Tuesday 3 March - Lima to Cuzco, Peru

Quite a rough day - starting with a 3:30am wake-up, pickup at 4am for a 6am flight to Cuzco with a domestic carrier, Aero Condor. The flight was actually trouble free and smooth, and included spectacular views of the countless Peru mountains (Andes) as we were coming in. The start of the flight was interesting, when on the tarmac we passed three passenger jets, which were all small to medium size, and had just been left to rust on the grass.

Cuzco is at an elevation of 3326m, and it didn't take long for the altitude sickness to kick in. By lunchtime, a had a headache that even Jack O'Toole with his best, heaviest axe couldn't split, despite the amount of pills I took (which was the advised maximum). I even slept 4 hours during the day, which is akin to Josh Hunt kicking on the right - it's a rarity. The headache continued until the night when it started to ease a bit, however it never completely went. Any solid walking up a slope or stairs resulted in immediate fatigue and nausea.

In between sleeps, we managed to take a walking tour with our Cuzco guide, Nicholas. Cuzco is a city was had hardly changed its facade over its long history (it is the undisputed archeological capital of the Americas), with most roads being cobblestone and very narrow (ie. with only a 3 foot wide footpath for pedestrians). We were constantly harrassed on the streets by vendors selling drinks, photos, postcards, and all kinds of clothes, resulting in as many "No gracias" (no thanks) as I've trotted out ordinary one-liners in this blog (if that is possible).

Lunch was held with Libe hoeing into roasted guinea pig, the local specialty, much like a Parma is to Melbourne. Libe doesn't have a good relationship with these cute little animals - as a little girl she managed to cuddle one to death, now she's eating one. Tea was held at a restaurant which displayed an Aussie flag on its door, and was filled (surprisingly enough) with those from Down Under. Peru seems to be a popular destination for the land of plenty but little water.

Before tea we had our Inca Trail hike orientation meeting, which is to start at sparrow's fart on Thursday. Here's hoping I get used to the altitude before then or I'm going to battle more than Stephanie McIntosh on last year's Grand Final Footy Show.