The biggest ants ever seen...

Metal sculptured ants climbing an advertising hoarding. Sooo Buenos Aires!

Alyssas birthday at the flat. With cakes and all.

Surreal views across the salt flats

Hard to tell where the sky starts and the land begins. And as for all this salt everywhere... you just gotta lick it!

Various Salt flats pics

Including lots of moody close ups and a cactus wood door!

Chinese new year! The year of the Ox.

Despite Buenos Aires having the smallest Chinatown you could ever imagine... Chinese new year was quite a celebration. Even a Chinese version of Spongebob made an appearance!

Waiting to go out clubbing...

I'm sure the Porteños don't have to wait 2 hours to go out! Where are we going wrong?!

La Feria de Mataderos

Not the feria of Matadores as I insist on calling it... but a Gaucho festival somewhat out of town. With some of the maddest dancing I've seen... these Gauchos are crazy!

James and Donna in town... one night only!

Meeting up with friends from our Inca trail, who were passing through Buenos Aires on their honeymoon. We sampled 'the best' milanesas in town and toured some more of Palermo Hollywoods finest bars!

Emma and Alice have officially arrived!

We finally made it back from deepest darkest Peru, and there they were. Successfully in the flat, browsing guidebooks! Day 1, Palermo parks, Day 2 we toured San Telmo markets and tried to convince the girls that there really is NO more room in their rucksacks for anything else!

The (tricky) return home...

Perurail on strike on the only day that we HAD to get back to Cusco, meant one nervous day. On the phone to the airline, trying to reschedule our flights, changing the hotel bookings, asking in the police station just how long the strike was likely to go on for... what a day! At the end of it all, we managed to get on a train after waiting for 12 hours in the station, and overnight, managed to make it to the airport to get our flights back to BsAs.

Day 4... Machu Picchu (At last!)

Day 4 (There was NOTHING to see on Day 3 through the extreme cloud and rain!) At the end of what was much harder than either of us expected... Machu Picchu. And without a cloud in sight! What luck after 3 days of horrendous weather. Such an impressive sight, and all the more so knowing how hard it was to get there in the first place. Amazing place, with such an inspiring history. Wow those Incas were good...

Day 2 of the Inca trail

Persistent rain... all day! The hardest day of the tour, with a good few testing mountain passes. (Including Dead Womans Pass). Soooo many steps, those Incas must have been fit! There were brief instances when the rain stopped, but the cloud meant it was impossible to see anything!
beyond your own arm! Hard work 16km uphill!

The Inca Trail

Day one of the inca trail, and with backpack on our backs, walking sticks in hand, we set off. Reassuring to find that even the mountain tiendas accepted Visa and Mastercard! We had a great group consisting of a wide variety of nationalities... Aussies, USA, Germans, even Peruvians.

The sacred valley tour, Cusco

Our first introduction to Inca ruins. Incredible what they achieved without power tools... The church was built by the Spanish on their conquest - directly on the top of the old Inca ruins. Fascinating inspiring history.

Ninos Hotel, Cusco

An amazing project set up by a Dutch woman. Adopting a number of Peruvian street kids, and setting up a couple of Hostels, a school and a sports programme to help them. A lovely hotel too with the most amazing staff.

The messiest plate of Lobster you've ever seen!

Duly devoured...

Monasterio Santa Catalina, Arequipa

Amazing convent, right in the heart of Arequipa. Beautiful buildings, incredible surroundings... great lemon pie too!

Making friends in Colca Canyon

Condor spotting in Colca Canyon

A bit like a big game of spot the ball. There is one in this mountain pic, but you have to look very hard! The other condor impression is easier to spot...

Arequipa and Colca Canyon

3 times as deep as the Grand Canyon. Quite a sight. With hot springs to relax in at the end of the day.