Well been very busy on tour. Begin the Inca trail the day after tomorrow. Here is where I've been and what I've been doing in last week.

1st December 2011 Miraflores, Lima

Didn't mean to cause trouble in spanish class but I ended up doing. Grammar class was fine. I didn't do much giggling in that . Conversation class was another matter. It amused me when Rocio was asking us were we going sandboarding. She said had to be at school for 6:55am. Alex went very high pitched at this point saying 6:55am. We were asking each other questions and answering them. One of the questions was what animals do you hate. I said crocodiles, rats and mice. Think that amused Alex as they were such different animals and one was small and one large. I was asked by spanish teacher why I didn't like mice or rats. I was trying to say in spanish in India I shared a room with one. I just got a fit of giggles.

Ever since I got into class Rocio (teacher) has been joking about me not having a boyfriend. First she was trying to set me up with Adam. Then she was asking me about my travels and was saying was I travelling to find a boyfriend and I might find one on my travels. I was also asked what I liked about Peru and was saying I like my apartment, talking with Luis and Rosa, going to the school and the food. She said and what about the boys. I just turned around without thinking and said why are you always trying to set me up with someone. At which point everyone in room began laughing and Alex had to go out of the room to calm himself down. I apologised at end of lesson for causing disruption.

Found out meeting for tour was at 6:30pm tomorrow by walking to hotel. I then began walk back to apartment and I got very confused. I managed to walk around in a big circle. Still haven't worked out the block system in Miraflores. I then came back updated journal, added some photos and did some spanish homework.

2nd December 2011 Miraflores, Lima

Well day started early for me and early morning went slow and then the rest of the day went rapidly.

I first woke up at what I thought was 6:55. I thought there is no point in doing work now. I will just sleep till 7:30. I got up and had a shower at the time I thought was 7:30. After washing my hair and going back in bedroom I saw it was actually only 6:50 so I had got up at 6:30. I went back to bed and did some of my english course.

I was feeling quite sad going to my last spanish classes in Lima and I was feeling a little down. In Luisa's class (grammar class) I managed to say something stupid as was thinking about spanish rather than english. She was saying me gusta is 80% like, me encantar is 90% like and me fascina is 100% like so I said me gusta is like, me encantar is like,like and me fascina is like, like, like. At which point everyone fell about laughing. I kept having moments of giggling all through the class.

After break had conversation class and in that I was presented with my certificate for passing the first sub-level. Rocio said I was muy intelligente. I didn't prove myself in that lesson. I was asked what I had learnt and I couldn't think. We also had to come up with places, colours, animals, verb infinitive, fruits/vegetables and adjectives beginning with letter Rocio said. I more proved I was stupid as I scored the lowest score.

I just managed to get there before meeting for tour started and got myself checked in. We had meeting and guide used a lot of why nots. I was looking forward to a lie in tomorrow but it turns out we have a very early rise of 3am due to strikes and protests on the roads. Went back to pack, say goodbye and thank you to Rosa and Luis. They were so good to me and ended up getting me take out for dinner. I was trying not to cause trouble with dinner as I wasn't sure what I was doing for it and I couldn't explain that in Spanish. Luis accompanied me in a taxi back to the hotel and I was very sad to say goodbye to them.

3rd December 2011 Travelling to Paracas, near Pisco, Ballestas Islands and Paracas National Park

Well was pretty horrible waking up at 3am in morning and we got bus around 3:30am. After having a bit of a chat on the bus we all went to sleep. We got in hotel in Paracas at 7am in morning roughly and we were greeted by a friendly rottweiler.

We walked down to the port area to get a boat to Ballestas Islands. Before the boat trip we had breakfast in one of the little restaurants along the port area The Ballestas islands had so many birds and lovely rock formations. I was a bit worried that it may be a disappointment after Galapagos islands. Even though it wasn't as good as Galapagos as didn't walk around them it wasn't a disappointment and was an interesting morning out. They did say wear a cap to protect yourself from dropping guano. I had left mine behind so I was a little worried. No-one on our boat got pooed on so that was all fine.

After that we went to get changed and grab a towel before going to Paracas National Park. It was interesting to see desert and coastline together. Some of us went swimming in sea, others sunbathed, others did both and couple of us did a short walk to a viewpoint above. (One person did a long walk.) The swim was nice and then walked up to viewpoint. It was very windy up top and was quite chilly but it was a very good view. When went out for dinner the rottweiler tried to get out of gate with me and I was trying to tell him to sit. I realised I'd better try the spanish word for sit but it still wouldn't work. I then tried to explain to one of workers that dog wanted to go out with me but I got a little confused with it. I should have said spanish word for he and I said you. I used the verb ending for I so it was completely messed up. Hope the worker didn't think I was asking him to go out with me.

4th December 2011 Travelling to Nazca and some activities along the way

. First we got in bus to winery in Ica and we had a tour around it then tastings of wine and pisco sours etc. Having alcohol at that time in morning was definitely not enjoyable for me. I tried all the tastings apart from one as heard Hannah say that is very strong. I enjoyed the chocolate tasting at the end of it.

We got in bus and travelled to Huacachina where we ordered lunch before going in a sand buggy on the sand dunes and going sandboarding. I couldn't decide whether I liked it or not. When the sand buggy stayed on ground going down the dunes it was good but when it jumped I wasn't too keen. As then I was trying to keep hold of possessions, keep sunglasses on nose and keep from jolting myself too much. Also could feel my stuff like my waterbottle carrier and handbag rub on my neck when I was jolted. It was fantastic scenery up there though. The sandboarding just lay on stomach on board and was pushed down a hill. I did some high pitched sound effects on first trip down of hee hee hee. Second time I was quieter. When got back to restaurant went and wash arms to get the sand off before having lomo saltado- which was a bit like a beef stew with rice. After that some people stayed in bar for drinks, others went for a swim and I went for a walk around the lake.

We then travelled to Nazca and we went up to a viewing platform to see two and a half lines. That was very disappointing and didn't feel a nice structure to go up. I am glad I am going on the flight tomorrow.

5th December 2012 Nazca

Had my flight above Nazca lines. Luckily I didn't have any breakfast as I was a bit travel sick in the air. As it was a small plane, hot and was leaning to one side and then the other. Luckily just watery sick as my stomach contents were empty. I am still very glad that did flight though as saw so much more from air. I saw the lines of whale, trapezoids, astronaut, just the legs of the dog, the monkey, condor, humming bird, spider, tree, hands and parrot. Heron bird I may have missed.

After that went to potters workshop which was quite interesting. A cat jumped in between us and then started to walk across me before being removed. The process of making the pottery was explained and we were passed around old pieces. This was a bit of a worry that we didn't drop them. We then looked in the shop and some of the pieces were rather dodgy and risky. Like there were some statues of women made out of pottery and you could lift the top part of them up to reveal a males private part. Also pottery that looks like male private parts or paintings on pottery where people were in interesting positions. Some of pottery though not the dodgy ones were quite beautiful and I maybe would have bought some nice pieces if I didn't already have a full bag and be so early on my trip.

We then went to Chauchilla Cemetery and walked around the tombs looking at the skeletons and then in the museum room. After that we went on to lunch where we had chicken, pork, sweetcorn cob, melted cheese sauce and sweet potato. The odd thing was it was cooked underground and as it was coming up and they were digging it back up. I was thinking I actually don't want this food. I don't fancy having the soil and plants with it. There was also a bit of a ceremony before it could be dug up. Coca leaves were thrown on the soil above and a bit of chica morada was poured on it plus a Lima cross was stuck in it. I had to have it though as I was paying 40 sols for it. (My most expensive meal I've had in Peru). I was getting very fussy with it and was thinking I don't want this. It turned out to be very nice and I didn't really taste any soil.

Tonight we are doing a nightbus to Arequipa.

06/12/2011 Arequipa

Well arrived at 8am in Arequipa. Before arriving I had tea as well as a roll and a muffin. I had slept on bus but I was in a rather drowsy state. I didn't really feel like I had slept. Got off at bus station and we got minibus to hotel. Unfortunately the rooms wouldn't be ready till 9:30 so we went down to cafe down the street for breakfast. I just had a banana smoothie as didn't fancy anything else. The smoothie was very tasty. I did struggle getting over one of the chairs around the table which amused Shaun. Afterwards walked back and wasn't very happy that Declan came up behind me and dropped his arms on top of my bag to make me jump. I thought I might be getting mugged.

After handing in laundry and moving to room we went out in minibus to visit a local province. Watched the locals eating lunch after they had been potato picking and had a queso helado plus a coke. Some people bought some coca leaves to chew on. It was beautiful views up there. We then went to a restaurant. Some of the others were trying guinea pig but I didn't really fancy it as someone had told me that it looked like a guinea pig and came out on its back. When it came out it wasn't as bad as I expected. The head wasn't too nice as could see the teeth and ears on it but apart from that it was ok. I had taste of someone elses portion and it was fine. I also ordered pepper with beef in and a potato pie. This wouldn't be what I would normally order but guide suggested it. I also shared some shrimps which I quite enjoyed even though they were very messy to eat and considering the price of them you don't get much food. There were also musicians playing panpipes etc which included the song Chiquitta by Abba.

After that we got in taxis for orientation walk around Arequipa which was very short. We then were left to wander alone. We went for a guide around what was the largest convent in world. Made me realise how lucky I was to be a western women born at this time. In colonial times nuns would fast, hang themselves upside down from the cross and lie on bed of nails. We asked why they would come nuns and were told that there wasn't much more for a women at this time. You could either get married at 16 to a 40 year old and probably get mentally and physically abused or become a nun. There is now 24 nuns in convent but at one point there was 200. There used to be an orphanage there as people would place unwanted babies on food turntable when they were giving out food to the poor. These children would often become nuns or monks as they grew up in convent. The boys only till they were 7 and then they were sent to monastery.

Met someone only selling shoelaces on the street- so many shoe laces- at first I couldn't work out what they were around his body.

07/12/2011 Near Colca Canyon

Well had a few new experiences today. Managed to get packed up for 8:30 but I didn't have time for breakfast. Hannah was brilliant and got me a jam sandwich. Got on the mini-bus and we travelled out of Arequipa. I swore in England I wouldn't touch anything to do with the cocaine family but had coca tea which was like a herbal tea with leaves in it. I found out anyway that you need loads of leaves to make cocaine in drug form. On bus I also had a chew of 9 coca leaves. We passed the highest point at 4800m above sea level but we didn't stop here as we were acclimatising to altitude. None of us were really bad but some of us were very dozy including me.

At the viewpoint which was beautiful I fed a baby alpaca with a bottle of milk. I kept putting the bottle at wrong angle. I also bought a belt. We then began the descent to Chivay and on to the town we were stopping in. After lunch and sleep I went for a walk around the local town and stopped in local church. It was quite a beautiful little church. After paying my bill at hotel we all went to thermal baths. They were lovely and we just spent the time relaxing and chatting in them. You could smell sulphur though in area. Unfortunately after the baths I felt quite rough with a banging headache and feeling a bit sick. I think the altitude sickness had finally got to me and I had spent too long in baths so had dehydrated. I took a paracetamol and luckily I began to recover when walking around Chivay before dinner. At dinner I had cream of yellow potatoes soup and after that alpaca steak which was a lot better than the one I had at lunch. There were also local musicians playing and local dancers at the restaurant. I was relieved they didn't pick me when they were doing their whipping dance. Aparently it didn't hurt but I still tensed up watching them whip someone else.

When we arrived back at the hotel the alpaca/llama cross was staring through the door into the recception of hotel. It was quite funny as somehow he got in as we went through the reception doors. Jentz had to lead out the alpaca/llama out of reception and on the way out the llama/alpaca took a spit at Steffan but he missed.

08/12/2011 Colca Canyon and Arequipa

Had a wake up knock at 5am and then breakfast at 5:30am. At 6am we left the hotel. We did a 2 hour drive from hotel and made various stops along the way. I bought a pencil case- the women originally said 7 sols and then 5 sols for it.

We had a walk around the rim of canyon and then spent 1 hour and 20 minutes looking for condors. We were down by viewpoint for most of time and then I went up to more commercialised area. I saw some condors in the distance. It was beautiful in canyon and good weather. I was surprised that a lot of people didn't have patience to watch even after about fifteen minutes. They were the sunbathers too.

We drove the long distance back and I slept most of the hours on way back. We stopped at highest point in journey at 4800m above sea level and I made a wish there by piling up stones. It was quite hard to balance the stones on top of each other especially as it was windy. When I got back I did a trip to look inside the cathedral of Arequipa. It had a beautiful nativity scene in too and I came out on a pedestrian street. I was going to go and buy an extra bag but I began to get a sore stomach so I tried to go back to hotel. Unfortunately I did get lost along the way. I had done too much following of others and not enough paying attention to where I was going. I am not too good with block patterns of streets. As I was walking I saw a dodgy looking man who I think threw a banana skin at my feet. I didn't hang around but just stepped over it and kept going. I finally managed to find hostel a bit by luck, chance and knowledge. I recognised buildings as I was going and tried to figure out where we had gone before. I did get to see a lot more of Arequipa by getting lost.

09/12/2011 Travel to Cusco

I finally managed to squash all my things into case and we met at 11:10am. Unfortunately the bus that we were supposed to be getting turned up later than expected and there was traffic. Manuel (tour guide) managed to speed up the traffic by getting the tourism police involved. We made it to airport and flight had been delayed by 40 minutes. We piled into mini-bus when we arrived and we got to hotel about 4:30pm. We went for our orientation walk around the city. After that me Shaun and Giddon went to Sun temple and had a quick walk around that. Unfortunately I won't get chance to see much of Cusco as doing Amazon instead. We then went back for briefing on Inca trail at 6pm and after that went out for dinner and I had a burger. After that me, Shaun and Declan went to outdoor shop and I bought two very lightweight tops and a poncho (which is more to protect my backpack than me). We had a pleasant walk around the square with some photo taking. Again it is a lovely looking city.