From Lima we travelled to Santiago, the capital of Chile. Got to the place we had booked at the crack of dawn. After banging on the door for 5 minutes we were let in and shown to our room by this really odd Chilean guy wearing just a pair of boxer shorts and a pair of obviously odd socks. The room wasnt any better and Lisa was appalled by the facilities. So, after an arguement over the state of the place (the guy was mortified that we thought that this s*** ...

Here in Lima, in darkest Peru and home of Paddington Bear. Closest sighting was a tramp with a PB book. Will keep looking. Arrived on Saturday, having heard nothing but negative reports about the place. Good in a way because it has been a real surprise. Plenty of dodgy characters around wanting to separate you from your posessions and security guards with guns on the doorway of all hotels and even the smallest of shops remind you that there are a few crims o...

Our final stop before Lima was Pisco, about 100 miles south of the capital. Bloody awful place with no redeeming features. The only reason for coming was to visit the Ballestos Islands, dubbed the poor man's Galapagos. Standard fare - a few hours on a boat to some sanctuary out at sea. Saw the usual - plenty of seals (or is it sea lions?) and birds (big and small - sorry Grandad all those bird watching lessons were wasted). The treats of the trip were the pe...

A bus journey through the night brought us to Nasca, a town situated in the desert to the west of the Andes. The town had nothing to offer until aircraft noticed strange formations on the desert floor in the 1950s. These were then investigated by some crazy German woman (saw the photos, she looks it) over a period of 50 years and have been plotted, modelled, restored slightly, preserved (although not before a tarmac highway was built through the middle of ...

We were only in Arequipa for half a day so we hurridley went around the sites. Mainly the Juanita Museum and the beautiful Santa Catalina Convent. Juanita was a young girl who was sacrificed to the Gods as part of her culture around 500AD. She was buried at the top of a mountain after having her skull brutally fractured by a heavy blow to the head. As soon as they did this, they buried her and she immediately froze as she was on a glacier. Because of this, ...