So after I last wrote we went off and caught a coach to Nazca, although it was an hour late leaving. That´s just Peruvian time-keeping for you! The coach journey was a bit disturbing due to films they choose to show. They were all really violent and because it was dark outside for most of the journey we were forced to watch them. We didn´t appreciate that but otherwise the journey was fine. We were delighted by our accommodation in Nazca. As everywhere else had been fully booked we had booked in a Peruvian chain called Casa Andina, and although it was cheap as chips in British money, it was great quality, and very spacious too. The next day I got my knickers in a right old knot over whether or not we should do a Nazca Lines flight. Obviously that´s really the whole point of going to Nazca, but on the Lonely Planet website it warned against doing it because in April four French tourists were killed, plus I found out that just two days before we were there a pilot had been forced to make an emergency landing. Eventually I decided it wasn´t worth the stress so chickened out and we went to look at a Nazca cemetery instead. It was really interesting, but after a while we realised we were just looking at dead bodies. The scenery around the cemetery was awesome though. There were desert mountains that reflected the amazing colours of the setting sun, and there was nothing else for miles around. Neither of us had ever been anywhere else like it. On the way back from the cemetery the tour took an unexpected detour to a ceramic and a gold workshop, which really annoyed us. We hadn´t been told that it was part of the trip and it was obvious that we wouldn´t be able to leave until one of us purchased something. Naughty. When we finally got back to Nazca we went to a planetarium to learn all about the Nazca Lines and their meaning, and we got to do some star-gazing too. The next morning we had quite a bit of faffing to do, and in the afternoon we caught a bus to Arequipa. The journey to Arequipa was long, but much better than our previous two coach journeys, as we travelled with a company called Cruz del Sur, who are obviously much better than Ormeño. We had hot dinners and much better films. We went up to some really high altitude points along the way, which caused my head to ache, but we actually felt fine when we got off the bus in Arequipa, even though it´s over 2500m above sea level. We both really liked Arequipa. It is very smart and clean, and quite European thanks to its ornate square and cathedral. We had some good meals there and even a good "Friday Starbucks" at a cafe called Cuzco Coffee Company. Unfortunately though we both got pretty ill there. I picked up some sort of flu thing that had me feeling hot and cold, gave me a massive headache and sore throat. We´re still not right now but we seem to be getting slowly better. On our first day in Arequipa we went to a museum that was all about an ice mummy that had been found in the mountains near Arequipa. She was an Inca who had been sacrificed to the gods and was special because she had been so well preserved by the ice on the mountain. It was really interesting, although seeing her was a little bit gross. The museum was really well put together too. We spent the rest of that day exploring Arequipa and chilling out a bit, as it was our first high altitude stop so it was important that we took it easy.

We spent the next day running errands and watching a parade, as we were in Arequipa during its annual festival. The following day was largely spent in bed as I was feeling like crap. We had moved to a really nice hotel by this point so it was fine to just chill there. I was a bit worried because we had booked to go on a trek to the Colca Canyon on the following day, and I currently felt like death warmed up. This wasn´t helped by the fact that I´d had a few crappy nights sleep, and then during that night was woken up at about 4.30am by an almighty alarm. I was convinced that it was an earthquake alarm and started panicking. I ran into reception a couple of times, trying to find someone to ask what it was, but there was no-one there. On the third occasion Dan came with me and we found a lady who told us it was just an alarm for the firemen and not to worry. I couldn´t get back to sleep then though, so by the time we got picked up for our trek at 8.30, I felt truly awful.

Off we went though, leaving Arequipa behind and climbing up high into the mountains. We stopped on top of the mountains to meet the local llama-type creature population, saw some amazing tree-like rock formations, and stopped at a point that was over 4,800m high up. It was freezing up there and we felt so ill anyway that it was hard to say if the altitude affected us or not. After stopping there we dropped down the mountain to a town called Chivay for lunch, before commencing our drive along the Colca Valley. It was beautiful, and the enormous mountains were covered in Inca terraces. Families in the area each have a piece of land on a terrace, which they use to grow food either to eat or to use when bartering with other locals. Nobody there farms to make money. They live there, and in much of Peru actually, as I imagine people in Britain did hundreds of years ago. They still wear traditional clothing, and live in traditional mud-brick houses. Very few of them have electricity and their day to lives are about existence, not improvement. It´s crazy that they live in this way while we live in such a modern, comfortable wasy.

In the afternoon we stopped at a place known as Cruz del Condor, where it´s easy to spot the bird commonly associated with Peru. We saw loads of there. They´re massive and very majestic. We were starting to get to know everyone in our group by now, and they were all a really lovely bunch. Once we´d walked around Cruz del Condor a bit we got back on our bus and headed to the hotel where we´d be spending the night. It was really nice and I was lucky to grab a hot shower, as there was no hot water the next morning, much to the rest of the group´s dismay.

I had another rubbish night sleep that night, and finally gave up on sleep when a cacophony of animal noises started up. Farmyard animal noises always seem so soothing until you hear them at six in the morning! We had an early breakfast and started out on our trek at 8am. Twenty minutes or so into it we started our descent down into the canyon, which is said to be the second deepest canyon in the world. It took us about 3.5 hours to get to the bottom, and the trek was extremely steep and hot. A few times donkeys and local kids ran past us, while we were all there hobbling our way down. For a large majority of the walk we could see the swimming pools of our campsite at the bottom of the canyon, glistening tantalizingly blue and cool. When we finally got down there and into our swimming gear, we discovered that the pools that had kept us going on our way down, were actually home to a large population of bugs, and bloody freezing! We all braved a few minutes in the pool just for the hell of it, then spent the rest of the day, eating, drinking, chilling and generally preparing for what we knew was going to be a nightmare of a trek early the following morning.

At 4.45am the next day, after a fabulous breakfast of pancakes, we began our huge ascent out of the canyon. It was dark for the first hour, so we all had to use head-torches to find our way. The path was steep and slippery, and it was extremely hard work. I hadn´t eaten properly for about four days at this point, so I had very little energy to draw on. To say that it was tough is a massive understatement. I really didn´t think I´d be able to do it, and thought they´d have to send a donkey down to rescue me. Finally, after three hours of hellish climbing, we made it to the top, where I collapsed in a heap in the dust. It was only 8am! After a second breakfast we all clambered our way into the van, extremely thankful for seats and water. We stopped at Cruz del Condor again, but this time we were far less enthusiastic about it. We popped out, looked at a condor, then hobbled our way back to the van. After that we made our way to some thermal pools, where we spent a blissful hour soaking our weary muscles in lovely warm water. Then after a much-deserved lunch we made our way back to Arequipa. Once we had all got back to our hotels and showered all the dust off ourselves, we all met up for dinner, and swapped notes on the rest of our time in Peru. Although the trek was really hard work, our guide Ellios was brilliant, and we´re really glad we did it. It also served as really good preparation for the Inca Trail, which our group warned us is even harder. Joy!

The day after that we caught a coach to Puno, which is on the banks of Lake Titicaca. The drive here took us through amazing mountains and lasted about six hours, so we didn´t have much time yesterday to do anything. We did have dinner at a really cool place called IncAbar though.

Today we made our way down to the port bright and early and caught a boat over to Uros Isles, or the "floating islands". They consist of a series of island that are made out of layers of reeds, and that float on the surface of the lake. Several hundred people still live out there, although they now have electricity and mobile phones, as we discovered when a guy who was explaining how houses were built on the island, stopped to take a call. That´s the 21st century for you!

I have babbled on for ages now so will sign out. I hope you´re all well and look forward to seeing you in four weeks.

Big hugs,

Lauz and Dan xx