We landed in Dallas just before 9am and made our way through an interesting new electronic immigration system - but having checked in with the system we did not have to collect our baggage which was routed all the way to London. Having cleared customs and immigration we went back through security and to the American Airlines lounge where we got ourselves on the shower list - we had to wait a while but it was worth it - clean fresh and human again we had a relaxing day in the lounge - I had a short foray for some retail therapy and bought 2 really nice shirts ( 70% off if you bought 2 - a bargain) and John went to Starbucks to get our Cusco tipple of two caramel macchiatos - success. We finally boarded our flight to London just before 5 PM - homeward bound.
Conclusion:-
Highlights:
The wildlife on the Ballestas islands and in the Amazon.
Visiting the Uros people and seeing how they live on the reed islands of Lake Titicaca.
Seeing Macchu Pichu - a wonder of the world and learning more about the Incas.
Our fellow travellers -without whom the lowlights would have been awful!
Biggest achievement:
Completing the Moonstone Trek and understanding what it is like to walk at altitude - small steps achieve far more than sea level strides!
Lowlights:
The long distances and long days in the bus - amazingly tiring.
Seeing too many ruins and churches - not my favourite things - but I did learn some things which I took as a plus.
The bugs that went around the bus - the members of the Imodium club were a happy if distressed band and I had a cold/ throat infection before I left the UK and another on the trip -so I should be set fair now for several months. I am sure the Moonstone trek would have been easier without a blocked nose - oxygen was difficult enough to get in without an additional hurdle.
Food - good and healthy - but the impact of altitude really does curb your appetite which has a positive impact on your waistline....even if if it puts more stress on your lungs.
I never felt like doing exercise - so I am not sure if I could ever live at altitude permanently - it's quite debilitating until you get really used to it.
Peru was a once in a lifetime experience - I am glad I have been but I wouldn't yearn to go back - it was hard travel and I need a holiday to get over it!!
(Today's photo is of a young girl and her alpaca - keen to get her sol for a photo - indeed she tried unsuccessfully to get me to pay twice!)