Peru...

We are now into our 4th day in Peru. At first it was quite a culture shock moving from the tropical rainforests of Costa Rica and Central America to the arid, cloudy environment that is Peru, but I think we have just about acclimatised. We are now staying in Punta Hermosa which is a beach south of Lima, it is a place which has realised that tourists are on their way but not quite caught up to them yet so there are a lot of half finished hotels which look like they will be beautiful in a couple of years but not just yet.

After a couple of days of searching we did find a hotel which seemed to fit our bill, from the outside it's beautiful, has a pool overlooking the sea, loads of cool art and the Japanese Olympic surfing team are staying here... however when you get through the doors things aren't quite what they seem. We are sleeping in a dorm room (to ourselves) with 3 sets of bunk beds (yes, bunk beds!) and a shared bathroom!! At first it was a nightmare but we are getting used to it. The best thing was coming to the hotel which we did in a little tuk tuk, with all our luggage and boards strapped on top, it was brilliant and we laughed all the way here (mainly because we thought it would fall over everytime we went over a bump!). On the positive side, there is an amazing seafood restaurant nearby and so we have been dining on fresh calamari and octopus, with drinks the meal has cost the equivalent of £15! Another positive is that Sam has found some kids to play with and spends the evenings playing football by the sea whilst we have a beer. It has been great for him, not only is he playing but also realises that he knows a lot more Spanish than he thought and is able to communicate quite well.

It has been a stressful few days as we have moved around quite a bit recently and booking accommodation is one of the most stressful things of all. It takes so long to research on the internet and then to call from skype and try and communicate in broken Spanish... but we are getting there! The next move is back to Miraflores in Lima tomorrow where we need to go to the travel agents to confirm the flights, then the next morning we fly to Cuzco (safer than taking the bus), we stay in Ollantytambo for two days in a place called Apu lodge (which sam thinks is hilarious). We stay here to acclimatise to the altitude as it's lower than Cuzco. Then we go up to Macchu Pichu, from there we go back to Cuzco and then fly back to Lima on Sunday!!! Whew!!! Now it's all pretty much booked I feel alot calmer and we are all really looking forward to seeing the Inca trail and a bit of Peru's culture.

Peru is really lovely and the people are very nice, with beautiful faces! The fact that we are by the ocean and can look one way and see desert and the other we see ocean is amazing, there is also loads of wildlife and we are on the look out for dolphins at the moment as there are quite a few pods around here... anyway must go and do Sam's English now... believe it or not he is on the computer next to me right now doing a maths game (voluntarily!!) home schooling is amazing...he is also really really well and loving the travels... me and Will may be a bit stressed at the moment but Sam is definately not stressed, bless him... will add picture of tuk tuk later.