The Moni Family outside Cusco Cathedral today

Following our initial skirmishes with the landlady, today we seem to have concluded a new contract with her. It was a bit of a bloodbath in the end, with me losing my rag with her and Esther losing her rag with me for losing my rag with her. At least we have some breathing space now and can start moving forward. My bad mood didn't really lift all day so when we took Ali, Valerio and Miriam out for lunch the mood was a bit sombre. Tomorrow afternoon we fly back to Lima, hopefully between now and when we come back to Cusco we can have a bit of a rest, it has been completely full-on since we got here. Esther and I went for a wander around Cusco last night and in 45 minutes saw five tourists, the low season is biting hard here this year so far. We have to endure an empty city until April but we certainly got back here at the right time given what has happened with our rent. When we get back it will be all systems go with trying to extract all we can from the cafe. One idea we are looking into is to offer alternative tours in the surroundings of Cusco, birdwatching, festivals that are hard to get to, trips to see the sunrise where the optical illusion makes it seem like there are three suns and that sort of thing. We need to get it right and quickly if we are to make the most of the forthcoming high season. Went to collect our cooker today, not ready, not shocked, looking forward to the chaos of Lima more than ever, Cusco has not treated us too well on our return, but we will be back for a New Year and new adventures in the Andes.