link will work. If not you will have to find them yourself! There's lots more to say, but I will save that for another time I think!

Adios!