Now I'm in Lima, though only just as I got a call at 6am this morning from the travel agent saying that Lan Peru had cancelled my 8.30am flight so I should get myself down to the airport immediately, claim I had an international connection to make and try to get on another flight for today. The manager from CREES (the organisation I did voluntary work for) also came to the airport and helped me get on the 7.35am flight so everything worked out fine. I'm now sta...

Finally made it to Machu Picchu, the whole reason for this trip in the first place, but now I'm here, it seems a bit of an anti-climax. I had such a great time in Cusco, and in the jungle that I feel they've eclipsed the whole Machu Picchu experience. Plus I spent the whole train journey reading Harry Potter in a desperate attempt to finish it before anyone spoiled the ending for me (Rosey!). I also found myself taking more of an interest in the flora and faun...

I'm back in Cusco after my month in the jungle and with a new-found appreciation for hot water, refridgeration, electricity and dry, clean clothes. I took an enormous amount of photos, the most interesting of which I'll upload when I get back to the UK next week.For me the highlights were seeing jaguar and puma tracks (and other less savoury evidence), plus all the crazy plants and bugs they have there, and starting a medicinal plants guide which involved testin...

I've just finished my first week at Manu Learning Centre. It's a private property of 646 hectares in Manu National Park on the Madre de Dios river. It took 11 hours on the bus (with breaks) to cover about 250km (90km as the crow flies) of unsurfaced roads which winded up and down two mountains before reaching the river. We then took a half hour boat ride to MLC in the dark as we hadn't been able to make it there before sunset.The MLC was set up to monitor the ret...

Cuzco is fantastic!  I arrived the weekend of the Winter Solstice when there is a big Sun Festival (Inti Raymi in Quechua, the Inca language).  They lasoo the Sun with rope so that it comes back for another year, pretty much the same theory behind Yule, before Christmas eclipsed it.  I had altitude sickness (I'm 3,300m above sea level so it's hard to breathe and I felt dizzy for the first couple of days) so I didn't stay long.All last w...