To say yesterday was a bad day would be like describing the second world war as a bit of a punch up. It all started at our first port or call, Pisac market. Jen and Helen were nogotiating over some hats when I made the mistake of getting a little too close to the owner´s dog, who decided to go for me. The result was a bit on my right wrist (about the size of a pin-head where it broke the skin) in South America´s rabies hotspot country. I asked the guide (who, incidentally was excellent) if I needed to see a doctor and he said, no, no worries, no rabies in this area, or words to that effect. So we went on to finish the day´s tour (more of that later) before logging on last night and reading from some webiste or other...

Rabies: There is a higher risk of rabies in Peru than in other South American countries. Cases of human rabies, usually transmitted by dogs, has increased but the exact incidence of human rabies is not known. Two outbreaks of rabies, transmitted by vampire bats, claimed 40 lives in 1989–90.

So we contacted a doctor as recommended by our travel agents. Eventually we saw him after he saw ´yet another stupid Englishman who didn´t take altitude sickness seriously, here look at the pulminary something or other x-ray...´ and he explained that the old system of injections (1 a day for 2 weeks injected into the stomach muscle with a (in my case very) long needle) had been superceded by a new one where you 5 injections; one on day 0, and on days 3, 7, 14, ans 28. Day 3 is fine, day 7 however we{re in the jungle, day 14 we´re in the Galapagos, and day 28 is Xmas eve and we´re in Madrid...ahhh I hear you cry but Jen´s a dentist, she can inject you can´t she. Yes this much is true but the problem is with the vaccine, it has to be kept at between 2-8 degrees C, which might be a little tricky in the middle of the rainforest, on a boat, or after a 12 hour flight. We´re working on it, and will let you know. On the positive side the Cusco area hasn´t had a reported case of rabies for 4 years (although presumable some go unreported in the outlying areas), the dog only just broke the skin (and he seemed non-frothy and fairly normal, by the way the first question the doc asked me was ´do you have the dog with you´hahahaha, yeah I just picked up this biting little bundle of hate and put him in my rucksack), and we´ve caught it early. Will let you know if I start foaming at the mouth...

The day´s trip to the Sacred Valley itself was really good, starting at Pisac market, and then heading to the ruins that tower above the city. We did some training for our assault on Machu Picchu by climbing up and over a pretty big hill before exploring the ruins. There were about 500 people that lived here in the space for about 50 houses, you got the feeling the houses only had one room too...there was an old ornate sundial too.

Secondly we headed for lunch at another non-descript, pan-pipe filled tourist buffet hole. Nothing else to write about that place. Ollantaytambo was next and it did not disappoint. It used to be the starting point for the Inka trail, and you can still start here but it becomes a 5 rather than 4 day walk. The ruins are above and alongside some of the best preserved agricultural terracing we have seen, and are all overlooked by an image of one of the Inka God´s - a rock formation on an opposing hill. This was the last settlement anyone knows anything about as it was the last place the Spanish got to. Very little is known about Machu Picchu for this very reason, the Spanish never found it...

We headed back via Chinchero which was very similar to Taquile island, lots of locals doing their thing (and selling to tourists) and a church with a wonderfully ornate ceiling. The suinset over the snow-capped peaks was devine and we stopped for one last photo.