We flew from Cusco to Puerto Maldonado - possibly the shortest flight I've ever been on at about 25mins! We were met by our latest set of guides - Delford and Manuel - and set off on a boat trip down the Tambopota (spelt something like that...) river to our jungle lodge. It was about 3 and a half hours on the boat, and we saw lots of wildlife on the way - cayman crocodiles (including one huge one), scarlet macaws, a capybara (kind of a giant guinea pig..) and lots of other birds. We were also given lunch - rice [View Full Entry]

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Having sneaked a little bit of extra weight into my duffel bag, we set off on a bus to the start point of the Inca trail at 6am. Our main guide was called Freddy, and the assistant guide Julio - both were very good. The bus ride took us to kilometer 82 - the start point of the trail. It was pretty exciting - lots of people queuing at the checkpoint, and we all got our passports stamped before setting off. The first day was fairly easy going, although it was pretty hot, and I could defintiely feel the altitude with [View Full Entry]

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Just a quick note to let you know that I survived the Inca Trail!! It was a really great experience, and I will find some decent internet access in Cusco tomorrow to update everyone properly and upload some pictures. Machu Picchu is definitely worth the hype. I am currently aching a lot having just come down to Aguas Calientes from Machu Picchu on the bus and had lunch... Have to go and catch the train back to Cusco now!! xxx [View Full Entry]

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Not a lot of time to write today, so just a quick update. Journey to Cuzco from Puno was fine. Hotel here is very nice - smart and good breakfast etc. Spent today shopping for souveniers etc, as this is the cheapest place to get them. Cusco is quite nice, but very touristy - I preferred Arequipa. I think I will try and see a few of the sights after the Inca trail. So the trail starts tomorrow. We have been issued with our duffel bags in which we can pack 6kg for the porters to carry- I seem to have [View Full Entry]

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We set off for the islands on Lake Titicaca early yesterday morning. It is the highest naviagable lake in the world, and is huge! It took us 3 hours (albeit very slowly) to get to our island destination, which was just at the end of the lake closest to where we left from. Our guide for the island trips was called Roger. The boat was nice - it had a little top deck, which you could lie out on, although we did have to wear silly life jackets! The first island we stopped at was called Taquile. It is very hilly, [View Full Entry]

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Last night was good fun. We went to the hot springs before dinner. It's the only time I've ever been in a pool where you were allowed to have a bottle of beer with you in the water! They were very warm - so much that I had to keep getting out every few minutes to cool off! After this we went for dinner - I had alpaca again. but am starting to get a bit sick of it now - and had some 'entertainment' with live music and dancing. It was actually really good, helped by some Pisco Sours that [View Full Entry]

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I thought I'd write a bit more about the people that I am travelling with, as I have a spare half hour. There are 7 Canadians and 1 Australian travelling together - Randy (yes this is a name...) and Darlene, Tony and Linda, Beverley and Brenda (sisters), and Helen and Anne (also sisters - Helen lives in Australia). They are all in their 50s I think. They are very friendly and easy to talk to, and I think that as we spend longer together, everyone talks more to each other as well. Tony is...interesting...he is one of those men with a [View Full Entry]

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Our hotel is in a small village high up close to the entrance to the canyon (3600m). It is very rustic, and so peaceful, with hardly any cars, street lights etc. Apparently some of the rooms in the hotel are haunted, but luckily not ours! As soon as we arrived, we set out on a walk to some ruins above the village. Most people were feeling the altitude by this point with dizziness, headaches etc, but so far I have been fine which is good - just a bit of an increase in heart rate when walking uphill! It's weird to [View Full Entry]

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For dinner last night I tried my first alpaca steak!! It was actually very tasty - quite a gamey meat. Had a lovely sleep - nice not to be on the bus after the previous night, and it was cool enough to need a duvet which I have missed the last few nights! We left for the Colca Canyon this morning. Our guide is called Arnold, and is very good - he looks really young, so our group has a bit of a wager going on how old he actually it - its 16 soles if I win´(that's about 4 pounds..)! [View Full Entry]

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Just a quick one today. Arrived in Arequipa on the night bus which wasn´t too bad at all - the poshest bus I've ever been on with footstools and reclining seats. Journey went smoothly too, except for the panpipe version of Beatles classics that we were made to listen to this morning.. I'm going to look out for the CD to bring back with me... Haha. The roads are very windy - at one point I was half asleep and wondering why we were going round so many roundabouts - they turned out to be hairpin bends! Arequipa is very pretty. [View Full Entry]

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