Right, this is the longest I've left this, and so much has happened so it might be a bit rushed and missing a few things.

So Allon eventually arrived that evening after37 hours of continuous bus travel,very tired and delirious, but still agreed to move on from La Paz the next day. Hannah had some trouble with her cards - both of them were cancelled by her bank - so I lent her enough to last her til she got to Cuba, over a week, then crashed out, still feeling ill.

We decided that my illness might be altitude so me, Allon, Joel and Mesh headed into the Cordillera, to a place called Sorata, over 1000m lower than La Paz, on a mini bus for 3 hours, which wasn't the nicest, especially becauseof my state of health. Sorata was really relaxed though, and I spent most of the time getting better, and not really eating much. We spent a day together chilling out, and I went to the doctors who prescribed me pills to kill a parasite if I had one. Then the next day the other 3 did a day long trek in the surrounding mountains which they enjoyed a lot. The next day we got a bus to Copacabana, next to Lake Titicaca. We sorted out a boat the next morning to go to Isla del Sol (island of the sun) and went to bed early in freezing cold rooms with tiny, rock hard beds and not enough blankets - nice. Next morning we grabbed some food and headed to the boat. I, still not feeling my best and having barely eaten for nearly a week, was still unsure as to whether I would do the trek around the island. However, not wanting to miss out on more, I did it, and it was so worthwhile - absolutely beautiful views and surroundings and did actually make me feel a bit better, though very tired. We got another bus that evening into Peru, to Puno where we managed to get some more money out for the first time in a while and treated ourselves to a steak dinner! My 2 and a half month stay in Bolivia had come to an end. We slept well that night and got up the next day for a 6 hour journey to Arequipa. We met a load of American people around our ages who were doing work with their church in South America, so chatted to them for much of the journey, which otherwise went incredibly slowly. We got to Arequipa, found the 2 places we wanted to stay were full, so the taxi driver took us to another one, which turned out to be amazing - such such helpful staff,nice and chilled out, and really really cheap. We went to there restaurant we were recommended which was brilliant, and then onto a bar and then club which were also recommendedby the hostel owner and had a really really good time. Woke upthe next morning feeling a hell of a lot better, Mesh concluded all I'd needed was a good night out!

We spent the next day trying to, but failing to organise a trek, mainly because it was Sunday and a lot of the agencies were closed. We decided that evening to spend the next day organising a proper, independent trek, which we did very successfully. We hired tents, a cooking sotve, a sleeping bag for me, got a map of the area, and headed that afternoon to Cañon del Colca, the second deepest canyon in the world - over 3000m deep. We stayed on the bus as long as we could and ended up ina town called Maca, at about 10pm and walked around the deserted center looking for somewhere to camp. We found a suitable field and set up camp, freezing cold and cooked ourselves some instant noodles before squeezing into one of the tents for extra warmth! We slept badly and coldly before the next morning heading to Cabana Conde - the start of our trek. We had to hitch a ride there with a nice Peruvian man and the grabbed some lunch before a 5 hour walk to our first stop - Llahuar. It was all downhill into the valley on the first day, so an easy-ish start, but we were carrying 4.5 litres of water each, tents, sleeping bags, food, and clothes, so obviously it was still difficult and downhill walking can sometimes be worse anyway! We got to Llahuar, bought some rice and eggs so go in our instant chicken soup and set up camp just outside town and by the river at the bottom of the canyon. The meal was a huge success - I enjoyed it more than the others I think - and then headed to bed. We went to bed about 9 every night because we were so tired.

The next day we got up early and started the uphill walk to Llatica, where we arrived around midday. We rested for a while before the incredibly steep climb, in the hottest part of the day, up to Fure. We made it there, but only after quite a few stops for water and food at about 1.30pm. It was absolutely exhausting though, so our plan to get to the next town was off the cards. Instead we left our bags in Fure and walked to the nearby (nearly an hour away - without bags!) waterfall and then back to Fure for a football game with the locals at 3300m! We headed back to camp and cooked pasta with tomato sauce, bought at the local shopfor dinner. The next morning we got breakfast in the one restaurant in town and then headed on to Morata - a 4 hour walk away. We made it there by midday and had lunch there. We then headed steeply up to a town called Tapay, and then back down again to San Juan, all before dark, and set up camp on the edge of a 200m drop down to the bottom of the canyon. We had a very basic and not very nice dinner, and then off to bed. We got up at 6.30am the next morning to do the 4 and a half hour walk, 4 hours of which was uphill, back to Cabana Conde. It was the most challenging part of our trek, because we were so so tired out and it was uphill in boiling heat, and so we took it slow and steady, making it back to town around 12.15, feeling triumphant. The whole walk had been really really challenging and such an adventure for us as we were in the middle of nowhere, walking between towns with no road access, buying food along the way, fillling up water as we went and using iodine to make it drinkable, along ridges with hundreds of metres of vertical sheer drops next to us, all the while carrying about 10kgs each. We all felt we must have got a lot fitter having done the trek and were delighted with our efforts.

We headed back to Arequipa on another 6 hour journey which got us back about 8pm, when we bought our bus ticketsfor our next destinations, returned the hired equipment, and headed out for dinner and then to a bar and then club to enjoy ourselves on our last night together. We had such a good night, I don't remember laughing that much in a long time, but it just made splitting the group the next day even harder. Allon and Mesh were heading up to get to their flight from Lima to Colombia, whilst me and Joel were staying in Peru. We got a bus overnight last night to Cusco,whilethe other two will be in Nasca by now. It was the part of my trip I've enjoyed most and also the easiest as we all get on so well. We were all sad to leave each other, but Mesh is getting another flight to Mexico to meet his family, from Quito, around the same time we're flying home from Quito so we'll see them again then. Me and Joel are going to chill out here for a while and see Machu Pittchu before who knows what else.

ah, done.