26th Nov 2007…

So plane to Salvador was ok, 2 hour layover and then on to Peru. Managed to get a cell phone (51195718545) from the airport and then taxi ride to the hostel in Miraflores - that was fun, little English a dn no Spanish from me. Hostel staff seem really nice but it was a bit quiet. Only one old croation guy in the dorm. Decided to take a stroll to get some food - KFC - I know, but I thought I'd break myself into the Peruvian food gently. Early night as was pretty jet lagged from the flights.

27th Nov 2007… - A day to perhaps forget!

Woke up quite late, walked around Miraflores/main street - was quite surprised how westernised this particular area seemed to be, even had a Starbucks, but I guess this was the capital city. Own my own at this stage as there wasn't really anyone at the hostel to chill out with. Started chatting to the peruvian guy who seemed quite nice so after around 10 minutes of talking, we went for a drink at this bar. Thought it would be a good opportunity to see what the local life was like in Peru. After appox an hour and a half we left the bar to meet some of his friends. As we got outside and round the corner from the bar he started smoking some weed, asking me to have some, I wasn't really up for that so refused. He then borrowed my phone whilst still insisting I should have some - at this moment a policeman came from nowhere with a gun and baton and caught this guy smoking. He thought I had been smoking too and told me i had to go with him too down to the police station. I was pretty pissed off having down nothing wrong but had to go along with it as he seemed to enjoy waving his gun about…. We drove around for ages while the Peruvian guy was pledding to the policeman, who every so often would turn around and wack this guy with his baton (ok that bit sounds like a porno,..i which it was), anyway, I couldn't tell what this policeman was saying and the guy could only speak limited English. I was getting pretty angry and maybe a bit scared at this point as I didn't really know what was going on. Basically the guy said that he would spend a week in jail and I would spend a couple of days in jail while they tested me - f*** that!!! I didn't want to go to some Peruvian jail - I was going to miss my Inca Trail tour - how the hell did I get myself into this situation. The guy then said the police are quite corrupt around here and so maybe we could bribe him. The price $500, thats £250 - that much to get out of this situation and then be able to do my tour - I would do it. Drove around for ages and we finally got to an ATM. Where I had to get out a total of 2700 soles at pretty much gun point. That's like £450. He just wanted more and more…Finally he let me go in some random part of Lima. The peruviain guy had to stay in the car where they were going to his house to pick up more money to release him. Managed to get a taxi back to the hostel - was pretty releaved to get back there. I then explained what had happened to me to the hostel staff and they believe the whole thing was a massive scam. - Looking back there were certain things that didn't quite add up but having a gun pushed in your face you kinda have your mind on other things I guess.

• phone use - he had a phone, so unsure as to why he needed mine - number he dialled didn't connect

• police car - looked a bit dodgy, but this was Peru and didn't really know what they looked like.

• The Peruvian guy didn't have any money

• He also didn't want to get out of the car when I was getting the money from the ATM.

If it was a scam, they pulled it off pretty well. - gutted, as normally I think I'm a pretty good judge of character.

So we phoned the real police who came to the hostel, where I gave them a statement and then we drove around where I was, apparently they took me to a pretty dodgy area of the city - nice. Looking back I think I was pretty lucky as they didn't harm me in any way and at the end of the day it was only money - considering they could have done anything. Well what a day - that was an experience!!!

28th Nov 2007…29th Nov 2007….

Wasn't really up for getting up to much today apart from meeting with the tour at the hotel. Met up at 6.30pm - was a bit late, but was ok. All people seemed ok and it was nice to met up with some fellow travellers. Hotel room to myself which was nice - had to get up at 3am though to catch the bus to the airport for the flight to Cusco. Got to Cusco where we checked into the hotel we would be staying at for the night before headed to the Sacred Valley. Met up with the tour guide (Aly), seemed pretty cool and we then had our introduction meeting. Sounded soo cool, was really looking forward to it. The rest of the day was free time so Adam - room mate, Lou, Ji Hoon and I walked around cusco for the day. Seemed a really nice place, a lot better than Lima - lots of tourist though!.

30th Nov 2007…

Up early for breakfast at the hotel and then straight onto the minibus for the tour of the Sacred Valley - visited a few Inca sites and then went on a 45 minute trek to warm ourselves up for the inca trail the following day. Checked into the Hotel at Ollyantambo and walked around the town. The whole group then went for some food in the evening together.

1st Dec 2007…

Up at 6am , breakfast in the hotel, checked out the inca ruins in the town with Habera - second tour guide and then on to start the INCA TRAIL!!!

Stamp in the passport, then the start - day 1 - 16 people, 2 guides and 22 porters to carry all of our stuff. 30Kg per person. Day 1 was good, more of a training day for what was ahead but managed it fine. The porters clap you as you reach the camp site -was nice but you feel like you should be clapping them considering that have already arrived there before you, with all that weight on their backs and even had time to erect tents and prepare food - crazy! Food was pretty impressive too - didn't expect that whilst camping in the Andes. Played football with the kids around the campsite in the evening - pretty cool. Then bedtime which was pretty early as after sunset there not much you can do.

2nd Dec 2007…

Up at 5am this time. This was going to be the hardest day - up to dead womans pass, 4200 metres high - we had to travel 1200 metres up today and I was ready for the challenge. Although it wasn't really a race it was a test of stamina and I really happy to be the first up to the top. Amazing views throughout the tail - check out the pictures - they may all look the same but they were amazing. The day was pretty hard going, I actually found it harder going down the stepes than up them. Again another good night of food and an early night.

3rd Dec 2007…

Cold night as we were at quite a high altitude, luckily the sleeping bag I hired was so good. Today was going to be the longest day - 16km in 7 hours. Not as hard as the day before but again there where just amazing views everywhere you looked. We made it to the camp site in good time - just enough time to have a beer. Some people even had a hot shower, I decided I would rough it for one more day so I could really enjoy a nice hot shower in the comfort of my hotel room back in Cusco. Another good night of food - really varied which is pretty impressive considering we were in the middle of the mountains. We gave our thanks to the porters and chef - plus tips. Then another early night as had to be up by 3am in the morning to make sure we were the first in line at the checkpoint at the start of the trail to the sun gate to Macchu Picchu.

4th Dec 2007…

Made it at the front, tried to get a little more sleep by lying on the counter of the checkpoint - bit cheeki as everyone else had to ly on the cold rocky floor while we waited for the check point to open at 5.30am.

6km to the sun(cloud)gate - we were going so fast - running pretty much up this steep mountain, not many people could keep up. Eventually made it up the spiderman wall to the sungate just in time to see the heavy cloud part to reveal Macchu Picchu in the valley below. Another 40 minute walk to arrive at the main ruins. Aly obviously gave us the tour of the place and then we had some free time to do whatever before catching the train then bus back to Cusco. Martin, Simon, Ji Hoon, Ida, Karl and I decided to go up the very steep mountain you see in the postcard picture of Macchi Picchu. Took around 45 minutes to get to the top, again amzin views of the lost city. I then went to get the picture postcard view which was completyl in the opposite direction of the mountain I had just climbed.

Back in Cusco, I had the most amazing shower of my life. Then a night out on the town to celebrate our achievement of completing the Inca Trail. Met up with Aly in this nightclub that had live peruvian music. Just the hardcore of the group attended but had a really good last night with the Jawer Waynas (meaning Young Blood) - this was the name of our group as we were all quite young compared to other groups. I was known as Jungle Boy, as I was the only one in the group to be continuing on the jungle after the inca trail which was a bit gutting as I had made some good friends in the group.

It was a really nice ending to the tour!

5th Dec 2007…

Complete chill out day following the inca trail. Chilled in the hotel with quite a few of the crew before they all went out to look for hostels/shopping. I decided to stay in and write up this badboy. We then all met up again later - me, Adam, Karl, Ida, Lou, Emily and Clara. Had a nice meal but was just so tired. People went on out to a bar afterwards but I decided to call it a night as I was so tired and had the jungle tour in the morning at 8. Said my goodbyes to the Jawer Wayna crew!

The Inca Trail was so good. Once in a lifetime and Aly plus the cool young group made it that much better.

6th Dec 2007…

Up early at 8 for my private transfer to the airport - as I was the only one on the GAP tour going to the jungle.. Arrived at Peurto Maldonado. Found my transfer at the airport holding up a sign for Lain Murrue!! One hour bus journey up to the Tambopata River and then 2.40mins on a motorised canoe to the lodges. Met Emma and Warren or Wayne - never did get clarification. Couple from NZ - both doctors - mid 30s - so if I did get into any trouble in the jungle I think I would have been in safe hands. Lodges were really nice - check out the pictures. One lodge was split into two apartments so I could hear everything the NZ couple were saying including Emma throwing up all night when she had food poisoning - nice.

On arrival they had a introductory slide show of the area and the type of things we might see then we went for a night tour of the rainforest/jungle, saw, stick insects, hunter spiders, centipedes, more spiders - John you would have loved it, crickets grass hoppers, bullet ants.

7th Dec 2007…

Jungle boy went for a jungle trek early in the morning on the other side of the river, saw tarantulas, butterflies, birds, macrews (Parrots), the second most poisonous animal in the world - poison dart frog, the mother of all trees - biggest in the Amazon. Strangler trees, Viagra trees and walking trees which, were a bit weird. Cruised around Ox-Bow lake on a small canoe where we saw falcons, bats and monkeys. Climbed around like Indiana Jones - not to self - don't where white when doing such activities. Also saw the largest rodent in the world - little Fonz wouldn't stand a chance!! In the afternoon we travelled to a nearby farm on the river front where they grow bananas, pineapples, coca, star fruits, mangoes etc. also saw plants/trees used for medicinal purposes.

Once we got back to the lodges we still had a bit of time before our dinner so Ricardo invited me to play football with the rest of the local people working at the lodges - one Gringo Vs the the Jungle tribe - fun times! No really it was quite fun but is was just so humid - 90% and an English boy is just not used to that!

In the evening we went out on the boat - pitch dark. Amazing views of the stars, turned off all the lights and engine on the little boat in the middle of the river for 5 minutes and just took in the night sky and the sounds of the Amazon jungle all around you - absolutely amazing. We then went out looking for Caimans (alligators) Saw a few smallish white caimans and was then really lucky to find a black caiman - the biggest type. We managed to get pretty close but could only see the head as the rest was underwater.

So Jungle boys experience of the jungle then - again it was a once in a lifetime experience - so cool to see of the different types of animals. Its like being in a 24 hous city that never sleeps but for animals - there are just everywhere all doing their own thing but each one has to be there to ensure the existence of others - a truly amazing eco-system.

8th Dec 2007…

So up early for the boat/bus/plane/taxi ride back to Lima to check back into the hotel where I started the tour. As I was the only one on the GAP tour there wasn't really one last big night out in Lima like the tour said, but I was so tired anyway it was just really nice to chill out in my hotel room and watch some random Peruvian tv.

9th Dec 2007…

Spent much of the day catching up with stuff on the Internet /uploading pictures etc.. Checked into the notorious Loki hostel name in South America - apparently they are really good. Met up with the following people

James, AJ, Matt - Arizona - USA

Natalie - tube girl - Shoreditch - London - she works for LU -signs person - man it was like 20 questions but a million times worse - I was in my element!

Craig - London

Martin - German

Richard and John Russell - both from Daventry but John worked at Comunicade in H-Town - Jon F may know him - small world

Mia - Swedish

Nick - California

Adam - OZ

So basically quite a few people. Played a lot of pool again and then tried to go for a night out on the town. Monday night just wasn't happening - s***ty club after s***ty club.

10th Dec 2007…

Was Johns birthday today so we were up for a good night tonight. Spent most of the day was John, Richard and Martin. We travelled to the centre of Lima and checked out the cathedral - guided tour, and then on to the San Francisco Convert where they had the Catacombs - shame where we not allowed to take photos of this as it was quite good. It was a shame we had a s*** guide for this one though so I still do not really understand it as much as I should.

Back tot he hostel for another pool tournament and another victory under my belt - ok I'm getting a big head about this now - I'll shut up. Stayed in the hostel drinking until late then headed to Baranco - meant to be the party district - yeah right - I don't think these Peruvians how to party really but I guess it wasn't really that that made me want to come to Peru, still we ended up chatting to some locals and guess we had an alright night.

11th Dec 2007…

Bit of a lay in today and then me, Natalie, Nick, Duncun, Craig, Mia, and Adam headed to Huccachinna by bus from Lima via Ica - 5 hours. Really nice little village, pop.20 centred around a lagoon in the middle of the Peruvian desert and sand dunes. Checked into the Casa la Arena - nice hostel with bar and swimming pool but no pool table - what a joke. Arrived around 6-7 in the evening so just chilled out ready for the sand boarding the next day.

12th Dec 2007…

40 soles/£7 for the sand boarding /dune buggy experience - booked for the afternoon ready for sunset. Nick, Duncun and I had a little try before the afternoon on these crappy boards without any wax so it wasn't that good, but the sand boarding/dune buggy experience was completely different. The whole thing lasted a couple of hours - mixture of dune buggying - wish I could have driven it - Nath you would have loved it - and then six or seven slopes to sand board down, each one higher and steeper than the last - really really good fun - check out the pictures. I actually wasn't that bad considering I had never skateboarded or snow boarded before. I also got the prize for the most spectacular crash - flipping a couple of times.

Sunset was pretty special too! We then headed back to Huccachina for some dinner - found this really nice little restaurant called Bamboo - run by an English woman - we ended up going there for pretty much every meal it was so good. She made the world best brownies, flapjack and millionaire shortbread - stimo, you would have been in heaven mate.

13th Dec 2007…

Up early for taxi to Ica, the bus to Lima/Miraflores in preparation for my flight to Chile. It was pretty cool that I could chill back at Loki, leave my bags there even though I wasn't staying the night. Met up with a guy I can't remember his name but he was Norwegian but spoke English in a thick Irsh accsent even through he had never been there - pretty random. Also met up with Joal for Brisbane - OZ which came in handy as he was also leaving tonight so we could share the price of the taxi to the airport.

So that's is another country done - Peru - Tick..

Started off pretty s*** really for obvious reasons!

The tour - Inca trail really stood out for me, this was the whole reason I wanted to come to Peru and is didn't disappoint.

The Jungle - Shame there wasn't more people on my tour but again I really enjoyed this too. Had never experienced anything like it before so it was pretty special.

Lima - w*** on a stick really - some nice bits but you have to look hard for them - shame I had to go back here due to my flights.

Pisco Sour - The national drink - not really that nice, wasn't the biggest fan of drink raw egg.

Met some really nice people especially on the inca trail and a couple at the hostel.

Peru itself - Lima was very commercialised compared to the rest of the country. Cusco - very nice. Around the Pisco area it looked like the earthquake in August had hit the area quite hard, in fact it looked like a right state - don't think I got any pictures of the area as they probably would have tried to nick my camera - looked like a third world country.

I'm not sure I would come back to Peru now that I have done the bits that I wanted to do, but it really was quite the experience and I'm really glad I decided to mix thing up on my RTW tour including a country like this. I know its not officially a third world county but it does make you think about back home and how lucky we have it. Nice, clean, safe, economically sound, no corruption, natural disasters, poisonous things flying around, health care, education, poverty and general lifestyle - good experience.