Arrived back in Totnes in the early hours of 14th after setting off from Lima on 12th. Iberian flight from Lima to Madrid has ben marked as below average. No small screen on back of seats in front so stuck with the 2 set films. Food pretty dreadful. Lets hope the BA merger sorts this airline out. Then Madrid to London on Iberian with a delay in departure but no explanation or apology offered. Drinks and food charged at silly prices. After Heathrow it was the Rail Air coach to Reading and then the train to Totnes which collected a few [View Full Entry]

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It is the afternoon in Lima and I am sitting in an internet cafe in Miraflores, an upmarket part of Lima, typing out my last blog whilst in Peru. Just had lunch on the edge of Kennedy Park (yes named after Jack the USA President). Three course set lunch plus a beer for less than six pounds (no pound sign on this keyboard). Setting off for the airport at 5.00 and hopefully the plane departs at 9.00pm. The flight is to Madrid and then I change to get a flight to Heathrow. I hoping to get home by midnight tomorrow and [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday we travelled to the Ballestas Islands from a little port called Paracas. The Ballestas Islands can only be reached by boat and visitors are not allowed on the Islands. The boat that took as out can best be described as a high powered open speed boat with 2 very powerful engines at the rear. We sped off from the port on a very calm sea (thankfully) and after about 40 minutes we approached the Islands. They were teeming with wild life and I never seen so much in one spot. There was so much it was surreal and David Attenborough [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday was the Nazca Lines. The day before we had travelled from Arequipa to Lima by plane and with delays, etc we did not arrive at our hotel in Lima until 9.00pm. Yesterday morning we were up early to catch the 7.00am coach to Ica. Very security minded as after searching our bags and body the security people took a video of every passenger. Must have a problem with hijacking coaches over here!!!! The coach was very comfortable but had to resort to listening to my IPod to block out the dreadful background music that was being played. Does anybody enjoy [View Full Entry]

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There has been a request for more pictures of people and so here we go. Later to day we are back to Lima and then tomorrow we take a 4 hour coach trip to Ica and then take a light aircraft flight over the Nazca Lines [View Full Entry]

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Set off yesterday to search for condors in the Andes. Left Arequipa early in the morning in a miniibus heading for the Colca Valley which is about 200 kilometres away. On normal roads that shouldn't take long but life is not as simple as that in Peru. At least half of the journey was across what could best be descibed as badly maintained stone track and it reminded me of one of the first records I ever bought called 40 miles of Bad Road by Duanne Eddy. How many readers remember that?. After about a couple of hours we literally reached [View Full Entry]

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Spent part of the morning in a museum with a young and beautiful Inca girl called Juanita. The only problem was that she had been dead since about 1445. Juanita had been found in 1995 in the form of a frozen mummy at the top of a nearby mountain. Also known as the Ice Maiden she is considered to be one of the world's best preserved mummy. She is on show in this glorified freezer in this wonderful museum known as Museo Santuarios Andinos.Why and how did she come to die and be buried on the top of a mountain? Well [View Full Entry]

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Been out on Lake Titicaca which at an elevation of 12,500 feet is the highest lake of its size in the world. It is also massive covering over 3,210 sq. miles. The border between Peru and Bolivia runs through the middle of the lake. The hotel we are staying out looks out over the lake and from the jetty to the hotel we set off this morning. The first stop was what is called the Uros Islands and these are what you would describe as incredible. They are floating islands made by by layering reed on top of reed root clods. [View Full Entry]

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All Saints Day and the locals celebrated with a civic and military parade around the main square known as Plaza de Armas. All the local worthies were settled in a canopy placed outside the Cathedral and the march pass began. It consisted of amongst others the army , police, government workers , schoolchildren and even the road cleaners (they came last with their brooms and shovels). Very colourful and very stirring with the army band in full pelt especially the one with the big bass drum. Well as it was Sunday I decided to do the religious tour which included a [View Full Entry]

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It has been called one of the Wonders of the World and I can understand the reason why, but the problemis that there are many others who think the same. We arrived at 10.30am and it appeared that all the other tourists in Peru were there as well. Although there are restrictions on numbers walking the Inca Trail leading to Machu Picchu there is no restriction on the number of people entering this wonderful site. The authorities need to address this problem as the sheer number of visitors detracts from the beauty and special atsmosphere of this abandoned Inca settlement Fortunately [View Full Entry]

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