We arrived into Lima late afternoon, after a lenghty but scenic drive along the Pan American Highway which clings to the Pacific coastline. We did the usual check in, did some bookeeping and paperwork to ensure everything was in order for the next leg of our trip, and met up with everyone for a farewell dinner. Lima is a massive city, which suffers from all the problems of big cities. We spent the evening at a restaurant perched on a cilff overlooking the sea. It...

Another long drive which lasted most of the morning, took us through somewhat unremarkable desert. Eventually we arrived in the desert oasis town of Ica. We stopped for lunch, enjoying their famous paella. After lunch we split into two groups and jumped on some sand dune buggies. These took us on an exhilarating ride through the desert. Being driven over sand dunes at such high speed, with no idea of what was on the other side was fantastic and at times a somewha...

The bus journey started very well. We were all overawed by the quality of the bus we were travelling on. It was more like business class in an aeroplane than a bus. That said it would turn out to be the worst bus journey of the whole trip. Not due to the bumpy road, we arrived on schedule and even the food they served us was palatable. No, we had on our bus the Peruvian snoring champion decided to showcase his ability for the whole 11hours. I have never ever ever...

In an attempt to bring this blog up to speed, I will try and finish the rest of South America as quick and lucidly as possible. I appologise for the digression from my traditional style! Our flight departed Cusco mid morning and by early afternoon we had touched down in Arequipa, Peru's 'white' city. So called, because the old town square and surrounding buildings are constructed almost entirely of the white volcanic rock that is found on the nearby volcano of El...

We crawled out of bed as the 4am alarm sounded. Moving as slowly as our aching bones we allowed, we took breakfast in a semi lucid state. My first true memories of the day don't really get going until about 5am, and so I shall begin from there. Almost as much has been said of the beuaty and mystique of Machu Picchu as has been said about the swarms of tourists which supposedly devalue this specail site. We were aiming to catch the first bus up to the ruins at 5am...