Today we spent relaxing at the hotel, catching up on some reading and generally just taking it easy. The protests have limited the options for touristic exploration but we saw a lot yesterday so we were happy to have a slow day today. As a result, there’s not too much to report! After a very big breakfast, we didn’t really do a lot before finally heading out in the early evening for a walk before dinner. We ended up just across the road from the hotel for dinner, opting for a pizza.

Pizza for dinner!
Pizza for dinner!

The temperature has been about 30C in the late afternoon and early evening while we have been here and the warmth is very nice. Notwithstanding that it’s very warm in the city, we have a very nice view from our hotel window of some of the Andes mountains, a number of which are still topped with snow which, given that they are (we have been told) 6,000m high, is probably not a great surprise.

Tomorrow we fly to Cusco in Peru, a flight of about three and a half hours from Santiago. Cusco sits at about 3,300 metres above sea level so this morning we took acetazolamide (Diamox) in preparation for altitude sickness, just in case. We’re not sure if we really need altitude sickness medication but we are only in Cusco one night before heading to Machu Picchu for a night, and then we’re back to Cusco for another night. We’ve come a very long way to see Machu Picchu so we’re trying to be as prepared as possible and not be sick on the only day we plan to be there!