I arrived in Cusco 4 days ago, thanks to a 22 hour bus journey from Lima. After arriving at the hostel and having a little time to settle in, a traveller from my dorm asked if I would like to hike up to the Inca ruins above the city with him. This site is known as Saqsayhuaman, pronounced ‘sexy woman’ (pretty much). Cusco lies over 3400m above sea level and I had been warned of the dreaded altitude sickness by fellow travellers. However, I was not prepared for the struggle to come. I consider myself in fairly good shape, but walking upstairs to the hostel bar has me wheezing like I’ve been chain smoking Richmonds the night before. I haven’t. Thus a hike through the city to the top(ish) of the mountains had me feeling my age, or someone else’s who is much older than me. Alas, my trek was not in vain and was worth every wheeze and splutter for the amazing views of the city below.

After my experience with the sexy woman, I decided it was best to leave myself to acclimatise to the altitude for a few days before heading out for a run. So this morning was my first attempt. I woke early after a long sleep and headed out around 8. As in Lima, it was rush hour. Yet a very different kind of rush. Hundreds of people and many animals crowd the narrow cobbled pavements, making it hard to run for more than a few metres before having to stop and let a llama past.

I headed away from my hostel and the touristic centre of town. I got a lot of funny looks from locals, being the only gringo; wearing shorts and a vest, whilst they are wrapped in their llama shawls and alpaca jumpers. I made a circuit around the San Pedro market where I papped these traditional flower sellers outside.

Having not really run far at all, I turned back towards the old centre of town and made my way to the central Plaza de Armas. Here I found some other women running and started to feel more at home. The altitude was really hitting me now and I was pleased to have the excuse of stopping to take some photos:

I managed 2 laps of the Plaza before my lungs were begging me to slow down (I noticed the other runners were having to stop and catch their breaths which consoled me slightly), then huffed and puffed my way back to the hostel. Arriving back, after only around 20 minutes of running, my legs were wobbling like I’d just ran a half marathon. Eeh well, it’s all good training for my 5 day trek to Machupicchu which starts on Saturday.