In Lima we went to Convento de San Francisco - a beautiful old church with catacombs underneath the church. We could only go through with a guide and unfortunately weren't allowed to take any photos. The catacombs were down a tunnel underground where 70,000 people were buried. Lots of the dusty bones could be seen including lots of skulls and the strongest femur bones were displayed first. Included in the building was an ancient library with books from the 16th a...

Up at the crack of dawn (as usual) we took a mini bus 3 hours drive to the National Park stopping to take pictures of the stunning snow capped mountains and a stunning bright blue lake. Starting the hike at 3,900m above sea level we were feeling the effects of altitude right from the beginning. The tough walk took 3 hours uphill to 4,600m but had stunning views of mountains and waterfalls the whole way. Thinking we would never make it we finally found the 'happy ...

Too scared to go horse riding with Sophie I decided to face another fear - heights! 4 of us headed with the guide just outside to Huaraz town to a cosy little spot next to a stream. Feeling nervous I waited last to head up the 40m cliff, shaking with nerves and adrenalin I eventually found small places for foot and handholds and surprisingly made it to the top! After absailing back down he gave us all a second attempt. The other 3 even braved a harder wall which ...

Another early start heading to Huaraz, an adventure site famous for hiking. On the way the truck was diverted and without realising Jack headed down a dirt road with no chance of turning around. After some very tight squeezes through trees on each side (and a pretty funny road-side toilet stop) we arrived at some ruins. Tumbas Reales de Sipan included a huge temple with carvings depicting very violent deaths around the outside wall. In the museum was a freaky wel...

On the second day we headed in a mini van to see the ruins. Huacas del Sol y la Luna from Moche culture 100 - 800 AD was a multilayered colourful temple where they had sacrificed many people believing this to keep away earthquakes. Chan Chan from Chimu culture 900 -1450 AD was very different to the first site, an impressive site of a well preserved city with only 30% believed to be excavated. At both sites there were black hairless dogs which looked more like hye...