Touchdown!

So after a very long, arduous flight, we had a very brief stopover in Lima (8pm - 6am!) Which means we basically saw nothing there. Good-o.

We took a flight the next day to Cusco, which lies in the Andes. Very pretty in the town centre, I must say. Me, Jackie and our new Aussie friend Irene wandered round the (ubiquitous!) markets. All of which are very cheap and selling amaaazing things, which is tempting but tricky when my backpack is already full.

I will now make a point to add that altitude is a BITCH. I knew about altitude sickness and that, yeah, the Andes are pretty high up. But OH MY DAYS, it really hits you when you fly straight from sea level to over 3,500 metres! The three of us were hitting the coca leaves like anything (yes, the coca that makes cocaine......massive remedy apparently. Well, who notices altitude when you´re off your face??) Basically headaches, palpitations, nausea, dizziness and breathlessness. Feels like you´re about to die if you walk up a slight incline! Coupled with jet lag, it wasn´t too much fun, I must say. It´s pretty weird, but after a few days you start to get used to it. Although then we fly off to the Amazon, which is pretty much back to sea level, but that´s another post.