We were a bit apprehensive about our bus journey in to Lima.This was thanks to Edgar (our tour guide) telling us the bus we had to get was really "dangerous"!We got our transfer from the hotel and were dropped off on the side of a highway in the middle of nowhere to wait for the "dangerous" bus.It was a bus that locals got rather than the almost private buses we had experienced for the rest of the trip. Edgar flagged down a coach with Lima ...

Due to the recent earthquake that had rocked Pisco we did not venture into the city itself.Our first stop was at a local Pisco distillery on the outskirts of the city.Pisco is the national drink of Peru and is a white spirit distilled from grapes.They drink it straight up or as part of a Pisco Sour, with lime juice, ice, sugar and egg white.We were given a tour of the distillery and sampled the local product all before lunch time; something told us today was goin...

Nazca is famous for the mysterious series of lines that have been chiseled into the rocky dessert.Beyond the lines there is very little in Nazca so our hotel was about 15 minutes outside the town in the country side and on coming off the night bus from Arequipa we were also told it had a swimming pool.This lifted the spirits, until we actually arrived that was. To get the hotel we had to pass through what looked like a refugee camp on the outskirts of the town...

From Cusco we flew toward the Peruvian coast and the city of Arequipa. Known as the WhiteCity due to the paler complexion of its inhabitants (obviously they had never seen a Scotsman when this tag was acquired) this was our base for a two day, one night trip into the ColcaCanyon valley. The first night we stayed in a very nice hotel in the centre of Arequipa and enjoyed an excellent dinner at the nearby Zig Zag restaurant. The trade mark of Zig Zag is to serve y...

Inca Trail Day 1 We got a minibus transfer from Ollantaytambo, along beside the really fast flowing Urubamba river, to the start of the Inca trail.The start was not commercial at all.It is along a dirt road, through a tiny village to a car park.We got out and the porters were loading up with our bags.We were allowed 7kgs of stuff in a red duffle bag which the porters carried for us.We had 11 porters plus our own chef between 6 of us.The porters were all local...