On our way to Machu Picchu

We board a bus back to Arequipa, leaving the Canyon de Conquered behind. The bus is a local one and is so stuffed with people that there are actually two people standing between Geezer who is in the aisle seat and the seat in front. One of them constantly scratches his head, flicking dandruff all over Geezer who shakes it off in disgust with a ‘ugh!’ and glares at the scratcher.

The bus is also boarded by a tout selling a cure for everything and Geezer tells me to button it when he approaches us and I start to tell him that he is ripping off poor people.

Six hellish hours later we arrive back in Arequipa – Meg minus her camera which has disappeared on the bus and has all her canyon photos on it. We go to the police station and there are two tourists there who have lost a passport. The policeman tells them it will be about two hundred dollars to file a police report and we are about to leave in disgust, throwing in a comment about corruption when he pulls Meg and I back to say that it will cost less than a dollar. He had suspected the other tourists of insurance fraud. So with our tails between our legs we flick through the television guides he gives us to read and wait until he has filled out the report.

Geezer and I then find out that our appeal to the Peruvian government to do the Inca Trail has been successful and we are to start the trail the same day as Meg and Hunter.

So we all make our way to Cusco where Meg and I decide a girl’s night out is in order and we boogie the night away at a great little underground reggae bar.

Feeling lazy after our four day canyon mission but determined to see the fabulous Inca ruins surrounding Cusco, we hire a driver to take us around Pisac, Ollyantambo and Chincara. By the end of the day, I’m completely Inca ruined out despite four days of more Inca ruins coming up on the Inca Trail. We have little time to pack and sleep because we are picked up at 5am the next morning to start our next adventure – the Inca Trek!