Cuzco – partying, relaxing, getting massages

Some of our Cuzco family

Well we spent the next few days in Cuzco in our wonderful hostel (Pariwana), chilling out. It was brilliant – probably some of the best few days of my trip. Cuzco is such a quaint little city, and such a nice place to hang around for a while. And the hostel we were in was perfect. It had very comfy beds, comfier than any hotel bed I have ever slept in, a chill out room for watching dvds, an internet lounge, freshly painted in the style of Machu Picchu, and a great bar. Add to this the fact that we had loads of friends there, Ben and Waime who we had met before we left, plus two Ozzie girls who we had also met before Machu Picchu, an American couple off our tour, some Swedish people we had made friends with and a load of randoms we had met on the way up Huayna Picchu and it really felt like home. Oh, and I forgot to mention the best part: the hostel was next to the wild rover hostel: the hostel that does all of our favourite British meals, like chips, cheese, beans and curry sauce :) .

On the first day we just recovered from all the hiking and did some washing. I think my first meal was chips from the Wild Rover. We had arranged to meet up for drinks with some of the people off our tour in the evening, so we spent a bit of time wandering round Cuzco and napping before our night out. I went to the supermarket to get some alcohol and bought a bottle of unkown 40% spirit called ron and some orange juice to mix with it. I then met Jemma and the others in Viking's room, where we spent several hours pre-drinking and chatting before hitting the clubs of Cuzco. It also happened to be the hostel's 2^nd year anniversary party, so there was a club night on in the bar and free drinks. It was an absolutely fantastic night. We saw so many people we knew off the tour in the nightclub and we had a really good laugh.. The Americans got very drunk, and upon seeing a beggar by the roadside, one asked me what the Spanish was for 'get a f*cking job!!' so I translated and he proceeded to shout at the beggar in Spanish that he should get a job. Flying the flag for American-Peruvian relations.

Ben & Waime (right). Me, feeling worse for wear

The next day I wasn't feeling well. I wasn't really hungover, just felt shivery all over. We went for Sunday lunch with Ben and Waime and another boy off the trek and Jemma met with an Irish couple we knew from La Paz and Iguazu who told her how difficult the real inka trail had been for them. The pub we went to didn't serve Sunday dinner unfortunately (despite being an English pub) 

so I had chilli con carne, which I later threw up in its entirety and was then ill for then next 3 days with fever, muscle aches and stomach pain. Despite this, I still managed to have a good time in Cuzco and went for a massage which cost £3.60 and really helped with the muscle ache.

One day we went to the chocolate museum, which briefly helped me forget my stomache ache. I had a chocolate fountain and our friends had energetic bread. On another day I visited the Inca museum and saw all of the artefacts our guide had told us about at Machu Picchu, including the knotted ropes the Incas used for communication. The rest of our time in Cuzco was filled walking around markets, drinking chocolate ice cream milk shakes and meeting with friends from our tour. It was a lovely week. The night before we left Cuzco, our friend Ben, who is a celebrity hairdresser (has cut the hair of Cher Lloyd, One Direction, Olly Murs, Jessie J and various Catwalk models at fashion shows around the world) cut both of our hair for free. It was sad to say bye to Ben and Waime (pronounced Jamie, with a W). It was like we had a family in Cuzco and felt like we were leaving a second home. On our last day, we had one last helping of chips, cheese and beans from wild rover, before boarding our luxuary Cruz del Sur bus to take us to our next destination: Lima – capital city of Peru.

View of the city

More photos of Cuzco: Cuzco