ParacasFrom Huacachina we travelled up to Paracas, a seaside town near Pisco. Paracas is really small and is where the desert meets the sea. The first afternoon we took a tour around the national park. Some spectacular beaches, of all different colours due to the minerals in the area. The next day we took a trip out to the Ballestas islands, which lie about 12 miles off the coast and are the home of thousands of birds. The sky is literally covered by birds. We go...

We travelled from Lima to Ica and from there to the nearby desertoasis of Huacachina. This is a little village built around an oasis inthe giant sand dunes near Ica. Its the first real oasis Ive seen andis a very strange site. Its featured on the back of the 50 soles notetoo (see pics for details.) We only spent one night here and the mainpurpose of our visit was to do some sandboarding. We took a sandbuggyout to the biggest dunes, which was like being in a roll...

Puno/Lake TitcacaWe travelled to Puno for the sole purpose of visiting Lake Titicaca,the highest (and one of the biggest) lakes in the world. The town ofPuno itself is situated on the shore and doesn´t offer much in its ownright. We spent two days and one night on the lake. On day one wevisited the floating island of Uros, an artificial island whereeverything (boats, chairs, houses and the island itself) are made fromthe rushes that grow in the lake. From ther...

The Inka Trail runs along the Sacred Valley of the Urubamba River between Cusco and the abandoned city of Machu Picchu. We left Cusco at 6am on day 1. We got the bus to the point known as KM 88 crossing the Urubamba river on a footbridge at 2200 m. The first ruin we came across was Llactapata which we observed from a height. Day one was relatively easy (about 14km hike) with and we all got to the first campsite without too much hassle. Day 2 was a different sto...

Cusco, the ancient capital of the Inca Empire and gateway to the Inka trail and Machu Picchu. We arrived in Cusco from Lima travelling from sea level to 3300 meters above, in a one hour plane ride. The first couple of days were spent acclimatising before the Inka trail, and boy did we need it. We were staying in a lovely family house on top of a hill. Not a particularly big hill but it was killler for the first few days due to the altitude. Sleeping and eating we...