It's been over a week since my last update and the reason is simple: technology in South America is basic to say the very least! After our visit to Macchu Picchu we had two more days in Cusco. Fortunately! We Spent those two days, with our muscles on strike, in a small cafe/bar called The Real McCoy. It claimed to be a taste of home and it really was. Colman's mustard was S/0.50 (10p) per portion and it sold better than the beer! Dan and I had the most welcome r...

We were up at a very nice 5am the following morning to weigh our bags and store anything we wouldn't be taking with us. We took a bus from Cusco to a small Tambo (resting place) situated about five minutes from the start of the trail. Here we bought wooden hiking sticks and a large bag of cocoa leaves, to help us with the nose bleeds of course! We jumped on another bus to the first checkpoint, showed our passports and started the trail. The first day was consider...

Our last two days in Arequipa were interesting to say the very least. We spent one afternoon in the Main Square and dined on alpaca ribs for lunch, cooked authentically on hot stones in a clay kitchen, served in terrocotta dishes. The waitress was very patriotic and showed us around the kitchens so we could see how the Pre-Incan civilisations would have prepared their meals. When we returned to our table they had poured us two glasses of their very own home made ...

The peacocks let us be so we got a greats nights' sleep. The next day was spent on the truck with the exception of lunch, which we had on the side of a dusty road and a couple of toilet breaks. We made it to Puerta Inca in good time, about 4.30pm and went straight out into the sands to visit the ancient Chauchilla cemetary. These had been discovered recently by modern day grave robbers and the mummies had been perfectly preserved in the dry sand. Their gold and t...

We left just after dawn on Saturday and jumped on the truck to take us to the small town of Paracas about 4 hours drive from Lima. We got to Paracas about 11am and managed to catch the last boat out to the Ballestas Islands. These islands are known as the poor mans' Galapogas but there is nothing poor, mediocre or secondary about them. The boat took us on a two hour trip around the whole area so we got to see penguins, sea lions, pelicans etc, in a completely nat...