Ok guys, it's been a while but we've been on the move alot recently.

Since we last updated we've been in Arequipa, Colca, Nazca, Huacachina, Pisco, Lima and we're now in Huanchaco.

Arequipa was a lovely city, it's Peru's second city, after Lima, and they call it the white city. Very pretty. We arrived late evening and just went out for a meal in the plaza and a few drinks afterwards to celebrate Kate and Chris' birthdays. We had a fairly early start the next morning for a very long drive to Colca where we would see the condors over the canyon, or atleast we hoped we would, there is actually only a 50% chance of a sighting, and after such a long drive (6 hours out of our way) we would have been a little bit annoyed had we not been lucky enough to see any. We arrived at the hotel and some of us went on an hours long hike up a hill and were a bit disappointed when we realised there wasn't actually a point to it, there wasn't even much of a view, and the tour guide just turned us around and we walked down again. Great. Atleast we got some excercise. We then had dinner and had to amuse ourselves for the evening as we were literally in the middle of nowhere, so our tour guide, Todd, enjoyed himself making a log burning fire in the communal area of the hotel, and we played charades. Very entertaining I assure you.

The next morning we drove to Colca Canyon and kept our fingers crossed for seeing some Condors. We got really lucky and saw LOADS. They came really close aswell, not too close for comfort though. The pictures are pretty rubbish though, it was packed full of tourists and you couldn't take a picture without some rude person sticking their head in it. Never mind. We were a bit disappointed with how little of the canyon we saw though and how long we stayed considering we drove so far for it. We were on our way backto Arequipa by 10.00am. Once we got back to Arequipa we were going to go and see the monastry but it was close to closing and the entrance fee was high so we went to see "Juanita the Ice Maiden" instead. She was an Inca child who was sacrificed to the Gods on the Andes, along with three other children, but her body fell from its resting place and has been preserved in ice for centuries. We were shown a video of the history, and lots of other artefacts before seeing her. Her hair is still perfect and everything. It was really fascinating. We didn't have dinner with the group tonight, Gem and I got a really cheap pizza, and we got on a Cruz Del Sur (very fancy bus) overnight to Nazca.

Our day in Nazca, reeeally just involved sunbathing by the pool, and then a movie night, with a TV dinner, with the group. Oh and we bumped into Raegan and Jessica from our Lares Trek group, very random. Very nice to relax actually, especially after a night bus. We got 'American Cars' the next day, stopping along the way to climb the viewing tower to see the Nazca lines. It was a really old rickety staircase and Gem was a bit nervous, particularly coming down, but it was cool to see the lines. They're sort of the Inca equivalent to crop circles, designs drawn on the dessert, but they can only be seen from the sky so there are lots of wild theories about how they got there. We continued on in the cars to Huacachina, and oasis in the desert where we went sandboarding. We were driven around at top speeds over the dunes in a big buggy and got that true rollercoaster feeling, before trying our hand at the boarding. We did most of the hills on our stomachs, but braved the last one on our feet. Gem was pretty good, and I...got down in a very unique fashion. We didn't stop smiling today, definately one of our highlights so far.

The rest of the day in Huacahina was spent by the pool, before a 50 minute bus to Pisco which was a bit of a shocker. It was devestated by an earthquake in 2007 and the whole city was made homeless, they all still live in a giant shanty town, and are trying to rebuild their lives slowly but surely. It was sad to see people living in such poverty, more so because we knew that two years ago, life hadn't been that way for them at all. We ate dinner in the hotel that night, as there were no other restaurants, and set off the next morning to the Ballestos Islands, which are compared to the Galapagos, but it was the worst experience of my life. A few lovely penguins and Sealions, but to be honest, just a big barren rock with thousands and thousands of birds. It was a case of fleece over head...ipod in...eyes closed, and don't think about it. I can see why it would have been nice though.

Next stop was Lima, the capital, where we just had two days exploring at our leisure. Sadly I spent most of the time ill in bed but Gemma felt like she really got to know it and gave me a whistle stop tour once I felt better. We also went to a very fancy shopping centre in Mira Flores and were very tempted to blow all our money on new clothes, but we remained strong, plenty of time for that in LA.

We're now in Huanchaco, a little beach town with literally nothing to do other than go on the beach. We were very excited about this and were looking forward to sunbathing and maybe getting a surf lesson in, but it wasn't meant to be. First off the weather isn't that great, it's nice, but not bikini weather, but secondly, we have come to realise that we share everything on this trip: rooms, bathrooms, food, GERMS. So obviously Gemma was destined to get what I had and spent the day in bed. Thankfully we weren't missing anything. So now we're gonna go for some very fresh fish, that's right people, the fish is so good here, even I'm eating it, and we're gonna go back to the room and watch one tree hill. We're off to Mancora tomorrow, another beach/surf town, and we hear the weather is great there, so we're very excited. Fingers crossed for us.

Thanks for all the messages, we love them. Keep us in the loop about what's going on at home. Miss you all! xxx