madwomanontour

In Mancora, at last, after a combination of fairly uncomfortable local buses. It is a bit of a touristy hotspot but I think that was what we wanted after so much time in the mountains!! We got ourselves a wee private room at one end of town which was grand. The place had laundry which we needed to do by this stage too. And it was a couple of minutes walk to the beach. Mancora beach was lovely, water was warm and it seemed pretty popular. There wasn’t much sand to the beach, which seems a stupid thing to say but it was a bit small. Surfing and kitesurfing seem pretty popular here, as well as a trip to local swamps to see crocodiles. I'm sure i will regret not doing this but I think we ... read more

As Eoghan, Heather, Rachael, Fiona and I were leaving Ica all bound for Lima we decided to all make a stop for Paracas national Park & Ballestas Islands, in Pisco. It was sorta on the way. We left Huachina pretty early, like 6.30 am with all our stuff, which was pretty difficult for me and Eoghan as our hostel appeared to turn into a rave on a friday night until about 3am. We were going there with the promise of penguins and sea lions so we were all piled on a boat when we got there with enthusiasm. We were also with an Irish lad Darren, who stayed at our hostel in Hucachina. We were on the boat for a while and seen some sea lions on the way out. The islands themselves aren't anything special ... read more

After a full day recovering from a pretty heavy night, we booked ourselves on the nightbus to Puno. We wanted to go see the floating islands of Uros, with a vague notion of heading into Bolivia if we had the time. Nightbuses are the business, because you save on accomodation at the same time. It was comforable enough, I managed to sleep a fair bit, but I always do! When we arrived in Puno it was very early, still dark. We decided that Copacobana in Bolvia looks like a nicer place to stay on Lake Titicaca so we booked a 7am bus that day onto Copacobana. We did manage to catch sunrise over the lake at Puno which was beautiful. The bus and crossing onto Bolivia was very simple. My first, over ground border crossing and ... read more

We decided we didn't like walking that much so we tried to pick a trail that involves as little of that as possible to Machu Piccu. You have to walk at some stage unless you get the train but we chose the Inca Jungle Trail which was 4 days, 3 nights. We got picked up about 7.30am and drove for ages. To a place called Malaga, but dont think it was that one. This Malaga was so high in the mountains that there was snow and it was cold and in the middle of nowhere. But the local people seemed to be setting up for a wee party when we got off the bus, there was a stage and speakers and beer but I dunno where they came from cause it really was the back arse ... read more

Well it has been an interesting week since eoghan arrived. The start of the week i showed him round the town a bit. The markets are good here but you cant buy everything you want, not enough room in luggage!! We went out for dinner on Eoghan’s first day, alpaca tastes good, but the americans we were with were a bit intense!! We moved into our wee flat on Tuesday, so comfortable. On Wednesday we went out with the girls from newcastle, it was Heather’s birthday. The club was a bit dodgy from the start, with some pervert wains at the door. I got very drunk as the drinks seemed to get stronger in the club! But it was a grand night as far as I could tell! Thursday was a lazy day, mostly because of ... read more

Tuesday 21st June Today I went to a rural medical outpost with the clinic. We drive for at least an hour and the longer the drove, the more crap the roads got! There was lots of animals being herded along the roads, proper Irish traffic Jam! We were based in a school, the children were lovely and so excited to see us. I worked with the Italian Gynaecologists for the morning. One of our patients brought a lamb with her into the room which the proceeded to shit all over the floor! It was quite funny. I think the Italian Doctors found it quite funny but also difficult to work in such difficult circumstances. In general, hygiene standards are poorer here than in UK but that was to be expected.The Italian doctors said that the place ... read more