La Paz is like no city I have ever seen before and I knew this from the moment our bus hit its outskirts. Chaotic, dangerous and incredibly scenic, its valleys brim with red-bricked houses which spill out over its hills and up its mountains and glaciers, while tiny tin slums…
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The Peruvian highlands: Guinea pigs are NOT pets!
As I struggled up the steep island hill, hindered by low oxygen, trying desperately to avoid any livestock that could be lurking in the night, I wondered exactly how my life had ended up here, and, more importantly, why I had paid for the pleasure. Oh, and did I mention…
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The Inca Trail: “It’s good to have goals” (Kill the cow)
Ancient Inca proverb: “Just as you think you have climbed all the stairs, there will be more stairs” – NB that’s not a real Inca proverb – but it should be A couple of days before I was due to begin the treacherous Inca Trail up to Machu Picchu, I…
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There is no Diet Coke in Peru; or “Is Coke Zero okay?”
I flew into Lima last Sunday night with the bare feet of a sleeping gentleman – a Peruvian James May lookalike as it happens – resting gently in my lap. In a stroke of pure Englishness, my response to this unwelcome intimacy was to roll my eyes, tut silently in…
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