Galapagos

I've wanted to visit the Galapagos islands for years, after hearing other people's tales and seeing their wonderful photos. The group of islands off the west coast of the Equadorian mainland straddles the equator and is famous for its amazing wildlife (both above and below the water). We were fortunate enough to spend a week aboard the excellent Nemo. I say fortunate because at one point, after several weeks without communicaiton after sending them over US$4000, we thought the incompetent Green World Adventures (who trade as Galapagosislands.com) had run off with our money.

The Galapagos islands are better described by photos than words. Until I've had the chance to process over a thousand images from our week there, here are a few tasters:

Highlights of Peru

By the time we got to Peru, the bulk of our trip was behind us. No longer could we linger and take things as they came - military precision was needed to cram in as many of the sights of Peru as possible into the 10 days we had there before jetting off to the Galapagos Islands.



Our first stop, having braved a 6 hour wait in Lima airport, was the beautiful little town of Cuzco. Dodging the brightly coloured old ladies with children on their backs and Llamas in tow trying to sell us dodgy cardigans, we found our way to a little hotel near the main square. The first thing that struck me about Cuzco was how unexpectedly pretty and European it looked. The second thing was extensive altitude sickness which resembled being drunk, hungover, hungry and stuffed all at the same time.



After a couple of days doing touristy stuff in Cuzco and trying to acclimatise to the altitude, we went downhill on a touristy train for about 4 hours to Machu Picchu.



The Inca fortress city of Machu Picchu is truly impressive. Its setting, high in the Andes, would be stunning even without the fifteenth century fortress. Our enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide, Darwin, explained that the Incas had bronze-age technology when they built Machu Picchu. The city was never finished (not that any city ever is) as the Incas retreated into the hills to hide from the technologically superior Spanish invaders.

Visitors from the United States of America were amazed that the Incas had been able to build such an impressive city such a very long, long time ago. As I live near the Tower of London, which is nearly twice as old and still in full working order, the antiquity of the Inca structures was not so remarkable on its own. What was remarkable was watching the clouds disperse to reveal a spectacular view of the fortress from the Sun Gate at the end of the Inca trail.