Up Up High

As you may have noticed, no blog posts, then several at once. I am catching up. Last week we were a write-off.  Cusco is situated at 3300m above sea level, as such most travellers suffer from some sort of altitude sickness on arrival. We got it bad! Maybe the speed of the bus meant we didn't acclimatise on the way in, maybe we were still a bit jet lagged and that impacted, either way for three days we were were sick, tired, dizzy, breathless, throw in some suspected food poisoning for me too and all in all not a happy few days.  Our hostel is situated in the lovely San Blas area of town, which is quite arty and relaxed,unfortunately  it's also up a very big hill so been even when we make the crawl out for some food (we have tiny appetites) its a tough stair climb home.  The steps are good prep for the Inca Trail but we could have done with feeling a lot fitter for it!

Wacky Races

Wacky Races! 

We arrived in Lima early morning on Thursday 9th November. We had pre-ordered a taxi to get us to our hostel from the airport. In the morning rush hour got our immediate taste of how the Peruvians like to drive. There are very little rules, often no lights, occasionally a  traffic cop, and lots of horns. The whole trip took about 1 1/2 hours, of horns, swerving and generally closing our eyes and hoping for the best. We would have a few more trips like this but on Monday evening we would hit the highway in a bus, which is even more fun! We took the 20 hour night bus from Lima to Cusco. In the Cruz del Sur VIP service you get a big comfy seat,  a meal, movies (with English subtitles). So far so good. At the start the give a big talk about security (bag searches and photos are taken off everyone getting on the bus) and safety (by law passengers must wear seat belts and the bus must keep to an average speed of 90km per hour). All this is great except with a timetable to keep to,  the driver ends up doing 70-80km on windy mountain roads. It's dark, we cannot see, it's a good job. I am served a coffee after my dinner, I cling onto it for dear life for a good half hour before the driving is calm enough to drink it. We arrive alive and well in Cusco, 1 hour ahead of schedule on Tuesday morning.

A quick view of the seafront in Miraflores, Lima for you. 

The decision to go

Inspired by short backpacking holidays around Vietnam and more recently Cuba, in August 2012, myself and my partner Lee resigned from our busy London based jobs and made the decision to go backpacking around South America for six months.

Over the past few months armed with a copy of  South America on a shoestring we began dreaming and planning. In the end, other than mapping out a rough route we haven't done a great deal of planning and have instead decided to try as much as possible to take each day as it comes. 

We will begin our travels in Peru on the 9th November and this blog will tell our stories and experiences.