The Loki Hostel in Lima turned out to be quite a giggle, especially with Paddy's Day upon us, so I donned myself in green and somehow ended up with shamrocks and Irish flags painted all over my face. Good fun night, included visiting the least Irish Irish Bar in Peru, stealing their balloons and returning to the hostel bar for more drinking tomfoolery. They make fresh strawberry daquiris at the hostel, which is only ever a good thing.

I'd heard that Lima didn't really have too much to offer, so rather than find out for myself I took public word for granted and enjoyed sunning myself on the hostel roof terrace. There was a beach but it wasn't the most appealing spot. And it turned out that Miraflores was a hive of fast food eateries and cheap shoe shops so I was able to amuse myself quite easily for a few days.

I was still at this stage coping without my cash card as Addam was set to bring this out when he visited. However, due to my usual impeccable organising I managed to run out, even after managing to shockingly find someone to change up my 'emergency' pounds for a ridiculous fee. This resulted in one night spent sleeping on the sleeping bags in the hostel TV room, but it was actually cooler in there than it had been in my actual room, so it was all for the good.

Met Addam at Lima airport nice and early at 4.30am, after a panic I was going to be late (I wasn't, no thanks to that dastardly missing taxi), and after a big squishy cuddle, followed by the movement of most of the contents of my rucksack into his, I showed him the sights of the national departures lounge. We had a good few hours to kill until our Cusco flight at 10ish. I ate a Papa John's Pizza breakfast, which, in case you were wondering, is the usual pizza, only with orange juice instead of Pepsi. I'd say that makes a mighty fine start to the day. We bought coca candies (getting prepared for the altitude), played with stuffed llamas in the gift shop and generally maxed out the airport's entertainment resources... which were minimal.

We touched down in Arequipa and were greeted by the world's chattiest taxi driver who was very excited at the prospect of teaching us Spanish words for pretty much everything. Whilst Addam hung out the window taking pictures of everything (bloody tourists) our informative driver also taught us that there were however many thousand taxis in Arequipa and the city had whatever number of people in it (I forget) and most of the buildings in the centre are made from volcanic rock, which is why it's called 'The White City'. I started to realise that my Spanish is improving, especially my ability to nod and smile and act like I have a clue what people are talking about and then giving some made up translation to Addam so that he thinks I'm really clever. Beautiful AND cunning. Hostel was gorgeous, all made out of the rock and carved into cute little arches.

We explored the town and visited a massive gorgeous monastery, and uncovered the South American penchant for religious plaster models, which were terrifyingly scattered everywhere Some were rather graphic and all were decidedly creepy. Calmed our nerves by letting the nuns serve us a nice cold beer. Dinner that night was at an amazing restaurant on a rooftop overlooking the Plaza de Armas. The views were stunning, but it was absolutely freezing, so were were jolly grateful for the massive alpaca wool pochos that our kindly waiter lent us. We looked hot. Poor Addam's jet lag started to kick in half way through the meal - it turns out that travelling for more than 25 hours and then racing round a monastery can take their toll on the system - and as he nearly started to fall face down into his steak I dragged him back to the hostel for some rest (after scoffing down my food of course.... priorities).

Up at stupid early for our tour to the Colca Canyon, which lies a few hours drive to the north of Arequipa. Fab views all the way of the nearby volcano, El Misti, and my first spots of real Llamas and Alpacas! They're just so cool. I've had the difference between the two explained to me on several occasions but can never seem to remember. Something about one having a tail that stands up and the other having a tail that points down or something. All I know is one looks marginally goofier than the other, which I like. On one photo stop some small children dragging an exhausted baby llama approached us with the idea that as dumb tourists we would give them money to have our picture taken with the scraggly little creature. I was more than happy to oblige. The thing seemed so tired it couldn't even raise its head and I ended up with llama dribble on my trousers. Souvenir I guess. Addam was far too lenient with my new-found obsession and bought me a tiny llama of my very own, who was promptly named Leeroy and is currently my new best friend.

We tried our first coca tea, made from coca leaves and renowned for its altitude sickness healing properties. I didn't feel too bad yet, mildly unsettles tummy, but Addam was fighting headaches so we drank it down and munched on some of our coca candies. Also bought some dried coca leaves which you leave in the side of your mouth to work their magic, although to be honest we were already starting to get sick of the taste of the stuff, which wasn't a good start. We realised how necessary they were though once we stopped to take photos at the tour's 'highest point' (I forget how high but I think it was pushing 14,000 feet or something... I really should pay more attention). After staggering about five steps away from the van we were both greeted with crippling stomach cramps, blurry vision and the distinct feeling we were about to pass out. We shuffled dejectedly back to the van and stuffed ourselves with more coca leaves. Yummy.

We arrived at Chivay, and it turned out our hotel had a jacuzzi. Still feeling a little ropey we decided to skip the tour's plan for a trip to hot springs in favour of dinner, jacuzzi and an early night. However first we were treated to a small dance show from some local kiddies (which really just involved them skipping in a circle and spinning around every now and again, but was supposed to represent some story about lovers whose parents didn't want them to be together... or something like that). We gave them a few coins as a reward for this rather far-fetched attempt at expressive dance, which they immediately raced to spend on table football. Tried alpaca steak for dinner, it was good and I felt no remorse. Jacuzzi didn't do anything to help the altitude sickness so wasn't as exciting as we'd hoped. Early night was amazing, good night's rest sorted us out beautifully.

Made it up to the Canyon early the next morning and it was really breathtaking. It's supposed to be deeper than the Grand Canyon in parts, and it was incredible to be above the clouds and peering down into this vast crevice in the hillside. We were also surrounded by original Inca shelving - the flat layering of steep hillsides, which enabled them to grow crops and do other cool, clever Inca-type things. Addam took great pleasure in clambering on rocks and doing other boy things, especially as we started to get bored by our guide's reluctance to translate any information into English. We managed to spot a few condors (huge!), spent a couple of hours sat above the canyon watching the clouds sweep across out view line and bought Orios, so the morning was a hit all round.

The afternoon proved to be something more of a trial. Being the only ones from our group to be heading on to Puno rather than back to Arequipa we were collected in a car by a man and his son, whose job it was to drive us for 4 hours to Puno. The drive was long but incredible. We passed lakes with flamingoes, stunning mountains, saw an electrical storm and passed through some really run-down but intriguing Peruvian towns. Addam slept through the whole thing. Rotten thing that jet lag (...laziness).

Our intention upon arrival in Puno was to grab some food and catch a nice comfy overnight bus to Cuzco, as there were strikes due to start the next morning that would leave us stuck in Puno for longer than our schedule would allow. Well, our INITIAL plan had been to catch an incredible train through the mountains from Puno to Cuzco, but the stinking strikes definitely ensured that this wasn't going to happen. Of course nothing goes to plan and no buses were running to Cuzco full stop, due to whatever inconvenient social unrest it was these Peruvians were experiencing (does nobody think about us hapless tourists in any of this??). We were left with a hefty predicament: we needed to get to Cuzco and we needed to do it fast, before the blockades started at midnight. When in doubt, shout at someone, which is precisely what we did. As we were currently stuck in a hugely dodgy bus terminal with people spitting on the floor and eyeing up our rucksacks maliciously (okay, okay, that part may have been my imagination, but you never know) we turned to blaming others for our situation. Our tour operator from Arequipa, who had assured us this bus would get us there, received a rather distressed call from yours truly demanding she find us another option. And that she did.

We were told that a 'friend' would be willing to drive us at top speed through the night to take us to Cuzco for a mere $150. Only three times the price of our bus. Brilliant. However, beggars can't be choosers, and this 'friend' seemed our best bet, although we immediately grew somewhat anxious that placing ourselves and our belongings in the hands of a man who had seemingly been plucked from the side of the street wasn't the best idea. All fell into place though, as the wonderous Edwin turned up in his cosy multi-seater car, with reclining seats and thick wooly blankets to keep us poor distressed tourists placated and sleepy. After a delightful sleep Edwin drove us to the door of our hostel around 1am. We heart you Edwin, wherever you are.