Phew!!!!!! what an incredible wicked adventure we have had in Peru! We've only just arrived in La Paz, Bolivia, after two weeks of no stop rushing around visiting different places and doing as much activities as possible, in a limited space of time! we are truly sorry for not being able to write u a postcard from Peru. Here, i'll try and squeeze all what we have been up to in Peru, in this postcard! After Ant had written that postcard from Cuenca, we raced down south towards Peru, via the border of Macara. a funny moment there. the passport guy, had to ask some questions to every foreigners. when it was Ant's turn, that guy turned to me and said "is he deaf and dumb?" i replied "yes"! so that passport guy asked me to interpret for him to Ant "how old are you?", "what profession are you in?" blah blah! then when it was my turn, Ant went to tell that guy "he is VERY VERY dumb"!!! through into Peru, arriving in Piura early in the morning, we were amazed to see the desert outside! it was a total contrast from the day before in Ecuador where it was all forest and green! we caught another coach to Chiclayo, spending the day strolling around, as a stop over break on the way to Lima. in the evening, we booked up a luxury premier class coach, with the huge comfortable seat turning into a kind of bed, provided with chicken curry and coke! it was the best sleep on a coach! In Lima, we went straight to...... Mac Donalds of course! it has been too long since we last ate at macdonalds, it's very rare in South America! Lima, a pretty dirty city than i thought, and quite boring as well! we decided to check out, u wouldnt imagine that, two museums! they were pretty interesting though, in fact, we were only really interested to see the famous Peruvian gold thing, the "Timus" a kind of inca face, with a curvy bottom. the first museum explained Peru's history, how they were formed by different type of groups over thousands years. the second museum showed many Peruvian old gold, made into armours, weapons, masks, jewelleries, etc etc. it also showed hundreds Peruvian type of weapons over the thousands years they have fought in wars, which were fascinating! we then headed to the beach, to get a breath of fresh air from the Pacific Ocean, and for a delicious Pizza at PizzaHut! In the evening, we took an overnight coach to Nasca, further down south of Peru. the coach we got on, was totally the opposite from the luxury coach the night before. the coach was full of disgusting smell, mixed with warm-cooked-disgusting-smell foods, mothers changing their babies nappies, and other smell we didnt want to find out! to add to to this crappy, the seats were overbooked, a young lady sat on Bree's seat. many people had to stand up all the way through to Nasca. i, being a true gentleman, offered Bree my seat, and sat on the floor! mid-through the night journey, the tyre blew up, we were stranded for an hour. Ant was comfortably heavily asleep by the window, while i was outside, boiling with anger! one last disaster of this trip was.... we missed our stop by two hours in the morning and ended up in a very small town in the middle of nowhere, Chala! although it became an interesting trip as we hitch-hiked a beautiful cadillac-looking car, for a lift to Nasca! i and Ant sat in the front, enjoying the gorgeous desert view, by the Ocean. Nasca, in the middle of the desert - one thing attracts tourists to visit this small town: the mysterious lines, called the Nasca Lines, spread across 500sq km of arid, hard desert, including many wicked huge drawings of animals, that can only be seen from the air. After loading our stuff in our hotel, we jetted off to the small airport for a two hours flight in a small airplane of 4 seats. it was really wicked, we were awed by the drawings! there were clear drawings of a spider, a monkey, a condor, a tree, hands, an astronaut, etc! after that wicked flight, we stratched our head and wondered why they were there. there are several theories, but without definite proof. i asked Bree which theory she believes in, she said "i believe it were the men from outer space who drew them a long time ago"! then to Ant i asked him the same, he replied "i loved the drawings of the monkey and the spider!" aaaww, guess cartoons hasnt grown out of him yet... :-) up to u to decide when u come and visit this wicked place! the next day, we didnt nothing but relax by a local pool. Bree grabbed serious attention from local kids when she splashed in the pool, and standing up, whoozing her hair around, like Halle Berry in James Bond! on our third day in Nasca, we were up for a wicked day: sand boarding down the highest sand dunes in the world at 2078m! we set off at 4.30am in the morning. it was pitched dark. we travelled up the mountain by car for an hour. the guide, told us he was called up to take "three special needs people". i wasnt happy with that, and went on to prove him we arent what he thought! we walked up the steep rocks with our board on our back, in the dark! after an hour, it became light, we carried on walking up the mountain, it became a real challenge, with the sun scorching on our back while we climbed up the sandy dunes! but we were quite fit, with the guide lagging behind! finally, after about 5 hours, at the top, the guide puffed up. i wanted to ask him "special needs people, us?" but decided to focus on how to sandboarding these dangerous steep dunes! after some practices, we stepped up one level. the guide advised us not to use the wax on the board for that dune. Ant said "nah, i'm hard!" and waxed the whole of his board. after i and Bree got down that dune with some small falls, we were provided a fabulous entertainment from Ant. Once he got up, his board went so fast, he totally lost control, the board turned round 360 degrees twice, before Ant fell to a real awful fall that he couldnt get up for 15 minutes, and required special treatment from the guide! we were then "ready" for the final dune, the most longest and steep one! After Bree had set off, Ant said "race ya down"! that fall earlier doesnt seem to teach him a lesson! that trip down wasnt as dangerous as i thought and enjoyed it so much, whoozing down so fast! we were so exhausted afterwards with bruises all over our bodies! in the evening, we set off easterly to Arequipa. There, it wasnt as we expected, "a white city, that it is said the Moon has forgotten Arequipa when it seperated from the Earth". But there was an interesting attraction, a frozen little girl, named Juanita, found up the mountains. she was part of many children that were sacrified to the God hundreds years ago. we were able to see her in a frozen glass, it was quite intriguing! our next destination, on a overnight coach (again!) to Cusco. it is a famous City, where the famous Inca Empire ruled, and were conquired by the cruel spaniards. but, what attracts Cusco the most, was the Lost City of the Incas, Machu Picchu, a bit further away. it is famous because it has only been found in 1911, and no one knows anything in specific about this Lost City. it is thought the last Incas retreated away and built that City, far up in the mountain, that no one would find it. to get there, there are two ways - by train, or by trekking. after enquiring several agencies, we booked up for 4 days and 3 nights Inca Jungle Trail. we set off on our first day for the epic trekking with two nice brazilian guys Waldi and Pierre and a guide. it started off by a steep biking downhill to a small town, Santa Teresa. but the journey didnt go as we'd hoped! Bree's bike wheel fell off the minute she got on it, and her "paddle" got off as well! later on, the guide's brakes wouldnt work, and an hour later, Ant's wheel recieved a nasty cut. it was no-go, as the guide stupidly didnt have the right repairing kit nor a spare tyre! Ant was given the guide's bike (without brakes), and we continued the journey. it got so dark later in the afternoon, that it was so dangerous, especially for Ant! we had to continue to the nearest town, where we were met by a car, to give us a lift to our base camp! we woke up the next day for our long awaited proper Inca trekking to the Ruins of Machu Picchu! it started off flat, we were in good spirits, enjoying the views by a river. but it then turned to a steep trail up the mountain, which exhausted us all! i was unfit than i thought! it continued to be hard all morning, but we were rewarded with stunning views from up the mountains! after 5 hours, we were almost out of exhaust, we arrived for our lunch time break! the afternoon journey continued with some flat trekking through the mountain and by the river, again providing us great views! we were rewarded again later on by a beautiful swim in the Hot Springs, in the very open air, a couple of beers and fantastic views of the sunsetting down the mountains! as we got out of the hot bath, each of us three recieved loads of attention from mostiquos and each awarded at least 20 bites on our legs. Bree was the worst out of all, her legs and arms were all covered by bites, that she looked as if she got the chicken pox disease! we had to carry on trekking for another hour. Bree wasnt too happy at all, as she was so exhausted from the hard day trekking, with a heavy rucksack and the sun on her back all day. But we all managed it to the end! i felt truly proud of Bree, as she had to keep up with the pace of us guys all day! Third day, we got up, looking forward to get to the end of the day trekking, to Agua Calientes! it was an easier trek than the day before, trekking along rivers, and then on a railtrack for two hours. Ant had a scare when we had to walk through a pitch dark rail tunnel for 3 minutes. as i got out of the tunnel, i waited up for Ant and Bree. when Ant was around in the middle of the tunnel, a train approached behind him. he was oblivious and looking down the track. i ran to him, he had a huge scare when he looked back, the train coming, with lights onto his face! we ran towards the end of the tunnel, and was saved by three seconds! (it wasnt as dramatic as it sounds!) we were so glad to finally arrive in Agua Calientes, which is the base to the final climb to Machu Picchu! Agua Calientes was a wicked cosy town, full of exhausted travellers all coming for the same thing. although it was also crowded of snobbish rich-dressed people arrived by train.. the next day, our final day, at 4am, we started our journey in the total dark for a two hour walking up and up the many hundreds, if not thousands steep steps. These painful steps were all forgotten as we got up the top. we finally arrived at our destination that we longed for, Machu Picchu! it was a magical sight, with the sun rose slowly, shining bit by bit the gorgeous Lost City. we sat down staring it for a while, then went on walking around it, and finally getting to know the Peru own animal, the Llamas and Alcapas! after touring it, we laid back watching the ruins from the top for an hour or so before the tourist buses arrived at 9am, full of snob people, who looked down at our dirty cheap clothes, and totally overcrowding the Lost City and harrassing the animals! we were in a happy mood with that picture of the City stuck in our mind that we raced the steps back to Agua Calientes! we caught a train and a coach back to Cusco in the evening. the next day, we woke up looking forward for another activity - bungee jump! it was a rainy day, but we wouldnt let it spoil our day, and took a taxi there. it's the thrid highest bungee jump in the world, at 120m, that Bree decided to skip it due "no, i aint afraid, i just dont feel like doing it" :-) Ant was first to go up. as he whoozed down, saying it was absolutely wicked and brilliant. i thought it looked alright, and to be honest, i had always secretly thought it isnt as scary as people have said to me before. but as i got up, my heart began to pump faster. at the top, i was so scared, my heart pumping up extremely fast. as the worker guy pushed me off, my hat immediately went off my head, and i felt felt an heart attack coming up, the knowledge of a elastic string attached on my legs were gone, and it was replaced by the thought of "why why why did i have too many cigarettes today, why why!" fortunately the heart attack never came and it was replaced with laughter and high adrenaline! it was really brilliant and wicked, so unbelievable, that i cant wait to try out the New Zealand or the South African ones!! after that, we treated ourselves to a nice massage, and a nice meal, especially Ant who "luxuried" himself with expensive steak, a half bottle of wine and a chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream for dessert, all "only" for 10 quid, but very expensive for Peru's standards! we were so lucky to catch our coach in the evening to Puno, that Ant had to stop the coach, by whacking on the driver window! Puno, by the famous Lake Titicaca, the highest lake in the world. we toured on a boat to three different islands. first one, the Isles Flottantes, where the islands are built out of reeds, kind of straws, with hard earth (we are not sure exactly how as the tour was spoken in spanish!). onto the second island, a "normal" island, called Amantani island, where we stayed there overnight in a family house, where we were provided with their very basic cooked food, and a stunning view of the lake with the sun coming down. the next day, a quick visit to another island, Island Taquile, before going back to Puno and catching a mini bus to the Peru-bolivian border town, Desaguadero, getting into our fifth country, Bolivia! we crossed the border and caught a shared taxi to the highest capital in the world, La Paz, arriving late in the evening. we spent the day today walking around the City, but there isnt much to see really. it's now a whole new country for us to explore, starting tomorrow, with a ride down on bikes the World Most Dangerous Road, where an average 100 people get killed on that road annually (sorry parents, didnt mean to put that down..) my beloved Bree will details our Bolivian adventures in a week or so (only if she survives tomorrow) so so so sorry for the dead long postcard! Ant and Bree have gone to bed hours ago, so i hope this wont be too wasted and boring! the fantastic pictures of Peru will come along very soon! good morning to u all, and night night for me! Embles xxxxx