Day 595 (13.11.08) We set out in the morning to see Huacachina in the light and by the time we'd wandered along the grand promenade surrounding the lagoon and admired the fancy buildings we were already beginning to fall under the spell of this peaceful little haven. Our hostel provided us with a free 'boat trip' on the lagoon, this would be self-propelled though! We took a little row boat out on the water and had done a couple of laps before 10 minutes were up, a lovely way to start the day though! The main activity in Huacachina (other than [View Full Entry]

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Day 597 (15.11.08) The Islas Ballestas are perched offshore from Paracas just north of where we´d been staying. An hour or so on the bus took us to this little town which was all but devastated last year as a result of a 7.9 earthquake. There is now a huge amount of construction work going on to repair the homes and businesses in the area. Finding our way through the building sites we were soon climbing aboard a little boat that would take us out to the islands and donning the mandatory life jackets (just how extreme was this trip going [View Full Entry]

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Day 593 (11.11.08) After a pretty sleepless and cold night on the bus we arrived in Nazca a little the worse for wear. Teaming up with a German girl called Kat we found our hostel, the WalkOn Inn and checked into our room. Unfortunately we couldn't get in until 12.30 so had a huge brekkie at the hostel and got chatting to a couple more of the guests staying who had a fascinating story of retiring and doing up a yacht before sailing it around to see the world. With our room available, Chrissie got scrubbed up whilst Mark went into [View Full Entry]

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Day 591 (9/11/08) Feeling a little more refreshed after our lazy day we wanted to see a couple more of the Incan sites around Cuzco. We had been recommended to see a citadel a short walk from Cuzco called Saqsaywaman (pronounced by all travellers as 'sexy woman') and took the 30 mins uphill walk out of the city to the gates. The unique thing about this site is the size and craftmanship of the blocks that make up the city. Some of the blocks making up the three levels of zigzagged walls were HUGE! We opted to walk around solo, and [View Full Entry]

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Day 589 (7/11/08) We left Kayla and Jason, neither of whom was feeling well, in bed and headed out to the market to find a few bits and pieces for lunch. As we walked into the market who should we bump into but our lovely guide Roger tucking into a fruit smoothie. We joined him for a drink and so began the magical mystery tour that today was going to turn into. Roger decided that he fancied Cuy for lunch (that´s guinea pig to you and me, a local delicacy) and asked if we wanted to come along. It's something that [View Full Entry]

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Day 588 (6/11/08) Waking early yet again, we dragged ourselves out of our comfortable beds and grabbed some brekkie before hitting the already sizable queue for the bus to Machu Picchu. We could have got up earlier and walked up but with all of us still not feeling quite right we wanted to make the most of our visit without killing ourselves getting there. We arrived at the gates with the other earlybirds and were amongst some of the first through the gates. A short climb up some of Machu Picchus many steps amd we broke out to a picture perfect [View Full Entry]

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Day 585 (3/11/08) It was a horrible early start, but all of us (in varying states of awakeness) arose. Chrissie was still far from 100% and struggling to eat anything, but confident that she was feeling a little better was happy to push on with the planned itinerary. Jumping in a minivan we had a 4 hour ride before we reached the start of the Lares Trek. Stopping off at a market in a town en route, we stocked up with a supply of pencils, sharpeners and a football to give to the children we met in the remote villages. We [View Full Entry]

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Day 583 (1/11/08) Arriving at not too horrendous a time in the morning, we entered Cusco and grabbed a taxi over to our chosen hostel. By the time we had checked in breakfast was not far off so we chilled out and checked our email before having a bite to eat (more bread and jam) and then hitting our room for some bed time. Cusco is at an altitude of 3400m and any of the treks that lead to Machu Picchu hit similar, if not higher, altitudes so we had planned in a bit of time to relax and get a [View Full Entry]

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Day 579 (28.10.08) Arriving in at the bus station at the crack of dawn, we pulled our stuff into a taxi destined for a hostel Jason had reserved a room at. When we arrived we were greeted by a slightly bleary eyed but very friendly hostel owner who showed us around dropping us off at our vast spacious dorm room. A great place. After some early morning delerious hilarity we all crashed out for a couple of hours. After getting washed and ready to face the day we stocked up on a mountain of fruit, veg and other groceries and went [View Full Entry]

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Day 581 (30/10/08) A lazy morning was spent around the hostel with some hammock time, a yoga lesson with Jason in the garden and some excellent showers. In the afternoon we set out to explore the city which is the second biggest in Peru. The white-stoned colonial architecture here is fantastic and the central Plaza de Armas one of the most beautiful squares we've seen with arched galleries running the length of three of its sides and a grand turreted building making up the last. Splashing out a whole 2 quid on yet another fantastic veggie lunch we walked the streets [View Full Entry]

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