I can without a doubt say this was the highlight of my stay in Peru. A few months previously I had met a small and friendly man called Roy in Arequipa. He owned a hostel in the bottom of the Colca Canyon which was aptly named Roy’s Hostal. When asked about Maguey he without a hesitation told me that if I did come and stay at his hostel, then yes he would indeed show me how to make Rope out of the Plant Maguey. This interested me quite a lot especially after my string-making endeavour in the jungle. Maguey is a [View Full Entry]

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This was a one day hike that I did with two friendly guides. One was called Domingo (Sunday), which was funny as it was Monday. The other was the owner of the company and was called Pedro who was swatting for his tourism exam the next day; Latin names of high Andean plants and which ones were which. I thought that the trip was going to be a bit boring, I mean we are talking a four hour walk across a dirt plain at 5000meters to see a small spring and then three hours back, with a one and a half [View Full Entry]

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After getting back to Arequipa, Laurence and myself chilled out for a couple of days before heading off to the Colca Canyon with Ysabel’s father Walter. Unfortunately during this “chill out” period Laurence become a little bit ill and by the time we reached the Colca was looking rather pale indeed. It was ok though as I reassured Walter that Laurence was not going to die and everything would be fine. It was a really fascinating trip where we saw Walter’s family’s land and searched out the hidden treasures of the Colca. Unfortunately Laurence didn’t see any [View Full Entry]

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Further down the “sacred valley” towards Machu Picchu is the small town of Ollantaytambo. We stayed here a couple of nights. In the afternoon the ruins above the town are swarming with tourists but early in the morning and in the evening the town is quite relaxed. We met a rather nice girl called Marella from Holland who we sampled what wine was on offer with (Peruvian wine - big No,No, Bolivian wine - a bit patchy. Its got to be Chilean or Argentinean). Early the next morning I hiked up the hill behind the ruins to watch the sun [View Full Entry]

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After our hike I think it was probably necessary to relax for a few days in Cusco. This we did, and as Laurence slowly ploughed his way through the “South America Explorers” library I dreamt of fried breakfasts and relived my dreams every morning at “Jacks café” with a big “Gordo” fry up. Cusco is basically a good place to recuperate, eat food, drink and dance (if the occasion really calls for it). The town is an interesting blend of Inca and Spanish masonry, the highlight of which is a twelve-sided stone, much frequented by tourists. After a few days [View Full Entry]

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This was an 8 day "excursion" that me and Laurence undertook without mules and without a guide considering that not carrying all our stuff was "cheating". Our route basically cut straight through the heart of the Vilcabamba range of mountains from south to north, crossing en route the great Apurimac river mentioned in the last blog entry.Our main goal was the little visited Choquequirao which is an archeological site just north of the Apurimac and site of the bridge mentioned previously. It is a partially exposed ruin that covers a site larger than Machu Picchu and in a similar location, [View Full Entry]

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Going to Machu Pichu was an interesting and fun few days. I was actually expecting it to be packed with people and covered with rubbish but I was pleasantly surprised. We did the bog standard four day tour which was three days trekking arriving on the fourth day to see the sun rise. There were a lot less tourists than normal due, we think to the world cup which was in the semi final stage. Laurence was the only British guy in sight and it was all quite peaceful really. I am a bit suspicious of the talks the guides gave [View Full Entry]

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After the Cycle ride and a day in Puerto Maldonado to recover a little bit we decided to spend a few days in the jungle at a lodge and go on day excursions. This was really cool. We stayed at a place called Cayman lodge which was French/Peruvian run. We did lots of things that sound a bit dangerous but weren’t. On the first night we went walking into the jungle to listen to the sounds, this was quite good but it was difficult to tell if tree roots were tree roots if you know what I mean. We had to [View Full Entry]

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Nazca- I had a fantastic time in Nasca, I got the bus there with my friend Saul and installed myself in a hostel of dubious quality. Saul and me went bike riding the next day and he explained about the aqueducts which are under the ground, 2000 years old and still keeping the desert irrigated. You can’t see much but the whole thing was quite impressive. We also went to see the Nasca line called “The loom” which was quite good and we could see it from the slope of a hill. The next day Laurence arrived off the bus looking [View Full Entry]

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On monday i went on a day trip to see ubinas, but this time to get really close. I was with a german guy Erhard and two Peruvians. We drove out there in a four by four and saw. Llamas, Alpacas, a rare type of deer and flamingos. We got within 3 km of the volcano and could smell the sulpher in the air. There was also a noise emminating from the creater that is similar to a jet engin. This was unexpected and pretty cool. Enough of that though. here is an BBC artical I found on the internet. Its [View Full Entry]

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