Machu Picchu, Peru.

Like all good travel adventures, things rarely go to plan and Machu Picchu was no exception. After spending a week or so in Peru everybody we had met had been telling us that we simply HAD to climb Huayna Picchu as it was the highlight of the Machu Picchu experience. We had never heard about HP before arriving in Peru but soon learned it was the larger of two mountains that overlook MP in all the photos you will see of the site. Great we thought, sounds amazing. The only snag was that only 400 people a day are allowed to enter the HP site which means you have to get to the entry gates of MP super early in order to be one of the lucky few to get the access stamp on your ticket.

Always up for a challenge we decided to chance our luck and headed towards the Ollantaytambo train station in an attempt to change our train tickets to enable us to arrive in Aguas Calientes earlier than planned. We were lucky and managed to get the 11pm train out of Ollan that night which arrived in AC at 1am. The only flaw in this plan was that we had not arranged a hostel so we decided that we would either find one when we arrived or sleep rough at the MP gates. We had to get up at 4am to trek to the gates anyway so we figured this was no biggie.

Our train rolled in to AC bang on time and when exiting the carriage we were harassed by a few locals touting their hostels. We decided to chance it and agreed to a room for 20 soles that some guy that looked like a wrestler was selling. We quickly began to regret this decision as the huge man and his skinny sidekick started to lead us down some dark streets. We finally arrived at a door which led us in to a basement with what looked like a common room and one bedroom. The room was basic to say the least and I didn't get a wink of sleep expecting the wrestler to come in at any moment armed with rope and some chloroform. I was so happy when the time came to leave the hostel, relieved we hadn't been turned in to human traffic.

The next twenty five minutes were spent walking towards the first set of gates of Machu Picchu. We were quite pleased to arrive in good time but our happiness was to be short lived. It turned out that we couldn't buy our MP entrance tickets at the gates, we had to go back to AC to get them. Annoyed and gutted at the misinformation we had been told by other travellers we headed back up the hill towards AC. The worst part was that the ticket office didn't open until 5am and we knew we had to be at the top entrance gates of MP by 6am at the latest to get the HP access stamp. There wasn't much we could do except wait so while Ryan stood outside the ticket office I joined a line for bus tickets up to MP. We decided this would be our best chance of getting up the hill quickly and a nice Canadian bunch of ladies who had been before helped us out which was awesome.

We finally had our tickets and boarded the bus up to MP at 5:30. The long winding road seemed to last forever but in fact took around forty minutes so we were standing in line at the entrance gates by 6:10. We were however to be in luck and managed to attain 10am access stamps to HP. Relieved that our ill planned strategy had worked out we entered the gated of Machu Picchu just as the morning sun was bursting through the clouds.

The Inca ruins on Machu Picchu really are a sight to behold. As we sat on the top of the ruins it felt surreal to be looking down on the image that we knew so well from books and internet sites. It almost felt like our eyes were playing tricks on us and we were actually just looking at a photograph . We spent the next few hours running around and exploring as much of the site as we could. It's a bit of a labyrinth and new things can be found around every corner. Llamas, lizards and wee rabbits with curly long tails could be seen everywhere, as if we had stepped in to some bizarre friendly Jurassic park.

There were many other creatures though that weren't so friendly. One of these being the sand fly. If you're not familiar with the sand fly it's basically a 1-3mm little black fly which lives in dry, mountainous areas of South America. The female of the species has a keen taste blood which was something my legs were to find out. There I was just standing there waiting for Ryan to take a photo when for some reason I decided to look down. This turned out to be a very good idea as I discovered my legs were covered in hundreds of these little black buggers. Within seconds my legs had been eaten to shreds with twenty nice red bites swelling up quickly. This was enough for me to put my trousers back on but sadly the damage had already been done and I was to spend the next few days with sore, swollen, oozing and itchy red lumps on my legs.

Traumatised after the attack of flies we found a quiet and fly free area in the ruins and settled down for an hours snooze before heading to the gates of HP to begin the climb. We woke refreshed and excited about the challenge ahead. Many people had warned us of the treacherous and difficult path up HP and that it should be avoided unless extremely fit or an experienced trekker. Those of you who know us well will know that we are neither of these but we like a challenge and guessed it couldn't be any worse than Colca Canyon. Turns out we were right and we whizzed up the steep and uneven staircases in a record time of fifty minutes. We were told the trek would take at least an hour to an hour and a half so we were chuffed with our time. The views from the top lived up to their reputation and we tucked in to lunch feeling special to be amongst some of the lucky few to conquer HP.

After slithering back down HP we headed up towards the Inca Bridge. We actually meant to head towards the sun gates but took a wrong turn so the bridge it was. The route was a fairly pleasant stroll which led us around the mountain side with amazing cliff drops surrounding us the whole way. We finally reached the bridge which I found slightly anticlimactic, a three meter gap in the track with four planks of wood leading across it. Oh well at least we saw it. Feeling dehydrated and tired we decided to call it a day and headed back to base camp to grab some disgusting over priced food and a nice cool water.

It had been an amazing, once in a lifetime day and the Machu Picchu stamp in our passports just topped it all off. It was hard to believe we had just walked in one of the seven wonders of the world. We left fulfilled and happy but it was almost hard to leave knowing we may never see the site again. To witness with your own eyes what the Incas created is a very special experience and leaves you in awe of their capabilities. It's something that I think will always stay with you and it has definitely left an impression on us during our travels.

Our time in South America had come to an end and we had only three more days before leaving for New Zealand. I don't know what we expected SA to be like but it definitely exceeded all expectations. Here you will find some of the most amazing places to explore and the friendliest people you could meet. Not to mention super cheap accommodation and food. It had always been a dream to visit and now that we'd actually done it we were stoked if not a little sad to say goodbye. We'll be back though that's for sure. Hasta Luega South America it's been a blast! See you on the flipside.

Ollantaytambo, Peru.

Ollantaytambo is a wee village that sits an hour and a half from Cusco and is one of the main connecting villages to Aguas Calientes where you access Machu Picchu from. We had heard that Aguas Calientes although closer to MP wasn't as nice so we opted to sleep in the less touristy town of Ollantaytambo. After grabbing a connectivo (shared taxi) from Cusco we were soon in the mountains and in the sleepy village for a bargain price of around 10 soles.

Ollantaytambo is one of those hidden gems that people ignore in their rush to get out of their taxi and on to the train up to Aguas Calientes. It sits surrounded by some of the first Inca settlements in Peru, meaning you can easily trek some amazing Inca and pre-Inca ruins for free. If that isn't enough for you, the surrounding mountain landscape also offers a long list of outdoor activities such as downhill biking and white water rafting (we heard the water was full of jobbies now though).

We stayed here for 2 nights and managed to squeeze in two free treks, one to some ruins an hour or so uphill behind our hostel and another around some amazing ruins at the end of the village. The latter shouldn't have actually been free but we snuck in the backdoor and did the trek in reverse. Confused a lot of people but we enjoyed it.

Our hostel was more like a hotel so we couldn't cook our own meals which was a bit of a stinger on the old wallet but we found this amazing little cafe called HEARTS in the village square. This cafe was started by a british woman who came across a few years ago to establish aid for abused woman and children in the village. The cafe does amazing food at reasonable prices and all profits go towards supplies for the woman and children of Ollantaytambo. This made eating out feel a little bit better.

Ollantaytambo is a rad wee village. If you ever get the chance to visit Peru this has to be on your lists of places to see. We could have spent weeks there but we had to get our butts in gear for Machu Picchu which was next on our list of Peru To Do's.

Cusco, Peru.

When arriving in Cusco we didn't exactly come the pretty scenic route. I'm quite a fan of the grimy underworld but Ryan wasn't too impressed as we rolled through crumbling areas full of litter and suspicious looking characters. Keen to make a shuffle on to our hostel we got a taxi which took us through some amazing parts of town. My favourite was what I can only describe as the meat street. A long street lined entirely with butchers which had slabs of beef just lying on tables in the middle of the pavement and plucked chickens nailed to their doorways. The lack of refrigeration, amount of people and dust from the streets flying around these stalls was enough to convince me that any sample of this produce by an unhardened Scottish stomach would result in a swift case of food poisoning. None the less it was an amazing street to behold and the vibe in the area was buzzing.

After checking in to our over priced (by Peruvian standards) hostel we went off to explore the city. The centre of Cusco is much nicer, depending on your definition of nice, and the Spanish influence on construction is very apparent. Like any other city in Peru you'll find the Catholic churches created by the Spanish when they invaded. What we didn't know before arriving is that that most of these churches were created on top of Inca Ruins which the Spanish destroyed in order to build their houses of worship. What they didn't destroy to build on top of they destroyed in order to use the stones to build with. But it's not all bad, some Inca stone walls remain intact and can be spotted around the city if you have a sharp eye. It is however apparent that the Spanish did take one huge, steaming dump on Peru's history during their oppression.

Cusco was nice but we couldn't understand how people could spend weeks there. A usual amount of touristy things to see and do but we found a couple of days was enough and that we were ready to head up to the more rural area of Ollantaytambo where we were to chill before hitting Machu Picchu a few days later. Our time in Peru was flying by and we couldn't believe it was almost already time for us to do what we were expecting to be the highlight of our time in South America. So after meeting the most obnoxious Scot we had ever met (Oxford student, says it all) it was time for yet another early night in preparation for the winding road up the hill the next day.

Puno, Peru.

We arrived in Puno at around 7pm and the city was in full swing with street vendors lining the narrow roads and people bustling about everywhere. A taxi was cheap and easy to acquire so we were soon standing in the reception of a local hostel asking for a bed for the night. I am going to say right now NEVER stay at a “Point” hostel. Although nice enough we were later astounded to discover that they charged for the use of the kitchen. They tried to assure us this was common but after three months of dossing in hostels we knew that this was utter pomp. So the first night we had the luxury of paying five soles (which isn't actually that much but hey it's the principle!) to cook our super noodles or pay their supposed five star chef for a pizza. Ok rant over.

For those of you who don't know Puno is a city that surrounds part of Lake Titicaca which is the highest lake in the world and also home to the famous Uros (floating) Islands as well as other islands which are the home to different colonies on the Peruvian and Bolivian side of the lake.

We booked ourselves on to a one day tour of the lake which included a visit to the Uros islands and Taquile island which was 2hrs away from the Uros. It was another early start of 5:30am where we were picked up and dropped off at our boat to begin our journey to Uros. The boat journey was one of the slowest ever with a guide giving us random facts about the lake. We listened for a while before popping on our ipods and catching a snooze. We awoke just before arriving at the Uros and were rewarded with an amazing first glimpse of the floating islands appearing beside our boat. These islands we learned are made from one meter of dead roots which cause the islands to float and are then topped with another meter of reeds which grow in the lake. When you first step on to these islands it's a strange experience. The ground is spongy but the islands feel stable as they are anchored to the bottom of the lake bed with sticks. Everything on this island is made from reeds, the islanders even eat the root of the reed which provides them with a great source of calcium. What they need but cannot get from the lake they trade for at Puno with reeds. This is the islanders only real way of attaining what they need as they have no money other than the little they make selling hand made goods to tourists who visit the islands.

After Uros it was back on the boat and another two hours or so before hitting the island of Taquile. This wasn't a floating island and pretty average in standards as far as island aesthetics go. The beautiful aqua blue water surrounding the island definitely added to it's advantage though and once on the island the sight of eucalyptus trees was quite interesting. Once on Taquile we trekked to one of the local towns and were treated to the sight of the locals performing a traditional dance for us. We then got invited to dance with them which of course we both grasped unlike many others who rudely declined. After shaking our asses about with the locals in what was a very similar dance to Strip the Willow we wandered around to look at what they were selling. The job of the men on Taquile is to knit and the women to weave. Once a Taquile boy turns seven he works in the afternoon after school and learns how to make a traditional hat that all men on the island wear for their entire life. Before marriage they wear a half white half red hat and after marriage they wear a completely red hat. The standard of a hat represents the standard of the family, so a well made and decorated hate will demand much more respect. The men also wear white shirts which represent the moon, Black waistcoats and trousers which represent the sun and rainbow tastles on their hats which represent the indian flag of which they worship. The women in comparison wear the usual Peruvian clothing but with a black shoal with rainbow pom poms. Smaller pom poms mean you're married and bigger ones mean you're single, as the bigger ones suggest flirting.

After browsing through the usual collections of hats, blankets and bracelets we settled down for lunch in a local restaurant. Trout from the lake is one of the islands main food sources so we tucked in to some after polishing off some tasty veg soup which was made from island produce. Coca tea is a firm fixture in Peru so we supped on the leafy concuction before heading off back up and over the island towards our boat. It was a pleasant enough experience but didn't wow us as much as the Uros islands but all in all an interesting day out.

Back to the hostel we trotted to relax before, through spite, we decided to eat out at one of the local restaurants. We had heard good things about one in particular called Mojsa so headed directly there and weren't disappointed. An awesome two course meal by any standard plus two large beers came to the grand total of £20 so we rolled back to the hostel happy and full that night. The next day it was another early start to catch the bus to Cusco which we were pretty excited about. So it was another early but sleepless night thanks to excitement.

Arequipa, Peru.

When you arrive in Peru you realise this is the South America that you have dreamed of. It fits all the clichés of what you would expect a South American country to be like. Local women carrying heavy loads on their backs with multicolour blankets, men sleeping on benches with massive hats on, street sellers hassling you on every street corner to buy their products. This is the experience we had been looking for and it was a refreshing change from westernised Santiago.

Our first stop in Peru was Arequipa, we missed out Lima as we were tight on time and had heard from almost everybody that it was a hell hole. Arequipa however was amazing. We arrived in Peru in the run up to an election so our journey from the airport in to the centre of Arequipa was full of walls adorned with different paintings of party symbols (hats, spades, three leaf clovers!) and different candidate names. It might sound a bit boring but I loved to see all these wall murals which somebody had spent so much time and effort creating. It didn't stop at party pushing either; shop fronts, cars and restaurants could all be seen with hand painted advertisements across them. It was a welcomed change from mass produced, picture perfect posters and billboards.

There was however a reason we had come to Arequipa and that was to do the Colca Canyon trek. For those of you who don't know Colca Canyon it is the deepest canyon in the world, yup that's right it's NOT the Grand Canyon which was of course named by Americans so we can't take it's title too seriously. We decided to do the three day/two night trek which gave us the opportunity to stay with a local family who lived in one of the traditional towns at the bottom of Colca Canyon. We picked Land Adventures to do our trek with as we had heard so many good reviews and we were not let down. They were utterly amazing at looking after us and offering the best experience possible we could have had during our time in Colca Canyon. We highly recommend you check them out if you are contemplating any tours in Peru.

Our trek began at 3am in Arequipa where we were picked up bleary eyed to start out 6 hour journey to Chivay where we stopped for a quick lunch which included some disgusting, non de-script juice that nobody at our table seemed to be able to identify. It was back on the bus for another hour or so where we then stopped at Cruz del Condor where we were lucky enough to see around ten massive condors circling above us. Peru have protected this species which was almost extinct a few years ago but now thanks to Peru there are around fifty living in Colca Canyon alone. They are an impressive and beautiful sight and one we will never forget. Next it was back on the bus and another hour or so til Cabanaconde (3287m) which is a small village that sits above the part of Colca Canyon we were to trek. A tasty lunch was grabbed here before we began the descent in to the canyon. We were lucky enough to end up with a great group of trekkers which included one English couple and one German couple.

The descent from the top of the canyon was narrow, steep and in places really rocky so you had to be careful with your footing or you'd end up falling over the edge to become a condors dinner. It took our group around three hours to trek to the bottom of the canyon and in the blazing hot sun. We didn't think that was too bad and it was an awesome journey down. After a quick catch of breath at the bottom it was back on our feet and our first taste of an ascent in the canyon. The thin, dry air and altitude quickly became apparent and what would usually seem like a moderate climb up hill turned most of us in to wheezing cripples. We managed though and were pleased to see the little village of San Juan de Chucco (2200m). From here it was only another thirty mins or so until our final destination for the day and the newly green scenery full of avocados and cactus fruit was an easy distraction along the way.

We arrived at Cosnirhua (2450m) just before sunset and met our hosts for the night. I didn't catch any of their names but it was a middle aged couple and their teenage son who lived off farming the land surrounding their home. They work hard and long days of manual labour in the canyon, starting around 4am and finishing around 8pm and that's 6 days a week. The locals speak the pre-Inca language of Ketchua which is a dying tradition in the area as almost all of the young have left the canyon to live in the cities and speak the official national language of Spanish. It was a shame to hear how the culture of the villages in the canyon may become extinct once the current inhabitants die. This made us feel extremely fortunate to be able to experience life while it still existed in these villages.

Dinner was prepared for us on a traditional stove before we headed to bed and rested our tired bodies in our basic but comfortable rooms. We all knew the next day was going to be a tough one so we were all eager for an early night and as much shut eye as possible.

After a tasty breakfastof pancackes we hit the path again and headed for the neighbouring village of Malata (2450m) which was a pleasant and donkey filled warm up to the day. In Malata we went to a wee local ran museum where we saw the canyon way of life and got to try Chicha, the local alcohol made out of fomented corn. Happy with our daily booze fix we continued down hill towards Oasis Sangalle (2160m), which although pleasant sounds much more exotic than it actually was. We spent a good few hours here basking in the man made swimming pools which were filled with water off the mountains and soaking in the hot sun.

After lunch enough was enough and we had to strap on our climbing legs and lungs for the ascent we had all been dreading. We started around 3pm and although later in the afternoon the sun was still burning hot, making our first few steps much harder than they had to be. We were told the first part was the hardest, which was a lie, the whole thing was bloody hard. But we all trekked on all keeping the end target in sight, well apart from me who thought this random flag about three quarters the way up was the end, quite a disappointment I must say. The German couple were the dominators of the group absolutely storming up the steep, rocky and slippery ascent. I was starting to wonder if they were actually bionic as the hot, thin air and high altitude seemed to have little effect on their bodies. The rest of us Brits kept true to form and took our own sweet time climbing up the narrow paths whilst taking regular stops for blethers, drinks of water and contrived photo breaks. After three and half gruelling hours we made it to the top elated, over emotional and bloody knackered.

Little did we know we still had another thirty minute walk in the pitch dark before being rewarded with a three course meal and a comfy bed. I would add sleep but we had the fortune of experiencing a political party demonstration Peru style which basically involved a bunch of pissed men playing trumpets and drums all night long until they passed out, with their trumpets presumably still attached to their lips as the occasionally hoot could be heard during the early hours.

We woke up sorer than we have ever felt in life but utterly stoked we had conquered the deepest canyon in the world, well part of it anyway. We hopped back on our uncomfortable little bus and headed to Chivay where we were to catch another uncomfortable little bus to Puno. It was quite sad saying goodbye to our companions we had just spent three hard days with and also experienced so much with; laughter, swearing and at one point even vomiting. They were a great bunch and we were pleased it was them we trekked and struggled up hill with. Muchos Gracias amigos y Colca Canyon.

Santiago, Chile.

This was to be our second visit to Santiago as we had stayed her a couple of nights before heading to Ritoque. The first time we stayed in the Bellavista quarter which is famous for its art and music hang outs. We were told Bellavista was dangerous but we had no problem there and found it a pretty amazing part of the city. The second time we arrived in Santiago we had a cheap but awesome apartment sorted in the Providencia quarter which is mostly residential so pretty quiet in comparison to Bellavista.

Santiago is home to 50% of Chile's population and is accountable for around 70% of the countries economy. This is easy to tell when walking through the crowded and loud streets of the city which lie below the thick, grey smog that lives permanently above Santiago's inhabitants with only the tops of the buildings seeming to break free. The city is also divided in to four quarters (funnily enough); Bellavista, Providencia, Las Condes and Downtown. The Metro is awesome in Santiago and can transport you to all of these areas quickly, safely and more importantly cheaply.

It's easy to forget you're in Chile when you're in Santiago. If you spent the day without talking to anybody and had an ipod plugged in to your ears you would be forgiven for thinking you were in London, Barcelona or any other big city in the world. Westernisation has hit this city hard with bastardised American culture oozing out of every shop front and magazine advertisement. This then leads me on to the food. If you come to Santiago don't expect your taste buds to be tantalised. The mass majority of food is either fast food (american style) or badly done Italian. Bland is the only word to sum these options up. It's not all bad though, if you're up for a bit of exploring and eating off the beaten path you will be rewarded with some typical Chilean dishes which although not extremely exciting are a tasty and welcomed change from the typical lomitos (hots dogs with everything on them, and I mean EVERYTHING).

I might be making it sound like we hated Santiago, which we really didn't. This city may be less exciting than more rural areas of the county but it did have it's bonuses. We spent a few awesome days riding El Colorado and Valle Nevado where we lucked out with fairly good winter conditions. Valle Nevado is definitely the resort of choice with it's weekly lift pass discounts and more expansive area. Another area we highly enjoyed was the Santa Lucia hill, which sat in Downtown Santiago and offered the most amazing views of the city. Santiago is also full of Artisan markets which are fascinating to explore and a great place to pick up a cheap and reasonably unique item. A high light for me during our stay was our visit to bar La Piojera which was infamous in Santiago for its 'terremoto' (earthquake) drink; a pint of cheap white wine topped with pineapple ice-cream and fernet. Although utterly disgusting this bar was full of boozey locals, all consuming terremotos and singing and dancing to a drunken folk band playing in the corner. We had finally found an authentic glimpse in to local Santiago culture and it was all thanks to a disgusting drink that you stirred with a straw.

One whole month passed and it was time for us to leave Santiago and move out of Chile. We had a blast there, spent time with friends and created some awesome memories, most of which were fuelled by pisco. But it was time to move on and to be honest we couldn't bloody wait. Peru was calling and our feet were itching so it was time to hoist on those backpacks and hit the road again only partially lost and a little bit broke.