For our last night in Cartagena, we hit the town. There was a nice bar that sits on top of the citys old walls, but the drinks turned out to be a little out of the backpacker price range. There was more craic back at the hostel, and another bar across the road, so we were hopping between the two all night.

The next day was our last in Colombia. Who'd have thought that flying economy class could feel luxurious? But thats what eight weeks of busses does to you. We got into Lima about 1130 PM and managed to find the hardest-hostel-to-find-ever, Che Lagarto. The wolfpack became three with the addition of Sean, and there were several beers as we caught up.

No rest for the wicked, and after a successful but lengthy trip to the post office, we were off south, to Huacachina. Its a tiny oasis town in the middle of the desert with a grand population of around 200. Its a gorgeous place to be, but theres not much going on. The reason for going here - sandboarding.

We hit the town on our first night, first going to the local discotheque, in which we were the only gringos. We hit another place called The Pub, where, after a few cocktails, the nice manager recommended a club in the nearest city Ica that would be safe enough for us, called The Who. It turned out to be a good place, except for the fact that my hoody got stolen. I put it down for a minute or two, and was only a couple of metres away, but it was behind me, so some Peruvian skank was much warmer than me on our trip home.

Sandboarding was good fun and if anything the trip was too short. It involves lying down on a snowboard, and going headfirst down some steep sand dunes, at a good, sometimes scary, speed. We got to go down seven dunes, but by then it was dark, and there was no talking the driver into some extra dunes.

That night we got our best bus yet. It was twelve hours to Arequipa, a city further south, but the seats were cama class, which means they extend further back than our usual semi-cama. I think I slept for three quarters of the trip, which is a major milestone.

After an eventful argument with a hostel owner at our first stop in Arequipa, we headed to the Wild Rover hostel, which turned out to be exactly what we wanted. We explored the Centro Historico area of the city for a bit, before stumbling upon a savage pizza place, called Pizza Piazza. There was a wild night in the hostel bar, with us trying every cocktail on the menu, except mojitos.

Arequipa is a lovely looking city, at least the parts we explored anyway. We didnt get to do as much sightseeing as I wanted, but the main trip to do in the area is to visit the Colca Canyon, which we booked the following day (Monday).

The Monday wasnt too eventful, given the night before. On our journey for a dinner place, we found ourselves at a touristy spot offering the famous cuy, so we had to try it after missing out in Banos. What a disappointment! Granted, guinea pigs are small, but the ones in Banos were twice the size of what we given. We found ourselves asking "wheres the meat on these things?" as its mostly skin and bone. For those interested in the taste, not to sound stereotypical, it tastes like chicken, but the dark meat of chicken. Still hungry, we trudged around town to get some mammoth desserts, and thankfully were not disappointed.

Our Colca Canyon trip left at 230 AM the following morning, so we figured wed just stay up until the pick up. After a good night in the bar, with beer pong the main feature, we were picked up in a rickety old van. It was freezing, as is normal for the desert at night time, and our plan to sleep on the bus did not work out. At about 5 AM our bus broke down, but managed to make it to a truck stop where we could warm up on coca tea and coffee. I was wearing flip flops, so found the need to buy a pair of wooly socks to save my toes from potential frostbite. The sun came up shortly before 6 AM, so we got some good pictures of the landscape, but it didnt get warm for another hour or so at least. Our replacement bus arrived shortly after 6, so we were on our way again, except that someone (we suspect an annoying French guy to be the source) had made the executive decision to make up for lost time by skipping breakfast. You can only imagine the mood the three of us were in all day, with no more than two hours sleep and a cereal bar for food!

We arrived at the first stop of the tour, called Cruz del Condor, which is a guaranteed viewing point for condors. Pretty impressive creatures, and absolutely massive. But, after about five or ten minutes of photos and taking in the views, myself and Sean decided lying on a wall to get some sleep was a more productive way to spend our time. After three or four more stops, for sightseeing and history lessons, we were given the option of a trip to the hot springs for a swim or move straight on to lunch - no prizes for guessing what we chose. We were greatly rewarded with a mammoth buffet, including some alpaca, which tastes a lot like horse and was very nice.

The Colca Canyon is a lovely place, but when you feel that the highlight of the trip was the forty winks sleep you got on a wall, you cant help feeling like it was a disaster. I would still recommend the trip to someone, just not with our tour operator. After that day of sleepless hell, we got back to Arequipa, and had to comfort ourselves with a visit to our new found favourite pizza place before getting a bus to Cuzco.

Cuzco is the jumping point for all trips to Machu Picchu, be it treks or direct trains, so its full of gringos and locals working off the tourist trade. We arrived here on Tuesday morning so its now our fifth day here. Weve had a good time, had some good nights out and found some great places for food. The highest 100% Irish owned bar in the world is in Cuzco, and its called Paddys. While its probably the worst Irish bar weve been in, it has grown on us, definitely helped by the fact it does a savage curry.

Were staying in the Wild Rover hostel (again), and there is a Donegal guy called Aidan who lives in Cuzco and offers walking tours of the historical part of the city. Its well worth the 15 Soles he charges, as he takes you around the local market, some of the main sights, and also sneaks you in the back way to Sacsaywaman, avoiding the 70 Soles entry fee. Sacsaywaman is a fortess that played a huge role in the Spanish invasion, and its made out of impressively large stone blocks, made more impressive by the fact that Incans only had llamas and alpacas to use, not horses, mules or oxen.

Tomorrow morning we start our four day Inca Trail, at 530 AM no less, so there will definitely be no beer today. A few people have said that the Inca Trail is tough, but that its easier than the Lost City trek. Plus there are no raging torrents of water to cross - just massive altitudes to deal with.

Yesterday we had to painfully endure an England win, so hopefully today we can get to see a Donegal win.