One of the first things I was supposed to do when I arrived in Cusco was find somewhere to live although to be honest I didn’t give it much thought for the first few days, and I certainly didn’t do any looking. I did have a lead on an apartment quite far out of town, but I decided I wanted somewhere a lot more central.

I decided to leave it up to the universe to find me somewhere decent, and sure enough it didn’t let me down. Four days after I arrived I met a really cool guy (he’s into yoga and holistic living and all that stuff) who said he had a spare a room at a house he managed. Two days later I had a look at the room and the next morning I moved in.

Since moving in I have actually learnt it’s a hotel, not a house, but you would never know it from the outside. There’s no sign or any indication that it’s a hotel. I’m not sure exactly how many other people are living here but there’s probably between 5 and 10 and most of them are staying reasonably long-term (several months at least) and several of them are from english speaking countries so I’m able to have proper conversations!

I have a nice double room with a private bathroom (I guess that’s the biggest giveaway it’s a hotel). There’s also wifi access which is essential for me, although the signal is pretty weak in my room so I usually work in the communal area. Even there it’s not a super-fast connection, but if I need a really fast connection for some reason then there are some bars and cafes a few minutes walk away that have really fast internet I can use.

It’s also costing me 600 soles a month, which is about £135!

Anyway, here’s a few pictures of where I’m living.

The front of my house. Most of the rooms are on the ground floor.

Front and side of my house. There's also an outer perimeter wall behind me.

Communal area. Nice room aye?

Looking down the street outside the front entrance.At the bottom of that street is the main tourist centre of Cusco

Looking up the street. Yes it really is pretty steep and it's hard work walking up there, particularly at this altitude! Good exercise though!

So, yes, I think I landed on my feet there. But then again I usually do. Trust the universe and it will provide!

I love walking through the centre of Cusco. It’s such an interesting, vibrant colourful city with a good mix of locals and international tourists, many of them backpackers. It also feels very safe. I’ve walked around quite a lot, even to the parts where there’s far more locals than tourists, and so far I haven’t felt threatened or unsafe.

There are a few small annoyances though. On an average 10 minute walk through the centre of Cusco you’re almost certainly going to be approached by:

- At least 1 lady asking if you want to take a photo of her and her llama (you have to pay her for the pleasure of course).

- At least 2 store owners trying to get you to come into their store and look at what their selling.

- At least 1 artist wanting to show you his artwork for sale.

- At least 1 ten year old kid trying to sell you post cards.

- At least 4 girls asking if you want a massage. (It’s legitimate therapeutic massage, not a cover for prostitution, as far as I’m aware). This is usually the hardest to refuse, particularly when the massage is about £8 for 1 hour. I’ve had one so far and it was pretty good.

- At least 3 restaurant workers trying to get you to look at their menu

- At least 1 lady trying to sell you jewelry, trinkets or whatever else she’s carrying on her.

- You will also be honked at by at least 1 car driver, even though they’re 50 feet behind you and driving about 10 miles an hour (in some areas many of the roads are very narrow with even narrower pavements, so most people walk down the middle of the roads).

Thankfully most of the people who approach you are not persistant. If you just say ‘no gracias’ and keep walking they don’t usually follow.

So that’s walking through Cusco. I love it!

Well, I’ve been in Peru just over a week now and so far everything has gone as well as I could ever have expected! I apologise for the lack of updates for the few people who are following this blog.

So what have I been up to so far?

Well, after arriving in Cusco last Tuesday I found my way to Casa de la Gringa, a really nice little travellers hostel. I spent 6 nights there in total and really enjoyed my stay there.

My first few days were spent mostly exploring Cusco and getting used to the high altitude (over 11,000ft!!) . I suffered mild altitude sickness for the first 48 hours which resulted in me feeling a little light headed and some very mild flu-like symptoms. Or perhaps I caught swine-flu on the way!? Either way, I got over it in a few days.

Cusco is a wonderful city to explore. It’s a huge labyrinth of small cobbled-stoned streets, alley-ways and squares, with hundreds of little stores that sell some of the most incredible Peruvian art and clothing. I’m sure the novelty will wear off after awhile, but even after a week here I still love to walk around browsing the stores and making new discoveries.

There’s also a huge amount of restaurants and cafes, offering a wide variety of food, most of which are very reasonably priced - at least to someone with an average western sized income. You can eat well for about £5 and eat like a king for about £20.

A street in the San Blas area of Cusco

A street in Cusco

Last Thursday I visited the main market for the first time. In fact there are two main markets. One is predominantly for food and the other for electrical, clothing and household goods. Fruit and veg is amazingly cheap and you can probably buy almost all the fruit and veg you can eat in a week for about £5 (and that assumes that, like me, you eat quite a lot of fruit and veg!).

Entrance to Cusco's main market

On friday night I participated in my first Ayahuasca ceremony here in Peru. The friday ceremony was unplanned and fairly spur of the moment and I have to be honest definitely wasn’t one of the best ceremonies I’ve experienced. I’ll write a lot more about ayahuasca in future posts.

The friday ceremony took place in Lesley’s house who is the owner of the hostel I was staying in. About 15 people took part in the ceremony and it was conducted by a young female shaman from the sacred valley.

Leyley's house

A couple of days previous I had made plans to go to Pisac, a small town in the sacred valley to do an ayahuasca ceremony with Javier at a small healing resort called Paz Y Luz (Peace & Light). I hardly slept on friday night after the ceremony and almost decided not to go to Pisac, but an intuition told me I should go. So after we walked back down to Cusco from Leyley’s house I got on the bus to Pisac because I knew Javier wanted me there by around midday.

Walking back down to Cusco

View over Cusco

The bus was an interesting experience. It was just leaving the bus station when I got there but I flagged it down and got on board just in the nick of time. However the small bus was completely full with even two passengers in the front passenger seat. I was going to try and stand (not easy on these kinds of roads) but the bus driver insisted I sat on this small makeshift seat right in the middle between him and the two front passengers. It wasn’t the comfiest seat in the world but way better than trying to stand and I got a fantastic view of the journey ahead.

The bus journey was about 45 minutes. The first half is mostly uphill as the bus ascends up the mountainous terrain, and then the second half is all downhill as the road descends into the sacred valley towards Pisac.

View from the front of the bus to Pisac

Upon arriving at Pisac I went straight to Paz y Luz where I met and spoke to Javier for awhile. Then I booked myself into a room and got myself some much needed sleep before we met for the ceremony at 5.30pm.

The ceremony with Javier was awesome. He’s created a really safe and sacred space in his ceremony room at the back of his house. I don’t want to write too much about my experience but I felt tremendous love and energy for the full length of the ceremony. As stated above I will write more about ayahuasca in future posts because it’s played an important role in my spiritual journey so far.

View from the sacred valley

On the Sunday morning I caught the bus back to Cusco and got some much needed rest and begin the process of integrating what I had learnt the previous two nights.

On the Sunday evening I went to see a guy who had a spare room in a house he managed. The room was perfect and I moved in the following morning. It’s costing me 600 soles a month (about £135) and as I write this I’ve spent two nights there. It feels like one of the most perfect houses I could have found. In fact I didn’t really find it - it found me - just like I knew it would. More information and pictures coming soon.

Anyway, that’s my summary of my first week so far. It’s been a wonderful week and I’m feeling really high on life right now. If every other week is as good as this then I’m going to have an amazing experience here.

Click here for more photos

As I write this I’m sat in a beautiful hostel in Cusco sipping delicious coca tea and I feel on top of the world!

I arrived in Peru yesterday and I could not have asked for a smoother journey so far. My flight from Toronto landed in Lima 25 minutes early about 9pm local time. I got through immigration and received the 6 month visa I requested without any problems. Then a cab driver was there to pick me up and take me to a hostel I had booked online just the night before. The hostel was much further away from the airport than I thought but I got to see more of the city and I enjoyed the drive. I think we arrived at the hostel about 10.30pm and I went straight to bed.

This morning I woke up early and was met about 9.30 by a lady called Malena, and another guy, who was sorting out my flight to Cusco. It turned out my flight was booked for 3pm so I had quite a few hours to kill and was given a tour of the city by the guy whose name I forget.

Lima seems to have changed quite a bit since I was last there in 1998. One of the most obvious changes is the roads. While certainly not perfect they’re infinitely better than I remember them as result from being resurfaced. Lima also feels a bit safer than I remember it.

Here’s a few pictures of the main Plaza Mayor square in downtown Lima

After my tour around Lima I had to get a taxi from downtown Lima to the airport and that was an experience I won’t forget for awhile. The taxi driver didn’t seem to care for main roads and instead drove down an endless amount of back roads through what were clearly some very poor areas of the city. Most of these roads probably haven’t ever been resurfaced. Also, the only way to get across busy junctions where you don’t have right of way is to just stick your nose out and hope the cars heading towards you decide to stop in time. Needless to say, there were several hair raising moments on this 20 minute ride to the airport.

Anyway, we eventually got to the airport in one piece and I caught my flight to Cusco without any problems. I love the approach to Cusco airport because the plane literally has to fly between mountains. It’s an exciting descent and I bet it’s even more amazing from the cockpit!

Here’s a few pics I managed to take from the window.

After landing in Cusco I took a taxi to the hostel that I’m booked into for 4 nights while I hopefully find a place to live for awhile. The hostel is called Casa de la Gringa and is really lovely hostel. I’ve got my own room, not a dorm, but it’s only costing me $15 a night. I’ll take a few photos of it tomorrow.

I took a brief walk around Cusco earlier which is a really interesting and beautiful town but I’m sure I’ll write much more about it in future posts. I know I’m going to be happy here for awhile!