Woken up on que by the dog barking followed closely by the cockerel at 4.30am! We all popped a dextrose energy tablet and were raring to go. The first 45 mins of climbing out of the canyon was in complete darkness with our touches lighting the way. I followed closely behind Ivan and this took me back to climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro last year on summit night following Isaac and leading the way up the mountain. However not quite sub 0 temperatures! The climb was bril...

Day 1 of the trek! Woken up at 2am (an hour before the alarm was due to go off) by inconsiderate travellers who insisted on packing their bags and talking while 6 other people were 'trying' to sleep. Last night we had met Hilary and Anna who were in our dorm also joining us on the Colca trek so it was nice to know we weren't alone and were gong to have company setting off at 3.15am! The first leg if the journey took 3 hours to Chivay 3633m above sea level....

Arrived at 6.30am and were looking forward to checking in to our hostel 'The Point.' However, the first impressions were not the best; most of the rooms were empty, we would have been put in the dingy attic room and the bathrooms were dirty. I know we are only backpacking but hostels have to have some standards to meet even if they are very basic. So we decided to leave our big bags in storage and head for breakfast. I don't think I have ever had ice cream for br...

Woke up not feeling great after our wild night salsa dancing! - well not quite, it was slightly intimidating in the salsa club, especially when the men ask you for a dance so we decided to go next door to a more relaxed club had some strong cocktails and then we were in the dancing spirit! Consequently, In the morning we weren't feeling our best and got woken up early by someone stumbling out of bed to catch an early bus! However, I was looking forward to our ...

Woke up today excited for our 3 day Jungle adventure however it didn't get off to a good start the taxi was late to take us to the airport so we were running through check in and boarding so we didn't miss our flight! The flight went smoothly and only took 40mins opposed to the 10hr bus journey it would have taken from Cusco. Once we arrived in Puerto Maldonado we were hit by the humidity and glorious sunshine, then greeted by our guide, Victor. The three of ...