Action Packed Peru!

Well, we've finally arrived in Cuzco and it feels really good to know we're not going anywhere for about 10 days. We've been so busy ever since we got stuck into Peru, but I'm not complaining... oh no... it's been great!

Peru has a quite incredible variation in landscape as you pass through it. Dripping wet amazon, lush rolling countryside, dramatic white capped mountains, and even vast expanses of desert... I had no idea, but it has certainly made for very varied activities over the past few weeks. Unlike Colombia, Peru has a much more established tourist industry, despite appearing to be poorer, and subsequently there is just soooo much stuff to do as you travel through :)

Starting from the north we did some cool, but ultimately hopeless, attempts at surfing at a really chilled out surfing/fishing village. Then on to Huaraz for the most amazing mountain bike trip in the world, ever, in the Cordillera Blanca (see previous entry). Next was 'Poor Man's Galapagos' (Pisco) where we got to see loads of birds, penguins, sea lions, etc - was the first bit of 'nature watching' we've done so far, so it was great to be doing something a bit different for a change. I've never seen anything like that before and it was amazing watching the males (bulls?) fighting over the ladies in a rather rubbery and cumbersome but bloody and violent kind of way! After that was sand boarding on vast sand dunes at this amazing little Oasis in the desert, where, to top up on my mountain biking injuries, I managed to stand up for a while... and then SLLAAAMMM, right on the base of my spine - no one had warned me that sand was like concrete at high speed! I need a little recovery time so I think that's it for extreme sports for a while!

Last stop on our run roughly down the cost was Nazca to see the weird and wonderful Nazca Lines... and yes, they're pretty weird and there's a whole host of theories and explanations as to why they might be there. The most ridiculous ones are the 'giant running track' and 'alien landing site' ones - amazing they ever made it onto paper really! The most plausible, I think, is that they were 'drawn' as offerings to the gods so that it might rain. The plane that took me up was the smallest thing I've ever seen and after a pretty harrowing flight and narrowly avoiding a tornado on the runway, we landed and I was nearly sick!

So anyway, just kicking back for a few days now until Adam (my bro) and Sophie meet up with us in a few days, and then the debauchery begins (again)... ;) Take care all, and as always please tell me your news....