We arrived in Huacachina about midday, said goodbye to our drivers, dumped our bags in a storage room at a cafe, then headed out to our dune buggies! We were riding them up to the nearby dunes to go sandboarding ... What a ride!  The driver was crazy! We were scaling the hugest sand dunes then  taking tight turns that had us at crazy angles (freaking that we were going to roll!), then zooming down the hill & climbing the next one. Tony (heres a plug for a...

We arrived in Nasca about 7.30am.  Slept pretty good thanks to the sleeping pill and only awoke a few times thanks to my big Peruvian friend beside me hogging the arm & foot rests, he beat me in the elbow wrestle :-( We went straight to hotel, quick shower and change and then out to the airport for our flight over the desert to view the Nasca Lines! We were all a bit nervous about the flight thanks to one of the girls telling us about a dream she had where...

When we arrived in Arequipa my cold was worse so stayed at the hotel for dinner :-( We left the next morning on a bus to Colca Canyon.  I tried to nap on the way but our local guide kept chatting and pointing out bloody llamas!!! They're everywhere here & it's like pointing out sheep in New Zealand! The tour had a couple of stops for us to take photos, and all stops had ladies present selling local handicrafts ... Even if it was in the middle of nowhere! ...

We arrived in Cusco the day before the national election in which they pose an alcohol ban that starts the day before and goes through to the night of the election!!! Fortunately the restaurant we ate at were happy to ignore this and serve us alcohol anyway, but we stayed out of the bars... But almost more important than alcohol ... I'd heard you could get cheap massages in Cusco! I was in a lot of pain from no yoga & sitting in cramped transport most days...

We arrived in Puno late afternoon afternoon to yet another lovely hotel. We dropped off our bags and headed straight out for an orientation tour of the city, and then to get gifts at the local supermarket for the local families we would be staying with the following evening. The gifts were actually practical & consisted of quinoa (the local grain), dehydrated milk, popping corn, oats & tea. We then went back to the hotel for a quick shower and change, ...