What feels like Perú´s busiest and best city, Cusco is full of tourists and things to do and see, not least of which in Macchu Picchu. Another pretty main plaza rivalling that of Arequipa, my first impression of the place came through my stomach - there are some really excellent eateries here, if not tradional or (by Peruvian standards) particularly cheap! Above the city hights lie the remains of many Inca ruins, the largest of which being the wonderfully named Saqsaywaman (yes, its pronounced exactly as you read it!). Like most of the Inca ruins it served a dual purpose as [View Full Entry]

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Higher still than Arequipa is the city of Puno, which sits beside the massive sea-like Lake Titicaca. The worlds largest high altitude lake really feels like a sea when you´re on it, you can´t see the other side of the lake which crosses a national boundary into Bolivia. The main tourist spots on the lake are the Uros floating reed islands which sit in the large bay near Puno, about an hours boat jouney away. Pretty mcuh just for the tourists now, we were given a short talk about the Islands by the President and then encouraged to buy souvenirs from [View Full Entry]

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A two day excursion from Arequipa, the Colca Canyon is larger that the Grand Canyon in the United States. A hardcore (?!) group of four of us chose the extra trekking option to hike down the Canyon, spend the night at the bottom, and then return up again - an extremely steep 1000m+ climb. We had to leave our hostel in Arequipa at 12:30am in roder to get the 4-hour bus to the Canyon - not a pleasant journey especially in the below-freezing Andean nightime conditions. After spending the night at the Canyon base, we again had to wake extremely early [View Full Entry]

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"The White City", Peru´s second-largest city is certainly the prettiest I have seen so far. The main plaza especially and the surrounding area is pretty old with lots of really good shops and restaurants, intricate Churches, and colonial houses. One of the first places I have visited where you can see tourism is big business. One of the frequently seen views of the city is of the Cathedral on the main plaza with the 5821m live volcano El Misti towering in the background. I managed to get my first good coffee here in Peru from the Starbucks-style Cuzco Coffee Company. All [View Full Entry]

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Not much to see here in Nazca except for, of course, the famous Nazca lines. About a few hours bus ride away from our last stop in Ica, Nazca falls on a kind of flat plateau between quite low lying mountains and hills. There´s one large airport with loads of light aircraft purely to take tourists up into the air - the only way to see the lines. Sitting only five to plane the views are great (if you can put up with the plane constantly having to bank so you can see the lines!) - it really is amazing the [View Full Entry]

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Here in Huacachina - a small tourist village at a lagoon in the middle of the desert near the larger city of Ica. Great weather here during the day, lots of sun as you would expect it being the desert, but cold at night. Pretty much the best thing to do here (and the only one!) is the sand boarding and dune buggy riding. It is fantastic fun, racing around in the desert in the buggies - its pretty similar to a rollercoaster ride, with the massive sand dunes providing some wild ups and downs. The drivers of the buggies are [View Full Entry]

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Writing here from Tumbes, in the very north of Peru - a border city with Ecuador with real character and busy streets. Apparently getting robbed is a real possiblilty here although I have found the people here to be the most friendly in Peru so far! Its kinda like being a minor celebrity, everyone wants to talk to the "gringo", so its pretty fun. We´re approaching the Peruvian Independence Day here so the festivities have been getting into swing with parades and music in the main Plaza de Armas which my hostel backs onto to. Pretty noisy here at night although [View Full Entry]

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Huanchaco is a small coastal village about ten mins taxi away from the city of Trujillo. Not much here except the fishing boats and restaurants which line the beach, but very pleasant none the less! Have eating Chicharon (fried pieces of fish) and Ceviche (cured fish with lemon and chilli) which are nice in small doses and served seemingly everywhere. Can´t say I could live on the current diet here, people just don´t eat vegetables or salads at all! Salad is in McDonalds sized portions! Have visited the Adobe city of Chan-Chan which sits the the desert area between Trujillo and [View Full Entry]

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The altitude is really getting to me now! Getting a headache every day is no fun at all! The Pastouri glacier is at 5000 metres and I really struggled getting up and down there. I would have got more pictures but I could barely focus on where I was going I was so dizzy! Still, not everyone has set foot on a glacier. The previous day´s walk up above Huaraz was great, if also hot and difficult. As you can see, Huaraz is right in the middle of a basin between mountains and hills. The city itself is pretty shabby, much [View Full Entry]

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The altitude is really getting to me now! Getting a headache every day is no fun at all! The Pastouri glacier is at 5000 metres and I really struggled getting up and down there. I would have got more pictures but I could barely focus on where I was going I was so dizzy! Still, not everyone has set foot on a glacier. The previous day´s walk up above Huaraz was great, if also hot and difficult. As you can see, Huaraz is right in the middle of a basin between mountains and hills. The city itself is pretty shabby, much [View Full Entry]

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