#66 A Line in the Sand - The Nasca Lines

'Whale'

I remember as a small child blessed with chicken legs and a high pitched voice, watching a documentary on the Nasca Lines. These mysterious lines, sprawled out across the desert, sometimes stretching for kilometres. These mysterious lines, only viewable from the sky - forming triangles, squares, monkeys, condors, astronauts? Like the Bermuda Triangle or the City of Atlantis, these lines were indeed a mystery - why were they made, for whom, and for what purpose? The documentary talked of alien beings, water cults, and mapping of the skies. Who knew I would one day find myself in Peru, boarding a small plane to see these wonders.

#65 Machu Picchu means 'Muchos Pictures'

Llamas keep the grass trimmed to perfection

We overheard a guide telling his group as we arrived at sunrise to one of the seventh 'new' wonders of the world that Machu Picchu means 'Muchos Photos' and it was easy to see why he must make this joke day in day out - it was more magical than we could have expected. As we took in our first glimpse of the Inca palace it was hard to imagine such a grandiose feat of architecture could have been hidden from the invading Spanish and then the world for centuries, buried under a canopy of forest until its western 'discovery' in the early 20th century. We took the guide's word from it and took quite a few pics - a few of the best are included below.

#64 Floating Islands - Lake Titicaca & Puno

The good fortune we expected from having a Priest bless our bike lasted all of about half an hour. Crossing the border into Peru we were extorted by the Police for not carrying bike insurance. Having only just entered the country and insurance not being available for sale on the border I would have thought some leniency would be in order but he was not letting us leave without a little sweetner, proudly pointing out in the rule book exactly which law we had broken.

#63 Only in Bolivia - Sorata & Copacabana

View over Lake Titicaca from our cabin.

After the road blocks, dirt roads, hold ups, friend chicken, and rain storms, I didn't think I would miss Bolivia. But it has its distinctions: the scenery is unparalleled and the experiences equally unmatched. Where else in the world can you chill out for an hour with a monkey around your neck, or walk a puma with no big-cat experience, stay in a rustic cabana for $13US (including dinner), step in the footprints of dinosaurs, be alone in an Inca ruin, tour a working silver mine, or swim with pink dolphins. Of course such unreal experiences are usually followed by some sort of disaster, as was the case with Sorata, confirming it really was time to leave.