Hey all, We were up bright and early to get our boat to the islands on Lake Titicaca. Our transfers were on bicycle taxis and it was great craic racing through the streets trying to beat everyone around us!! It took 30mins to the floating reed islands which were our first stop. We were taught a few words in Aymara by Alejandro (our guide) as the inhabitants were the Aymaran Indians, but they had perfect Spanish so we were able to chat away to them!! We were given a talk on how they lived, built their houses and their islands!! They need to build a new island every 15-20 years as they tend to sink- by cutting the soil that the reeds grow from, drying it and tying them together so they form a floating base. ... read more

Hey all!! Just arrived back yesterday from the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu!! It was an absolutely amazing adventure. Friday we took a trip to the Sacred Valley, stopping at lots of old Inca ruins on the way, abley guided by one Julio Cesar!! He was our guide for the Inca Trail too. We started off at Sacsaywaman above Cuzco, which was cool. Cuzco was built shaped like a Puma (one of the old Incan animals for strength, representing the land) and the ruins are at the head of the puma. They were an old Incan fortress and it was here that the Spanish were nearly (but not quite) routed from Peru. It was built over three levels and the stonework at the bottom was absolutely massive, and very cleverly carved lined up so that there ... read more

Hey all, Arrived in Arequipa yesterday at 5pm, it wasn´t a bad journey and we even managed to get a lie in!! Our last day in Lima was great, we spent most of the day in Miraflores, the more upmarket area of Lima. There were many huge artisan markets both indoor and outdoor to be explored. We had lunch in a fancy cafe built right into the coastline of the Costa Verde, and watched paragliders fly past. We also met our new truckmate, Qamar from London, at dinner later that night. After leaving Lima (at 6am rather than 5am which was still painful but more acceptable), we headed down the coast towards Paracas, sleeping all the way!! We had a speedboat tour of the Ballestas Islands all lined up, which are renowned for their birds and ... read more

Hey all!! We spent the last three nights camping at a beach in Punta Sal, Peru. It was a long journey from Cuenca, and we stopped three times for immigration and customs!! Our campsite is pure luxury in a beautiful setting, we pitched our tents on the beach right next to the hostel which was handy for toilets!! The first night was good craic, the hostel cooked us dinner which was absolutely delicious; seafood fried rice, battered chicken and fish bites, and chips. Then we retired to beside the bonfire for the rest of the night making a good dent into our beers and rum. The next day we went into Mancora, the nearest town, to hire surfboards. Matt and I were going to share one, and the rest of the group get lessons from an ... read more

Banos is an amazing town!! There are so many adventure sports guides, and we are with possibly the craziest- Jose and his two dogs!! Yesterday first thing we went for a bridge swing, which involved a full body harness, three ropes, and diving head first off a bridge to swing like a pendulum back and forth below it!! It was brilliant, and incredibly scary free-falling waiting for the rope to kick in!!! Only five of us did it and my insides were like jelly but it was a great feeling after- on an adrenaline high!! Then we went canyoning which was just fantastic. We swam in cool clear waters, scrambled over rocks, abseiled down waterfalls, climbed behind waterfalls, jumped off all sorts of ledges and did some wet bouldering. We were getting pretty hungry towards the ... read more