Round The World Trip 2006

Hello to you! I hope you are well. We are doing wonderfully. We are currently having a little holiday within a holiday and living the beach life for a week. None of you are going to believe I've been to all these exotic places if I come back as white as I went away so some serious time on the beach was definately needed. Lynn also proved yesterday that it's not just the mosquitoes who find her more attractive than me but also the marine life. One injection, 3 courses of tablets and 30 quid worse off - we think she'll pull through and I can confidently say I won't have to carry on this trip alone. More of that later though, in the meantime we'd better nip back to Cusco in central Peru where the last epic installment of my Round-The-World adventure ended up.... We left Cusco nearly 3 weeks after we first arrived and ever since our first day there we'd been looking forward to eating at a restaurant that ultimately we decided to save until our last day. The restaura...

Hello again! After 3 days back in Cusco we were off again for a 4-day trip into the Amazon Rainforest to a place called the Tambopata Nature Reserve just south of Puerto Maldonado in southern Peru. The only significant event to tell you about in the 3 days we spent back in Cusco is that we gave our sleeping bags away. They were really useful on a number of occasions since we accidentally acquired them but they're so heavy, they just had to go. We wouldn't have got much by selling them so we gave them to the South American Explorers Club which has an office here in Cusco and they have collections of clothing and camping gear which they donate to the needy folk in the local community. My pack looks so empty now! So anyway, trip 2 was to the Tambopata Nature Reserve and here's how it went.... Day 1: It's 2 days in the back of a truck to get to Puerto Maldonado or 40 minutes on a plane. We arrived at Cusco airport for our 07:40 flight and 40 minutes later we landed in Puert...

Good day to you, I hope you are still well after yesterday's brief email announcing another series of photos had been added to my blogsite. Did you like them? Half of those photos related to two previous travel reports and the other half are relevant to the next two that I'm about to write. My last email reported our arrival in the city of Cusco in Peru nearly 3 weeks ago. We are still in Cusco but will be flying west to Lima tomorrow (Thursday 13th July). Flying? On our budget? Yes, I'm afraid to say that faced with 24 hours on a bumpy bus or 45 minutes on a nice plane we wussed out and bought an airticket. Now, despite the fact that we are still in Cusco after such a long time don't think we've been taking it easy, putting our feet up, our bags down and relaxing. Oh no, we've been jolly busy recently and have just returned from two BIG trips. Before I tell you about them though I would just like to add that I am fully recovered from all previous illnesses, inj...

After a couple of days back in Cusco following our trek to Machu Picchu, we set off again. This time we headed down into the Amazon Rainforest to The Tambopata Nature Reserve for four days. We saw plenty of wildlife, most of it scarpering before I could get the camera out but I did come away with a few pictures! Macaws regularly visit a "clay lick" to eat minerals essential to their diet. On day two in the reserve we went out on a lake to bird-watch. I managed to snap this photo of a Tiger Heron. On the way back we stopped to go fishing where we caught quite a few Yellow-bellied Piranhas.

Day 5 of The Salkantay Trek and we arrive at Machu Picchu at dawn. In the early morning light the ruins are shrouded in mist. Later in the morning I climb Huaynu Picchu, a very steep hill sitting directly behind the ruins to photograph the famous site from above. After 5 days together we made some good friends with the others in our group. From left to right: Rich (UK), George (UK), Renaud (Belgium), Tsin (Singapore), Axel (Belgium), Susie (UK), Mel (Australia), Jay (Australia), Lynn (UK) and Jesper (Denmark).

From Cusco we went on a 5-day trek called The Salkantay trek which finishes at one of the most famous sites in the world, Machu Picchu. Day one of the trek sees us walk 2,000 vertical metres in 5 hours to reach the highest point of the trek at 4,660 metres above sea-level. We camped on the other side of the pass about 3 hours downhill at 3,800 metres above sea-level. It was about -5C in the night and everything was covered in ice when we woke up. Thankfully we kept heading down on Days 2 and 3 and soon found ourselves walking through sub-tropical forests.

From Arequipa we took a best forgotten bus-ride to the beautiful city of Cusco and ancient capital to the Incas. The next two photos are of Cusco's main plaza, a lovely place to relax in the sun and watch the world go by.

The main plaza in Arequipa is absolutely stunning, surrounded on all 4 sides by elegant white stone arches. From Arequipa we took a 2-day trip to The Colca Canyon to watch condors gliding about on the thermals. Condors have a 3 metre wingspan and are absolutely immense when they swoop past you at close range. Numerous handicraft sellers line the route to The Colca Canyon selling many textiles and knitted items to the tourists. The numerous kids are living mannequins for the items their mothers make and sell!

Hi to you all, Another internet cafe with Photoshop has been located so you lucky people get to see a few more photos from the last month on the road. There are also some photos from our trek to Machu Picchu and a trip to the amazon rainforest which I shall be writing about tomorrow. So the first photos are of our Lake Titicaca crossing. We spent Day 2 on Isla Del Sol, a huge island in the middle of the lake. Lynn hitches a ride to our hotel, whilst I walk ahead and take photos! On Day 3 we visited a floating island made of totora reeds which grow all around the lake. Families live on the islands and sell handicrafts to passing tourists. We bought some woolly hats! Our first stop in Peru was to the town of Puno on the western shores of Lake Titicaca. From here we took a trip to Sillustani, an ancient burial site. The largest tower (below) is 12 metres high and was struck by lightning which is why it isn't complete anymore. Notice the embossed lizard on one of the blocks.