Hola everybody! Well well well i have made my way up through Peru and now were in Quito in Equador for a quick stop off before we make our way upto Columbia tomorrow. What have you all been upto back home? Any exciting summer festivities? As per i hear england isnt having the best summer and the rain has reared its ugly head in a big way, but i hope this hasnt been getting you down too much. We had a spot of this´arvo and i thought of you all back home :-)

We spent a month in Peru and both absolutly loved it. Alot more rugged then Chile but in all the best ways. Beautiful scenery, cute little towns (and some quite scaby!) and less and less people speaking english...what more can you ask for! Our first stop was a town called Arequipa where we attempted to do a 2 day trek through the Colca Canyon - 3rd biggest canyon in the world apparently?! I say ´attempted´ because we got on the bus bright and early in our finest trekking gear to find everyone else is dressed normally. Looking around like a pair of prize t*** we realised our Spanish had failed us once again and we had infact booked ourselves on a 2 day BUS tour. Bus tours have become a particular hate of mine but we still had a good couple of days and the canyon was quite spectacular. We then ventured to Puno - the home of Lake Titikaka and had a day trip around the lake and exploring the floating islands. All very pretty but probably a bit overrated if im honest! After Puno we made our way to Cusco to do the Inca Trail to Macchu Picchu. Were a bit disopointed to find when we got there that it was all booked up till October (Doh, my lack of forward planning fails me again) so ended up doing an alternative trek called the Salkantay trek. Very similar to the original Inca Trail but slightly different route up a mountain which takes you to 4800 feet high and takes 5 days instead of 4. Basically its more hardcore i like to think!! Anyway, the trek was fantastic and the scenery along the way was stunning - huge valleys, snowy mountains, tropical jungle. Probably one of the most challenging things ive ever done but totally worth it when we reached Macchu Picchu and basked in the glory of having made it to one of the seven wonders of the world, and also surviving the mighty Salkantay without any altitude sickness!! Hannah busting her hamstring on the second day was a bit of low light but she hobbled on and still made it back to camp everyday quicker than the fatties at the back! Getting back to Cusco after the trek was pretty cool as Peru were celebrating their Independence Day and Cusco is notoriously a party town anyway, so went out and let our hair down with the rest of the people we met on our trek.

After slogging our guts out we felt a bit of R&R was in order so made our way to a sun trap in the sandunes called Huacachina where the sun always shines and caught some sun by the pool for a couple days. Also went out sandboarding and on a sandbuggy through the dunes which was a pretty crazy ride, this guy rags you round the dunes in a battered old buggy so fast that you fear for your life. All good fun though. Set off making our way north again - through Lima - quick stop off to meet up with some friends and caught the new Batman movie at the cinema - fantastic. Was a real treat going to the cinema actually and was quite nice just to do something ´normal´ for change! Since Lima weve been to a couple beaches along the coast - Huanchaco and Mancora. Just been taking it easy for a while, we we both seemed to hit a bit of travelling lull at the 6 month mark and felt the need to stay in one place and find our feet for a bit. Moving on every couple days really takes it out of you after a while!

So feeling much more rejuvinated (and sunkissed!) now and ready to go tackle Columbia, which were both really excited about as weve heard nothing but good things from other travellers weve met - despite its dodgy reputation!?

So if i dont get held hostage in Columbia then expect to hear from me in a month or so!

Love to you all, Amy xxx