The 6 hour bus ride to Puno was thoroughly uncomfortable and past scenery that we´d already seen between Arequipa and Cuzco. At least this time the bus stayed in one piece. We were on recommendations again for hotels and this time it was Don Tito - a pretty good place with the usual amenities. It was freezing cold though. The climate at 4000m really hit us and it was a good job we´d bought hats and gloves in Cuzco. This was another town that was firmly on the t...

Well, getting to Cusco proved to be half the fun! A simple 8 hour bus journey (cost about 3 finest gbp) turned out to take us 14 hours! Not a pleasant experience considering the couple sat behind us munched on a big block of queso the whole way! What caused the delay? The bus setting on fire! We heard a massive bang and smelt burning rubber - one of the tyres had blown out and caught fire, so it was all off the bus and watch! We´re getting pretty used to these s...

We travelled the entire length of Peru in the space of 48hours. Why? Because so much of it is a dump. Why do guide books insist on raving about places that are off the so called ´beaten track´. Their usually off the track because theres nothing to do and their not particularly nice places. After an 8hour bus journey from Loja, Piura was not somewhere we wanted to be, it reminded us of arriving in Delhi back in January, except this place had all of the a...

Having successfully survived ´one of South America´s most dangerous cities´we made our way to Banos, an altogether more tranquil affair, but not before being overwhelmed by bus ticket vendors at Quito´s terminal terrestre. In a mere two hours we were in Banos, which was quite an achievement given that the road had been destroyed by a volcanic eruption two years ago and still hadn´t been rebuilt. Banos is tiny compared to Quito but these g...

Some say Quito is one of the most dangerous cities in South America; the night time ringing of gunshots seems to prove this! As does the constant stories of muggings from people in our hostel. From what we´ve heard its way more dangerous than most places in Colombia. It is fun though! After the fanstastic trip to the Galapagos, it was going to take a lot to impress us. The hostel we stayed in, Centro Del Mundo, ran some fun looking trips out of Quito and th...