Cusco, Andy and an Aussie Intervention

There I was sitting in a cafe in Cusco last night trying to follow the tennis on the Grauniad's website, having watched most of it at my apartment, when this Australian woman joined me and was insistent on conversation, which normally is fine by me, but when it's the last set and our boy is about to make history, well one could do without these pesky Australian women causing a diversion. But I was typically polite and switched off my iphone in order to give her my full attention.

Turns out she was in Cusco with her parents and they were heading off to do the Inca Trail in a couple of days, so I was able to give her the benefit of my experiences on the Trail, which I did in 2005, would you believe? Well yes you would I'm sure, seeing as I say so. She had sent her parents off to bed to rest, them being 60 years old (youngsters really), and she had popped out to see Cusco by night.

Anyway to cut a long story short I explained about my predicament re the tennis and she was very understanding so we followed the last couple of games on my iphone together and then had a wee shouty of yippee and celebratory cup of latte, though she preferred cappuccino, and then we discussed why Australia no longer produced great tennis players. We didn't know, but we were able to remember lots of names. She told me she was an accountant, and she was pleased to hear that my wee brother was one too. She tells me he must be very rich being an accountant in Edinburgh and that.

Cusco is as beautiful as ever, hot during the day but cold at night, one needs to wear different clothes in the day to those for night time excursions. My friend Miller has left Cusco and is now working on a cruiser in the Mediterranean so I miss his company and Spanish assistance. I met for a few hours last Thursday in Lima, before his flight to Europe, Milan via Amsterdam, on Friday. Needless to say he was very excited and maybe a bit nervous. His first time for so many things. Lets hope all goes well for him.

I'm writing this in my apartment, which now has wifi, new large flat screen tv and brand new suite. Very cosy, and wifi is great addition to my comforts. How did we manage in the centuries before wifi one can but wonder? Not be very techno myself its a complete mystery to me and having been able to do so much online is astonishing for a slight techno phobe, though getting better as time goes by.

I've started my Spanish class with Ana Maria as my teacher, and two other students, one from USA and other from New Zealand, so we're very cosmopolitan. Was trying to explain to Ana Maria about the delights of haggis, but not with much success, though she says she likes the sound of it. This came up in an exercise on el imperativo negativo, and don't ask me how we got there.

I've also started work in La Policia de la Familia yesterday. More later, but Guido was there. Apparently he's been in and out since my last visit last year. What a boy! A trifle aggressive but a nice kid none the less. Needs some loving care in his life but his chances of that at the age of 14 is zilch, lamentably.