Blogger Bec We´ve survived one year of marriage! Yay for us!! So, how did we celebrate making it through 365 days of each other? We went to stay on an isolated island in the middle of the world´s highest lake with a family who spoke no English, slept in a creaky old bed in freezing cold temperatures and it was SENSATIONAL! We started our two day journey with a charted boat trip to the Uros islands in the middle of Lake Titikaka. These islands are constructed from reeds and are completely free standing (floating). About 3 families live on each one - a very basic and simple life centred around fishing, weaving and cooking. (Oh, and showing off thier island to the horde of tourists that arrive on their doorstep each morning around 9am...) A ... read more

Blogger Bec This morning we drove from Arequipa to the amazing Colca Canyon - a beautiful drive spoiled a little by our REAL dose of altitude sickness. About 15 minutes into our 6 hour journey, we stopped at a shop to buy some coca leaves - a natural remedy to alievate the symptoms of altitude sickness. They taste horrible (like a wheatgrass shot only stronger and without the OJ chaser!) and you have to bundle them up with a piece of soft ash in order to digest the juices properly. The leaves kickstart your saliva glands, making your mouth water. They also make your gums, tongue and cheeks numb which didn´t sit well with me - I felt like I couldn´t breathe! Still, I dutifully chewed away as the thought of getting really sick petrified ... read more

Blogger Dougo Today we awoke in our hotel in Nazca early to be ready for the transfer to the airport to view the Nazca lines. Unfortunately, we walked out our hotel room to be greated by a thick blanket of fog covering the town (and surrounding area). So we waited. We played cards, taught a few of our group members our new found passion, Shithead. We waited. The bloody fog hung around until 12 noon when it cleared to be an absolutely perfect blue sky day. At 12:30pm we finally got our bus transfer to the small, light plane airport about 15 minutes from our hotel. We were orginally booked in to fly at 10am. Only three planes can be in the air at one time. Each plane carries a maximum of 5 people. Each ... read more

Blogger Bec We´ve arrived! Day 1 (real) of our Peru trip saw us take in the sights of Peru´s capital, Lima. We spent most of the previous afternoon in bed watching Nadal beat Federer - we were going to see the sights, really! But when you have the world´s best tennis players slugging it out on the world stage, you have to go with the flow... We mostly just walked around the capital, taking in daily life in the affulent suburb of Miraflores. The highlight of the jaunt was visiting the Inca ruins which lie smack bang in the middle of the suburb - the ruins once took up over 12 city blocks but due to rapid expansion and greedy property developers, the site got gradually eroded over time until there is just now one ... read more

Mollie's birthday, yet another Scavenger Hunt. Anyone would think we would be sick of these by now, but it's such a fun way to interact with the locals. They love seeing us do stuff that to them is just their everyday lives, but to us is crazy. The winners of this hunt was determined by everyone voting on the best picture for each task. It was our first loss. We are now 2 for 3. ... read more