We waved goodbye to the French couples after breakfast and decided to spend the morning pottering around the lodge. The plan had changed through no fault of our own and we were now leaving for Puerto Maldonado at 1.30pm - this meant killing a lot of time in and around the town. I wasn't sure seeing the market would take up that much time so I envisaged sitting around until our bus departed at 8pm, but hey we're travelling... we have to go with the flow. I manage...

We awoke at dawn when the first few rays of sunshine dimly lit the night sky over the rainforest canopy, causing hazy purple lines. We were whisked off in the van for a short drive before boarding a boat to take us along the river towards a 'clay pit' where the parrots and parakeets all gather on mass to eat the salt from the clay in the early hours (apparently it helps their digestion of fruits later in the day). The sound they produced in a flock was deafening ...

We awoke around 6am to the sound of rain and the likely prospect of a wet jungle waiting to be explored. The evening had been cool due to the rain and a light wind, we both slept well as a result - another benefit was being back at a lower altitude. Julia seemed a lot brighter today which meant we could both enjoy the day ahead. True to form the lodge provided us with a hearty breakfast of egg, slices of pan fried banana, bread, jam and a cocktail of mixed fruit ...

Well the overnight sleeper bus would have been the most luxurious bus journey I had ever taken had it not been for the fact that they insisted on putting on the heating, taking the inside temperature up to a whopping 29 degrees celcius. I'd like to challenge anyone to try and sleep in that, especially with a thick cold and sore throat! But on the positive side we did have loads of leg room and reclining seats and a film to watch 'Lovely Bones' (dubbed in Spanish ...

Nothing exciting to report - I think Mick Jagger has left Cusco. I had failed to grab that once in a life time shot, oh well. I managed to pick up a Spanish paper in the market earlier today which had a double page spread about Mick visiting Machu Picchu. I can't help but feel how lucky we are. Although there was a slight drama and things didn't run according to plan at least we were able to view the magnificent ruins in peace. Poor old Mick had to view it in the...