I was hoping to upload photos, but the computer I´m using doesn´t have a CD thing! I´ve also just spent 2 hours writing about the last 10 days , then been unable to save the text, so fingers crossed!

I´ve been in the internet cafe all morning and only managed to upload half the photos I tried to, but there are 2 new albums. After all the problems with the chest infection and altitude sickness, I changed my plans and went to the Manu rainforest on Sunday 5th July, and got back yesterday evening. There were 6 of us in the group - a Dutch couple (he was 79, she was 56), 2 American sisters in their early 20´s, a Korean/Canadian girl and me, with an English gui...

I´ve just uploaded 3 new photo albums. I felt so much better in Urubamba that I rang my volunteer co-ordinator on the Sunday and told her I needed to come back to Cusco - after that, the day was even better! The breakfast bread was so good that I got the recipe from Juan the chef. The local beekeeper was still not around, so Juan took me to the hives in the El Huerto Paraiso orchards and we smoked the bees out and took out one of the panels - Juan cut a piece o...

Chinchero is a sprawling village, 3800m above sea level, about 15 miles from Cusco. Most of the people have a small patch of land, divided into tiny fields where thay grow maize, rye, oats and potatoes, and keep a few pigs, sheep or cows. The crops are harvested by hand; one person will harvest a field of grain with a reap hook, over several days, but a few people might work together to dig potatoes. Most of the women are weavers and are often to be seen spinning...

A good start to my week in Cusco - cold water in the shower because the gas had run out! (Later in the week there was no water at all for a few hours; apparently this happens quite often.) I had 3 hours of practical Spanish lessons every day Monday to Friday, walking around the town with a lovely woman called Hilda, who gradually told me her story. The lessons were arranged through an organisation called FairPlay, who work mainly with single mothers, training th...