Cusco
Life continues to be a contrast between luxurious freebies and gritty reality. From being frozen to death on the cargo train, to sheer decadence in Inka Class on the Puno-Cusco train, from a fantastic dinner at El Monasterio (poshest hotel in Cusco), back to a shared (mixed sex!) dorm, with the loo across the courtyard, in a hostel appropriately located next door to the convent.
Cusco is great, very mellow, although we foreign johnnies must number nearly as many as the locals.
Have also now met up with my expedition team. I HAD been quite proud of my early morning yomp up to the Inca ruins on a hill high above the town (see photo above, of big stone, little me)… until I found out that Gary Ziegler (60 years young) runs up there on a regular basis. Can´t be natural!
This morning the team were getting to grips with the thermal imaging camera that we´re going to take up in a little single engine plane to recce for ruins – they were all looking at the monitor, and pointing the camera at me. Then they all start laughing, and I realise the camera was pointing at my chest. John Leivers says, ´Aha, now we can see what you´re made of´, which makes me very worried indeed!