Peru

This cant be long as i am sitting in an Internet cafe sweating away in a town called Iquitos in the Amazon jungle. Its the kind of heat you can only feel after dark, and its kind of surreal as in this crowded little cafe the `person` sitting next to Xss is actually a family of nine squeezed onto one seat, looking at someone on the computer screen, it is obvious that they don't know how to communicate with them though and keep making random noises (like trying to coax a cat) to see what happens. Xss looks like he is part of it all, like a long lost cousin, if they are lucky he might even wave hello to the person too.

So we arrived in Lima having loved Santiago and found another lovely city in Lima. We enjoyed the Starbucks in the park, the arrival of Christmas ushered in by the big department store (Ripley's) which not content with cheerful Christmas music and decorations inside even had a snow machine beckoning us to come in. Clothes are cheap here so we both almost have full stocks again now. Just trainers to go. There was so much nice food in Lima, really brilliant different tastes to home and i hope that one day i will be able to return again, just for the food if nothing else.

We had been looking forward to Peru for a long time as it offered us a decent amount of time to travel independently, not booking anywhere in advance and going wherever as we choose. However, time passes very quickly and we soon discovered that we had to hurry in order to fit in Cusco and Machu Picchu.

After taking the bus south and stopping at Ica (Hurachina) for the sand boarding, which was awesome. Since we liked living in a sandune so much we stayed another day to sunbath by the pool and relax with our elephant style towels. We then re-boarded the bus and headed to Arequipa. We stayed here for a couple of days as well, enjoying the old town and visiting a convent which was really like a small, tranquil, walled city.

We then went on to Puno, and it was only at the moment of getting off the bus we both questioned why we had come up here. Not only was it at high altitude and not on our way to Cusco, but we knew of nothing to do in the town and could already see the grey and non-mystical Lake Titicaca on the drive in. Altitude sickness hit me, and has never managed to catch Xss. So i spent a day laying down as i felt very dizzy and with a high temperature (this is not a listed side effect of altitude sickness, what are the chances!) In the afternoon we went to see the floating Islands of Uros, where people supposedly live on little reed islands (5-6 families per island) and eat reeds and make boats out of reeds and sleep on reeds, and sell reeds; however i am sceptical that this is nowadays much more than a job people do to attract tourists and sell their crafts, there were no teenagers on the islands and no sign of cooking having gone on ever.

We are increasingly finding faults with our `rough guide` and finding ourselves thankful that we did not follow some of its advice. One such example is that it suggests going out to the Uros islands by yourself. We have now had many a conversation about how awkward it would have been to turn up on a tiny floating island with only a few tribal people on, with no language in common and nothing to do. ermm... Uno anyone. (everyone knows Uno don't they!)

So onwards to Cusco. Unfortunately everyone loves Cusco, so i was expecting a lot, and since they had no Starbucks i was deeply disappointed (really Xss was, he has become quite an addict). Luckily i had an Incan McDonald's instead. It rained whilst we were at Machu Picchu, and one of us forgot the hood to their coat (luckily it kept the clothes under it back in the room nice a dry). I did not receive the Butterfingers chocolate bar and kiss for hurrying up at the end as i stopped to take a few photos and went the wrong way onto a dead end path. Luckily, it was all fine and we enjoyed it. It was very similar to the photos so this made it a little odd. I don't really understand the Inca´s or the wonder of their talents yet, i might have got it wrong, but Machu Picchu was only abandoned in 1400s and Hampton Court Palace (per say) was made in 1514, am i missing something but i know who i would want to build my holiday house.

So we flew back through Lima and caught a flight out to the crowded Amazon city we now find ourselves in. Time has gone very quickly, but in some places it seems to go very slowly. We are now faced with the brilliant decision of how far into the jungle to go and how many days to go for. It all looks pretty exciting and i cant wait.