if we could find somewhere a little nicer. We found a lovely place in town near the market for about three quid more and duly transferred. It overlooked one of the main market streets and was an excellent place to people watch all the Peruvians going about their daily business in traditional dress.

We finally got our walk underway and the countryside was just stunning. Like I said earlier, the canyon is not very deep at this end, but still very dramatic. We crossed over to the other side of it from Chivay and walked for a couple of hours passing little farming hamlets, until we came to a small village where we sat in the main plaza in the sun and had a snack. As we walked on down the valley we weren’t entirely sure where we were going but by this point my Spanish was up to asking a local which way it was to the bridge. After being pointed in the right direction we started to come across loads

of Inca and Pre-Inca terraces clinging amazingly to the sides of the canyon - how these people built such things is beyond me. It really was incredible, and we felt like we’d really arrived in Peru!! As we neared Yanque We rounded a corner were greeted by the most incredible sight - a huge natural amphitheatre in the side of the canyon, the whole of which had been terraced by the Incas. This truly was one of the architectural highlights of our entire tour - these Inca people were obviously incredible in their construction capabilities - such a shame that they only lasted 100 years before the Spaniards turned up and wiped them out!! Same old story worldwide - if it wasn’t us Brits it was the bloody Spanish!!

We got to the bridge over the canyon to Yanque, and walked up the hill into the town. We had planned to have some lunch here and then get the next bus back up to Chivay - unf