KATIE Welcome to Cusco, a really beautiful and extremely uplifting place to be - quite literally, at 11,000ft altitude! Have tried the local coca tea and it´s actually very nice, it´s about time I got some more I think! Not doing too badly with the altitude at the moment, bit of a headache but not too bad so making sure we´re drinking lots of water and as I mentioned, having lots of things with coca in it! We have a really good group for the tour, met them al...

JAMES We have made it to Lima - the first time in the Southern Hemisphere for either of us! Having driven through some proper Florida rain on the way to Miami airport yesterday, and judging by the look of the sky as we were waiting to board, we wondered whether we were in for another bumpy ride. In fact though, it was a pretty good flight, the near horizontal position of the Peruvian lady in front notwithstanding! Got ripped off for a taxi to the hotel though -...

KATIE What have we done since arriving on Monday? Well, Miami was very cool, loved the Art Deco buildings and nice buzz in the evening. Enjoyed the beach too the next morning for a few hours - although didn't enjoy quite so much the sight of a rather overzealous bronzed man wearing a far too small and inappropriate thong with a lovely pink satin pouch!!! You will see the photo to prove it when we can get some photos uploaded! Saw a very cute racoon on an Evergl...

KATIE As James said, we got back today from Jo and Jim's wedding which was fantastic, a really lovely day and great to catch up with James' family before heading off. We also had a lovely evening with my family tonight (11 of us - seem to be growing in numbers by the day!), and had an exceptionally good home cooked goulash which is the sort of thing we'll be missing when we're away! As you can see from the photo we're all packed up and ready to go (or so we ho...

JAMES It is the night before we set off, everything is packed, the house is pretty much sorted, we have said our farewells, and my thoughts have now turned to the trip ahead. I have been thinking about all the places we are going to visit and all the sights we will see, what the highlights might be, what I will miss about England, and what I won't! Highlights - where to start? There are going to be so many! 3 days trekking in Peru culminating at Machu Picchu at...