The city of Cuzco is in the south east of Peru and is steeped in history. It's name means 'navel of the earth' and originates from the fact that it was previously the centre of the mighty Incan Empire which encompassed most of South America, to include, Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador and Chile. Cuzco is the base camp for the Inca Trail (a 4 day mountain trek) and excursions to the lost city of Machu Picchu - that's the picture that was (and maybe still is) on...

So from the coastal suburbs of Miraflores in Peru's capital, Lima, we headed south by way of a 4 hour bus journey to the city of Ica. From here, we took a 5 minute taxi journey to the desert town of Huacachina. To say the taxis in this part of the country are small would be an understatement. I'm pretty sure they are exact replicas of Simon's car from The Inbetweeners - yellow and skin tight. Multiple oversized non nationals plus their oversized baggage do not...

So I made a list, checked it twice and thought about all the things I'd left behind.A couple of beers courtesy of the carron family to settle the nerves and then off to bed for a quick siesta before the adventure began on a cold wednesday morning. One last fry at Belfast airport and I was off. I placed my absolute trust in the baggage handlers to take my 15.6kg bag of everything all the way to Lima without any further involvement from me - thankfully they did me ...

The World is Not Flat "Travel is fatal to bigotry, prejudice and narrow-mindedness. Broad wholesomeness and charitable views cannot be acquired by vegetating in one tiny corner of the globe." ~Mark Twain