On Location August 2007 – Peru

What a wonderful and varied country Peru is, stunning scenery, delicious food and such friendly people.

My journey started in Lima, a real surprise. I expected a dusty, dirty city that's a bit rough round the edges but how wrong I was. The city is clean and tidy with lots of immaculate parks and gardens. Many of the buildings are in pristine condition as a result of the mayor's "adopt a building" campaign where businesses adopt a building in the old areas of Lima, paying for the restoration of the original Spanish colonial facades.

Leaving Lima and the coast, I headed inwards and upwards into the Andes and the enchanting city of Arequipa with its narrow streets and low-rise buildings as a safeguard from the numerous earthquakes. One of the highlights of the city is the Santuarios Andios museum that houses the mummified Juanita whose body was found at the summit of Ampato following an eruption of a nearby volcano that melted the snow. Experts believe she was twelve when sacrificed on the mountain as an offering to the gods. The snow and ice she was buried under preserved her hair, skin and teeth, and the fabric from her cloak looks like new - it is hard to believe Juanita has been buried for 550 years.

The journey to nearby Colca Canyon was stunning, and en route we saw alpaca, llamas and vicuna whilst climbing over a pass of 4,900m to reach the small town of Chivay. The whole area was beautiful, with lots of terraces and little rustic villages.

One of the nearby villages was having a festival, with bands playing, dancing and drinking of the local corn spirit. The other festival attraction was bull fighting in the village's stone bull ring. The bulls were quite small and most didn't even have horns. Pretty much anyone that wanted to, got into the ring and had a dance around. The bulls came into the ring had a run around then got bored and started eating the grass. One man did get hit by the bull a couple of times but that was him falling into it rather than it hitting him! This was bull fighting in the loosest possible sense.

The journeys between places were often as good as the destinations themselves, from dusty arid deserts to vast grassland areas, snow-capped volcanoes and mountains with hanging glaciers. A day travelling was certainly not a day wasted.

One of the highlights of my trip was learning about the Inca culture which is fascinating; such intelligent and forward thinking people. The best places to see Inca buildings are in Cuzco, the Sacred Valley and of course the impressive Machu Picchu. Cuzco is a charming little town, lots of narrow cobbled streets lined with neat perfect Inca walls and nearby are four great ruins all representing different aspects of the Inca civilisation - Tambomachay with their water fountains; Kenko, the religious centre; Puca-Pucara, the red fortress and finally the grand fortress of Sacsayhuaman.

The striking Sacred Valley earns its name for a couple of reasons, the Urubamba River that runs through the valley is the same shape as the Milky Way - stars and planets were very sacred to the Incas. It is also a very fertile area for growing crops because it has a dry and wet season enabling two crops a year, and of course, it is stunningly beautiful.

The Incan citadel of Machu Picchu does not really need much introduction, and it certainly lives up to its reputation of being an awe-inspiring place, not only the ruins themselves but also the breathtaking scenery around them. It was an incredible feeling walking around the famed 15th century citadel perched amidst the cloud forest, a huge and perfect example of the Incan architectural ingenuity. A perfec