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Arriving in Picton, we checked into Atlantis Backpackers and brought our bags into our 24 bed dorm (a record I think – it wasn’t as bad as it sounded though, with all the beds sectioned off well). The next morning, Ciara, myself and Claire set off to walk the first part of the Queen Charlotte Track. It is a really nice walk, especially on a sunny day like we had. We stopped for a picnic at one of the small coves. It is possible to do the entire walk over 3 or 4 days, including some nights camping and it’s something I’d like to come back to do in New Zealand.

Another day in Picton so we did the snout track walk – a couple of hours along the headland, and then went to the cinema as we were hanging around for the ferry to Wellington that evening. The ferry crossing was grand that evening and we the YHA hostel without any trouble, then headed straight to bed.

We left Isla Del Sol the next morning on the first ferry, back to Copacabana where we had organised our bus tickets for Cusco.

A quick lunch and we hopped on the bus. Copacabana looks surprisingly better in the daytime – lots of market stalls and cobbled streets, but I would still only recommend a night or two there at most.

So firstly ofcourse, we got fleeced with the price of the bus tickets and ended up on a shabby, old version of what we were told we’d be on – next time we will check out the bus in person before handing over any cash and dont believe them about fully cama seats in Peru!

For the second half of the trip, I was sitting in the first row, aisle seat which was fine until around dinner time when a woman got on with a big coloured bag, that reeked of meat of some sort, really strong smelling stuff. When I looked again I saw she had a big kitchen knife (about 12 inches long) and slowly was opening the bag. At this stage I had to cover my mouth with my scarf to stop retching.

So, she started cutting off pieces of meat with the knife and putting them into plastic bags to sell to everyone on the bus. Out of the bag she was pulling bits of bone and what looked like squishy bits of liver and kidneys, it was all to be eaten…with a boiled potato thrown in for good measure. There were plenty of takers and when she asked us about having some we all had to tell her we were vegetarian. She could see from our faces we werent too impressed but she didnt really care anyway. About a half an hour later she hopped off again, waiting for another bus to come along – lucky them!

Cusco so far is lovely, a pretty colonial town, extremely touristy but nice and relaxing for inca trail preparation!

We left La Paz for Copacabana and Lake Titicaca, on the Peru/Bolivian border (it is 3,811 m above sea level) by mini bus, arriving there about 10 pm. We stayed in Hostel Imperador, Copacabana and despite the smell of sewage we survived for the night.

The next day we got a ferry to Isla Del Sol, taking about 2 hours where we hiked up to see the famous Inka ruins and then hiked back the length of the island (8km – our biggest hike yet!) to get to the main “town” where we were staying the night.

All the people living there use donkeys to cart their stuff up the ridiculously steep hills so we were really glad not to have our big rucksacks. La Paz was catching up on us so after some delicious quinoa soup and fresh trout it was bed time for us.