Blogs from Huacachina, Ica, Peru, South America

We had an early one as our last night in Arequipa and the following day Charlie went to have a look at the monastery while George wallowed in the Wild Rover TV room (admittedly quite an enticing place). We then grabbed some food and hopped on a bus to Cusco. Immediately after arriving at the bus terminal we set about looking for a bus to Santa Teresa, a more arduous route to Machu Picchu than than the train but at about a fifth of the price. We ended going with an all-inclusive tour and hurriedly packed our stuff before hopping in the cramped minibus for five and a half hours to a hydroelectric plant beyond Santa Teresa. From there it was a two hour walk along the train tracks to Aguas Calientes, the town at the ... read more

We met our group last night and some of us went out for dinner in Central Lima and had Ceviche which is one of the popular dishes - raw fish marinated in lemon juice to cure it with coriander, raw red onions and chili . It was really good.... The group is as expected, mainly youngsters -college or pre university ages. Still getting to know their names. They seem a nice bunch. Only one lad from the UK, a slighly older girl from Scotland and the others Australian, Dutch, American and Danish and an Egyptian gentleman of 60 so we are not the oldest. Tour leaders are two men, Dave an ex electrician born in the UK but has lived in Australia since very young and Ivan from Besançon in France. They are both as brown ... read more

I was woken this morning by the chatter from the menagerie of birds that were kept at the hostel. I had had a great nights sleep, considering the bed felt like it was made out of reinforced cardboard, mainly because I had the entire six bed dorm to myself. I was surprised to see so many people when I went down for breakfast, considering my dorm had been empty. I was greeted by the dear little lady who had checked me in yesterday, and offered scrambled eggs which I took gladly. I had heaps of time before I had to catch the coach to Ica, so I had a very leisurely breakfast. I had so much time in fact that I had long enough to find somewhere in the sleepy town of Nasca to Skype Tina ... read more

Hey all, I´ve got some time ony my hands (more on why later) so i thought i´d set up a travel blog. One important note before i start... My typos are commonplace in general, but expect more while i´m using this SA style keyboard.... Anyway.... Days 1-3. Travelling Galore: People say there something excting about waiting to travel, the little checks that you do to make sure you have everything, the constant reading and the research you´ve done coming to mind as you go over the trip in your head. Airports too, can be seen as charming places, with everyone there slightly happier than normal before going on their trips away. However, people talk a lot of shite. There is nothing charming about airports, and there´s nothing exciting about waiting to go, while you´ve got the ... read more

Soo it´s truly started! We´ve rolled down a Peruvian highway, had some Pisco sours, seen some penguins and bumped across the desert in a sand buggy! Now i´m supposed to tell you how we were squeezed into the corner of a bus full of drug barons, fought of ten of them to reclaim our bags and then walked 20 miles across a desert until we found the lagoon we´re now in. Equally, the sours should of given us food poisoning, the penguins turned out to be partial to man flesh and the buggy have disintegrated whilst the driver tried to jump over his mate´s car. Thankfully, we´re just not that interesting! The trip started with the low budget backpackers option of a night in Heathrow. In order to hold interest, we decided to camp out in ... read more

I can't believe I have been here for a month!! Time is flying especially now that classes are in full swing. It's crazy to think that most schools in the United States are just beginning. Classes here are pretty difficult for me, I am getting a lot better at understanding what my teachers are saying but it still takes a lot of effort to then put their words into concepts I can understand and get something out of. My literature class is giving me a run for my money, it's tons of reading and it takes me a lot longer to read because I need to look up words to make sure I know what I'm reading. I know going through all of this will pay off in the long run, though. And some of the ... read more