After a twelve hour bus journey from Chiclayo to Lima, we flew to Arequipa, debatably the second most important city in Peru. We saw many impressive landmarks, but the highlight was definitely the Santa Catalina Convent. Similar to the Vatican, the Santa Catalina Convent is seen as a small city within the larger city of Arequipa. In colonial times girls entered the Convent at the age of twelve! When a girl entered the Convent, they were never allowed to leave. The only contact they had with the outside world was through a barred hatch where they couldn’t reach to touch their families. The girls had four years to decide whether or not to devote their lives to God. At sixteen, in theory, the girls could decide to leave the Convent, however, this never happened as it ... read more

Ticume was similar to Sipan but on a far greater scale. We found it much more impressive. Fighting through swarms of mosquitoes and the blazing hot sun, we climbed to the highest point, from which we could see all 26 pyramids. One of the Pyramids, Huaca Larga, is the longest adobe (mud brick) structure in the world, measuring 700m long, 280m wide and over 30m high. Supposedly the Incas built on top of Huaca Larga in order to house Nobles and the wealthy.... read more

Twenty minutes north of Trujillo is Huanchaco, a cool little surfing village, famous for some sort of long surf stretch? As you can see from the photos, our attempt at bodyboarding left a little to be desired!! Huanchaco is more famous for its Totora reid boats, which fishermen still use today. They´re basically like reid canoes with fishing nets hung out of the back. Huanchaco was a really nice place to just chill and relax in the sun. We sat and sipped cocktails, listened to regae music and munched on barbecued kebab! "Huanchaco, Huanchaco" was the call of the local bus drivers, we just found it quite amusing! ... read more

From the Mountains of Huaraz, we got a Bus to Trujillo. A very interesting journey through the mountains and eventually across the desert. The Bus was rammed with people, Bex had a little girl sat on her lap for most of the eight hour journey - not good for the bladder! The following day was Bex´s 22nd! We decided to see the "pyramids" near Trujillo. The site is excellently preserved and dates from before 1500 AD. It was built by the pre-Inca Moche civilization, who believed in a canibal-decapitation God! He doesn´t look too happy in the picture! The culture invovled regular human sacrifices. Following a gladiator style fight the loser would be stripped of thier clothes and decapitated as a sacrifice. Then the high priest would drink his blood! The fighting arena was really well ... read more

Shattered from the day before, we began a much easier days trekking. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery around us and had plenty of opportunity for photos! We really felt lucky to witness such spectacular sights! Having got the runs from drinking the water without purification tablets (which we lost before we set off!!) we both became one with nature - quite literally. When we arrived at camp, Bcx felt very ill, so Dom decided to go for a mini adventure, lasting over an hour, nearly breaking his ankle whilst navigating some fast flowing water! Having seen a cow cross the “stream” by our camp, Dom decided it would be a fun idea to give it a go too and jumped in. Not only was it freezing, but the currents were really strong, so he didn’t last ... read more