Today we stopped in at a cafe overlooking the main square to have some tea and coffee and ended up staying a little longer than planned because it started pouring rain and then the power went out for a while. It is the rainy season now, but for the most part it has just been raining at night.

That being said, we got caught in a storm the next day while we were exploring some ruins outside of Cusco. We had to duck under a tree for a while until the worst of it passed, but we still got soaked. We have been indulging a bit with our meals so far, but after the trek to Machu Picchu  I think we will go back to my more normal diet of local market food or cooking my own meals. In the evening we went to watch the same show of local dances that my mom and I watched when she was here, but they change some of the dances so it was still a different experience for me.

Today we went to see some more ruins that I didn’t have time for last time I was in Cusco. We learned our lesson from yesterday and got an earlier start as the mornings seem to have nicer weather than the afternoon. We took local transportation to get to the ruins to experience a bit more local culture today outside of touristy Cusco.

This afternoon we are just going to relax because we start our 5 day hike to Machu Picchu tomorrow. We have our briefing tonight for the trek and then we will be off early in the morning tomorrow!