We�ve been in Arequipa for a few days now, took a trip out into the countryside to see the condors and the Colca Valley, and then yesterday we started our attempt on El Misti, 5,822 metres of active volcano. The first day wasn�t too bad, we climbed for around 5 hours with an Austrian couple and a Peruvian guide. The only problem was the altitude sickness which would come on every so often. I�ve never had it before, it�s a strange thing as you often still feel strong, but have trouble catching your breath and get headaches and nausea. The only solution is to sit and wait until the feelings go. We camped at 4,700 metres in a tiny tent and hardly slept at all due to the freezing cold, altitude sickness and cramped tent. Finally our guide �woke� us at 2am to climb to the summit. As far as I am concerned 2am is still the previous day, but the guide insisted so what do I know? We climbed for about 4 hours in the dark, freezing cold and wind - our drinking water turned to ice, the headaches got worse and it generally wasn�t really a barrel of laughs. Finally the sun came up but us four gringos had had enough - we were still 2 hours and 250 metres below the summit and completely physically exhausted. Still, we�re still chuffed to have got as far as we did, it�s easily the highest up I�ve ever been and it should be good practice for the Inca Trail in 10 days time.

The other day we were helping a man look for his wedding ring, which he thought he had dropped on the ground somewhere outside his bus (I think he eventually found it back at his hotel) - but as I spoke to him, I couldn�t quite place his accent. He just sounded �normal�. Manchester? No, I would have recognised a Manc accent surely.... One of the home counties perhaps? Eventually I had to ask him where he was from. He was a kiwi. :-)

We've made our way down the coast, visiting Huacachina and Pisco (as in Pisco sour) and are currently in Nasca. Huacachina is a tiny town near Ica, surrounded by enourmous sand dunes. You can hire a sand buggy to take you up the sand dunes (at break-neck speed) and then ride boards down them, like snowboarding only on sand. Great fun!
This morning we flew over the nasca lines, which were fairly impressive, although we got a little ill from the plane constantly rolling left and right to allow the passengers to see the lines. Tonight we take an all-night 'royal class' bus to Arequipa. Last time I took an all night bus (in Vietnam) I couldn't sleep at all and was attacked all night by blood-sucking creepy crawlies so I'm not particularly looking forward to this one, although the buses here look of better quality you never can be sure until the thing rolls up and you find out which seat you've been assigned....

Well we have made it to Lima - we had just one day in Santiago, and Helen was able to get on both flights without too many problems. I didn't manage to get a seat with legroom for either flight though which meant that sleep was impossible and we're still a little jetlagged. My Spanish is improving considerably day to day, but it is still v poor and I have no idea what people are saying to me 90% of the time! Still, people are very patient and we can generally make ourselves understood. I still have about 70 lessons of 'Learn Spanish in your car' to get through on the IPod anyway.
Lima seems like a cool city, but the smog is pretty bad which means that walking anywhere gives you headaches and a sore throat so we are looking forward to getting out into the country. No Llama rides or guinea pigs yet, but I'm sure we'll have to try some coy at some point. I'll try anything once! We've been trying to sort out a spot on a trip on the Inca Trail to Matchu Pitchu for a few days and finally we have been confirmed for September 3rd! We're pretty chuffed with that as we have heard from quite a few people who weren't able to get to go. It seems pretty hard to do now that the government has cracked down on the rules this year, when we booked most companies had no vacancies for about 6 weeks!

A couple of people have commented on the 'statistics' section of the site on the right - And one of the stats in particular - The number of pairs of sunglasses I have managed to lose or break. Well after a looooooong run of really trying to look after them (it must be about 10 months since I lost my last pair of Arnette's in Ko Phi Phi) I have succumbed to type. Yes, yesterday my glasses were the unfortunate recipient of 112Kg of Mike on top of them. They didn't like it. :( I bought a new pair (Adidas, this time, if you're interested). I have updated the stats.

Currently in Christchurch, which will pretty much be our final stop in New Zealand - I fly out on Tuesday and Helen will too hopefully (she'll be going standby). It's strange to think that soon we will be leaving the country after all our time here. Currently we're preoccupied with trying sort all our stuff into
That which will be coming with us to South America (Spanish Phrasebook, shorts, sunglasses, mosquito repellant)
That which needs to be sent back to the UK (my All Blacks jersey, pressies, my laptop)
That which should be thrown away (Some of the wet weather gear, cheapo noodles which we couldn't face eating, empty chocolate wrappers at the bottom of rucksacks)
That which we can give away (Small amount of HP Sauce we have left, The Cool Box (Called 'Chillie bins' in Kiwiland BTW), about 50 road maps of different parts of New Zealand
That which we need to try to sell (The car)

There are some hard choices to be made - Helen will have to either throw away her big leather boots or buy a bigger rucksack I recon (much though I like her in them!!)