Nasca and Huacachina

We arrived at Nasca earlier than expected, 6am, and we were approached by a couple of touts trying to sell flights over the famous lines as soon as we stepped off the bus. One of the guys could offer us a flight that morning, he also had a hotel so could offer us a room to clean up before we departed. We took him up on the room but reserved judgement on the flight until we got a couple more prices.

After a much needed scrub in the shower we had a chat with the owner of the hotel and managed to broker a good price for the flight and got him to let us have the showers for free, so after only 2 hours in Nasca we were on our way to the airfield for our 45 minute flight over the lines.

Neither Mel or I had been in a light aircraft before, so that on its own was going to be just as much of an experience as seeing the lines. We took care of all the formalities when we arrived at the airport and then made our way to the plane. We were joined by two really nice Irish girls and an older woman who didn't speak to any of us. I was a little apprehensive as I'm not a great flyer anyway, but I got to sit up front with the pilot and watch him work his magic, which I have got to be honest looked like a piece of cake. Before we knew it we were bombing along the runway and were up in the air soaring over the Peruvian desert.

We were all given a map before take-off, so we knew the order in which we would fly over the lines. The lines were very impressive and it is hard to image how they were created without being seen from above. Our favourite was definitely the curly-tailed monkey, with the hummingbird coming a close second.


The flight went really quickly and we were soon flying back over Nasca and approaching the landing strip. After the trip we made our way into Nasca for brekkie. 30 minutes of wandering around the town made us realised that all the stories about Nasca were true, apart from the lines there is nothing there, so we grabbed our backpacks and jumped on the bus bound for Ica.

There was only one reason to journey to Ica. The town itself had nothing of any interest, but it is just on the edge of the desert and not far from the town is a little oasis village called Huacachina, which is famous for one thing, sandboarding.

The bus to Ica from Nasca was only two hours and a taxi to Huacachina 10 minutes. We checked into a really nice hostel with a pool, and as the weather was hot and it had been a long day, we slipped on our swimming gear and chilled out by the pool for the afternoon.

We got up the next day and booked our sandboarding trip. They either depart at 10am or 4pm, we opted for the 4pm trip as you get to see the sunset over the desert. We spent the morning and early afternoon lazing by the pool and at 4pm the dune buggy pulled up outside the hostel. The dune bugger drivers do have a reputation of being slightly tapped, and they did not disappoint, we went screaming over the dunes and at times all four wheels of the buggy left the floor. The drive really shook you about and after 20 minutes of flying up and down sand dunes you were glad to get out and start the real highlight of the trip, the boarding.

The first dune the drive stopped at was only about 30-40m high, but at that point neither of us were brave enough to try it on our feet, so we lay down on the boards and shot of down the dune. We were both really surprised at the speed we reached over such a short distance, but totally loved it. The next dune was not as big, only 25m high, so we decided, as did everyone else in the group, to try it on our feet. We had a couple of guys who were good snowboarders so they went down no problem, next was my turn and I managed to get half way down before falling spectacularly and getting covered in sand. Next was Mel, who took to sandboarding like a duck to water, first time down and she didn't fall over, she was a natural. While Mel was surfing the dune I was still picking the sand out of my ears!

Me being me would not be beaten, so I ran back up the dune, which was a feat in itself to try again, and I fell again, so this process continued until I could no longer run back up the dune due to the amount of sand in my pants. So we decided to move onto the next dune. Mel went first this time and much to everyones surprise took a pretty evil tumble, that bad that everyone went quite until she got up and put her hands in the air laughing her head off. We were all a little relieved to see her smiling. During the next 15 to 20 minutes on this dune we both started to really get the hang of it, and even one of the experinenced snowboarders commented on how quickly we were picking it up. It was great fun and we really couldn't pull ourselves away, but our buggy driver was getting impatient and he wanted to move on.

The final dune we came to was the big one. We had heard about this dune and had seen several peoples injuries obtained from riding it, mostly really bad sand burns, but an Israli guy had died on this dune about a month before. Apparently he had tried to do it on his feet and had fell when he had built up such speed and broke his neck. The dune was about 250m and so steep that you couldn't see the slope until you stood right on the edge. We were taking no chances and lay down on the board. Mel went first, she lay down and pushed herself away, going slow at first but then quickly speeding up. We could all hear her screams as she descended down the dune and eventually came to a stop at the bottom, where she just lay in a heap for about 30 seconds before picking herself up and jumping up and down in glee at the bottom. Next was me, and I could not quite believe the speed I got up to on the way down. In seconds you are at the bottom with huge amounts of adrenaline pumping around your body.

When we had all had our turn we managed to persuade our drive to take us back to the top for another ride, after which we watched the sunset over the desert before making our way back to town. This had been a real, and an unexpected, highlight to Peru.

The following day we awoke early to have breakfast before making our way to the country's capital city Lima.

Arequipa

Well, this was the second time we had arrived by bus into Arequipa, thanks to the road strike, but this time we were going to stop for a few days.

We arrived early in the morning so we had the whole of our first day to explore the city at our leisure. Arequipa is known as the White City, due to a lot of it iconic buildings being made from a white volcanic rock. With the blazing sunshine that the city gets pretty much all year round, this makes for quite a bright place. The central plaza is very pretty with a huge fountain in the middle surrounded by landscaped gardens. The cathedral, which sits in the main plaza, is quite spectacular and locals are always lining the steps that lead up to it whilst they eat and drink. The rest of the plaza is surrounded by cafes, restaurants and shops. It's relaxing and it a nice place to hang out for an hour or two. There are three huge volcanoes that sit just behind the city and can be seen in the background behind the cathedral, their snow-capped peaks in the background really make for a dramatic view.

Around the rest of the town are lots of lovely smaller squares, all of which have their own ornate churches. The city also has a fabulous selection of restaurants, so after a hard days walking around town went for a meal at a Moroccan place. We ate early as we had to hit the sack early; we were being picked up at 3am for our 2 day trek to Colca Canyon.

We awoke on time, thanks to Mel, and quickly threw on some clothes. The bus was on time and we scrabbled on. Much to our surprise two English lads, Harry and Andrew, who we had met 3 weeks previously in Potosí, Bolivia, were also on the trip. We were also joined by another couple from our hostel. Due to the early hour we didn't speak to them for long as we were all in need of sleep, the bumpy drive to the start of the canyon was four hours, so we all got our heads down.

The first stop at the canyon was the look out point for the largest birds in the world, the Andean Condor. The birds have a wing span of 3-3.2m and they get somewhat close to the look out point so we all waited in anticipation. While we waited we got to take in the stunning views from the look out, from which you could see 1200m down to the bottom of the canyon. This however was the most shallow part of the canyon, the deepest part is another 8 hours drive away and in over 3500m deep, making it the second deepest canyon in the world.

We for an hour and were about to leave when the birds finally decided to come out to stretch their wings. Four in total flew by and it was amazing watching them glide passed effortlessly riding on the heat thermals to increase their altitude as and when they needed to.

After spending 20 minutes watching the condors we jumped back in the minibus and made our way to the trail head. The first 3 hours of our trek would see us descend 1200m to the bottom of the canyon. It was all down hill so we figured it would be pretty easy....how wrong we were. The track from top to bottom was steep and the surface was made up of loose small stones, so keeping your balance was challenging. We all fell over a couple of times, but it made the trek all the more interesting.

It also turned out that our guide was somewhat of an expert with herbal medicines, so every five minutes he would stop us and tell us what he illness he could cure using a particular type of plant. At one point Mel had a bit of a headache, so he ran off to find this plant he could use to cure her! It was all very amusing. The scenery on the way down the canyon was spectacular and after 3 hours we reached the bottom. We took a 5 minute break and then started our acent back up the other side. We only had about 200m to climb and then it was onto a flat path that would take ua to a little village called San Juan, where we would stop for lunch.

We stopped at a little resturant that served up some fab soup as a starter, followed by chicken, rice and vegetables....for a change! The resturant owners had an abundance of pets including two dogs, three cats and 3 of the biggest chickens we have ever seen, these things were huge! The cats and dogs obviously pestered us the entire time we were eating, but we didn't mind as they were all pretty cute.

After an hour and a half stop for lunch we continued on our way to our final destination, The Oasis. The Oasis was exactly that, an oasis of lush greenery at the bottom of the dry arid canyon, on which they had built some extremely basic cabins. It took us about 3 hours to reach the oasis, passing through some beautiful mountain villages and walking down through the bottom of the canyon again. Upon reaching the oasis we were shown to our cabins, which was just a mud hut with a straw roof and a mud floor, basic but very cosy. We got changed into our swims and went for a dip in the pool and had a bottle of beer. The evening was really relaxing, we sat around drinking and chatting with our new friends and at around 8pm dinner was served. After dinner we managed to stay up till about 10pm, but the early morning and the moderately hard day's trekking had taken it's toll. We also had to be up at 5am the following morning for the toughest part of the climb, the 1200m ascent back to the top of the canyon. Much to our surprise when we climbed into bed it was extremely comfortable, so our heads hit the pillow and we were asleep.

The following morning we were woken by our guide knocking on the door of our hut, bugger, we had overslept. We quickly jumped up, got our clothes on, ate some chocolate and bananas and we were off. We knew the climb was going to be tough, it was steep, uphill all the way and would take between 3 to 3.5 hours. We set of at a pace that Mel was comfortable with, not too fast but not that slow that we would be there all day. The other couple who were trekking with us opted for the easy option - they hired a couple of ponies to carry then up!

We started well and were slowly making our way to the top, the guide recommended that we break every 30 minutes, which we did after the first 30, but from then on we took a break as and when we needed one. The guide was impressed with the pace we were going as we were speeding up all the time and we eventually reached the top after just 2 hours and 15 minutes. We took a 5 minute break, took some pictures and then headed into town, as our stomachs were rumbling and breakfast was much needed.

We had breakfast in a little town called Cobanaconde in a little cafe right on the main square, which was lovely. Afterwards we just soaked up the sun in the local square for half an hour and waited for our bus which would take us to the local hot springs.

We couldn't wait to get into the hotsprings after our strenuous climb that morning so as soon as we got there we were changed and into the pool, which was soooo hot, perfect for the aching joints and muscles. The springs also had a waiter service for drinks so Mel and I, despite it only being 10.30am, indulged in a Colca Sour, a local drink made with the Peruvian spirit Pisco, egg white, sugar and the fruit of the San Pedro Cactus. It went down very well while we sat in the warm waters of the springs.
After the springs we had a 4 hour drive back to Arequipa, during which we took in a couple of view points, the most spectacular being at an elevation of just over 5000m, from which you could see five different volcanoes from. It started to snow after being there after 5 minutes, so we all quickly jumped back in to minibus. The last viewpoint was a stunning one over a beautiful part of the Canyon. After stopping here we made our way back to Arequipa.

We arrived back in Arequipa at 6.30pm and our bus for Nasca was due to leave at 9.00pm, just enough time to grab some food.

5 day Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu

DAY ONE

Yet another early morning to be had for the Salkantay trek, but at least our tour operator had the decency to pick us up from our hostel. It was a bit of a slow start to the day whilst we waited for several things to be put in order before we set off in earnest. On the way we were able to catch sight of the impressive Salkantay peak. We hoped that we would be blessed with such a great view once we were up close and personal.

Our minibus took us to a little town called Mollepata where we were to eat breakfast before starting our trek. Carlos, our tour guide, then told us that we would be catching some local transport for the first part of the walk. We were a bit disappointed by this as we were expecting to get cracking on our hike, but when the truck turned up it ended up being quite good fun. We bumped up and down on a very muddy track, trying our best to stay balanced and not fall over each other too much.

We were going along great guns until the truck became stuck in one particularly muddy part of the hill. He reversed and tried again a few times. I think we'd still be there trying if it wasn't for one of the group suggesting that we all jump out and try to line the path with branches and twig to give it a bit of traction. So, off we all went, gathering what we could find to throw in front of the truck. He tried again to roll over, but without success. That's when it got serious and the machete came out. Suddenly the locals started chopping down huge chunks from the surrounding trees - the two Aussie boys Jules and Ollie also had a go with the blade. Eventually, when we had a small forest lining the path, the truck was able to pass through, accompanied by lots of whoops and cheers.

Finally we were set down, and started to walk for the first time. The mountains rose majestically either side of us as we walked through the valley. We knew we only had a couple of hundred metres to climb in around two hours, so it wouldn't be too strenuous that day. I think all the group felt pretty breathless after the first climb, but it soon flattened out to a muddy track. During the last half an hour it started to rain, so we were glad to see our campsite all set up and waiting for us; the horses and some of the staff had gone on ahead of us.

After drying off a little we sat down to a deliciously filling lunch. I noticed that Jen, the American girl in our group, was pretty quiet throughout. After lunch we were supposed to go for a short walk to a nearby lake, but due to the bad weather conditions this didn't happen. James and I went for a bit of a scout around anyway, but soon made our way back to camp when we saw a huge cloud quickly creeping across the valley floor towards us.

Unfortunately Jen didn't make it to dinner that night. She had started to have some altitude sickness, which wasn't good due to the fact that the next day was due to be the toughest. The rest of us had a hearty meal and got to bed pretty early in preparation for the hard slog.


DAY TWO

Another ridiculously early morning rise. We started the day packing our bellies with much needed fuel, and then packing our bags. We started walking at a decent pace, which we were able to keep up despite the start of a rapid climb. Whilst James was the constant pack leader, I just took things steady and constant. This enabled me to keep up for the most part with the Aussie lads, and leave the two 18 year old girls somewhat trailing behind! Jen took things at her own pace too, and did an amazing job of pretty much keeping up with the rest of us, despite still suffering with the altitude.

The morning's climb took us to the pass which was the highest point of our trek at 4600m above sea level - the highest that either James or I had been in our lives. When I saw James standing next to the sign showing we had reached it I felt such a sense of achievement. It was here that we should have been able to see the beautiful peak of Salkantay, but the inclement weather would not allow it. Whilst it had by no means been a walk in the park, it was nowhere near the despairingly difficult climb that I had imagined. Apparently I had just missed Deb (our Aussie mate) who was also doing the Salkantay trek with another group.

We stopped briefly for photos, but couldn't stay too long. It had taken around three and a half hours to get there, and we had another couple of hours before we reached our lunch tent.

For the next two hours it was raining heavily as we started to drop back down, which meant that at times it was slippery. The lunch tent was a welcome sight, as we were all soaked through and tired. We had made the morning section of the trek in good time, so we were eagar to get the afternoon section of the hike out of the way. We set off straight away after lunch, and Carlos told us that we had approximately five hours of descent ahead of us.

The path steeply swept below us, and we soon found our way into the jungle. Not only was there a difference in the scenery, which was lush and green, but we also felt a quick rise in temperature. We made camp in only four hours, which has got to be some kind of a record! The camp ground was incredibly impressive, as our tents were flanked by four green mountains - it was so picturesque. There were only around a dozen other people camped there, so that all added to the charm as well.

I think we all felt like we deserved a good feed that night, and was glad that the hot grub kept coming. We also celebrated with a few beers, which was perhaps not the best way to rehydrate from the day's exertions, but it felt good to let our hair down a bit. We also managed to get a campfire going, and the group talked and laughed over the flames. Megan and Deanna, the two young Canadian girls, got pretty drunk that night, which was entertaining in itself. James and I went to bed around 10pm, and left the young 'uns to enjoy themselves!

DAY THREE

This was the day of mud. We only had to walk around six hours, but this was a tough day, especially as I was feeling a little delicate from the beer the night before. Whole sections of the path were impassable and we needed to find alternative routes for much of the time. We would try to walk around the edge of a bog and I'd put down my walking stick for support, which would just squelch into the mud and keep sinking.

The walk took us further into the heart of the jungle, passing waterfalls and crossing over fast flowing rivers. There were also beautiful wild flowers, including orchids (my favourite blooms) and Cantutas, the national flower of Peru. We eventually reached a small town called La Playa, where we had lunch. It was here that we said goodbye to the horsemen, who had to return from the direction we came. We couldn't believe that they had to do it all over again the opposite way.

After saying our farewells we caught a minibus to another town called Santa Teresa where we would camp that night. Dropping off our things and grabbing our swim gear, we left almost immediately for the hotsprings that were just 10 mins drive away. Here we spent several hours relaxing our muscles in the warm waters. It was beautifully set in the bottom of a green valley, with the steep side of a cliff on one edge of the pool. As the sun set we began to see the twinkling stars above us, and I think we all felt pretty lucky to be able to enjoy the surroundings. Carlos somehow managed to drag us out of the pool to get us back to camp for dinner, which was as yummy as usual.



DAY FOUR

I think that we got "done" by our tour guide on this day. We were supposed to walk to a place called Hydroelectrica, where we should've caught the train to Aguas Callientes. Somehow we managed to get dropped off by minibus, and continued to walk for only an hour and a half to Hydroelectrica, where we had lunch.

In the afternoon we then walked for a boring 3 hours along the traintracks in the pouring rain. Whilst there was lovely scenery around us, none of us could really look at it as we had to concentrate on balancing on the slippery sleepers, which were not even at a consistent distance from one another. The boys made a bit of sport for themselves and took to throwing rocks at signs and posts along the way. Who would've thought something so simple could create so much amusement?

After what seemed like forever, we found ourselves coming into Aguas Callientes. This was a real tourist town, as it's sole existence is down to it's proximity to Machu Picchu. We checked into our hostel like a group of drowned rats, but after a shower and a change we were back out again having a couple of cheeky pisco sours before dinner. The dinner at the hostel was a huge buffet, and the boys did us proud by scoffing several plateloads between them.

DAY FIVE - MACHU PICCHU

We had asked Carlos the night before what time we'd need to get up and out to make sure that we were on the first bus at 5:30am to Machu Picchu, as he was adamant that we shouldn't walk up there. He assured us that because it was off peak season that we'd be OK to get in line at 5:15am. How wrong he was. When we arrived the queue was already ginormous, and our hearts sank. It was important for us to get up there quickly, as they only allow 400 people up Wanyu Picchu, which affords a birds eye view of the whole of the lost city. It was hopeless.

Luckily Ollie spotted someone near the front of the queue who he knew. I'm ashamed to say it, but all seven of us pushed in. It's not something that any of us would normally do, but we felt so cheated by our guides bad advice, plus we figured this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, that we felt it necessary to be brutal. This meant that we found ourselves on the second bus going up, which in turn meant that we were near the front, waiting for the Park's gates to open.

As soon as they did we wasted no time in marching straight to the other end of the city, only pausing briefly for a few snaps, where we queued for the Wanyu Picchu tickets. We managed to get entrance tickets for after 10am. This was perfect as we were able to explore the rest of the site before other tourists (e.g. from the Inca Trail and the tour buses) got there, and this also gave the clouds a chance to lift.

We were taken around the city by Carlos to a few different sites, and he explained the historical context. We managed to get up to the guardtower, which is a lookout point over the city (this is the view that is found on most postcards). It was then time for us to climb up to Wanya Picchu, which we had been told would take around an hour.

Surprise, surprise, James managed to steam ahead of us, and then Jools and Ollie left us girls behind too. Even taking it steady, the rest of us managed it in around 45 mins, but it was a steep climb and quite slippery at times. Once we got up there we had fabulous views across the whole of Machu Picchu, and it really gave us the sense of the sheer size of the place. We stayed up there for around 15 mins, but it started to rain so we started the clamber down. If we thought going up was difficult, the descent was even trickier, but we all just about made it in one piece!

We'd arleady been up there for about 6 hours, so we were all a bit Inca-ruined-out, so we sauntered back through the city to the exit. We just hadn't done enough walking over the five days, so we thought we'd top it off with a walk back down into town, which only took us around an hour and a quarter. We finished off the day with another massive buffet lunch before getting a train and a bus back into Cuzco. Although we were all relatively tired, we agreed to meet up that night for a few drinks to celebrate Jen's 30th birthday (which was the day after), as well as finishing the trek.

After a much needed hot shower and a change out of our muddy trekking clothes, we trotted out to town to grab something to eat before meeting up with the rest of the group. We got Jen's party started by lining up the drinks for her, and Deanna and Megan were sweet enough to buy her some apple pie, which was the closest thing to cake they could find, with a candle. Even our mate Deb was in the bar with a couple of people from her trek. We were having a really nice night, but after only a couple of drinks I started to feel dodgy. We had to leave pretty quickly thereafter, and the walk home wasn't pleasant. I was feeling extremely nauseous with crippling stomach cramps.

We got back and went to bed, but between the pain and visits to the bathroom I didn't sleep a wink. Needless to say that the next day we were unable to make it to the other Inca ruins as planned. I spent the next couple of days in bed recovering, whilst James tried his best to look after me.

I was eventually able to get up and have something to eat, which felt really good. I was thankful that it had only been short spell and not too serious - we had heard absolute horror stories from other travellers who had needed to take antibiotics to recover from their upset stomachs. We caught the over night bus back to Arequipa that night, but this time went with a reputable bus company. We certainly appreciated the difference, and it felt like sheer luxury to be able to travel without hats and extra layers on!

Cuzco

After a long, arduous and horrible journey we eventually made it Cuzco. It was by far the worst bus ride we have taken so far on the trip. The bus was that cold that Mel and I were both wearing hat, gloves, 2 or 3 t-shirts and a fleece, and our teeth were still chattering. Half way through our journey we also saw a bus crash, another bus heading to Cuzco, on which we later found out were two people from the UK we were sharing a dorm with in La Paz. The girl had factured her forearm and dislocated her wrist.

When we arrived we hopped in a cab and made it to the main plaza, where grabbed some breakfast, and as we hadn't eaten a proper meal for 24 hours, we decided to splash out. We sat out on the balcony of a lovely cafe overlooking the stunning central square of Cuzco munching our breakfast, it was a very pleasant experience after being stuck on a bus for so long.

We decided that we would take it easy during our first day in Cuzco, and just wonder the streets and get to know the city. Our first stop was to confirm our booking with the agent we had booked our Salkantay/Machu Picchu trek through. We had to meet at the office the following day at 6pm for a pre-trek meeting.

FroWe continued to visit the many stunning sights that Cuzco town had to offer. The Plaza de Armas is probably the most impressive town square we have seen in all of South America, it's only downside is the hoards of tourists that arrive by the bus load and the very persistant touts trying to sell things to the tourists. Unfortunately, as we are gringos, we get pulled into the same category as the tourists and the touts mistake us for having money and still try to sell us things.

Cuzco is a beautiful little town, full of wonderful squares beautiful norrow winding streets and lots of small children wondering around with llamas of varying size trying to get you to have a photo taken with one of the oversized sheep.

On our second day we visited some of the Inca ruins around the outskirts of Cuzco. There are four in total on the same road, they are called Saqsaywaman, Q´enqo, Pukapukara and Tambomachay. You can catch the bus to Tambomachay, the furthest from town, then walk back to town, visiting the other sites on the way.

Tambomachay is only a small ruin that basically demonstrates the Incas expertise in harnessing water and using it effectively.

The second ruin, a stones throw from Tambomachay, Pukapukara is a much larger site that was used by the Incas as an adminstration centre and fort. The ruins are perched on the edge of a hillside and have impressive views from all angles. As with most Inca ruins there are also your token llamas wondering about munching on the grass.

The third site is a slightly obscure one, Q´enko, pronounced just like the instant coffee, was used a place of worship. It has a huge natural rock formation in the middle, which has a huge cave underneath that was used for the storage of pottery.

The fourth and final site of Saqsaywaman (literally pronounced as "Sexy wowan") was by far the most impressive we'd seen that day. This huge ruin, used by the Incas as a fort, is approx 300m long and is made of zig-zag walls constructed of huge but perfectly carved stones. The worksmanship on the stone is incredible and the stones, despite their abnormal shapes, fit together perfectly. In a different area of the site there is also what appears to be a circular communal area, a bit like a amphitheatre, which archeologists believe used to be a market place.

From Saqsaywaman there are steps that lead directly down to the main square in Cuzco, so we made our way down so as not to miss our meeting. On the way down we came across a small square in which there were about 40 men all dancing and sing a song about women. We couldn't work out the lyrics but it was entertaining and interesting watching them dance around with their sticks. We managed to pull ourselves away after about 20 minutes and made our way to the trek meeting.

Once we got there we met our trekking partners, Ollie and Julian from Melbourne, Jen from San Diego and Megan and Deanna from Calgary. They all seemed like really nice people and we all hit it off straight away. The tour operator were going to pick us up at 5am the following morning, so after the meeting we grabbed some food and made our way back to the hostel for an early night to ensure we were fresh as daisies for the following morning.

Lake Titicaca - Copacabana/Puno

After 5 amazing days in La Paz we headed up to Lake Titicaca for a few days. The lake is 95km wide and over 300km long and straddles the border of Bolivia and Peru.

The journey to Copa was 4 hours and took us past the huge snow capped mountains outside of La Paz and through the countryside of Northern Bolivia. Before long we came to the smaller but equally impressive Lago de Huynaymarka, which is just south of Lake Titicaca. We then reached a little town call San Pablo de Tiquina, where we had to hop of the bus and jump on a tiny boat to be ferried across a stretch of the lake where the road cannot cross. Our bus followed us on vehicle carrying boat that looked as if it may sink at any given moment. We crossed to the equally little town called San Pedro de Tiquina. Did you notice the difference in town names? Pedro and Pablo.....very subtle. From there the veiws of the lake got better and we eventually turned a corner and got a glimpse of the beautiful lakeside town of Copacabana. When we arrived we went for a walk about the small town, which seemed to be inhabited mainly by hippes - it's a very chilled out place. On the evening we decided to climb the the top of the Cerro Calvario on the edge of town as it is a great place to watch the sun set. Unfortunately cloud started to move in and the sunset was a bit of a non-event. We did get to watch a great electric storm over the lake though.

The following day we got up early to do a 17km trek from Copa to a little town called Yampupata. We set off from Copa to the outskirts of town and soon found ourselves in the countryside surround by bulls, pigs and llamas. The scenery along the way was amazing, passing through little farming villages and climbing up to paths that hugged the sides cliffs over looking the lake. We eventually came to a beautiful bay in which we could see Isla Del Sol and Isla de la Luna. We walked down into the bay, which took us to the town of Yampupata.

We intended to spend 3 days in Copa, but we later found out that there was a strike on the road between Copa and Cusco, meaning that we would have to travel to Arequipa to enable us to get to Cusco. This meant that we were going to have to cut our stay short by a day.

The following morning we got up early to travel to Puno. It was a four hour bus journey, 10 mintues into which we had the dodgiest border crossing yet. The Bolivian border officials are known for being a little corrupt and they lived up to their reputation. Mel and I were not the unfortunate ones, instead they picked on a couple of young English lads. They tried to extract the equivilent of 30 pounds from each. Obviously the lads politely refused but the guards were having none of it. After about 5 miuntes of angry exchanges the lads managed to get the officials to stamp their passports, at which point both lads ran out of the passports office and legged it to the Peruvian border to get the entry stamp for Peru. The officials quickly hotfooted it after them and tried to stop them before they crossed the border. Fortunately the lads made it to Peru and quickly got the required entry stamp and got onto the bus. The whole episode was very comical, but also pretty serious as these officials do have the power to retain you within the country if they choose to do so. Finally the engines of the bus started and off we went, leaving the fuming border guards behind.

We eventually reached Puno and tried to find out the best way of getting to Cusco. Several bus companies were offering an alternative route to Cusco through mountain roads, but Mel rightly pointed out that this was not the best idea as the bus was an overnighter and the driver would not be all that familar with the route, plus it was really expensive. So we decided to take the longer but safer option to Arequipa, then a overnight bus from Arequipa to Cusco.