Day Eighteen and Nineteen

Cusco is the land of ruins. Old Inca fortresses and villages scatter the green mountainsides.

Over the past couple of days we've visited a couple of what used to be Inca water systems. It's amazing how they have survived and still make their mark on Peru and it's tourists. Travelling to the site that we visited today was a bit edgy, the incline being steep and narrow and the small, dusty car park at the top being crammed full.

I have enjoyed seeing some of Peru's famous Lamas (although my dad has had a taste of Alpaca). We've also seen dozens of different butterfly species drifting around, but only when we visit these ruins, not in the dusty cities.

Trips into the centre of Cusco have been regular too. I have taken my first real Peruvian taxi ride, although the roads here are not quite as hectic and hard to read as they are in Lima. As it is The Day of Peru today, the town is covered in the flags of Peru and Cusco. People line the streets to watch processions of dancers skip past, dressed in traditional Peruvian and Inca dress.