Hey again!

Hope everyone is well, miss you all loads! I reached the half way point of my adventure yesturday, the last week has really flown by!

Having the most amazing time here though, seeing so many fantastic things! Since leaving Nazca on Wednesday night on a night bus be have been to Arequippa, where we visited a convent and the famous mummy of the Inca human sacrifice to the mountain god, Juanita - she was found 500 years later frozen on the mountain top and is preserved amazingly well (skin and hair still intact, creepy but amazing!). We then travelled to Chivay through amazing moutnainous scenery and past llamas and alpakas that came really close to the roadside. I have tried Alpaka steak and have to admit it was yummy! From Chivay we had a 5am start and went to the Colca canyon where we saw Condors (the heaviest flying birds) leaving their nests and did a mini 2.5 hour trek as a preparation for the inca trail and to help us adjust tot e altititude, by this time we were up above 3000m. The canyon was stunning, it is deeper than the Grand Canyon.

Add on to that Karaoke nights, natural hot spring baths and Peruvian dance shows (where they dragged us up to join in!) and it has all been a bit hectic! The weather has been extreme! Freezing at night and then baking by about 9.30am, before getting dark at about 6pm and chilling right down again. Great for topping up the tan though! We have all invested in locally crafted alpaka wool hats, gloves, hoodies and socks to keep warm, quite a sight!!

We arrived in Puno at about lunchtime today after another 5am start and 7 hours on the bus! Luckily we have this afternoon free to relax, ad to adjust to the new even higher altitude of over 4000m. This is the highest place we will sleep during our time in Peru although crossing the mountains to get here we got up to nearly 5000m. You can really feel the effects of the altitude on your body up here, I have been lucky to not feel at all until now.

Tommorow we are setting off onto Lake Titicaca, the largest lake in the world above 2000m and we will vist the Taquile island before heading to the floating islands of Uros and Amantani where we will be 'adopted' in pairs for the night by a rural peruvian family to give us a chance to see how life really works in Peru under conditions of poverty, will be fantastic experience. It means I'm leaving everything but the basics that I need for the next two days locked up here in Puno so I wont be able to be in touch until I return here the day after tomorow. Hope the start of all your weeks goes ok, I will be thinking of you all loads. Pics to follow asap hopefully.

Love and kisses,

Sarah x x x x x x