throwing a (very polite) wobbly

So I mentioned in the last post that our hotel room was a wee bit cold. I finally decided that being curled up in bed wearing my warmest clothes and hat and gloves was not okay. On complaining, our tour guide turned up (in a towel and not a lot else) and told me that we would need to hire a heater. I firmly and politely told her that a freezing room was completely and her two options were to provide heating in the room or find us another hotel. A heater arrived shortly after. So the room is now very warm. Pity about the lumpy bed and plank of wood for a pillow.

Then we went to dinner. There is supposed to be 14 people in the group, but the volcano in Europe has completely screwed everyone´s plans and there are six of us. Two more arrive after the Inca trail, but the rest of postponed or cancelled. Nice small group. So five of us and the tour leader (Shirdy) went to dinner and I had Alpaca saltado for dinner. Basically like a beef stirfry with red peppers and onions on rice. It was very nice. There were lovely views across Cusco from the hotel roof - Debbie got some nice photos but mine were crappy. The hillside looked a bit like a christmas tree.

I didn´t sleep well at all last night so was a bit of a slow start to the day. Went for a nice wander around the town with one of the other girls from the tour. Some of the buildings have some of their walls that date back to a 6th century (?) Inca palace. There was a lovely square (pazleta san blas) where there was a chap playing his guitar. I bought a nice painting from a chap (Efraine?). He says he painted it himself - it´s probably all part of the sales pitch, but I´d like to think he did.

We thought we´d go back to the hotel a different way and I promptly got us lost. But it was a lovely walk. I´ve taken far too many photos of windows, doors, balconies, streets, steps, dogs (they lie around on the streets everywhere and people just walk around them), hillsides (writing on hillsides seems to be the done thing over here - viva el peru glorioso is one example in Cusco), old churches/cathedrals (there are a lot of them in a very small area) and a row of policeman with their riot thingys. I did ask first - in spanish no less.

Debbie and I made our way down to the artisan´s market after lunch. The guidebook says that 50% of the price goes to the artist themselves from this particular market. I bought a few things which are apparently llama wool, but they were very cheap so I´m a bit dubious.

My phone is useless - it´s not picking up a signal anywhere. Not sure if this if vodafone´s fault or my phone is playing up. Also can´t log into gmail on very many of my computers. So the blog it is. There is internet access in most of the hotels we are staying at so will try to post something everyday. Won´t on the inca trail obviously or the homestay on lake titicaca.

Have had a lovely day but am feeling a little sorry for myself af the moment. It´s cold and I´ve had an upset stomach late this afternoon (read, mad dash to hotel to use own toilet). I think lunch might have been dodgy. But we had a nice conversation with the waiter in spanish - I even used past tense!