Sorry for the lack of updates!!!!

---

Hello everyone!!! Very sorry that we haven't updated in such a long time; we either haven't had access to a computer, or it's been ridiculously expensive to go on the internet.

Anyway, where we last left off, we were both rather unwell and on our last week of teaching in Cuzco. That was nearly a month ago, so we'll blast our way through the last few weeks in this update.

Leaving the schools was pretty emotional as we had both grown very attached to the kids. We went to Elim (the boys school) in the morning and played some games with the boys, who then presented us with friendship bracelets they had made to thank us for our work. In the afternoon, Alex went to Seeds Of Hope (Charlie stayed in to rest) where they went outside for an afternoon of "Recreo" and beat a Piñata. That evening, we went out for dinner with the rest of the crew to a restaurant themed like a child's bedroom, which was cool and ever so slightly eerie. The restaurant was really cool, and we got a booth to ourselves; sadly, as we were both on antibiotics, alcohol was strictly off the menu.

Sunday, we were both up bright and early to start our trek with Amazing Peru. We started off the tour by taking a minibus to a Llama farm (yes, such things do exist!!). It was a family-run business dedicated to breeding different types of Llama, Alpaca and Vicuña, and it allowed visitors in to feed and pet the animals, and then to visit the displays on the history of the wool and how it was sheared, dyed, and made into clothes. We also drove through the incredibley beautiful Sacred Valley, stopping at peak visual points to have some Kodak moments.

Later in the day, we visited the town of Pisac and explored the local Artesanias markets, strongly resisting the urge to buy anything. We also visited the towns of Calca, Urubamba and Ollantaytambo, exploring the Inca architecture and learning about their military history and strategy, before returning to Cuzco for the night.

The next day, we got the Vistadome train at 7am to the Machu Picchu town of Aguas Calientes, dropped our stuff off at the hotel, and got the bus up to the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu. The drive up itself presented us with some amazing views of the mountains, but it was nothing compared to the city itself. The city is truly spectacular, and we had a 2 hour guided tour which explained to us the Inca architecture, social hierarchy, battle strategies, religious beliefs and general way of life. We've taken hundreds of photos of the city and of us looking ecstatic at being there, and once we learn how to upload them, we will let you know!!!

We unfortunately had to stay the night in Aguas Calientes, which is a horrible little town where the food is terrible and everything costs triple the amount that it does anywhere else in Peru. We had a little trouble with the hotel as well, and with our train out of there, leading us to suggest that the company "Amazing Peru" does not quite live up to it's name. Additionally, after watching the sun rise over Machu Pihu Alex braved climbing the mountain "Wayan Picchu", and up there managed to take some really fantastic shots of the city.

We then got on a bus for a 9 hour drive to Puno, the city built around Lake Titicaca. En route, we visited several Inca ruins and Conquistador churches that are going to ruin, yet were still incredibley beautiful. We stopped at the La Raya, the highest point of our journey, measuring over 4000m high, and we realised that our little Peruvian tour guide sounded exactly like Borat. The next day was our trip to the Uros - the floating island of Taquille on Lake Titicaca; after initially getting over the fear of falling through the island (Lake Titikaka is FREEZING) we had a tour from our guide and a local woman, learning how they anchor the islands with rocks, expand them with peat and reeds, and how despite the houses and buildings being made entirely of dried out reeds, the locals still have cable TV from their use of solar panels. The islands themselves are made from peatmass and topped with reeds. There are a lot of the floating islands, all very close to one another, and we learnt about how the locals grow/catch their food, their traditions, and their educational system on the islands. It was fascinating and amazing just to be there and watch the locals run around on these tiny floating islands, and many photos were taken.

We then got back on the boat and went to another island (not floating, this was a large, rocky island) and walked for an hour, with our guide showing us the farms and explaining the culture, before we came to a small restaurant and had a really nice lunch that was prepared by the locals. We had trout from Lake Titikaka which was delicious and fried puruvian pancakes with salsa.

On friday the 9th of May, we drove from Puno to Juliaca and caught a flight to the white city of Arequipa. We had a brief tour of the city, which is built primarily of the white volcanic lava, and told about the three volcanoes surrounding Arequipa. It's an incredibley beautiful city, which unfortunately we didn't really have enough time to explore as we arrived in the late afternoon, and the next day we got a bus to the Colca Canyon. En route, we saw herds of wild Vicuña, owners of the rarest and most expensive wool in the world, so we took some pictures of them to compensate for us not buying any Vicuña items for anyone. The Vicuña are shaved once every two years and only give a few grams of very fine wool.

Unfortunately, in Colca Canyon, Charlie developed a mystery illness that made her very unwell, so she spent most of her time in bed. Alex, however, was lucky enough to visit and explore the actual canyon (the second deepest canyon in the world!!!) see the massive Condors, and to swim in the natural hot pools located a short bus ride from the town.

We then returned to Arequipa and promptly flew to Lima for the last two days of our tour. Charlie's illness was getting worse, so a doctor was called out to the hotel where he diagnosed bronchitis and an infected lymph node in her neck, and so prescribed some antibiotics that cleared everything up by the end of the week. Our last day of the tour was spent being shown around Lima and taken to a beautiful restaurant by the sea for lunch. We were then transferred to the San Agustín Exclusive hotel in Miraflores, where we spent the next three days exploring, shopping, eating, and watching episodes of "House" which we are addicted to!

Friday 16th May, we had a hellish day flying from Lima to Cancun, Mexico. We had a 5am flight to Bogóta, Colombia, which is a scary place. We never left the airport, but it was still very scary; we had a 6 hour stop-over in a very confusing, complicated airport, swarming with policemen and army officials, all armed with guns and performing random searches on anyone. We got searched and questioned seven times before we had even boarded the plane!!! We then flew from Colombia to Mexico City, another massive airport, where we had a three hour wait until our flight to Cancun. We eventually arrived in Cancun around 1am, and had to pay $50 for a taxi to the hotel, eventually arriving at around 2am (nearly a 22 hour day!!!)

Cancun was fantastic. We stayed in the Great Parnassus Hotel, a beautiful all-inclusive resort on the beach, with the lagoon behind it. There were loads of restaurants and bars, and, most importantly, a sushi bar, which we got most of our food from!!! Lazy days were spent lying by the pool, drinking margaritas in the pool's bar, and soaking up the blazing heat (it averaged around 30-35 degrees every day).

On monday we went to Xel Ha, an all-inclusive park with a massive river that you swim down with the provided snorkels and flippers, observing the fish and the marine life. The place itself is pretty hard to describe, so it's best to visit www.xelha.com to get a better view of what it's like. It is absolutely beautiful there, and brilliant fun. We got some pictures of us holding some Macaws, and we were lucky enough to swim with dolphins as well, which was an amazing experience. It was two male dolphins we were swimming with, and we've got some great photos of us feeding them, cuddling them, playing with them, and of them jumping over us!!!

Our second outing was to the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza. It was a scorchingly hot day, making the trip a little uncomfortable for everyone, however the ruins were amazing, and the tour guide was a really friendly guy who gave us loads of information about the ancient city. Moreover, in the evening, we watched the light and sound show, where they project lights onto all the different buildings, and a recording of the history of Chichen Itza plays through the city. It was fantastic to watch and hear, and we both really enjoyed the visit.

Today is friday the 23rd of May, and we left Cancun this morning to fly to Monterrey to stay with Charlie's Aunt, Uncle and cousins. The flights were fine, and Monterrey is scorching hot (right now it's 41 degrees, and it's after 8pm!!!) The house is beautiful, and tomorrow is Lizzie's 13th birthday, and we're going to go watch their school play in the evening! We're both very excited to be here, and Mike and Sarah have been fantastic!!! This next week will be full of exploring the city and getting ourselves lost, and then we fly back a week on sunday to see you all again!! We've really loved this whole trip, but we have missed you all a lot, and we can't wait to see you and unload the two ton's worth of presents we have accumulated!!

Love to all,

Chabbermander Soochy-Woochy-Baker-Wakerxxx

---