Well, it's been a while since I've posted an entry for 2 main reasons: as my trip enters the last quarter I'm feeling the pressure of time and I have speeded up somewhat and don't seem to have half as much down time. Secondly, I've been travelling with a group of friends and it feels rather antisocial to sit tapping away on the laptop whilst in their company. It may not seem this way when you read them, but writing was never my strong point and the blog entries & photos take quite some time to compose.

Last time I wrote I was on my way to Lima. As anticipated the journey did take more than the expected 18 hours and was closer to 20 as the road was closed for a couple of hours due to an accident on the ahead of us. Lima is another hectic and in places grimy South American capital, but where Bogota and Quito for me lack any finesse, Lima I found much nicer on my whistle-stop visit. Admitedly we were staying in the Miraflores area which seemed like the Didsbury of Lima with plenty of nice places to eat and stay and some high end property there, but I also liked the centre. Kim, Anna (2 Kiwi girls I met in Mancora) and I visited San Francisco monastery with its fantastically preserved 17th century library that reminded me of the Cemetry of Forgotten Books from the book Shadow of the Wind. Sadly we weren't permitted to take photos of it. Beneath the monastery we visited the catacombs which used to be the city's burial place. I bid farewell to the girls who were taking a detour on the way to Cusco which was to be my next destination and I spent the rest of the afternoon the wandering the streets around the centre taking it all in, and overall, I liked the feel of the place. Chilled out in the hostel that evening and got chatting football with an Irish Liverpool fan, although being from Cork he also thinks that Roy Keane is a hero, but didn't manage to get the intended early night before my flight the following morning.

Arriving in Cusco, at 3350m from coastal Lima was a shock to the system, not helped by only 3 hours in bed before my 05:30 flight, and I had to go straight to bed when I checked in at the hostel in Cusco. The nap did little to help me acclimatise and even climbing one set of stairs left me feeling breathless with a racing heart and generally pretty sick, so it was at a snail's pace that I wandered around the beautiful cobbled streets and whitewashed buildings of Cusco that afternoon. The other issue to deal with in Cusco was once the sun went down, the temperature dropped significantly, hat and scarf were necessary and the fireplace in the hostel's common room was more than welcome.

The next day Kim (the South African Kiwi) and Gill & Rich arrived in Cusco and we were reunited just in time to see the pre-festival preparations for the Feria de la Virgin de Natividad. This festival celebrates the birthday of the Virgin of Nativity and her statue moves from one district in the town to another, accompanied by a procession of lots of groups in various traditional and more 'interesting' dress dancing and playing music. The day before the actual festival most of the groups have a practice around the town's main square, to be honest I couldn't see that much difference to the proper festival the day afterwards, but never the less it was great sitting on the balcony of a cafe above the square as they filed past. That night Kim & I treated ourselves to a slap up dinner in a place that had been recommended by a girl at the hostel. It was extravagant by Peruvian standards, but in total cost less than £20 for a cocktail, a great steak with wine and the decor of the place was incredible: baths filled with water and fish with a glass top served as tables, amazing artwork, chandeliers, animal print cushions on beds for seats, all very glam for 2 backpackers even if it did feel a bit like we were on a date!

Some of the guys who worked at the hostel invited us to join them to walk up to a hill above the city where there are some ruins and a statue of Christ. I was glad that the locals were just as out of breath as we were, it's amazing how much the altitude affects what should have been an easy walk. The oxygen deprivation was worth it however with great views across the city.

The four of us )Kim, Rich, Gill and I) booked our trip to Machu Picchu, there are various ways to see Machu Picchu and we opted for the jungle trek option which consisted of a day biking, 2 days trekking to Aguas Calientes, the small town at the bottom of the hill on which the ancient city of Machu Picchu sits and then the hike up to Machu Picchu on the last day before taking the train and a bus back to Cusco.

Day 1 started with a beautiful drive into the Sacred Valley and up even further to an altitude of 4600m where we were dropped off by the van on a rather cold and damp road and started our 45km mountain bike. I say mountain biking, yes there were mountains and we were on bikes, but the end point was at 1300m altitude so the majority of the day was spent coasting down through the valley towards Santa Maria, our first night's stay. There were a couple of off road spots, but that was only because the road turned into a dirt track at times, so whilst it might not have been the toughest challenge it was great fun flying down the road. On arrival at Santa Maria we had the option of going rafting in the river, and Kim and I decided that we'd give it a go. As it was dry season there was a slight concern that it might be a bit tame. When we got down to the river a British couple were also coming along for the ride and the 4 of us had our briefing as to what we needed to do. During the negotiation for the rafting as the main Spanish speaker in our group, I was the one who'd tried to bargain for a discount and was placed at the front of the boat by the guide. This was not accidental, about half way through I turned round to check on the rest of the team, and realised that he'd navigated the boat through the rapids steering us so that I took the brunt of the water, Kim at that point had completed dry hair whist I was sporting the drowned rat look! We managed our way down some rapids that were certainly tricky enough for me. Mark, the only guy in the boat (apart from the guide) fell in and whilst I don't think he was ever in real danger and the guide was totally in control of the situation I don't think I'd have fancied doing it in the wet season, we had to paddle pretty hard as it was.

On day 2 I had been outvoted by the group to start the day with a 15 minute bus ride thus avoiding an hour and a half's walk along a road, I wanted to walk, but on the plus side it did give us a lie in on a soggy morning. So we started our trek with an uphill slog, straight into the cloud forest, if day one had been a gentle start, this really got the blood pumping! Once the path flattened out and we trekked along a narrow path hugging the mountain side, the path was an old Inca trail. Whilst our trip wasn't on the official Inca Trail, there are a number of trails in the area, and this was one of them. The benefit of taking this route was that we only saw 2 other groups on the 2 days we were walking, in fact we hardly saw anybody which was part of the attraction of it for me. We stopped at a restaurant in the middle of nowhere for a much needed lunch and a short nap in the hammocks before setting off again and dropping down to the river to follow it's path up to Santa Teresa. To get across the river we had to negotiate a metal trolley that was suspended from a cable and was pulled across from side to side, I'm not sure at first sight that I would have really trusted it to carry my backpack, never mind me and another person, but we all managed to get across without incident, even the 6'5" Dutch guy and the not so skinny guide together in one load! The treat at the end of 8 hours walking on day 2 was a dip in the natural hot springs at Santa Teresa which was blissful, with a view of the river and mountains finishing off the setting beautifully. Another 45 mins walk up to the village and it was dark by the time our weary legs got us to our second night's accommodation.

Day three saw us following the river on the dried river bed until we reached the village of Hidroelectrica, the location of a hydroelectric plant which apparently produces enough energy for the whole of the Cusco region. From there our walk up to Aguas Calientes was along the railway track - a special treat for me after 9 months away from Network Rail! Actually, whilst I haven't thought about work that much on this trip, it was really interesting to see, and would have liked to have seen someone who could have answered the few technical questions I had. The rest of the group were also surprisingly interested in the track too, and we had a little lesson in Railway Engineering as we wandered along the tracks. The strangest part was that the railway was open to traffic, so whilst in the UK you need to sit a 2 day course, take a test and get certificated to go on the track, and then you must wear Hi Vis gear, here we were, 6 tourists and the guide tramping all over it without a care in the world! Actually it did bother me slightly, especially when we walked through the tunnel, which on our railway at home would be a definite no-no whilst trains could be running, I was most uncomfortable and listening intently for the sound of rail joints clattering under a train. Obviously we were fine, and none of the others gave it a second thought, but I suppose the safety conditioning over the last 13 years has worked, it didn't feel right to me! Our soggy party arrived in Aguas Calientes and checked into our hotel, got an early night ready for the 4.30 start the following morning.

The route up to the ruins from Aguas Calientes is a path that zig zags up the hill with hundreds, well probably thousands of steps. The biggest disappointment was that when we got to the top, there was only one queue, so those visitors who'd 'cheated' and taken the bus up were in the queue ahead of us. We think there should have been a queue for the bus tourists and a priority entry for the walkers! Four of our group had also reserved to go up Huaynapicchu, the peak behind the ruins, entry to which is limited to 200 people per day. It seemed like a good idea when we booked the trip, however at 7am which was our allotted entry time, and after the hike up to the ruins, the last thing I wanted to do at that time was walk up more bloody steps. However, it was worth the effort, sitting atop the rocks at the peak, as the clouds cleared to give us the view we'd worked for of the surrounding mountains and Machu Picchu below, it was simply breathtaking. That was what this is all about and why I'm privileged to be doing what I am doing. Once we went down from Huaynapicchu we met up with the other two and our guide for a guided tour of the ruins. For whatever reason the Incas chose the site and abandonded the city, one thing can be sure, they liked a room with a view! Having walked all the way up it seemed fitting to walk down again, and even though it was raining, hard, we were happy drowned rats as we plodded back into town for a long lunch before the train ride later that evening. We got back to Cusco late that night and had fantastic hot showers before climbing wearily into bed - in the comfiest beds of the trip so far, very good timing.

The plan was for Kim, Rich, Gill and I to head on an overnight bus to Bolvia the following night, so after a day perusing the many shops selling Peruvian wares, Kim and I went for dinner with the Dutch couple we'd done the trek with, Eric our hostel manager and a French guy we'd met on the way back from Machu Picchu. Kim and I were in a celebratory mood, and after our first drink decided that we weren't going to get the bus, even though we'd checked out of the hostel and got our bus tickets, but that we were going to stay another night - I suppose that was one benefit of being with the hostel manager, we sorted out checking in again without problem! It ended up being a really fun night and we were glad that we'd changed our plans last minute, the best ones usually are the unplanned ones right?!

A day later than planned, Kim and I and the Dutch couple from the trek were ready to head off for Bolivia leaving behind Peru which for me had been a really fascinating and varied visit; beach, mountains, cities, trekking. I didn't manage to try the Peruvian delicacy of Cuy, (Guinea Pig) not that it looked particularly appetising to me, but when in Rome. But time's was ticking and it was now time to see what landlocked Bolvia had to offer....