Just three days after our return from the Inca trail we were on the road again, this time for a five day/ four night trip into the Amazon jungle in the area of Manu, Peru. Having befriended fellow travellers; Will and Archanna from the UK and Leigh and Katherine from Oz on the Inca trail, the six of us teamed up once more for our Amazon adventure and were joined by another girl from Austria called Lydia. As is the norm for most trips in SA (unfortunately for ...

After months of anticipation (nervous trepidation) we finally set off bright and early on the SAS Inca trail on Friday, October 7. We had met all the members of our group the previous evening at a welcome meeting and thankfully were blessed with "the family" we ended up with. Having chatted to our Aussie friends Leigh and Katherine that evening we decided it would be a wise move to follow their lead and pay to have a porter carry a second bag for us. Turned o...

We arrived in Cusco early in the morning on October 4 after yet another terrifying bus journey from Arequipa. Despite the road running right along a cliff edge, the driver felt the need to take most corners on two wheels! Coco, the owner of the guest house we had booked, El Tuco, did make our arrival a lot easier however by volunteering to come and pick us up from the bus station. After a few hours nap we spent the rest of the day exploring the city and adapti...

After doing little but chilling in Mancora we figured it was about time we started exploring Peru during our second week in South America. After saying goodbye to Lima for the second time we bussed it South and fit in a visit to the Ballestas islands, some sand-boarding and also saw some condors during a visit to Arequipa's impressive Colca canyon. We kicked off our week in a little village called Paracas, where we were looking forward to a good night's...

Hola mis amigos! It's more than three weeks into the great South American adventure so I figured it was time to finally get cracking on this Blog. Since leaving Dublin on September 12th to fly to Peru we've travelled the country extensively and have even picked up a few words of Spanish along the way. Our first port of call was Lima, where I suffered my first culture shock during the white-knuckle taxi ride from the airport to our hotel. The only rule of the ...