Arrived in Huaraz at 5am and took a taxi to our pre-booked hostel Alpes (although we were a day late). Preparing ourselves for a midday check-in, we were really excited to be taken straight into a dorm. It had 3 bunks and was pitch black... and when we turned on our headlamps to determine which beds didn´t have a person sleeping in them, the light illuminated an entire floor of mess and a mostly empty bottle of tequila on the table! Slept until 10am, when we woke up to free breakfast and two of our new roomies (who own(ed) the tequila): Andrew and Guiliano from Virginia. The rest of the day amounted to very little... Alex and I attributed it to acclimatisation, but in truth the whole week had been fairly unproductive after the Galapagos. The four of us went to a really good restaurant for fajitas / indian curry (yum) and sat in the square. We then went to the central market to buy food to cook for dinner, on the way resisting the foul sight of de-furred but not gutted guinea pigs.

The rest of the day was very lazy and spent mostly in the hostel garden except for when I went out to the beer shop! While cooking Alex managed to stab herself with the pealer, which was before we finished off the bottle of tequila. In the evening we all went out to a bar with two Peruvian guys: Andre, a professional football player who moved to Huaraz to play for their team before they went bankrupt, and Daniel. Andre seemed to target Alex for a while, until I watched from across the room as she dropped the B(oyfriend) Bomb. It was probably the funniest thing I´d ever seen as his whole countenance changed and he slowly backed away, although not before telling her that her boyfriend was probably cheating on her! And still, to his dismay, she resisted. Moments later he came over the the rest of us and said it was time to leave... but we´d just ordered drinks so he´d have to wait.

We ended up in yet another generic nightclub, although this time an elderly barman wouldn´t accept any money for our drinks. We lost Guiliano before we left and he arrived back in the room just as we were going to bed. Just when we though the evening was over, Andrew said ¨tell them about the pyramids Guiliano¨ and him and Alex embarked on a full on debate about whether the pyramids could possibly have been built with a stone and chisel.

Day 90 - Acclimatisation (read hangover) day. Andrew was the first to get up and went and made us all a smoothie, which was particularly thoughtful considering he became ill with a fever in the night. As he went back to bed, Alex, Guiliano, myself and our other roomie David from Sydney (who actually hadn´t slept a single night in the room since he was copping off with the barmaid) went for lunch. On the way out of the hostel one female traveller called Alex and I the perfect travelling couple. I am still not sure why!

After three enormous burgers we headed back to the hostel in pouring rain via the supermarket. Here Alex and I heard Bailamos by Enrique Iglesias for the first time in the entire trip... one of our most-sung travelling songs. The rain was so heavy as we left the store that we actually took a taxi the 100 metres back home. We made back to find that Andrew had been telling the staff that there were no free beds in the room, which meant that we had the room to ourselves to sit on one of the bottom bunks, under a duvet with a cup of tea and dairy milk, and watch the Count of Monte Cristo on Guilianos computer. Perfect Sunday rainy afternoon!

Alex and I made a tonne of pasta for dinner, and with Guiliano sat on different bunks in the room crying with the spiciest pasta sauce in the history of pre-made sauces. I went to make a hot drink and in the meantime Alex fell off her bunk bed and the other two fell asleep (neither on their own beds) watching American Football.

Day 91 - Travelling resumes today, as Alex and I got up at 5:30am to take a trip to Laguna 69 in the Cordillera Blanca national park. I stuffed a load of leftover fire-pasta down for breakfast, but needn´t have bothered as our minibus stopped en-route, which to me seemed like time better spent in bed. After a lot of waiting we arrived at the start of the trek at 10:20am, an hour later than the other tours, which put us under quite a bit of pressure to make it to the lake and back in time. It took us over 3 hours to walk along the post-glacial valley and up a number of moraines to the lake, which was absolutely stunning. The altitude (4500m) was debilitating however, and I had to go ahead of Alex to make sure we got to the lake before the others headed down. As I arrived the ´guide´ caught me at a bad moment as he straight away said we´d have to go back to avoid missing the bus to Huaraz. I hadn´t had a chance to eat lunch, so I curtly explained that we weren´t leaving until Alex had seen the lake, and luckily she arrived just as they were heading off!

Back on the bus we were both hit with fatigue and tried to fight off headaches / nausea while bumping along a dirt road. As we got back to the hostel we stood outside for at least 10 minutes pressing the buzzer to be let in (lucky we weren´t being raped) and after some delay in the team decision, ordered take out and watched Super Troopers on a different bunk this time.

Day 92 - 3rd mesiversary! This time the four of us got up to go on another daytrip in the other direction: to Pastoruri Glacier also in the Cordillera Blancas. The drive there took 3 hours, with a stop on the way for some coca tea and to see some (probably ill-fated) baby guinea pigs. We drove along a beautiful valley and stopped on the way to see some really cool Puya Raimondi palm trees that only grow at that altitude.

When the van stopped we hiked for about 45 minutes gradually uphill while chewing coca leaves to help with the altitude (strangely enjoyable). We reached the glacier at almost 5000 metres above sea level, and it was really very cool. The weather was perfect (as yesterday) and we sat and ate our sandwiches in front of the glacier while watching the Peruvian tourists dancing in front of a camera, in front of the glacier. It was here that Alex and I saw an opportunity we couldn´t pass up... a chance to recreate the photo-pose of the ginger kiwi family in the Galapagos (see photo).

Long drive back to Huaraz and in the room found two new girls in Alex and my place... Andrew hadn´t been home to tell them they were full. No longer was it our room! We took a shower and went out for a curry before being picked up for our nightbus to Lima. Full cama this time!

GP (Gillian Powell) countdown = 1 day!