THE BATTLE FOR MOQUEGUA After our attempts to get to Bolivia had been thwarted, we didn't expect to encounter any trouble in crossing the border to Chile. We had a pretty tight schedule to keep to as we had to be in San Pedro de Atacama (hundreds of miles south) a few days later for the first of the hotels we're reviewing, and had revised our route to go overland through the south of Peru to get to northern Chile. However, again, it didn't prove to be as straight...

AREQUIPA, AREQUIPA, AREQUIPA We only had 24 hours in Nazca before we were off again heading south on an overnight bus to Arequipa (which we christened 'Arequipa, Arequipa, Arequipa' in memory of the bus conductors in Lima who call out at high speed like a market stallholder the names of the main roads on which their bus will be travelling - one of the key roads into the centre of Lima is called Arequipa). We had the front seats on the top deck of the bus this tim...

LEAVING CUZCO'S NEVER EASY Ah, Bolivia, what a great place; the friendly people, the floating islands on Lake Titicaca, La Paz (one of the highest cities in the world) and the famous salt lakes. Sadly, we never got to see these great sights as getting to Bolivia proved to be impossible for us as some pesky Peruvian protesters were blocking the road between Cuzco and Puno (near Lake Titicaca and the Bolivian border). This was pretty disappointing in itself but ev...

RUINED IN THE RUINS* Oh good, back at altitude again. After a few days of being able to breathe normally at sea level in Lima, the shuffling old couple were back again as we landed in Cusco, the impressive old Inca city surrounded by the Andes. Luckily we had a few days to acclimatise and explore the nearby Inca ruins, including one called Sexy Woman (actually Sacsayhuaman, but that is how it's pronounced, to everyone's amusement) which Duncan insisted on visiti...

PISSED ON PISCO SOURS….ME ENCANTA After having had some great insider tips on arrival in both Caracas and Bogota, we thought we were going to have to figure out Lima for ourselves. But as soon as we arrived at the Loki hostel in Miraflores (a Lima suburb), the girl behind the bar insisted that our first stop should be a local restaurant for ceviche, a Peruvian speciality. Ceviche is raw fish and seafood cooked only in lemon juice and served with red onion...