Where on earth did the last month go?

I left Huanchaco just before Christmas and we're now on the 21st January, so the questions are: where on earth did the last month go? What have I been doing? And why haven't I written like I said I would?

I'll start with the last question first. I haven't written like I said I would because frankly, I've been having too much fun. Simples.

The past month has been a whirlwind of meeting new people and seeing new places; I've left Peru, travelled through Bolivia and now I'm in Argentina!

I had a day to myself in Lima before I met the group for the G Adventures Andean Discovery tour. Having spent two months exploring the north of Peru independently, I must say I was a little unsure about joining a tour - would the schedule be too rigid? Would I have a good group?

The schedule was fairly intense at first, moving from Lima to Paracas to Ica to Nazca to Arequipa to the Colca canyon, back to Arequipa and into Cusco all within the first week. I got to take the flight over the Nazca lines, see a condor fly extremely close by in the Colca Canyon and be in Cusco for new year. All jolly good stuff.

We were a group of 18 plus our guide, and I can honestly say it was a great group; diverse in character, background (kind of...there were a lot of Aussies!), likes and dislikes and life experience. Mainly I spent of lot of time laughing at something (or someone) or other.

A lot of group bonding went on on the Inca Trail. We had an exceptionally fast walking group and I spent most of my walk near the back of the group, taking my time to take in the scenery, either being encouraged or encouraging others to keep going. Apparently I was still plenty ahead of schedule every day so I'm pretty chuffed.

(I'll write an additional post dedicated to the Inca Trail at some point because it is rather spectacular, and the whole experience deserves more than a paragraph.)

Post Inca Trail we had a couple of nights more in Cusco before heading to Puno; from there we went on a tour of some islands on Lake Titicaca culminating in a home stay on one of the islands (this also deserves a dedicated post so watch this space!).

We had a great schedule overall. We missed some places that I would have preferred to have experienced, which was a shame but also part of the gamble of a tour. Equally, we did some things (like the Inca Trail or home stay) that were simply less stressful because everything was pre-arranged, which allows more fun to be had!

In the end though, the group made the tour. Had the gang been rubbish, I might have gone off and seen the places I think we missed. As it happens, our group of 18 participants, was always interesting to be around and totally worth hanging around for.