I apologise now for the lateness of this entry, and in advance for the quality, although I should have done so for every one of them. I have been far too relaxed and to be honest a bit spaced our from all the sunbathing here in Mancora, our place to rest and prepare for the year ahead... Barranca was fun. We stayed in a sleazy hotel and had Chinese for dinner every night, and visited the 5000 year old "pyramids". After this we got the bus to Trujillo, ...

After another day of chilling in Arequipa, partly enforced by a bus strike, we took ourselves out to the Colca Canyon, the deepest canyon in the world. We opted to take the public bus instead of a tour. Not on the basis of cost, just because throughout the year we've consistently found it more fun to be on our own. Ahhh. This meant we started in Chivay, the capital of the region and where the tours normally finish. We didn't really see much of the famous canyon...

The road from Rurre to La Paz was interesting, and partly scary. We passed through jungle terrain reminiscent of Asia, with thatched huts and washing hanging on lines providing some alternative colours to green. But at some points the road is so dusty that the surrounding vegetation, buildings and everything is orange, brown or grey depending on the colours of the dirt on the road. Its amazing how the vegetation can survive, and weird to look at. In La Paz we di...

Just got back to La Paz from Rurrenabaque which lies 18 hrs of death road north, in a warm tropical lowland jungle region. I'm happy to say we arrived in one piece this morning. You really can see why those roads are so infamous. it was probably the most scary bus journey we'll be making. Our nerves weren't calmed by the driver's selection of DVD entitled "Disaster Movies".We watched the terrible 'Perfect Storm' and then just before falling asleep 'Ali...

Well obviously we both made it. We´re now in Coroico, enjoying the warmth at last. On Tuesday at 7am Lawrence set off to climb Huayna Potosi, which is a 6088m mountain with glacier. I did not fancy it at all, and was very happy to stay in La Paz instead. But I was slightly worried about Lawrence, who had been ill for the last 3 days and had not absorbed any nutrients in this time. We tried to postpone it, but they would not change the date or refund the money s...