Hi All,

Last entry for the travel blog as I´ll be back on Sunday 24 May - time has gone pretty quickly in the last couple of weeks! Apologises for the lack of photos - most computers here don´t even have a USB Drive so I can´t dowload from the camera - will send some from home instead!

I think my last entry was before Cusco and Macchu Picchu - has definately been the highlight of the trip doing the Inca Trail for 4 days. It was a difficult walk - virtually straight up and down for 4 days on stone steps and paths but made slightly easier by the 5 star camping service that we received from our 21 porters and 2 guides (for only 16 people!). We has tents put up and down and dinner consisted of 3 course gourmet meals that were better that most Peruvian restaurants! A selection of buffet dishes including stuffed potatoes, pizza, salads etc so no chance of fading away. Actaully, speaking of food the national dish of Peru is apparently Guinea Pig - they bring out the whole GP - teeth and all - roasted for your culinary pleasure! I haven´t been game enoug to try but some others in the group have - apparently it tastes like pork!

Anyway - back to Macchu Picchu.... walking Inca Trail is definately the best way to enjoy the Inca ruins - there were heaps to see along the trek that most tourists would miss if they just take the train to Maccu Picchu. We have been vey lucky with the weather but on the day we walked over dead woman´s pass (4200m) it hailed and we had thunder and lighting which made me think we migt have done something to make the Inca Gods a bit angry....

Macchu Picchu did not dissappoint - arrived there at 6.00am in the morning in time for sunrise and the location is definately what makes the site impressive - the ruins are perched on top of a jagged cliff with rugged mountains surrounding the whole site. We had a very thorough tour of 5 hours around the ruins which were virtually abandoned in the 1500´s when the Spanish invaded South America - the site was undiscovered by the Western World and almost completely overgrown until is was rediscovered in 1911.

After Macchu Picchu we recovered in Cusco (great Inca Empire city) for a few days hich is again very impressive. Following Cusco we heading toward Colca Canyon to view Condors which was more impressive than I realised - they are almost the largest flying bird in the world and only 30 pairs of this type in world but had excellent viewings as they are not a shy bird. We also saw some active smoking volcanoes in the area which they reckon may erupt in the next few years. Can´t forget to mention the plethora of mummies that we have seen - fully clothed with hair, skin and skeleton intact - have some great photos. There is one mummy called Juanita the Ice Pricess who is one of the best preserved mummies in the world - she was found in 1998 perched on the top of a volcano and fully clothed with full skin but over 500 years old. Apparently she was only 12 years old but was sacrificed to the gods but a blow to the back of the head - a bit of a nasty way to go!

Finally we did a flight over the Nasca Lines yesterday which was very impressive - for those that haven´t heard of then they are figures drawn in the dirt7rock which are geometrically correct and represent different animals, people and geometric shapes. It is one of the great mysteries of the world as to how or why they got there and many theories about their reason including signals to UFO´s, offering to Inca Gods etc. They cannot be seen from the ground - you have to fly over to view them properly which adds to the mystery as I don´t think the Inca´s had aeroplanes!

Anyway - a hurried email but hopefully a good update of the last few fews - will be back Sunday so talk to most of you in the next couple of weeks.

Cheers
Heather xxx