Day 49: After a morning of goodbyes, tears, hugs and sniffling we embarked minus Gordon on our trip to Peru. First to Copacabana on Lake Titicaca in Bolivia for lunch and then crossing the border to Peru. Was easier than other border crossings but given police corruption we had to pretend that we didn't know Martin, that he wasn't our tour guide and under no circumstances could we behave in any other manner other than 100% tourist or otherwise the police were liable to want bribes from us. "Operation Guinea Pig" was underway. We arrived in Puno where our first stop was the local market to buy gifts for our family who we would be staying with the following day. Myself and Julia were staying in the same house and together we bought our family rice, pasta, salt, sugar, butter, oil, fruit, ketchup, a volleyball, colouring pencils and colouring books. Martin also introduced us to his favourite fruit - "monkey brains" (a sweet version of passion fruit). Its now my new favourite fruit!

Day 50: Early start in our local Peruvian "limousines" to the port where we embarked on our ferry for our trip around Lake Titicaca. The Limousines were more like tuk tuks where a guy cycled behind two of us sitting in a little carriage. An experience!! The ferry fist stopped off at Taquile Island, a very traditional island on Lake Titicaca where the locals still observe local traditions and dress. Law is governed by the three local rules of "don't lie, don't steal and always do the right thing". This is so successful that there is no need for police or judges or legal trials. The hats which the guys wear all symbolise something different. Single men have different hats to married men. Leaders of the communities also have different hats. Married women wear dark coloured skirts. Single women have very bright even florescent skirts. All men carry bags for their coca leaves and instead of shaking hands to greet someone they exchange coca leaves. A mans greatness is judged by his ability to knit. A man who has a good stich is regarded as being a good catch. It shows patience and determination and the traits of a good husband and father apparently. Gordon love you wouldn't have a chance!! From there we continued on to Laquina Island where we met our homestay families. Our families met us at the port and greeted us by playing traditional music while we made our way to the local hall. There the lads engaged in a game of football with the local team. Although they lost the first game, they were successful at game number 2, a real achievement at that altitude and the first time a G group had won with Martin in three years apparently!! Following the footie our families dresses us up in the local costumes which for girls consisted of four very bright skirts ensure the outer layer was pink, a colourful weaved belt, a black and coloured short jacket (tucked into the skirts), a white shawl and the obligatory bowler hat. The guys wore a pink poncho and a pink tassled "man bag"! The locals then danced for us before we took our turn which was an experience! Was lots of fun though.

Once darkness came we went back with our families for a home cooked dinner and bed. I def think I got the best family!! My mam and dad were both 40 and had six young kids ranging from 14 to 9 months. The baby was so cute and I spent most of my time playing with the kids with the baby on my knee. The family lived in a two bed house made with mud and a straw roof. One room housed the kitchen and the second room was the family bedroom where they all slept together. We had our own quarters which was very nice and probably even nicer than their own house although I believe these quarters were funded by the tourism company organising the tours. We were lucky in that we had electricity and a toilet (although no running water). Dinner that night was a lovely veg soup followed by their staple diet of rice accompanied by fried potatoes and pasta. Carb central. There is no fridges or means of storing fresh meat and veg and given the demanding physical nature of the work they do in the fields the carbs are needed for energy. Given the language barrier communication was difficult but not impossible! Although the truth had to be bent slightly in order to accommodate the phrases available in my Spanish phrasebook. (Etain this is the most useful thing I brought to S. America. Much Gracias!!) Therefore my family now think that my dads profession is a farmer. This was the only profession I could find in the book. This would be fine in any other setting except where this family were farmers. Papa asked me how many cows we had. How am I supposed to know how many cows a typical farmer in Ireland had. I guessed 200. Apparently that is far too much and Papa was shocked. He had only one. I then felt bad so I had to tell another lie and say that the farm was also owned by my uncle so that the 200 cows had to do two families!! My childhood days spent with uncle John and co came in very useful!! I also managed to lead them to believe that Carisa was 7, not 17 so that she was the same age as their little girl (although that was a translation difficulty!). Apparently its easier to lie in a foreign language than English! Bed time for the family was 8 o clock so off to bed early for us - just as well I was running out of lies to my fictional life!

Day 51: Up early for breakfast with the family before going out to help with the local family chores. Given my farming background Papa thought it would be a good idea to bring us to help on his farm. We started by hearing his seven sheep from one side of the island to the other. This involved me and Julia and three kids (the seven year old girl, three and two year old boy) hitting the sheep with sticks to ensure they go the right way. I got away lightly though and I carried the baby who was so so cute. Just before we got to the end field Papa took the baby off me as I had to work! He put on her on his shoulder where she then proceeded to pee down his back. Lucky escape I say! We tied the sheep in the field and went back to his crop field where he grew cereal. Now as I've already explained I'm no farming expert but there has to be an easier way to do what we did next. Bent over, Julia, me and three kids started pulling the weeds, slugs and grass out of the ground, ensuring that the only green left growing in the ground was the cereal. Even on my fictional farm at home, I couldn't imagine doing this. The kids, especially the two and three year olds were experts at this obviously having had lots of previous practice. Five minutes later my back was aching. Respect to the farmers. An hour after pulling grass, Papa presented us with instruments resembling pickaxes where again bent over we had to break up all the ground and soil. Again not much fun and very painful. Two hours of physical farm work at altitude we gave up and got to go back home for lunch. My back and legs still ache. I don't know how they do that every day. Lunch was similar to dinner the day before and again the soup was out of this world. I played with the kids again before leaving including cards and slaps. They were so cute. Playing with the kids was def the highlight of my trip.

We left the island after saying goodbye to our family and made our way to the Uros islands also known as the floating islands. There are approximately 680 floating island, each island lasting only 50 years. These islands came about as a result of the inhabitants fleeing the main land from slavery either from the Inca's and later the Spanish. The islands are man-made, made from the roots of the reeds found in Lake Titicaca and tied together by hand. The houses and structures on the islands are made with reeds and are usually only one room. We stopped at one of the islands on which five families lived. One family (Antonia) took me, Julia and Rosie under her wing and showed us around her house and allowed me dress up in her traditional dress for photos. She then showed us some tapestries she made and even though they were the dearest on the island I felt obliged to purchase one! Julia went to the neighbours market for her purchase and Antonia was not happy! Small communities breed rivalry!! We took a trip one of their reed boats which was an experience before taking our ferry back to Puno. Fantastic experience.

Day 52: Trip to Cusco to prepare for our four day Inca trail trek. Cusco is a lovely city in the heart of Inca heartland. There are numerous reminders of Inca history surrounding the city including original walls from the Inca times as well as from Spanish colonial times. (As Martin put it, the inca walls were made by the Incas, the Spanish walls made by the incapables!) We travelled out to the black market on the outskirts of Cusco where we picked up some last minute bits for the Inca trail. All merchandise in the market originates from Bolivia or the back of a bus and no tax is paid on these products. It sold everything and I was in my element. I got a must needed day pack and others got waterproof shoes, trousers and jackets. That night we headed to a local Peruvian diner run by two amazing people. All proceeds of the restaurant are donated to a charity which they run for Peruvian children. The restaurant was decked out in children's toys, hats, books etc. as well as pictures of the good work they do in the local community.

Day 53: We took a trip to the Inca Museum located just off the main square which gave us a detailed history of the Inca and Pre Inca culture. Our guide was hot and informative. Perfect! The best part was the room full of preserved mummies which were found throughout Peru. All in the foetal position, so that they would be ready to be reborn in their new life. That night we went for the biggest dinner ever to include Peruvian mulled wine to prepare us for the Inca trail the following day.

Day 54: Day 1 of the Inca trail. We were picked up at 7.30am and drove half hour to the start of our trek with Vladamir and Kennedy as our guides. We also had a further 19 porters and two cooks to help us through the following four days. Passport stamp to start us off before our full day hike. Terrain was moderate - a nice start to our first day.

The porters were amazing. We carried our own day packs with water, snacks, rain gear etc. The porters carried the rest of our gear including our sleeping bags, mattresses, clothes, toiletries, tents, food, tables, chairs, cooking utensils, gas etc. As we struggled along the porters literally ran past us with 25kg on their back. Our oldest porter was 66 years of age. As I said, amazing. The porters started after us every day but always arrived to the camp sites before us and in time to have our lunch/dinner ready and our tents erected. What a service. The food service was top class. Two courses for breakfast to include pancakes, quinoa porridge, eggs, pasta etc. Lunch and Dinner was always a three course meal. Then we had teatime which included popcorn, hot chocolate and biscuits. Snacks were provided throughout the day. No wonder I put on more weight than I lost over the four days! We slept in designated camp sites every day and were provided with blow up mattresses and thermal sleeping bags. This was my first proper experience camping and what an experience. The views from our camp site were spectacular. We sat up playing cards as a group every night, sitting out chatting under the stars, listening to the sound of the rain falling on our tent, top class food. The only downer was the lack of toilets, and the smell of the hole where you could go do your business. Mam I don't think you would have survived!!

Day 55: Up early for the hardest day of our trek uphill to reach the top of the "Dead Woman's Pass." So tough but such an achievement when we finally made the top. Slept well that night!

Day 56: The longest days trekking up at 5am and finished walking at 4.30pm. Long but manageable. Nothing could be worse than the previous days trekking. Myself and Tina had a lovely stroll through the national park admiring the scenery and discussing life!

Tonight we had our final supper where the cooks and porters surprised us by cooking a lovely Christmas sponge cake for us with "Happy Christmas" written in icing on the cake. I say cook, as without an oven it was impossible to bake any cake. Amazing work. We then had a bit of a get together with the cooks and the porters where we were individually introduced to each porter before giving them a well-deserved tip.

Day 57: Up at 3.30am for our morning trek to Machu Picchu. Unfortunately the morning brought mist and cloud, so much so that upon arriving at the sun gate where there is usually a fantastic view of Machu Picchu, there was nothing to be seen only cloud. It was only when we arrived at the historical Inca site that we got an impression of the scale magnitude and grandeur of this site. And what a feeling when we reached it. Awe and astonishment and such a sense of achievement. Vlad gave us a two and a half hour tour of the historic city showing us all the nooks, crannies, and wonders of this magical city.

As you can imagine we weren't the only tourists at this new wonder of the world. 500 people per day (300 of which are porters) are allowed to trek the Inca trail every day. A further 500 tourists are allowed entry to Machu Picchu and arrive either by train or tourist bus. By mid-day the site was thronged with tourists, many of whom did not have the dishevelled look of someone who had just trekked 42km's over four days without a shower! After our tour and lots of picture taking we started our journey back to Cusco, stopping in Aquacaliantes for lunch before our train back to Cusco.

After a well-deserved McDonalds for dinner (yes they do have McDonalds in Peru - although the arches are black and not red! - the only place in the world!) we went to the local Irish bar to celebrate our achievement. And whose picture did we see only Cameron Diaz's where she had celebrated her trek to Machu Picchu four years before at the exact same time Rachel Kennedy was there!

Day 58: Trip to the Cathedral in the centre of Cusco and I can honestly say that out of the 500 plus cathedrals I have visited this one was one of the best. This cathedral is the oldest cathedral in South America built by the Spanish to help convert the local Andean people to Catholicism. The locals believed in Pachamama (and still do) and as a way to help the locals understand the catholic religion parts of the architecture, art work and sculptures were constructed in such a way to integrate the Pachamama religion with Catholicism. Catholicism in the Andean Areas of South America is still practiced alongside Pachamamism in South America. The cathedral displayed several different virgin Marys each one representing something different e.g one of the statues is believed to bring good harvests etc. The statues are surrounded by mirrors, a result of the Andeans belief in the sun. The mirrors were used to represent the sun, being bright and shiny. The art work in the cathedral is also modified. There is a large painting of the last supper in the cathedral, however instead of Jesus and co celebrating with the "breaking of the bread" a guinea pig is painted in the middle of the table, as this is how the locals would have celebrated a great occasion. One of the most interesting things I learnt was that Saint Anthony helped with two major causes. 1: To help find lost objects and 2: Women would come and pray to Saint Anthony to help their chosen man fall in love with them and ask them to marry them. Sheets of papers were left by Saint Anthony's feet with the names, addresses and even phone numbers of men that women had prayed would ask them to marry them! That night we headed to a very local Peruvian diner where we got to sample all the local Peruvian delicies including guinea pig and alpaca. Was awful seeing the guinea pig toasted and roasted! The alpaca was delicious though!!

Day 59: Arrive in Arequipa after ten hour night bus. This journeys bus catastrophe involved another bus driving into the side of the mountain and causing a landslide. Never a dull moment with South American transport! Arequipa is the second biggest city in Peru with 1 million inhabitants. It is surrounded by three volcanoes, one of which is active and causes up to 800 tremors a day in the city centre. The city is known as the white city because the buildings are made out of white volcanic rock giving the entire city a white glow. Its most famous tourist attraction is the Santa Catalina monastery in the centre of the town which still to this day houses a number of nuns. The monastery is describes as a city within a city and has been restored to resemble its original features when it was first opened in 1580. Was quite cool. Aripiqua is the base from which the Colca Canyon tours depart and that was our trip for the following three days.

Day 60: Day 1 of our tour to the Colca Canyon, the largest Canyon in South America and twice as big as South America. Views along the way were cool as was our hotel looking out onto the mountains and old Inca terraces. We spent the first night curled up by a log fire with a few glasses of wine and a traditional Peruvian Christmas cake called Panettone

Day 61: Drive to Flight of the Condors to watch some of the most beautiful birds flying over the canyon. We were lucky enough to see five different birds take flight which given that it is mating season was quite good. Lunch was BBQ alpaca and chicken at our hotel before dinner at a local Peruvian restaurant with local dance and music where Kunal, Hooi and Mark partook in the evenings dancing!

Day 62: Back to Arequipa for Alpaca shopping with the Julias' before getting night bus to Nasca.

Day 63: Nazca is a small town which is famous for the Nazca lines which are located around Nazca. These lines are drawn into the surrounding hills and lands and are over 1000 years old and were drawn by the pre-Inca civilisations as symbols to the gods. They mirror astrological star formations and some of the formations include a monkey, condor, heron, spider, pelican, dog, hands, tree, and astronaut. Our hotel was lovely with a swimming pool and a wedding was just finishing up when we arrived at 8am! Made good use of the pool. That night we had a traditional Pachamama ceremony where we worshiped mother earth and thanked her for the food we were about to eat. A big hole was dug in the ground and a fire was lit at the bottom of the hole and hot stones were placed on top. Then various vegetables, beef, chicken and pork was placed on top of these stones to cook. All this was covered with banana leaves and reeds and covered with soil. This was left to cook for three hours. Before unearthing the food we carried out the ceremony using corn juice which we threw over the area where the food was cooking. Food and experience was delicious.

Day 64: Bus to Huacachina in Ica which has the highest sand dunes in Peru. We had lunch here by the pool before heading to Pisco where we took a tour of a local pisco factory and we saw how and where the pisco was making. We then got to taste six different types of pisco - very strong!! As well as chocolates made with pisco. We stayed in Parachas that night

Day 65: Up early for trip to the Ballestra islands otherwise known as the "poor man Galapagos". The islands are a natural reserve and therefore we couldn't go onto the islands but we had a boat tour where we got to see all the wildlife which included sea lions, penguins, pelicans, crabs, dolphins and hundreds of different birds. Was amazing. Bus to Lima and then quick dash with Hooi and Julia for more Alpaca coats!

Our last supper was Miraflores outside before going to a karaoke bar where we stayed for the night and our singing kicked all other punters out of the bar. We were that good!! Was a fantastic night before everyone left. We were back just in time for Jules to leave us for the airport. The start of the departing!!

Day 66: Martin very kindly took us on a tour of the highlights of Lima including the main square where we watched the changing of the guard ceremony, we went to the cathedral and the catacombs which was very cool. Miraflores for lunch before Tina and Frasier left in a cloud of tears!

That evening Martin very kindly invited us to Christmas dinner with his family which was so lovely. His mam and dad cooked chicken, rice and salad for us as well as dessert. It was lovely to have a family dinner especially as we would be missing our own families for Christmas dinner. Martin's brother and sister were there and they showed us baby pics of Martin which was very funny!! Many thanks to the Vilchez family for a lovely Christmas dinner.

Day 67: More goodbyes and hellos to Karen, Tannee and Jamie and sightseeing before taking nightbus to Huanchaco.

Day 68: Welcome to the coast! Day on the beach reading my book and watching the surfers on the waves!

Day 69: Happy Christmas Eve! In Peru they celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve and not on Christmas Day so we followed tradition! We took a local bus into town and met Santa before buying ingredients for mulled wine and Christmas snacks. I took charge of drinks and snacks and made mulled wine for all from scratch with mucho help from Karen and Eveline which turned out amazing if I do say so myself!! We also had lovely panettone cake (local Peruvian Christmas cake) courtesy of Hooi (Thanks Hooi) and sweet potato and plantain crisps. These snacks and drinks were all accompanied by Christmas drinks.

We then went to a local restaurant opposite the pier on the beach for Christmas dinner. They even had turkey!!! GAP very kindly gave us a Christmas allowance so dinner and champagne was on GAP and was very much appreciated. We did secret santa so everyone had a present to open at Christmas! I got a lovely magic wand! And bracelet which was very much appreciated.

Back to the hotel for more Christmas drinks and Duv got his guitar and we all sang along to various Christmas songs which was lovely. We really did have a lovely day.

Day 70: Merry Christmas! Went for a lovely Christmas morning breakfast including pancakes and fruit salad before heading to church to thank God for this amazing experience that I am fortunate enough to be able to take. The rest of the day was spent relaxing looking out at the ocean and the beach while skyping before taking night bus to Mancora. Was lovely to speak and contact everyone on Christmas day. Thanks guys xx

Day 71: Arrived in Mancora at 4.30am and our rooms aren't ready. Hotel is fab though located on the beach and weather so warm. Only thing to do at that hour was tuck up into one of the many hammocks on the beach and sleep. Great experience listening to the waves as I lie in a hammock in the middle of the night at the beach. Day was spent relaxing on the beach although Karen and Eveline did go surfing. Poor Eveline had a bit of an accident though when the board came back and hit her in the face and nearly broke her nose. Lots of blood and swelling and two black eyes but she battled on!!

Day 72: So Evelines little accident didn't put me off surfing and first thing myself Mark and Karen went for some surf lessons. Was so much fun and I was very good for a beginner if I do say so myself!!! Stood up on my first wave and on every wave after that. And we went out later without our instructors and had a great time then too!! Made lots of use of our last day at the beach on this trip.

Day 73: Early morning jog followed by beach time before catching nine hour bus to take us to our next destination Cuenca, Ecuador. Good buy Peru, Hello last South American country of my trip.