As it was a national holiday, my family took me on a little drive to the countryside and ordered me up my first chicharron (a tasty pork dish served with the omnipresent potatoes, maiz and mint leaves) and a gelatinous pudding, washed down by Inca Cola (tastes like Mountain Dew) and the fermented maiz drink chicha. [View Full Entry]

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In the days after our jungle adventure, Group Manu met up for various meals, drinks, shopping, bungee jumping (!) and dancing. The boys in our group even wrote and performed a lovely song about our trip, to the tune of California Dreaming by the Mamas and the Papas. [View Full Entry]

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Had a brilliant 7 days in the jungle - far too much to write about now. Highlights: white water rafting, mountain biking in the cloud forest, swimming in the river at sunset, zipping across the canopy from platform to platform high above the forest floor, abseiling, seeing a sloth, 7 giant otters, caimans, 5 species of monkeys, turtles, capybara, possum, macaws, herons, kingfisher, a fresh puma footprint, rescuing a red howler monkey from the Manu river, playing pool with a talking parrot, drinking pisco sour in our lodge while playing jungle games, cards and a dice game taught to us by [View Full Entry]

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After a breakfast of pancake and muña tea, our party set off for the harbour, where we were waved off by our island families. We sailed to the beautiful island of Taquile, distinct from the others, our guide informed us, by the richness of its agriculture, the use of Quechua (instead of Aymara) as the official language, and the extent of inbreeding. Walking to the island´s plaza de armas, I felt like I could have been on some lovely deserted island in the Med. After a quick look round the artesan fair and photo exhibit, we treked up to our restaurant [View Full Entry]

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So, after enduring the nightbus from Cusco, Richard, Maria and I arrived in Puno the Peruvian port of Puno at 4am on Saturday morning and discovered we had to forage for our own breakfast. Two fried eggs, bread rolls with butter and strawberry jam, tea, and a glass of freshly squeezed pineapple juice, we made our way to the port on the tour bus - only to discover that our Scottish friend Ally (from the City and Valle Sagrado tours) would be joining us for the weekend! We set sail at 8am with our enthusiastic guide Leo, who said every sentence [View Full Entry]

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Did a week of Spanish lessons at Amauta school. First night had a lovely three course welcome dinner with Pisco sour and white wine. Attended lectures on Machu Picchu and traditional medicine, took a lesson in how to play the pan-pipes, and another on Salsa-dancing. [View Full Entry]

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Saturday morning and one day left to see the last of the sites on our ´boleto turistico´ before it expired. No tours available. What to do? Get a taxi. Our taxi driver, Americo, offered a round trip with time at each of the sites for $30 between the two of us (Maria and me). So off we set from Cusco. And the heavens opened. Here the raindrops are much bigger than at home. The sky was practically black and it was only 1.30pm. Not a great start. Americo decided to drive first to Pikillacta as it was further away, in the [View Full Entry]

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Another day, another bus tour. This time to the Sacred Valley. First stop was Pisac, which "comes alive" on a Sunday with hundreds of people coming to the market. Then we went on to the famous semi-circular concentric terraces used by the Incas to farm different crops at the best possible altitude. Saw some amazingly intricate water channels and well-preserved buildings. Felt slightly out of breath by the time we got to the top of the mountain, but am putting that down to the altitude. After a big buffet lunch at a tourist restaurant with our own musical entertainment, we drove [View Full Entry]

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Went on a tour of Cusco and surrounding area today on a proper tourist bus with English-speaking guide. First stop: the Cathedral, where we saw the famous Christ statue that is credited with ending a huge earthquake in the city (weren´t allowed to take photos inside). Second Stop: Qoricancha, where we saw original Incan walls of a temple that had been partially destroyed by the Spanish invaders building on top of it. Then drove outside of Cusco, up to 3700metres, to see four archeological sites. They brought us back via a clothing factory where they explained how to distinguish real alpaca [View Full Entry]

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Maria and I took a local bus to the district of San Jeronimo, 12km south of Cusco for La Fiesta de San Jeronimo. Bumped into a fellow medical student on the way and he showed us round. Also had my first taste of Inca Cola - the iron bru of the Andes. Other firsts of the day included seeing a man pull a wheelbarrow of skinned bulls heads up a hill (horns and eyes intact), and a surgical ward full of patients despite the fact that the floor was being dug up and there were two abandoned wheelbarrows full of soil [View Full Entry]

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