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Argh. Not enough hours between getting in and leaving again. Must be the altitude. Bus out of Arequipa and finally a chance to see the Andean countryside. One really important feature to mention is the cement factory, not far outside the city. Not entirely sure why it is such an important feature (except that it is massive and employs a lot of people) but the guide was very keen to emphasise its merits, as well as those of the 4,700m-high pass that we crossed ar...

Travelling overnight always seems to involve a bit of pot luck, but I think we did pretty well this time with the top deck of a public service complete with reclining seats leg rests and in-journey entertainment. For the most part the only real downside was that once the leg rest is deployed it is virtually impossible to move at all without first shifting absolutely everything around you out of the way first, and the fact that travelling at night means you can't...

Roadblocks successfully avoided and into Pisco for around 7 in the morning. Just enough time for a much needed coffee at what would have been our hotel for last night before getting on a boat to the Ballestas Islands. These have been described as Peru's Galapagos islands, but that doesn't really do justice to the sheer number of pelicans, Humboldt penguins, Peruvian boobies and other birds here (the guide reckoned any single visitor could expect to see around a m...

So, easy enough getting to Lima from Quito, although check in at the TACA desks at Quito is unfathomably slow. Tip to anyone else coming this way: don't be conned into using the premium rate taxi services that confront you as you leave customs - just round the corner is the standard cab service (still authorised, officially sanctioned et al) which will charge you half the price. First impressions as you drive into the city are that it has something of a fixation ...