Alpaca bag for Peru

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It has been an incredible (and action packed!) 3 weeks in Peru between Lake Titicaca, the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, hiking various mountains and volcanoes, sandboarding and dune buggies in the dessert, seeing condors at Colca canyon, the Nazca lines, Ballestas Islands (wildlife), camping under the stars..

Crossing the Altiplano into Peru, our first stop is Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world and famous for its floating reed islands. We enjoy a homestay with a local Quechua family and have the chance to get dressed up for a traditional party/ dancing, and play a very competitive game of football (RoW defeats England).

Cusco is our base for the next week as we embark on the Classic Inca Trail for 4 days (read my other blog titled "Lost City of the Incas"). We visit Inca ruins/sites on a tour of Sacred Valley, the history of which is quite simply fascinating. We also plunge into a whitewater rafting expedition down a grade 3-4 river, so much fun!! There's also a few (too many) celebratory beers in the Irish hostel, good food in Jacks café and Mr. Soup, along with a visit to the chocolate museum/factory.

The cloud shrouded ruins of Machu Picchu, located high above the fast flowing Urubamba River have palaces, temples and some 150 houses in a remarkable state of preservation. Arriving at the Sun Gate at 6am after 3 full days of trekking to witness the clouds slowly drift away and reveal the lost city was a very surreal and incredible experience that I'll never forget.

After Cusco our next stop is Arequipa, dominated by the surrounding volcanoes. We overnight near Colca Canyon and watch for condors at Cruz del Condor viewpoint.

From Arequipa, 3 of us (Jake & Matt) embark on my craziest and toughest adventure yet, setting off at 10pm to hike through the night and all day to attempt to summit a 6,075m snow-capped volcano. With all the factors - high altitude, tiredness, technical climbing using crampons, I didn't quite make it to the summit but it was a good experience.

Near the end of our tour, we camp for the night on a beach in Puerto Inca, cooking a delicious BBQ - followed by a visit to the Nazca lines (although I didn't take a scenic flight so I'm not sure I could fully appreciate them).

One of my favourite excursions in all of Peru was stopping over at Huacachina, a desert oasis surrounded by massive sand dunes. We took an overnight excursion into the desert, sleeping under the stars, went on an awesome ride in dune buggies, sand boarding down massive dunes (including a potentially dangerous nighttime incident) and finished the night with a delicious barbecue, Pisco sours and beer!

Having arrived in Lima we're now at the (sad) end of our tour - but we've had a great time with our fellow Tucan travellers!! 😊

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