We arrived in Puno on the edge of Lake Titicaca, the world's highest navigable lake at nearly 4000 metres high, last night at 8pm. When the sun goes down the temperature drops to near freezing due to the altitude, but in the day it's hot enough to tan. Luckily our hostel organises day trips, buses over the boarder, as well as change money, so this morning we took a trip to the floating reed islands before tomorrow when we head off to Copacabana, Bolivia. ...

We arrived in Arequipa, not too far from the Bolivian border (well 6 hours) two days ago. The city is a step in the right direction from Pisco, as it's really pretty, safe and the food is good. They even have a KFC and Pizza Hut (when the national dish is guinea pig you're thankful for such things)! The first day we visited Juanita, the ice mummy who was sacrificed to appease the mountain Gods five hundred years ago. She was found ten years ago on the top...

After sickness and a few more Inca ruins around Cuzco, we headed to Nazca in the hope that we would get our appetites back. The altitude played havoc and we were ill every day in Cuzco pretty much. The overnight bus got us to Nazca at about 8am, where we headed straight for the airport to fly over the Nazca lines, ancient lines which were said to be made by pre-Incan people called the Nazcas. The lines are made by removing sun-darkened rock from the ground...

After meeting our guides Victor and Edson last night, this morning we headed off at 6am to start what proved to be both the best and toughest thing we've ever done. The journey began with the fifteen of us and the two guides eating breakfast overlooking the Sacred Valley of the Incas. Next we headed off to the 82km mark (not sure why it's called that as we only walked 49km to Machu Picchu) to start the Inca Trail, after a quick stop off to buy our walking s...

After a days travel we were pretty exhausted. The company who we chose to do the Inca Trail with picked us up from the airport and dropped us at our hostel. Cuzco is the oldest inhabited city in the Americas, and is 3600 metres above sea level. The guidebook told us to expect altitude sickness, consisting of loss of appetite, sickness, diarrhoea and headaches, and to take it seriously because it can be life threatening if your lungs fill with fluid. Nic...