Peru Day 2: Beef anyone?

Day 2:

- up at 6am to catch the flight to Cuzco
- tentative breaths coming off the plane as we're all nervous about the altitude (Cuzco is at just over 11 000ft above sea level)
- pitch up at a delightful hotel with sun-filled courtyard and big rooms
- off exploring our surroundings

I thought Cuzco was a really lovely city - incredibly relaxed, friendly, pretty (for the most part) and fascinating. It's somewhere I'd have loved to have spent more time and so this is an unfair photo really and I'll upload prettier ones onto Flickr later. However, I've blipped this image as it was the visit to the market that made the biggest impression on me today.

Four of us fancied finding the market and after a couple of false starts were directed to what I'd assumed was a derelict building in the middle of town. Our first sight and smell as we entered was 2 severed cow heads on the floor at the top of the steps and it got worse from there on.

I'm not squeamish and as a meat-eater I'm fully aware of what happens to animals between slaughter and my plate, however the meat area of the market was the closest thing to the set of a horror film I've ever seen. It wasn't the bits of dead cow hanging around and on the floor that bothered me, but the stench of rotting flesh and the fact that the whole area was absolutely filthy with dogs scavenging around the place. It's the first time in my life I've had to move away from somewhere quickly before the smell made me sick.

Still - it was a fasinating insight into the area, as was the rest of the market.

I must admit that I eyed my evening meal with suspicion when it arrived. Turns out it was alpaca!