Bye bye mummies, Hello Bolivia

Our mothers´ last day in Peru was an eventful one.

We awoke to a beautiful sunny day in Arequipa and had planned to visit the Santa Catalina convent again, as Adrian and I had enjoyed it so much last time. We spent the morning there (see Diana, Adrian and Mum, above) taking yet more photographs, and eating more delicious cake.

After that we split up for a bit - Mum and I went off to do a spot of shopping and Adrian and Diana went exploring.

Sadly it all went horribly wrong when Mum realised her purse had vanished. We aren´t sure whether it had been lost or stolen, but either way it was a complete disaster, mainly because she´d just put her memory stick full of photos in it. The Peruvian police were amazingly helpful, but of course we didn´t get very far. Spent an hour struggling to make ourselves understood for a police report, and then didn´t have long to catch a cab and get off to the airport.

Adrian and I waved them off, sincerely hoping they would get to New York and then London without having any more problems.

We spent our last night in Arequipa and said goodbye to our favourite town in Peru very early on Wednesday morning. We nearly missed our bus because our stupid taxi driver thought ´bus station´actually meant ´airport´, but very luckily for us, the bus waited and we were on our way back to Puno. After a night there, we got another bus over the border to Bolivia and into La Paz, which is where we are now.

Cusco madness

We arrived in Cusco at 5.30am today feeling pretty knackered. I was very grateful to have a nice comfy hotel room booked to collapse in while we awaited the arrival of the mothers.

Unfortunately, their time of arrival came and went, and it was only when we charged and switched on my phone that we realised they were stranded in New York due to all flights being cancelled because of Hurricane Ike! There are worst places to be struck, however, and they made the most of their time by getting a taxi tour of Manhattan. With any luck they will have boarded another flight by now, and should be with us first thing tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed!

With time on our hands, Adrian and I decided to get our bearings and ventured out into Cusco, the ´archaeological capital of the Americas´. Luckily for us, today is the day of the annual Día de la Virgen, and the whole town is full of hundreds of men, women and children dressed in traditional costume dancing and singing their way around the city - it´s amazing to behold!