Date

Peru and Bolivia Holiday

2014 / 2015

Steve originally wanted to drive his landrover to Tajikistan this year but when Andy Heading was unable to go with him he began to look for alternative. As soon as he suggested South America I said I would be happy to go with him! We chose Bolivia but when looking at flights it was very expensive to fly there and then of course you also get hit with altitude sickness as La Paz is 3830m high. So we looked at Lima and booked flights there which also enabled us to travel more slowly up to altitude. Bolivia and Peru Schedule

We wanted to see the salt flats at Uyuni and do a week long hike. I chose the Illampu Circuit because it was the right length in time, remote and sounded like we would see condors. The books said it was 90km, 6 to 8 days with 5300m ascent.

The photos are in the Gallery - these are mine Bolivia and Peru and these are Steve's are here Bolivia Steve's

I've named them as in the Photos column - it's the best way I could do it.

Date	Place	Height	Activity	Photos
Tues 16^th Dec	Gatwick / Madrid	0	The flight was good and we were so tired from farming we slept most of the way.
Wed 17^th Dec	Lima , Peru	0	We arrived in the morning and it was hot and grey in Lima. We took a taxi to the bus station where I had booked a Crus del Sur overnight bus to Arequipa. We walked round the outskirts and found a supermarket so bought food for the bus. The bus was late going and we left at 4pm. We had VIP seats which were like big beds on the ground floor of the bus - and we got one hot meal! We travelled down the coast which was all sand and rubbish. It was very barren and the few towns we went through looked like the wild west. The bus never stopped and we were told to "draw our curtains for safety".
Thurs 18^th Dec	Arequipa 20C sunny	2325m	The bus drove into Arequipa which to out relief looked a nice town with old colonial buildings. A taxi to our hotel - Solar Hostel (also booked online) and we were checked in. The hotel was really nice (by our standards!). We could feel the affects of altitude and so walked about leisurely.	Arequipa
Fri 19^th Dec	Arequipa 20C sunny	2325m	Spent the day writing postcards, getting lost, drinking coffee in the main square (5 soles) and eating chicken and rice in a local cafe (5 soles). We booked a bus to Puno (on route to La Paz) for 7am the next morning. We walked round a park where there were lamas tethered and tried to get into the train station but it was all locked up as no trains run now. Overall Arequipa is a pleasant enough town.	Arequipa
Sat 20^th Dec	Puno 15C sunny	3830m	The bus to Puno climbed up to 3800m and over an altiplano. The scenery was stunning with snow topped mountains in the distance. We then dropped and crawled through the town on Julueka so by the time we got to Puno we were 30 minutes late and had missed the bus to La Paz. I developed a massive headache and could barely operate so Steve left me with the bags and went to sort a bus to La Paz for the next day. He got a good deal with hotel booking and free transfer as well. We were soon in an old hotel which overlooked the football field (but unfortunately no matches scheduled that day). I just lay on the bed, drank lots of water and after about 2 hours my headache went away. Walking round Puno we decided it was a nice town and we'd go back to it. It was less touristy than Arequipa.	Bus to La Paz
Sun 21^st Dec	Puno Copacabana La Paz 18C sunny	3830m 4000m 3830m	Steve got the headache during the night so also had to drink a lot. By morning we both seemed ok but had to take everything slowly otherwise we got a headache straight away. There were lots of tourists on the "tourist trail" on the bus to La Paz. Some were ok but a lot were fairly obnoxious, rude to the staff and generally not the sort of people I want to be on holiday with. It was disappointing and obvious that they were all heading to the Salt Flats at Uyuni. We got off the bus to go through the border at Kasani which was no problem - just lots of forms to fill out. Then back on the bus to Copacabana. Here the bus stops and everyone has to get off and onto another bus. There are no buses that go straight through (even though thats the ticket you get sold!). Copacabana is very touristy as it's a nice town on Lake Titicaca. We had an hour to walk round and eat before the next bus departed at 2pm. After an hour this bus went across a ferry where we got off, paid 2 bolivianos and were put on a passenger boat. The crossing only took us 15 minutes and was very pleasant. We arrived at Alto (outskirts of La Paz) at 3pm then it took us an hour to crawl into the city. Then we took a taxi to the Hotel Milton that I had booked by email. Hotel Milton We got a nice room if a bit dilapidated but that added to the character and the staff were lovely. Wandered around La Paz and had fried sausage, chips and salad from a street vendor for tea!!	La Paz
Mon 22^nd Dec	La Paz	3830m	Today we decided to change our plans as although we wanted to see salt flats we didn't want to be in the company of obnoxious tourists. Looking at the map and the old guide book we spotted some other salts flats - Coipasa and so made it our target to get there. We booked a bus to Oruro where we hoped to get a bus to Samara; the nearest big town to Coipasa. We had a very busy day buying food and gas for both the salt flats and the hiking trip, then packing up bags leaving some stuff in the hotel (which meant we had lighter packs to travel with). We also found more maps which covered the salt flats and for the hiking trip. Everything was within 5 mins of our hotel which was great. We really liked La Paz; it could be my favourite capital city yet. We also found that the free Garmin maps I had downloaded onto my Dakota GPS worked amazingly with street names and route finding.	La Paz
Tues 23^rd Dec	Oruro Sabaya	3702m 3700m	We got the 6.30am bus which left on time but half full. So an hour getting up to Alto then crawling through narrow streets until the bus was full to bursting. It was then 3 hours to Oruro. In the bus station there were no buses to Sabaya and we couldn't understand why. We spotted a posh hotel outside and went in hoping to find someone that spoke english. There wasn't anyone but the lady was very patient and wanted to help so she wrote it down. We needed to get number 102 or 104 small mini bus to the other side of town where there would be buses to Sabaya. Once there we got straight on a nearly full bus to Sabaya. Most of the bus was taken up by a mother, her daughter and 4 grandchildren and two big boxes of young chickens which they were very proud of. The road was tarmac, then rough track, then more tarmac. It took 4 hours. Steve went in search of a hotel and came back saying "she has the biggest smile" which she did! We must have made her Christmas! Her husband was not so impressed but then again he was tasked with building a new guest bathroom and it wasn't going well. The general consensus was that there weren't any buses to Coipasa which was disappointing. However we walked out of town towards Chile and saw five trucks / 4x4's coming from the direction on Coipasa so decided to set off early walking and try to hitch a lift.	Sabaya (but some are named Samara by mistake)
Wed 24^th Dec	Coipasa	3700m	We set off at 6am with camping stuff, food for 24 hours and 5 ltrs of water. We passed a little black dog who then followed us. He looked like a dog of ours that died in Jan 14 called Squilly so we called him that. We could see tracks all over the desert but decided to follow the graded road. The GPS had picked out a few of the villages on the way and said that Coipasa was 26km direct. We soon came across some Llamas on the road which were fantastic and used to humans so we took a lot of photos. We had to send Squilly back after an hour as we didn't want to abandon him if we got a lift; dogs are quite used to having stones thrown at them. It felt awful but was definitely the only thing to do. After about 5 hours though we realised that the chances of a lift were slim. All the cars we had seen were way out in the desert !! We reached the edge of the salt flat at lunchtime so had a break. It was getting very hot and the water was going down. We could see for miles - some glimmering things that we took to be salt trucks filling up. But also the hill in front of us (called Coipasa at 4700m) was 10km away and never got any nearer. We walked and walked and walked on totally flat salt. Our feet and legs got very tired of the repetitive movement and my feet were too hot. At 3pm we reached the other side and took a direct line to the road. This was interesting with dry stone walls and vegatation! We were out of water and when we reached the road the gps said it was 3km. We saw a car coming and without even trying to hitch it stopped and offered us a lift. It was a father and son been out collecting brushwood. We were so grateful! When we reached Coipasa the father showed us his well where fresh cold water came from and offered us his spare room. His son showed us the well stocked shop where we drank a whole 2.5 ltr usually disgusting mandarin Fanta! We spent the rest of the evening eating and resting. It had got very windy and although the village was nice it was a dust storm. We were so tired having covered 35km in ten hours.	Coipasa Salt Flats
Thurs 25^th Dec	Coipasa Sabaya	3700m 3700m	As we didn't want to be on the salt flat at midday we got up at 2am and set off at 3am. When we reached the salt flat we went directly to a small village on the other side. A few cars passed by about 1km away at 6am. The salt flat took just as long to walk across (2 hours) but the temperature was cold and the sunrise was stunning so it seemed to go quickly. The village shop was disappointing so we set off on the road back. No cars or trucks came passed so we headed out onto the desert trying to intercept their passage! At 11am we sheltered at a deserted village out of the sun and made coffee. We spied a convoy of ten mini buses whizzing along just 500m away but they were too fast and far for us to flag down. Then two came near us and one of them stopped. The driver beckoned us to get in "vamosh, vamosh". We piled quickly into the back on top of huge bags of kids toys. The mini bus was brand new and had no registration plates. The driver, his young wife and baby were all Chiliean - and this was van smuggling!! They were avoiding the official border on Christmas day and importing vans into Bolivia. We flew across the desert on little tracks until we reached Sabaya where he dropped us off with a smile and drove off. So back at our hotel at 11.30am - there was no-one in but we let ourselves in and our room was just a we left it so we just made ourselves at home! Although the shower refused to come hot it was lovely to get the sand and salt off us! Edna (the smiley lady) was so pleased that we had made it back ok! Derek (her husband) thought we were daft to have gone in the first place! That afternoon we wandered round and came across a celebration at the church. Not really understanding why people were buying toy lorries then apparently blessing them with beer we sat and watched for a while. It was all good natured. Lots of beer was drunk by men and women. Every now and again a group would set off dancing round in circles with a band playing. Then the lorry blessing would take place. Steve was invited to join in the blessing but he was a little too enthusiastic with his beer throwing and it went all over the lorry which they found hilarious. A married couple then came to talk to us - they spoke very good English as they were working in the US. They explained that the village was honored to have visitors and they made us feel very important by giving us head seats which was rather embarrassing as we were not dressed for the occasion. We drank beer and were chatted to by all the locals which was all very good fun; we couldn't understand a word though!. It all finished at 8pm so we found a cafe selling chicken and rice then went to bed!	Coipasa Salt Flats
Fri 26^th Dec	Sabaya Oruro La Paz	3700m 3830m	A misunderstanding with Derek had us up at 4am just to find we had missed the bus at 4am (so had he!). So we hung around as no-one seemed to know whether the next bus was 5am or 6am. It rolled in at 6am - having come from Chile. We got back seats next to five "slightly modified" Brazilian ladies! We arrived in Oruro at 10am and got a taxi to the North bus station where we got straight on a bus to La Paz. Unfortunately it wasn't full yet - but who was next to arrive but the Brazilians so they filled the bus and off we went. Starving hungry by this time I was so happy to see the bus pick up a lady with a huge basket.. These ladies sell saltenas which are like pasties filled with mince, chickpeas, potatoes, sometimes egg and they are fantastic! Her's were the best I've tasted. We were back in the Milton Hotel for 3pm and got ready for our hike round the Illampu Circuit. More shopping and packing! It was hard to know what to wear as the weather could range from 20C and dry to 6C and rain / snow. I opted for Raidlight top with a Rab-lunar-pull-on to start. Then I carried a Rab-womens-AL-Pull-On in which to wear when it got colder. Trousers were my Rab Vector-pants which I've had for years! I took my new Rab Nexus-jacket which proved invaluable. We had both taken our heavy walking boots which we sometimes regretted as they were so heavy and hot!	Sabaya Christmas Day
Sat 27^th Dec	La Paz Sorata Illampu Trek	3830m 2670m	Our plan to get a minibus from just outside the hotel was floored by yet another market closing the street! So we ended up walking up a steep hill with really heavy packs until we found a minibus! We got on a Sorata minibus at 9am but it took the usual 2 hours to get out of La Paz. Then it flew along and arrived at Sorata at midday. There was a market in full swing and a wedding so the town was heaving! We had chicken and rice then set off hiking. It was very hot and we were following the gps which had come up with a route for the "Illampu trek". However after three hours we realised that the route we were taking to the village of Lathetiya was actually the "rough road" which although got there eventually wasn't direct like the footpaths. We had been climbing all afternoon from 2700 to 3700m and Steve was really struggling. We estimated that we wouldn't get to the village and then the clag came down so we found a secluded camping spot and camped. In the middle of the night Steve got up and had very bad diarrhea.	Day 1 Illampu trek. 11km 5 hours +1100m Camped at 3770m
Sun 28^th Dec	Illampu Trek	3770m 4278m	When we woke Steve's diarrhea had got worse. He was going to the loo every 10 minutes and it wasn't pleasant! If he had been a calf I would call the vet! Anyway he could eat so we had breakfast and set off. We decided to have a short day and not go much further than Lathetiya as we could always get a taxi back from there the next day if Steve was still bad. Progress was very slow as Steve was suffering badly and eventually I shuttled the rucksaks and Steve got himself along the road stopping to rest when he needed. He had good spells and not so good spells. When we reached Lathetiya it was very quiet and we passed it by then had some lunch. We saw lots and lots of Llamas; some being watched over by children while others roamed unattended. Steve was getting better but had no energy. We camped at 3pm whereupon Steve crawled into the tent and went to sleep while I stayed outside to give him more room. I made a rain cover for the stove and cooked Steve food whenever he woke. We ate our Mountain-House meals so that Steve was getting as many calories as possible. It started raining and was a bit miserable however occasionally the clouds would lift and gave me great views of Nevada Illampu covered in snow. I really enjoyed pottering about exploring and hoped that Steve was better tomorrow so that we could carry on the trek. After another meal at 8pm we both fell asleep and had a good night.	Day 2 Illampu trek 7km 6 hours +510m Camped at 4278m
Mon 29^th Dec	Illampu Trek	4278m 3866m	Set the alarm for 5am but it was raining so we were slow getting up. Steve felt a lot better so we decided to carry on. We had a very steep climb to Abra Illampu at 4740m but the skies cleared and the views were worth it. Dropping down the valley was actually hot! We decided to go over another pass that day - Abra Korahuasi to gain some time back. Dropping down and through small farming community the locals were friendly. Potatoes were the preferred crop and neat rows could be seen in all the walled plots. The gps had a split in the tracks at Utjana Pampa but both led up the valley. The sun was boiling so we got out the wet tent etc and dried it quickly over lunch. Climbing up we could see clouds rolling in and knew we were going to get wet again. The rain started at 1pm as were going through a small farm with horses, llamas and free ranging pigs. We were soon in clag and just kept climbing. It was cold and windy and miserable. And if you tried to go faster you got a headache. So we plodded up. It was now 3pm and we wanted to camp. The top seemed to be forever coming at 4480m and we were glad to get over it and start heading down. Everywhere was streaming with water and too boggy or steep to camp. Eventually we spotted a flat bit and started to clear the stones. Out of a stone shelter came two pigs and one piglet (a diabolical litter count for a UK pig); they were far too interested in our packs and we knew that come the middle of the night they would be chewing through our tent! I've seen pigs attack a chicken; they can be nasty and have sharp teeth. So we moved on and found a lovely deserted walled area. The rain stopped at last and we thankfully camped in the dry except all our walking clothes were drenched. That night the moon and stars were out and we were hopeful that maybe the weather was improving.	Day 3 Illampu trek 18.5km 9 hours +1125 -1535m Camped at 3866m
Tues 30^th Dec	Illampu Trek	3866m 4192m	It was dry when we woke. Putting on our wet clothes we hoped that we could walk them dry! We descended to the valley and along to a small village Cocoyo. Here there were supposed to be shops. The locals were very interested in us but friendly. The shop was poorly stocked even though there was a good unpaved road to the village now. We bought a bottle of coke, some matches (as our lighters and matches were not happy at altitude) and some loo roll (as Steve had used most of ours!). Then started the long plod up Abra Sarani from 3510m to 4600m. We were on an unpaved road not on the map. At lunchtime the sun was hot and we stopped; got out all our wet camping stuff and dried it out. It was lovely and I almost contemplated having a swim but the river was too strong and I could see clouds building. We quickly packed up and set off. Trying to follow the map, gps and directions we realised that a new road had been built over the pass. It was poorly constructed with no drainage so the rain was washing most of it away but we followed it eventually rather than trying to find the paths it criss crossed.. It was a shame to see the inca trails trashed in such a way. The rain started but this time we had waterproofs on at the ready. After two hours we were over the pass and the rain had stopped so we had a snack. We were overlooking the picturesque farming community of Estancia Chajolpaya below. The road managed to get down to it but only by zigzagging a lot. We turned right and went up the next valley looking for somewhere to camp. The inca trail was great and the valley lovely. We found somewhere near the path and made camp. At 5pm a great train of llamas came down accompanied by a huge family with lots of small children - all carrying heavy packs and three mules loaded up. We were surprised to see anyone as it was supposed to be 10 hours to the nearest town. Then at 6pm a man and son came along. The man asked for pencils for his son. Then at 7pm another lot came over. It was dark by now and one man wanted my head torch but I wasn't giving that away. The others called him away and they had a rest before getting out their head torchs and setting off. We think it's just in their nature to ask for something; but they were happy enough when we said no. We slept well and were up early!	Day 4 Illampu trek 20km 8.30 hrs +1247m -884m Camped at 4192m
Wed 31^st Dec	Illampu Trek	4192m 4819m	Up and off while dry!! It was a nice valley to be walking in; the trail was nice and with views of Illampu and Ancohuma. At 10am though we came across a new road making its way down the valley. It was obvious this was where vehicles could get to now and that's how the families so people had got all their stuff so close. The digger was parked up and there was rock blasting machinery there too. We were disappointed but I suppose it's in the name of progress and also some of the old roads make nice tracks to walk on. So on we went on the road. It made for quick progress and we were happy to be dry too. By the summit of the pass at 5040m the clag had come down though and it snowed on us so we didn't hang around up there. The showers passed over quickly; either the general weather had got better or we were on the better side of the mountain range. It was pleasant though. We came across an abandoned vehicle with it's axle completely broken. While descending I started to feel terrible; just spaced out and I couldn't focus properly. We hadn't eaten properly since breakfast so stopped and had some noodles. I felt immediately better which was good. The routes now split with two low level options however the gps was sending us more direct; the way I would go if navigating but not knowing the terrain it was a difficult decision. We decided to go with the gps as it had been accurate up to now. We often talked about how come Garmin had a track for the Illampu Circuit. It was uncanny in its accuracy down to 20m. So direct we went. We found a trod - no more than a sheep track and followed it up and onto a plateau. It was fantastic up there. The colours of the sand and rock. But we just wanted to get further before camping. Dropping to a stream we decided to camp even though we were at 4820m it was just so lovely. New Year's eve too! It was our best campsite. The only life was a single horse making it's way back to the lowlands at 6pm. With views all around of snowy peaks we had a very enjoyable night.	Day 5 Illampu trek 20km 8 hours +1204m -574m Camped at 4819m
Thurs 1^st Jan	Illampu Trek	4819m 3346m	Early the next morning we set off as we wanted to get round Laguna San Francisco. This was where the old guide books said that the locals were unfriendly however I had read an account online of a couple who had done the trek in August 2014 and they said the valley was deserted. Gonecycleabout - Trekking-the-illampu-circuit-Bolivia It was deserted and hot! And the terrain was unbelievably awful. Massive tussocks in bog. We cursed as we floundered across to the unused road on the other side. Here we ditched some food; I had over catered and some of it (salted crackers and marshmallows) were almost inedible. Then started the plod up the Paso at 4920m. This was a nice road though all overgrown with lupins. We could see people and llamas making their way up the valley below but they were friendly as well. I think we were both tired by now as we needed quite a few stops. The plateau was bleak and not pretty. It looked overgrazed to us. Dropping down the other side our legs started to complain at hours of descending and when out the wind we stopped for lunch. Then we needed to cross a number of fields on a track to Laguna Hullatani. Here the directions and maps were useless as there were so many new tracks, lagunas and fields. And surprisingly the gps Illampu trek had just finished here. We asked people and were generally directed to the laguna. The clag came down as we tried to find our way over the plateau. It was cold and windy. Eventually I said lets put the next town into the gps and go direct. That's what we did coming across the road in the end. From now to Sorata we were in villages, unpaved roads and farming valleys. We followed the road to Loriacani where we asked for the track to Sorata. For some reason the locals said we couldn't go and then took us down to the river and said to cross the river and walk to Sorato on the road on the other side. It was disappointing as we didn't want to and it was now dark so we found a camping spot up a hillside off the road and camped. It was thick clag now but we could hear the sounds of a mine down below all night booming away. No cars or trucks came passed. And no people.	Day 6 Illampu trek 32km 10 hours +755m -2228m Camped at 3346m
Fri 2^ndJan	Illampu Trek	3346m 2695m	We set off trying to find a way back across the river but there weren't any bridges or anything. We tried to cross by the mine but the locals said there wasn't a way so we accepted that we would have to go by road. Walking along a taxi kept coming one way then the other; three times! However we wanted to finish our Llampu circuit by walking. The road made a lot of switchbacks though and an old woman dragging an old cow kept passing us on more direct lines! So we followed her! It was very steep but dropped us right down to the main tarmac road below. 4km back to Sorata in the midday heat was hard work; made better by someone (a foreign follow hiker) waving and shouting "bravo" out the window of a local bus as it went passed! We staggered through the town; with no market or wedding it was a sleepy. And into the same cafe! All done !!! We booked into the Sorata Hotel (as recommended by a passing nun!) then showered for the 1st time in a week and relaxed. Meeting another hiking couple from Austria we had a very pleasant meal of huge pizza and beer. Unfortunately the bed that night was very saggy and it was party time so sleep wasn't great! The hotel was an old colonial building and great with very old relics and photos on the walls.	Day 7 Illampu trek 16km 4 hours +241m -897m
	Illampu Trek Conclusion and advice		It is a great trek over high passes but the amount of new roads certainly detracted from the beauty and remoteness. The locals were all friendly and we encountered no problems (I only write this as the guide books had written about locals demanding money and being unfriendly etc and so to reassure anyone who wishes to do the trek). My Garmin Dakota downloaded the free maps from the Garmin website. They were fantastic in the towns and helped us greatly there and on the trek. We think the reason for the trail ending at Laguna San Francisco is that many people head back to La Paz from there. When home we read about a route from Paso San Francisco which passed by Laguna Wara Warani, Mina Susana and Laguna Glacier before returning to Sorato. If we had known about this at the time we would have followed it. The valley was pretty but a long way descending on roads. Our clothes were perfect and we were glad of our boots at the end of the trek. From the photos you can see it was very hot to very cold and raining. We only had a flurry of snow on one pass but the next day it rained in Sorata and from the bus we saw snow down to low levels so we were glad that we had missed that! The maps we used were DAV Cordillera Real Nord, Yossi Brains "Trekking in Bolivia", Cathy and John Biggar's "The Andes Trekking Guide" and Ortiz brothers map to Cordillera Real. I copied and laminated them all and at times we used all 4 trying to navigate. The distances and times weren't accurate with heavy packs in the rainy season. We actually did 125km and 6200m ascent.
Sat 3^rd Jan	Sorata La Paz	2695m 3830m	We got the first bus back to La Paz - still managed to hit heavy traffic but arrived at the Milton Hotel at lunchtime. As it was raining we put all our very smelly clothes in the hotel laundry (including our homemade tea strainer by mistake - it came back clean and folded). Then packed once again for a very long bus journey to Cusco. We had spare time so took the cable car along with loads of Bolivian tourists up and down the city which was entertaining. More spicy sausage and chips for tea and bed early. More parties though so our usually quiet room was noisy!	Sorata
Sun 4^th Jan	Sorata to Cusco		We resigned ourselves to being on a tourist bus - it would have been a very long way by little buses. And the time passed quickly. With 4 hours in Copacabana we wandered about in the holiday festivities. These entailed decorating your vehicle with flowers, blessing it with alcohol and then sitting down to a massive picnic of chicken and rice! All very jolly. We were glad to be on the bus, back through the border and on our way though. Even though I was really tired the road was full of switchbacks and the bus was an oven. I felt sick a lot.	Copacabana
Mon 5^th Jan	Cusco		We arrived at 5am, I was sick and so we got a taxi to our hotel ( Hostel El Grial booked on Booking.com and great ). The lovely staff found us a spare room while ours was made ready. I slept. We had a bit of breakfast - just toast for me and then I slept some more. During that day we tried two small walks out into the town and both times I had to sit down. Once I was sick. So we returned to the hotel and I just slept. Steve made two Mountain House meals and I slowly ate one. It was very disappointing especially as we were flying home in two days.	Cusco
Tues 6^th Jan	Cusco		When I woke I felt much better. I managed breakfast; even eggs! And we set off to walk round town. I felt ok; a little tired but so much stronger. Cusco was extremely touristy but in a nice way. There was no real hassle. We walked upto the Sacsaywaman ruins and spent a very lovely afternoon wandering round. They were so impressive especially as we are dry stone wallers and know how hard it is to get stones to fit together. Lots of photos later we left. We could hear music and headed to the square in front of a church to watch more celebrations. This was the "Celebration of Children" but also if you wanted children you bought a tray with a doll on it, went into the church, had it blessed there. There were two statues of a baby on a throne and these went for a parade round town with the band and dancers before returning to the square. Again all very jolly and colourful.	Sacsaywaman
Wed 7^th Jan Thurs 8th Jan	Lima		Up stupidly early - 3.30am for a taxi to the airport. The nice hotel made us a packed breakfast. Then plane to Lima, plane to Madrid and plane to Gatwick. Four hours through the rain and we were home. Everything was good at the farm; Jim had once again done a stirling job of looking after everything.