My trip to Peru - Machu Picchu and The Amazon

Hi everyone. Sorry for the last of posts, I've been backpacking in Peru for the last 2 weeks. It's been a tiring trip of 3am starts, camping, cold showers/no showers and high altitudes but I enjoyed every minute of it.

Here are some pictures Id like to share with you. Bear in mind, I was backpacking. For more of the trip I was wearing minimal to no makeup. By the end of the trip I was severely sleep deprived, so I'm going to look pretty rough in some of these pics!

*All the pics can be enlarged by clicking on them*

Boat trip on Lake Titicaca, located high in the Andes.

Me with our guide, and a new friend from the group

Tequila Island

The most amazing lunch ever. Was in love with the view.

My husband and I and the rest of the group. Was such a great mix of people from all over the world, and we all grew close during the trip.

Our 3 walled accommodation in The Amazon. The 4th wall is the jungle. No electricity, no hot water. Creatures found in our room included:

- a bug the size of my palm with super long antennae

- a mouse watching my husband shower

It got dark by 6pm, so we used our head torches for light or else shower in complete darkness.

The food was amazing. Always 3 courses, lunch and dinner.

The night walk was pretty creepy. You never know what's lurking at you feet. Above is a wild Rainbow Boa. I mustered enough courage (stupidity?) to touch it. Below is a Wandering Spider. The most venomous spider in the world.

As creeped out as I was about the night walk, I still enjoyed it. We also got to see Bullet Ants which have the most painful bite known to man. Our guide also switched off his torch to render us in complete darkness for a minute to fully experience the amazon at night. It was wonderful! My eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness and I felt like I was seeing the world in a new light. Like I was in the movie Avatar or something...

Children living in the Andes. So cute. They have to grow up fast though. The older girl is about 3 years old and already has to look after her little sister while their parents are out farming.

More adorable children.

Day 1 of our 3 day trek up the Andes. (Though we trekked so fast we finished a day early-yay!)

The view was spectacular, and made the hard trek really enjoyable.

Me at the second pass of the trek. 4600m above sea level. A few of us were horsing around until the rest of the group arrived.

Me in glasses in our tent. All vanity went out the window during this trip to Peru. I found myself bespectacled and makeupless a lot.

Finally we arrived at Machu Picchu. Such a beautiful sight, the whole place felt 'otherworldly'.

As if we hadn't had enough of hiking, we climbed up Wayna Picchu. In the above pic (with my husband in red) you can see what a steep climb it is. In the Incan days, Wayna Picchu was the spot of a guard tower for Machu Picchu.

Our group resting at the peak of Wayna Picchu, surrounded by clouds.

More pics to illustrate how steep it is. Sorry if we all look a bit rough, we've been camping for the last few days and have been up since 3am.

Husband on the edge of the abyss.

Machu Picchu is behind me covered by cloud. Have better pictures of the aerial view of Machu Picchu that I forgot to put up!

More pics of us exploring the great city.

We sat here for ages just enjoying the view (and recovering from our hike up Wayna Picchu). You can see Wayna Picchu in this pic, it's the tall peak behind.

For me this trip was a great experience. It was amazing to see places like Machu Picchu and the Amazon. We also got the stay with a local family in a small native island community (complete with frogs in the bedroom and toads in the bathroom). We learned the basics of the indigenous language of Aymara so we could speak to them. I learned alot from this trip and now no longer take the little things for granted like; running water, having a bathroom, and having a bedroom without frogs.

I also spent my birthday in The Sacred Valley (or Urubamba Valley of the Andes), which was a truly memorable experience.