We´re back! We found an internet cafe that would let us in!

So I guess we should tell you what we´ve been up to...

First off, we met the rest of our group who are all really nice and we´ve all bonded over our many challenges (more on these to come!)

We are now proud to say that we have both completed the Inca Trail - hoorah! For those of you who dont know what this is, it´s a 4 day trek in the Andes at extremely high altitudes which ends at Macchu Picchu, the lost city of the Incas. Although it was difficult, and the altitude made walking even a small way difficult at first, the views were amazing and definetly worth the effort.

Fortunately for us lazy westerners, a group of porters carry your stuff the whole way. which doesn´t seem a lot until you realise it is tents for about 25 people, food, cooking equipment, chairs, tables, everything you could need! And we´re not talking a light snack, evening meals were always three courses and delicious (with lots of veggie choice!), we had popcorn and tea at regular intervals and huge breakfasts every day! In fact, we think we put on weight on the tour, despite all the walking!!

Highlights of the trek itself were reaching Dead Woman´s Pass, a literally breathtaking 4200m above sea level, where we were greeted by a snowman!! Unfortunately, having triumphed over this mountain we had to walk down thousands of steps on the other side. In the pouring rain. Fun! The third day we walked through the cloud forest, which is basically rainforest, which was beautiful. And we saw many an Inca ruin on the way! In fact, we never want to see another Incan ruin again...

The finale of the trek is of course Macchu Picchu. On the 4th day we woke up at 4am to be first through the checkpoint onto the final hour of the trail. This meant standing for half an hour in the dark waiting for the checkpoint to open - fools! We then practically ran through the forest to reach the Sun Gate, where we were to see spectacular views of the ruins. Or so we hoped. The rain had set in and we could hardly see each other, let alone the ruins! We were all very depressed and only the promise of a sandwich once we arrived at Macchu Picchu could cheer us up....and it was a very good sandwich!

Once the rain had cleared Macchu Picchu was every bit as spectacular as the photos, and getting up so early meant we got there before the hoardes of ´lazy´tourists who had got the bus there. The sight of them all clean and nonsweaty made us want to beat them with our walking sticks!

South America being what it is, the train company had cancelled our carriage on the train back from Macchu Picchu to Cusco, so we had an unscheduled night in Aguas Calientes (basically the modern town for Macchu Picchu), but this did mean we got free meals as it wasn´t our fault - score!

The next day on the way back to Cusco we visited more Inca ruins (overjoyed, more steps!) but most excitingly a llama farm! By this point we were all a bit hysterical about llamas - too many early mornings! We got to feed the really cool llamas and alpacas but some got cross and spat at us! We also visited an ´inca inn´ where we tasted some delicious(!) inca beer, strawberry flavoured! its made of corn (everything in Peru is!) and you have to tip your first drink on the floor (not all of it...) to praise the mother earth god or something....

Next we were off to the Peruvian Amazon, a journey which involved a flight, a weird bus journey and a motorised canoe (very unstable looking!). The lodge we stayed in was absolutely gorgeous, with individual bungalows - ours was called Hormiguero which means giant anteater! On the first day we went to visit Monkey Island, which was, unsurprisingly, full of monkeys! On this island the monkeys are protected, but they have learned to love the humans who bring them bananas, see pics! They especially loved Jess....

That evening we went caiman spotting in the river - K was very afraid! But the caiman were very cool, the guide guy swept a big floodlight over the river which picked out their glowing red eyes.....

Next day a 5am start for a jungle walk. Having gained a reputation for being a group who like to walk we were treated to the long walk of 13K, all before lunch! We saw loads of cool stuff in the jungle, the pictures will tell you more, but highlights were- blue morpho butterflies with wingspans of 15cm, a big red squirrel, loads of cool parrots, a tarantula, and.... an ananconda!!

That afternoon we spent napping in hammocks - ´best nap ever´ says Jess!

Now we are back in Cusco after narrowly escaping another unscheduled stop over due to a lot of rain in the rainforest! Tomorrow we have a 7hr bus ride to Puno, from where we will visit Lake Titicaca to stay with native indians who dont speak English or Spanish (wish us luck!) before making our way to La Paz in Bolivia.