First stop in Peru was visiting the Floating Islands in Lake Titicaca, which were so interesting and different. There are a large number of self made floating islands where the locals live. Though its now a popular tourist trap which takes away some of the authenticity of the islands but it was still worth seeing as its crazy to see and experience how they live.

In the morning we arrived in the beautiful town of Arequipa, we checked into Wild Rover hostel again because they literally have the best beds I have ever slept in. The hostel had a swimming pool, though you wouldnt dare go in it! It was really hot and sunny for a few hours everyday which was nice, especially after the three days of rain we had just experienced.

One night we treated ourselves to dinner at the highly recommended Zig Zag restaurant and it was worth every penny. We had a starter each, fresh bread with amazingn fresh dips, a main course each (we tried Alpaca for the first time-interesting taste, quite liked it though) and 2 glasses of wine each and including a tip (the service was incredible) the bill came to about 45 quid. Which is loads for Peru, though the standard, food quality and service would have made it at least a 100 pound meal at home, if not more.

We started the 3 day Colca Canyon trek at 3am the next morning. Sadly we didnt get to see any Condors at the famous Condor Cross stop, I think we were out of season. Though the 3 day tour was really great, it was very authentic, we slept in small stone huts with no electricity, we had to play cards using candles for light in our room. We passed local villages in the middle of the Canyon, saw so much fresh produce including avocados growing on the trees and learnt the traditions from the locals. Combined with beautiful views and lots of walking it was a great trip. On the afternoon of Day 2 you arrived at the Oasis down in the bottom of the valley, a beautiful but basic little resort with swimming pool and colourful gardens. We had an early night as it was a 5am start to climb the intense 1000m back to the top of the canyon. It was exhausting. So hard but a huge reward when you reached the top, the view was stunning. The clouds parted just as we arrived and the vista was incredible. We then walked through gorgeous flower beds to the little town and had a lovely breakfast. That night when we got back to Arequipa we jumped straight onto an overnight bus to Cusco. It was meant to take 10 hours but it took us 20! I woke up in the middle of the night as I was freezing and I looked outside to see we were stuck in the snow, a huge pile up of vehicles not moving anywhere. Such bad luck , it was one of the rare times Hayley and I didnt use as sleeping bag, we only had our sarongs and the coach was absolutely freezing! We finally arrived in Cusco the following afternoon. We had booked to stay at the Loki hostel, instead of Wild Rover for a change. The hotel was at the top of a steep hill but was in a beautiful building. The room was nice with a great view over the city. We had planned to party a lot in Cusco as we had heard so much about it but our hostel room was so cold every night after dinner we had to crawl into bed to keep warm and then both fell asleep til the next morning haha! Cusco was a beautiful city and we could see why people can spend weeks there learning spanish and going to the salsa classes. We explored the area and found some great spots for bargain Menu Del Dia's! 2 courses and a drink for under £3!! Then it was finally time, for our grand finale scenery and hiking adventure in South America...the infamous Machu Picchu! We decided to do the 4 day Jungle trek as the classic Inca walking trail needs to be prebooked months in advance which wasn't a realistic option for us. Day 1, we drove to 4000m and began to mountain bike down it, we were really looking forward to it after doing Death Road in Bolivia, but we got hit with freezing cold rain and haze, going downhill fast the rain felt like mini hailstones, it was hell. I have never been so cold, and unluckily for me the only gloves left were fingerless, so my fingers were going numb. By the time we had descended 3000m it finally started to warm up a bit so we could enjoy the scenery. The first night we spent in cabins overlooking the valleys it was beautiful, in the middle of nowhere. We had a good dinner and they gave us popcorn as a snack! The tiniest things can brighten up a backpackers day! Day 2 we spent a full day hiking, along ancient Inca trails, through the jungle and also through the open valleys. Day 3 we went zip lining across the valleys, so much fun! Then we walked for a few hours until we reached the natural hot springs by the river. Probably one of the most scenic hot springs I've visited. That night we stayed in Aquas Caliente, the town at the bottom of Macchu Picchu. A final early start, we woke up at 4.30am and had planned to walk up to the site, but it was horrendously raining so we decided to take the bus as we didnt feel like we were copping out because we had got tickets to climb Wayna Picchu at 7am anyway. Luckily once we got the the gates it stopped raining so we were able to enjoy Macchu Picchu. It was an incredible site, so high and surrounded by other mountains it was kind of surreal. We also trekked up to Wayne Picchu, it was a steep climb, but we hammered it in 35 minutes so we were pleased. To our dismay it was cloudy when we got to the top so we couldn't even see the ruins at first, but luckily after some time (we needed to get our breathe back anyway and eat some energy snacks) the clouds parted and we got the majestical view down on Macchu Picchu! We spent about 6 hours at the ruins, and it was so interesting to learn about the history and see where they used to live, though for me, what I liked best was the location, up in the middle of the mountains it was really misty and gave a unique feel to place, somewhat eerie in the morning! That afternoon we got the train back towards Cusco and then caught the bus the rest of the way (backpacker cheap option) we decided to move to our beloved "Wild Rover" hostel as there was another one in Cusco and we didn't like the vibe at the Loki as much. The next few days in Cusco we had some nights out, caught up with other traveler friends we had there and half attempted a salsa lesson. We explored the town in the day and found some great places to eat and people watch. We then decided rather than stay in Cusco any longer it was far too cold and we wanted some sun, so we headed towards Ica on the overnight bus. Huacachina is a small desert oasis about 10 minutes away from the city, we took a 'tuk tuk' to our hostel and it was located right by the oasis and the whole place, well tiny village you could say, surrounded by huge sand dunes, it was kind of surreal. It was so hot! Hayley was in her element and she was dying to top up her tan! I found a place in the shade and Hayley had the sun and we took our books down and just relaxed for a few days, it was perfect. We found this local restaurant where they had a deal for 10 Sols which is £2.50 and it was a starter and main and a small drink! BARGAIN! The food was great, we literally ate there every single day, sometimes twice a day, they grow avocados locally so it included a beautiful avocado salad for starters and Hayley loved the Chicken Saltado main course. The owners were really sweet and welcomed our daily visits. We spread the word to other backpackers at our hostel as the food was half the price of the hostel and so good! On our last full day we went on the sunset sandbuggy/sandboarding trip it was absolutely amazing. I felt like we were in a scene from Aladdin, the sky was perfect, the sand dunes were perfectly shaped and we had the front two seats and a crazy driver and it was exhilarating zooming over the dunes. We got to sandboard down about 6 or 7 dunes, I say board, most of us tried to stand up but went down on our asses. They told everyone to actually go down on your stomachs it was more fun, the last 3 dunes were so steep that no-one was allowed to try stand up anyway. It was so much fun, we could have done it all day long. The sun was setting, the colours were incredible. Such a great trip, well worth the money! Our last stop in Peru was in the capital city of Lima, we had organized couchsurfing with a girl called Denise who came and met us at the bus station. Denise was lovely and it was actually really nice to couchsurf with a girl, as previously it had been male hosts. It was fun to talk about girl things and share girly products. She lived with her dad and brother in a beautiful apartment in the trendy district of Miraflores. Her father was so sweet and every morning he would go and get fresh bread and orange juice and we would cook the eggs and sit down for a nice breakfast and talk. Denise knew a lot of history about her city so gave us a tour of the best markets and showed us the important buildings and some of the beautiful architecture. It was Denise's birthday when we were there so she invited us out for to this beautiful restaurant with her friends for her birthday meal, it was the poshest place we had been for a while and we felt kind of out of place as our budget could stretch to about the cost of two starters!! It was a nice evening though. We went shopping in Miraflores as we needed some basics like leggings and they were dirt cheap, also Hayley found two beautiful dresses she could wear in Miami! It was a really great few days in Lima and much better than we ever expected, we are so glad we decided to couchsurf as it was great to hang with Denise and her family as being with locals, especially in big cities is so great as you get to see the real highlights from the locals perspective. On the last morning we had mixed feelings, crazy to think our once in a lifetime packing trip through South America was actually over...so many incredible memories and experiences it felt like the time had flown, yet we were ready to get back and experience 'normal' living after so many months on the road. However we don't think we could have had a bigger contrast from Peru and our next stop...MIAMI, USA!!