Meanwhile, back in Cusco

Cusco (also known as the Naval of the World) is a great place, apart from having entirely too many loud Americans using up the air. It’s clean, has great open squares, historical buildings, cobbled streets plus great bars and restaurants. Overlooking the Plaza des Almas is the Norton Rats bar where we can take a seat on the balcony and literally watch the world go by. And only a few step away do I grit my teeth once more as Will takes us for a tour of the Inka Museum. Lovely.

As darkness falls we’re watching on in amazement as a festival is unfolding before our eyes where the boys are wearing woolly gimp masks and whipping each other across the back of the legs with some kind of woollen whip. What do they do in private?

The Dawkins family join us for dinner and Scott seems as keen as Will to order the local delicacies and before I can say Chef’s Salad, there’s some rare alpaca and a brace of cuy (guinea pig) sitting in front of me. Ruby and Harley are attacking a leg each of the cuy with gusto and Toby is bemoaning the fact that he’s been given pasta when the cuy is clearly such a hit.

We’re en masse again in the morning when Scott and Will are keen to visit Saqsaywaman (one of the local Inca sites, famed because it is pronounced “Sexy Woman”. Ok, not famed because of the way it’s pronounced, but that does help). There’s not a whole lot left of this site because the Spanish tore down the walls and used the blocks to build their houses in Cusco, but we do find some great stone slides which we manage to climb and then fly down at an extraordinary rate (I think Will was fine catching the kids as they came flying off the end, it was as I came down, cackling like an old witch, that he floundered) and then Will leads all the kids into some deep, dark caves which I refuse to be a part of (not sure which put me off most, the thought of going through deep dark caves, or the thought of doing it with 4 kids).

Dinner again and I can’t believe the boys order up more alpaca. This is getting silly. So much for the advice about how to combat soroche which is ‘camina lentito, come poquito…y duerme solito’ (‘walk slowly, eat only a little…and sleep by your poor little self’).

The Dawkins 4 are off to Easter Island and we’re off to the Del Prado Inn (www.delpradoinn.com) as it’s right off the Plaza des Almas and will save us having to wait for the complimentary taxi service to take us 5 minutes away to Torre Dorada, which will be good for Will’s birthday as he’ll be able to wander to and fro as and when he feels like it.