Cusco is full of history as the capital of the Inca empire, covering 10 countries. It is full of culture, remnants of old inca walls, wonderful cobbled steets, churches and plazas. The main square is stunning with a giant cathedral that stands along one side, inside it is among the best I have seen, full of treasure, glittering alters and numerous murals, all with their own story. Among the paintings inside is "the Last Supper" by Marcos Zapata, with Jesus and his disciples feeding on a plump Guinea Pig, one of the specialities of Peru.

We also visited Qorikancha, which now forms the base of Church of Iglesia de Santo Domingo . Qorikancha means 'golden courtyard', and in Inca times was covered in gold and silver. Spanish conquestors located it, looted and knocked most of it down. Seems the Spanish did this to a lot of sites, which is a shame, nonetheless this place is well worth a visit.

We stayed at the Cusco Plaza II near the main plaza, which is a nice basic hotel. As we had five of our group come down with a mild form of salmonella, plus another suspected, they needed the comfort of the rooms to recover after a night in hospital. Fortunately, for now (fingers crossed), Julie and I have escaped.

High above Cusco is a 'sexy woman', sorry Saqsaywaman, the former is what the tourists call it. It means "full condor", not Falcon as most guidebooks say. It is a sprawling Inca site that overlooks the city, the previous two evenings I have gone for a run up to the site and got a superb view of the area as the sunset cloaked the area in orange. Cusco was built in the shape of a puma, with Saqsaywaman as the head, so I am not sure why it is also a condor ... The site was mostly destroyed by the bastard Spaniards (local guides official term) to build their houses in the city, but there is still around 20% of the walls left and the guides point out different animals shapes made in the stones. Once again this was a good grounding for Machu Picchu, which we start on Sunday.

Cusco has a great night scene and great restaurants, we loved the Inka Grill and Fallen Angel, whilst a bit more expensive than most restaurants, was worth it just for the glam decor where you eat on glass tables over baths full of goldfish! The Real McCoy served up some great beer and British pub food, which after 5 weeks on the road was just what we needed, pie and mash... we also found a very cool Danish cafe on Gringo Alley, which not only had great meatball sandwiches but a sinema tagged onto it. It had 250 very new DVD releases to choose from and if you got there first in the evening you could choose which one to watch.