Yesterday at 7am we boarded the inca express bus (Juliet and I managed to bag ourselves front seats again woo) to experience the drive from Puno to Cuzco in a different way. Instead of just taking the normal 7 hour route, the inca express scales the edges of Lake Titicaca and then ascends to the highest point in the area before dropping back down between the mountains along side the inca river that leads all the way to Machu Picchu. This bus took ten hours but we stopped off at different points along to way, inca ruins museums, pre inca churches, the highest point and a beautiful mountain restaurant for a buffet lunch before carrying on our journey. The tour guide was English and Spanish speaking and so described every detail of our journey and it’s significance to all of us.

When arriving in our hostel in Cuzco, the first person we saw was our friend from San Pedro! (And she’s in our room!) so we had a catch up before deciding to go out for dinner with her and our other San Pedro friends who are also here. Walking through Cuzco at night, I was immediately struck by how buzzy and beautiful it is. It’s full of bright lights and water fountains lit up in an array of purples and pinks, fun streets filled with restaurants and shops – it’s hard to describe but it’s amazing. As you look around you can see the suburban communities up on the mountain, filling it with blue and yellow lights they can probably say the same about us.

For dinner we went to a buzzy, fun and absolutely delicious tapas bar before heading back to the hostel and literally collapsing into our beds.