¡Buenos días! Okay, you're right. It's pretty much been two months since I last posted. What can I say? At least this one won't be boring....
I left you last time with a brief few words about the work we were doing in San Miguel. We did a lot of levelling ground in preparation for the centre to be built - the foundations of which we started shortly after my last entry. Worryingly, and against all our Sunday School training, we poured concrete into trenches a metre and a half down into nothing but loose sand. Let's just hope the rain refrains from coming tumbling down.
On the upside, the walls went up´pretty quickly, and our Maestro, Carlos (whom we dubbed C-Dog) even let us do some bricklaying. By the end of the project's 7 weeks, what turned out to be a children's play centre was not far off complete. Just a roof to go....
A week before we left, we were asked to attend the opening of the centre. Now, given that we hadn't even finished the walls yet, we were pretty confused by this. But, when we went down on the Friday evening and found the whole congregtion, the team from Paz y Esperanza, and half the community there for the cutting of the ribbon, it turned out that until C-Dog had completed his work, the church itself was to be home to the kids' work. In the meantime, services will be held outside, with only the shelter offered by bamboo-lattice walls and a tarpauline roof. The best thing was that all the toys (including a table football table :D) and games that had filled the Ludoteca had come from Paz y Esperanza, with our funding, were about 10 times better than those that any of us had played with as kids at Playschool or Sunday School. And no, I've no idea why our work rate slowed right down in the following week........
So, we're done. It was quite hard leaving San Miguel, especially Jesús and Maribel. But for me, it came at about the right time. I was pretty knackered, and well in need of a holiday. Which was lucky, 'cos that's exactly what we got.
After a 16 hour bus ride through (and up) the Andes, we woke up weary-eyed and with neck ache, looked out the window and saw Perú's ancient Inca capital, Cusco, nestled in the valley bellow. It was a beautiful city, and one I was glad to spend 10 days in. It's a pity a bus strike kept us there for 11.
We spent a few days acclimatising to the altitude before setting of on the 4-day/3-night trek up to Machu Picchu. We walked the Salkantay trail, which took us 4600m up, through a mountain pass and finally along a train line through the fringes of the Amazon Jungle. The scenery was unbelievable all the way, and we nearly froze to death only on one night. The comfort of the hostel at Aguas Calientes, the closest town to Machu Picchu, was very welcome, but even that couldn't make up for the town itself, I'm afraid. After 10 mins we were all sick of the overpriced, miniture and Peruvian version of Disneyland Paris. But nothing could take away from what lay in store the next day....
Up at 4am, the hardcore of the group ascended the 1600 steps up Old Mountain in half the estimate time, and waited at the top for our guide to catch up. Having met up with the others, our first view of the lost Inca fortress we breath-taking. The early morning mist that surrounded the nearby peaks, and the sheer size of the ruins themselves surpassed all my expectations. It was pretty amazing.
Oh, and you know that mountain you can see in the background of the classic postcard picture of Machu Picchu? The really steep, tall one? It's called WaynuPicchu, and we went up that too.

That was our last day together as a team; as soon as we got back to Cusco, at abot 9.30pm, the news broke that those not staying on would have to leave the next morning on a flight to Lima. Somethig about transport staff being unhappy with their wages. So, we stayed up pretty late and watched Tom Hanks in The Terminal, til we couldn´t stay up any longer. At the aiport, a fair few tears were shed. Not all from me though ;D
We later heard that not all the team made it back to the UK without being rushed to hospital for a jab in the backside.

But life goes on, and we didn't stay in Cusco for long. As soon as the strike had ended, the remaining 7 made our way down to La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, and the highest in the world. Tim and I mountain biked the Death Road, managing not to die, although I wasn't far off round one of the corners. Wasting no time, we left La Paz on the second day after we'd arrived, and flew up to the North of Bolivia, to a cool little town called Rurrenebaque. From there we did a 3 day tour of the Pampas (flatlands). We saw monkeys, massive birds called Jabirus, pink dolphins and more crocodiles than you can throw a turtle at. We also swum in piranha- and crocodile-infested waters, with the dolphins, hunted Anaconda (not a whiff) and fished for our lunch on the last day. My catch of 9, which included 7 piranhas and a dog-fish (we'll ignore the sardine), equalled the total of our guide, Ronnie.
And wow, the Pampas is hot. I've never sweated as much in my life.
We also did a couple of hours trek in the Rainforest. W all managed a glimpse of some wild pigs before Tim scared them away, and the Parrots were awesome. But, alas, our time was short, so after a few more hours on the river, we flew back down to the home of Paceña (Bolivia's most popular beer) and then headed south to Uyuni. Having left Clare behind in the capital, we spent our last three days with Tim on a jeep tour of the highest desert in the world. The Salt Flats were stunning, and the mountain lagunas incredible. My personal favourite, Laguna Colorada, with its rich red colouring, was almost enough to make you forget the perishing cold. But not quite.
So, we're now in Chile, waiting for our bus to the Argentine city of Salta. It´s well expensive here, and weirdly European, so I'm looking forward to leaving on Friday. Still, a good opportunity to sleep lots, read more and even make a start on learning some Portuguese in preparation for Brasil. Assim, obrigado para a leitura, e veja-o logo!