well, we finally have chance to update the blog and photos. Yesterday James and I woke up in the Amazon jungle, it was supposed to be an early start so I asked James to wake me at 5.30am. I felt a tug on my arm and the mosquito net parted, I mumbled "is it 5.30 already", then there was some activity on my stomach and groin, I looked down, thinking James had been away from home for too long, to discover a black woolly monkey had decided to sleep on my crotch. Once I had dealt with him it was off on the boat for some wildlife spotting. That was the end of 5 days in the Jungle. However the blog has not been written up since NZ.. so here goes. We picked up the Campervan in Christchurch and started our drive down the south island. The van was a monster at 6.6m long with a shower and toilet, which we never used in 26 days because neither of us wanted to clean it out!! so we stayed in camp sites most of the time that had toilet and shower facilities. We drove south to Mount cook but unfortunatly the mist was bad and we could barely make out the mountain. so we continued to Dunedin to spot penguins.. which were a bit of a dissapointment as there were only about 10 and they were tiny. We drove along some beautiful scenery that constantly changed from snow covered mountains to rolling green hills to beaches. Most of the towns were like ghost towns. We drove to Milford Sounds which was amazing. Then we hit Queenstown. This place really is the action town of the world. We did a canyon swing which involved jumping (bungee style) 60m to reach terminal velocity then being pulled into a 150kph swing through the Canyon. Awesome. Then we went up in a stunt plane and pulled 6g and negative 3g (Topgun style). That was a pretty good day. We then headed to Wanaka for some skiing action but due to high winds the slopes were closed other than a 200m beginner slope. So as we had the gear we decided to hit that . James decided it was too easy with both skis and tried just one with hilarious results to start but then he got it , he still looked like a lunatic but atleast was not falling over (that much). We went to see Franz Josef Glacier but again it was too foggy to see.. We also went to Hamner springs and chilled out there and then drove further north towards the ferry crossing at Picton. We stopped in Blenheim for a night out.. It was a bit inbred and like a school disco but the people were great and we had a really good night. We caught our ferry which cost us a fortune due to the size of our campervan.. Could have flown for a fraction of the price!! Annoyed!. We arrived in Wellington to more rain. We drove up to the volcanoes but the mist was covering them so again annoyed. We arrived in Rotorua and went to the hot springs and sulphur pools. We then went to Waitomo caves which was awesome. it involved an abseil into a cave system then tubing or black water rafting through them.. pitch black with glow worms on the ceiling lighting the way. then we had to pothole and cave are way back. then rock climb out of the cavern. A brilliant day. We flew from Auckland to Santiago at lunchtime, after an 8 hour flight we arrived in Chile but it was 9am local time so we had to stay up again all day. We decided to have a night out which finished at 5am.. we walked into a bar and every one seemed well drunk as it was a public holiday but it was only 6pm. So we decided to not draw attention to ourselves by ordering some local drink (wine with icecream floaters), we had about 2 and realised it was extremely strong as the effects were kicking in already. So within half an hour of arriving there and being discreet we were stood up shouting "Viva Chile".. and being introduced to everyone in there. it was the longest day I have had. This was followed by the shortest day ever (2hours awake.) we spent the remainder recovering in bed. Apart from the third day sight seeing around the town that was all we saw of Chile, unfortunatley. We will return I am sure.. It was a great place with great people. We then flew to Peru where we met up with Lou.. We started in Lima then made our way down to Paracas to see the Balestos Islands (poor mans Galapagos) then on to Nazca to see the Nazca lines and then to Arequipa. From here we went on a 4 day trek through the colca canyon which was amazing. We descended 1 vertical kilometre on day one and then hiked through the canyon before making our way back up. The altitude affected us all at 3600m and even the food may have taken its toll. On the last day we all felt bad and had to get mules back up. Unfortunatlry when I dismounted my mule I had a movement. All I knew is I needed a toilet in the next 30seconds and the town was over 2 miles away. I ran like the wind away from our guide, Lou James and the mule owners.. I jumped walls and crossed a field, I turned thinking I was out of sight but I wasn´t, but it was too late it had started, the only problem was my shorts and pants were still not removed. I tried to run further as the episode was unfolding ( It looked like I was still riding the mule) but only made it another 10m, so I resigned myself to the fact that it would be a public show. I had to leave my pants behind that day. James and Lou had similar problems later that evening but were closer to a toilet. We then went to Puno to Lake Titticaca, the highest navigable lake in the world. We toured the uros islands which are completey made of reeds by the locals who live on them. We then stayed on Amaranti island with some local family. We then headed to Cusco where we started a 5 day hike (Salkantay hike) this apparently is twice as long as the Inca trail.. and twice as hard. We camped out at night in cold and rain and hiked all day in cold and rain with no shower except for a couple of hours in a hot spring on the way. It was hard but we finally made it to the town at the base of Macchu Picchu. We were up at 4am on day 5 to hike up to Macchu Picchu which was hard going after the other days. But we made it - It was foggy on arriving but it did lift enough for photos. It was truly amazing. We left Peru content that we had done it justice and headed for Equador. We had a night in Quito before heading off into the Jungle. We spent 5 days there and saw some amazing things like trees and stuff. No, the wildlife was incredible ranging from Anacondas, Caimen, birds, Monkeys poisonous frogs, tarantulas etc. And that takes us to where we are now. In Cusco, Equador. This is where me and James are parting company. I am headed to LA and James is spending longer in South America. Good luck James and happy travelling. Laters