Raindrops keep falling on my head

I have to admit it's been tough these last few days. Despite having been to a higher altitude when I went to Humahuaca in northern Argentina, the height has hit me here. For the last three days I have had a headache, slight nausea and shortness of breath. I know my weight doesn't help but this is more than that. I had a small crisis last night when I couldn't face the soup I'd bought for my tea and thought I was going to throw up everywhere but fresh air soon sorted that out. As a consequence I've been living on eggs and fruit juice - well they warn you to eat lightly and I could do with losing some weight.

All of this has meant that I spent the first day at the hostel sleeping only venturing out briefly yesterday to try and sort out a trip to Machu Picchu. I was, however, confounded by the day (Saturday) and the rain (I didn't quite get drenched but I did brave the terrors of flagging down a taxi). After a siesta at the hostel I went out again in the evening, hence the soup episode.

Today I went out again and spent most of the afternoon and early evening roaming around the city. I also went on another spending spree - well it's so cold here I just had to buy an alpaca jacket (and very warm it is too) - and almost booked a trip to MP. Originally I had planned on doing it independently but my shakiness and the weekend has left me insecure about may abilities. I have found somewhere at a reasonable cost but they can't confirm until tomorrow morning. Thankfully MP is at a lower altitude than Cusco so I should be able to enjoy it.

The other thing that put a spoke into my plans but in a good way is that it's the festival of San Blas here in Cusco so I got to see a parade and took some photos (just before my battery ran out). They'll be up on flickr soon. For the locals this festival is celebrated not just with a parade but with the deployment of water bombs thrown at each other leaving some soaked to the skin (and quite a few young gringos have joined in). I remember something similar on Easter Sunday in Poland but this has a level of sophistication with kids joining forces to throw small bathtubs of water at their teenage opponents and spraycans of soapy water on sale all over the place for those who want to join in. I managed to avoid the worst of it, getting squirted at only once by a group of gringos who should have known better.

Anyhow it's 8pm here in Peru and I can hear singing and music, and the occasional (but very loud) round of firecrackers. I might go out for a hot chocolate later but then again I might not.