Puya Raymondi may sound like an Italian footballer but is in fact a type of pineapple plant – although that may not stop Harry Redknapp paying £25 million for one. We stopped to look at these 12m cactus-like giants on our way to the Pastoruri Glacier which is melting at an alarming rate due to global warming and all those selfish people who continue to fly around the world. The strenuous climb took us to over 5000m and gave us fantastic views over the Cordillera Blanca range. It was so good that we almost forgot that the tour guide did not speak English, despite the shady tour operator who had taken our money charging us extra with the assurance that he would. I got my own back by looking blank-faced at the small amount of English he did have and insisting I only spoke Hebrew.
We found a great place to eat in town, it was run by a man from Blackburn who cooked and served authentic Northern British cuisine – curry. It was fantastic.
In the evening I boarded an eight hour night bus headed for Lima (home of everyone's favourite illegal immigrant – Paddington Bear). Unlike Ecuador, Peru has different levels of service on the buses so we stepped up from the standard to the superior class and were rewarded with super-reclining seats and an in-drive meal that would put RyanAir to shame. Granted a soggy spam sandwich would put RyanAir to shame, but you know what I mean.
