We were able to pick up the Bolivia Hop bus as it made its way from Cusco to La Paz. While Copacabana (our next destination) isn't far from Puno, this was very useful for assistance in crossing the border which we had read a few bad experience stories about. Fortunately our crossing was completely painless.

So we were leaving Peru. This is a country that has an extremely high concentration of both Incan and Pre-Incan ruins which they have done a really good job of restoring and making accessible to tourists. In some cases arguably too accessible.

Despite a lot of people saying the Inca Trail is too crowded and touristy (usually people who were doing other treks because they didn't book the Inca Trail in time), this trip was probably the highlight of our time in Peru. We were fortunate to have a great bunch of people in our group and great weather, culminating in a visit to the glorious site of Machu Picchu.

If only Cusco hadn't had such an effect on poor Fergus we might have seen more in the area. Seeing Lindsay's folks there was awesome and it was a lovely town, though he concentration of fellow travellers as insane.

Lima surprised us with its highly prosperous and trendy neighbourhoods around Miraflores. We saw pre-Incan ruins north of Lima near Trujillo, sandboarded down huge dunes in Huacachina, saw the huge Colca Canyon, finally saw Condors in fight and explored the Islands and communities of Lake Titicaca.

Peru is a country where the culture either remains super strong, or is maintained primarily for the purpose of being shoved down the throats of willing tourists, it's hard to tell which sometimes. Much of our visit was spent wishing the place was less touristy, even though that sentiment is hugely hypocritical. We were contributing to the very thing we hoped to avoid.

After our relatively easy border crossing and a switch to a Bolivian bus we were shortly in Copacabana on the shores of the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca.

LAPFWT