Holiday times!

My fortnight’s holiday in Cusco was a massive blessing.  Cusco is South America’s oldest continually inhabited city and centre of the Inca empire so it is full of history and culture.  My team mate Caitlin and I stayed with a friend who we’d met in Mozambique, Elisabeth and her host family who were very hospitable.  This meant that I got my OWN bedroom for a whole two weeks and a wardrobe – so for the first time in 6 months I actually unpacked!  Sheer bliss!

I don’t think I realised how tired I was until I started to unwind!  My days mainly consisted of reading, resting, frequenting nice coffee shops and watching films.  It was so nice to be in one place for the whole time as well as having the opportunity to learn more about Peruvian culture in a beautiful city.  I was grateful that I got to swim in a local indoor heated pool (I was the only gringo there!) as well as get a massage and celebrate St Patricks Day (yes Cusco even has an Irish pub and youth hostel!) 

I also enjoyed going to an English speaking group for people seeking spiritual truth.  The first Sunday I went, the discussion topic was on the spiritual discipline of ‘silence and solitude’ which Caitlin and I thought was ironic (or maybe perfect timing!) as we have had so little of that living with often 30 others for the last six months.  It was great to be able to put into practice some of the practical applications we discussed during the rest of my holiday.  So this all meant that I felt very refreshed and ready for the second half of our journey when I returned to Lima.  [At this stage it looks like our journey will continue into September and maybe into October as we are a little behind the original ending of August at the time of writing!]