¡Hola! Our last stop in Peru was Puno: a typically Peruvian sort of city that enjoys a lot of tourism solely thanks to its location on the side of Lake Titicaca, and its proximity to the floating reed islands.The latter are inhabited by a community of people, called the Uros, whose ancestors decided to build their houses out of the totora reeds growing out in the lake to get away from the aggressive Collas and Incas.Despite now being very commercialised, it w...

¡Hola! We really liked Cusco and we stayed there for three days either side of the Inca Trail in a great hostel called Sami Wasay.Our hostel was up in the San Blas district at the top of the hill and afforded great views of Cusco from the breakfast room and balcony.Despite being obviously touristy, Cusco is really pretty and a pleasant place to wander about, with great shops selling decent clothing and gear for trekking. We spent most of our time here just wa...

¡Hola! So we finally got here.The Inca Trail has been on the agenda since we booked it over three months ago back in Nicaragua.The Peruvian government have slapped a limit on the number of people who can enter the trail each day, necessitating an early booking and making the experience all the more exclusive.Of course, anyone can jump on a train from Cusco to visit Machu Picchu, but arriving at dawn at the Sun Gate high above the citadel on Machu Picchu mount...

¡Hola! Arequipa is a really lovely city in South Peru, right by the Chilean border, where we based ourselves for about five days.The weather was nice and hot and sunny again, and the city was very pretty and relaxing, with lots of nice restaurants and bars to choose from.We've perfected the art of eating cheaply in Peru now though, which usually involves just going to the nearest local place and asking for the Menu del Dia.This is normally a buffet-type affair ...

¡Hola! Our next stop was in the tiny tourist town of Huacachina, a few sand dunes away from the city of Ica.We'd decided to visit it on the recommendation of a travel agent in Lima, we were really glad we did.It was the most improbable place I think I've ever visited: a tiny oasis lake right in the middle of the desert, encircled by a handful of colonial buildings and some palm trees - that was the extent of the town.Being in the desert climate was great: reall...