The bus dropped us off in the city centre of La Paz so it was relativley easy to find somewhere to stay. La paz is a amazing place it is the highest capital city in the world. Set in a huge valley the rich live at the bottom the poor live at the top (In the cold and snow). Sprawling markets and cobbled streetsline the tourist areas, you can anything from a calculator to a LLama foetus(for good luck). We spent 3 days in La Paz before setting off to hike the Chorro trail. The chorro trail is an old Inca [View Full Entry]

---

---

hey there!! So all in all we spent about a week tootling around lake Titicaca ( highest navigable lake in world) on the peruvian and bolivian side. From Puno on the bolivian side we took an overnight trip which visited the floating islands of Uroros. The floating islands are large rafts built of reeds, the largest accomadating about 1000 people. Most of the islands had about 10 families living on them and in these communities most aspects of life revolve around the reeds; boat and house building, food and crafts. A 3 hour boat journey across the lake to Amanti island [View Full Entry]

---

---

The Salkantay is the trek that most people, who didnt sort out the Inca trail to Macchu Picchu, do. Lacks the ruins but makes up in awesome scenery. Day 1 We were picked up at Death O'clock by our so called Guide Jiar who was acompanied by (¨his friend¨) Horaldo the crazy Argentinian. Horaldo looked rough, apparently the Cerviche (raw fish) was doing its worst!!! The bus trip to Mollepatta was steep and dusty. On arrival we met up with Eban our horse man and loaded up the Kit. While loading up we were kind of concerned that Jiar and Horaldo [View Full Entry]

---

---

So getting a bit behind on the blog now..... Got to Cusco after an over night bus ride. Not the best remedy for a hangover as spent our last night in Arequipa having a few too many cubre libres with some jolly french giants. Cusco is tourist highway, it was the Incas "navel of the world" and now a main thoroughfare for all those visiting Macchu Picchu and the many Inca sites in and around Cusco. There are still signs of the Inca city left in the brickwork foundations of churches and museums of the newer colonial city. However the pubs [View Full Entry]

---

---

After a 4am start and a 6hr bumpy bus ride we arrived at Cabonaconde in the Colca Canyon. Ruc Sacs were packed and we were ready to set off on our 3 day Jaunt into the second Deepest Canyon in the world(The deepest is just up the road but is not as good to look at). We had planned to be independant on this trip as the distances didnt seem that great. On the approach to the Canyon edge we were all ready shattered, we had only done 3K thou the mountain sun was burning down on us. We looked over [View Full Entry]

---

---

Flying over the lines was fantastic although a little short as only got about 5 secs to look at each shape. Its difficult to make out how big there were from the sky and impossible to make out the shapes from the ground. We flew over the lines in a tiny 5 seater areoplane ( pete says its a cesna) the whole journey lasted about half an hour. I was happy as larry as the plane dived and dipped from left to right, so into it that it took me half the journey before looking at Pete to see if he [View Full Entry]

---

---

After an early 6.30am start we set off from Pisco to Paracas and the Ballestas Islands, Paracas is a little fishing port, which has been totally set up to run tours to the Ballestas Islands (commonly known as the poor mans Galapogos). We set off an a 20ft speed boat with about 25 people on board, the very saftey consious locals made us wear life Jkts made of polystyrene (Great) On arrival we were welcomed by a dozen penguins then loads of pelicans and families of sealions a really cool place. the sea was churning up a big swell next to [View Full Entry]

---

---

So only a few days until we fly - so we thought we'd try and get this up and running. Hi all, 4 days to go !!!! Started packing the old rucksac today 18kilos and still going (Caroline may have to carry the passports). There are still loads of people to say bye to and things are getting a little hectic. If we don't manage it all sorry. A big See ya to Neil. Cheers for making all the kit for this trip, thanks for making working at A8 an amazing experience (How will I cope without those crazy ideas of [View Full Entry]

---

---