I know it sounds crazy but I am actually now on vacation from my vacation! My friend Josie wanted to see Peru and, like nearly every one of my friends, is still working. She only had a limited time for a holiday. Peru is huge - long and skinny with so many highlights it is quickly becoming the destination of choice for adventure travelers, It has Machu Picchu, beaches, deserts, jungle, rain forest and mountains. Lots of mountains as the Andes that start way...

Henry and Jorge need your help. On my second day in Lima, while standing in the mall of an office building lobby and surveying the billboards of that evening's Cinema choices, I noticed a well-dressed guy standing beside me, also surveying the posters. What was unusual about this was it was only around 10 am and there was only the two of us taking the time to look at the posters – a little island of calm within the flurry of a very frantic business cr...

Arrived in Lima around 6 am - little later than expected but definitely had been able to get a few hours of sleep on the bus. Felt ok. What was so great is that I had a driver meeting the bus - wasn't sure if he would still be there as we were about 45 minutes late. The guy was there - what a treat. Easy easy. He told me my little Hostal was in the nicest part of Lima and as we drove through the city it looked like many really big cities, but less hars...

I was exhausted after my emotionally draining journey from lush to lame the day before. As is so often the case, the little Hostals I stay in are a complete respite from everything. Hostal San Jose, once I was deposited by the reluctant taxi driver, was a lovely little place run by a couple of sisters....no, not the nun kind, real sisters.Marcia, the owner, speaks English - even more now having just returned from visiting her son in Austrailia. The place was ...

Time for reflection Long bus rides are the best time for reflection. The ride from Vilcabamba, or Loja to be exact, to Piura Peru was to be eight hours….or so…..one never knows what type of bus you might be getting and how long the journey might actually take. I have come to love that randomness. Waiting in the early morning at the Loja station, I hoped I was in the right place as there seemed to be very few gringos around and that both worried and ...