Amy & Laura set off for their South American travels arriving in Lima on Friday 22nd April (Amy´s 22nd Birthday). After experiencing a seven hour wait at Madrid airport and witnessing a Peruvian woman falling asleep in her dinner twice on the plane, they finally arrived very sleepy at 6am in Peru. The travels didn´t start well with Amy and Laura trying to check in at the wrong hotel, fortunately after some delay and confusion they were escourted to the right one and were left to explore Mirraflores. This was a very daunting experience as we didn´t quite realise how touristy we looked and Laura´s blonde hair stuck out like a sore thumb. After relaxing with what we thought was a fruit smoothie which turned out to be a protein shake and being photographed from every angle (including Laura´s "beautiful" feet), they headed back to the hotel for a welcome meeting to introduce themselves to their new group! After some quick introductions by our Peruvian tour guide Julio, Amy and Laura headed off to the airport to be finally reunited with Wedge! Amy went for the run up and jump approach whereas Laura chose to just stand weeping in happiness. They had a lovely catch up over dinner and an exhange of birthday presents, cards and stories from the previous two months!

The following day was spent exploring the city of Lima which was a lot more established than they first thought. They went to withdraw money for the activities ahead to find Laura´s card had already been blocked, what a typical start. At midday they boarded the local bus to Pisco, being extra careful and clutching our bags for the entire journey, after the many terrifying stories we had previously heard. They enjoyed a delicious meal on the seafront with the group listening to a live Peruvian band and toasting the start of their travels with Sangria and Pisco sours before dancing the night away.

Easter Sunday commenced with a boat trip to the Ballestas Islands to see the penguins, sealions, crabs and an array of birds. Laura however did not quite agree with the rough ride and Amy looked round to find her head in hands struggling to find a sick bag. The inevitable happened and Laura clutched at the bag for the remainder of the journey excited to finally see dry land again. The afternoon was spent at one of Ica´s finest winerys observing how real Pisco sours are made and sampling many varieties of Pisco wine and their speciality chocolate. Considering the date it made our day!

The afternoon was spent sandboarding in the Atacama Desert. The views were breath-taking as all that could be seen were the enormous sand dunes for miles around. After experiencing a terrifying 60 mph sand buggy ride in order to reach these dunes, Amy, Laura and Wedge´s decision to sit on the back three seats was a mistake as vital female body parts were bruised during the process by the seat belts. Their first attempt at sand boarding was much more challenging than they first thought, and after witnessing another member of their group fly off their board and tumble down the dune head first, they quietly shuffled to the back of the line. Luckily their attempts were both successful and enjoyable, however was well worth the mouthful of sand. On their descend, they observed the beautiful Oasis of Huacachina (as seen in the photo above). Back on board the Julio bus they headed south to Nazca, with a brief stop at the famous watch tower to observe the Nazca lines in front of a beautiful sunset.

Unfortunately due to a dodgy stomach and stealing all the toilet roll, Laura spent the day feeling sorry for herself in bed whilst Amy and Wedge went to explore the local cemetry to visit the sacred mummies which had been preserved for thousands of years. The day was quite harrowing as seeing the bodies with hair, teeth and nails still intact was rather gruesome. Following this they visited a local pottery shop where they were taught how to mould their own bowls. Wedge with her artistic skills sculpted an impressive elephant from the clay, however Amy´s not quite so artistic hands failed to produce anything worthwhile and was laughed at by the group.

A brief visit to a local market resulted in their first purchase of Alpaca clothing, with Wedge finally clicking on to the fact that Alpaca is a type of llama and not a town. Little did we know how much of a fashion icon these are in Peru and how useful they would become.

That night Amy and Laura experienced their first night bus to Arequipa, with Wedge amazed at the high standard compared to the previous ones in Asia. Whilst being filmed boarding the bus, a stray dog decided to urinate on their backpacks. Due to Laura´s recent illness, Julio offered her a "special" seat located close to the toilet, however she objected not wanting to miss out and was therefore abused with pen instead by Amy and Wedge after falling asleep ridiculously early. The bus kindly woke them up at 6am with loud foreign music and here they would meet their friend "altitude". Arriving in the "White City" known as Peru´s most elegant, a hearty breakfast was enjoyed overlooking the Plaza de Armas. This was shortly followed by a visit to the Santa Catalina Monastery where the whole group opted for a tour, however Wedge thought she would learn much more on her own and refused to pay the extra 75p, wondering aimlessly around with her not so informative leaflet.

A 4am wake up call was not appreciated the following day for a visit to the Colca Valley. As this bus journey involved passing the three highest volcanoes in Arequipa and the highest point in the Andes (4600m), Julio advised the group of the benefits of chewing coca leaves to help with altitude sickness. Amy looked round in horror to find Laura and Wedge full of excitement after not only consuming the leaves instead of just chewing them, but also having eaten the volcanic ash which accompanied the leaves to reduce their acidic taste. What a pair of blondes! Reaching the top of the Andes mountains was stunning yet freezing cold so the group decided to invest in more of the fashionable fabric that is Alpaca from the local ladies at the side of the road. A brief stop for lunch in Chivay was shortly followed by Amy´s turn to fall ill, not enabling her to view the sights of the town and instead sat alone on a bench sipping camomile tea to aid digestion and witnessing our first sighting of sexual animal antics (many many more were to follow!) The night was enjoyed by soothing our muscles in the Calera Hot Springs which are known as the best in South America, before observing local traditional dancing and music in a top cultural restaurant.

Yet another early morning call from Julio awakened us in order to visit the impressive Colca Canyon itself (or as Wedge continually referred to it as - The Coca Cola Canyon). As spectacular as the Grand Canyon, it was twice as deep and covered in Inca style terraces. This is one of the few places where you can see the famous bird, the Andean Condor, up close and personal in flight. None of us being particularly interested in birds were truly amazed at the shear size of them and how smooth they soared through the Canyon. In the evening, the group sampled their first taste of Alpaca and were pleasantly surprised by it´s delicious flavour.

Next stop is Cuzco where we depart for the famous Inca trail to hopefully conquer Machu Picchu!