Cusco

Arriving in Cusco, the old capital, and definitely the tourist capital of Peru, we hit the town celebrating Rachel´s 19th birthday. Cusco is the kind of place where you can drink for free all night, as long as you move from pub to pub at a fast enough rate, making promises of staying that you never intend to keep. Among others, our favourite night spots included an irish bar serving classic british meals such as shepherds pie and BLTs, a danish bar with such classics as frakadella burger with remoulade and biksemad (some danish favourites), and a peruvian club with salsa lessons every night. We even managed to get a private 2-hour spanish lesson so that the locals no longer could dance circles round us “Gringos.” But by far the best find was the discovery of a dusty old Risk board hidden in the corner of the danish bar... need I say more!

Particular past-times worth trying here in Cusco are whitewater rafting, a full-body inca massage, breaking into a local park to play ultimate frisbee, and of course the San Pedro experience.

San Pedro is a cactus, the juices from which are very hallucinogenic. The experience involved tasting this delicacy and joining a rather amusingly dressed Shaman at the top of a hill for the duration of the afternoon. From here participants were able to feel at one with nature, after which you will throw up for hours on end. Note that this means it´s working...

Without mentioning names, one particular participant decided to film what he saw as the walls, clouds and buildings began to move in crazy unnatural ways. Unfortunately he was then completely baffled when later, playback of his video failed to show any evidence of what he was sure he had witnessed.