Hurrah! My one hundredth day of travelling has arrived. I spent it mainly in a van, though.

As I said, I wanted to go trekking, but being the rainy season there were not enough people (ie I was the only one) so I switched to a bus tour. I got up at seven in a mess of tangled sheets.

The van, Angela and Gregorio (another fancy name) arrived and we picked up 2 Brasileños (Claudia and her boyfriend, whose name I've shamefully forgotten), 4 Germans (Steffi, Anja, Marcus, Chrissy), 1 French (Roman) and one English (Rose). The drive to Chivay wasn't all that spectacular, a lot of brown and a few clouded snow-capped volcanoes in the distance.

We had lunch in Chivay and I tried alpaca, it's not bad but nothing out of the ordinary. 'Not bad but nothing out of the ordinary' pretty much sums up the whole trip, apart from... but I'll get to that in a minute. The hotel is simple, but I have a room to myself and there are lots of blankets as we are over 3000 metres and it's going to get chilly. Wish I thought of that when I only took my sandals...

We went for a nice walk, even though Angela went 'let's all stay together, yes?' then raced off up the hill, even though lots of people were at high altitude for the first time and every decent guide knows that walking slowly is better. So I refused to be rushed, walked at my own pace, and consequently was last, but also one of the few who got to the top without a headache.

At the top, the thing we saw which was out of the ordinary were bones, human bones. Inca bones even, and we were almost stepping on them because nobody had bothered to get them out of there. It was pretty morbid, but it's just amazing how close you can get to these things without seeing any warning signs ('Danger:skulls ahead'), ropes, guards or anything keeping you at a distance. Rose said she had the same feeling at Machu Picchu, where you can just walk on the walls (which is a big no-no in ruins terms) and there is really no one to stop you doing so.

On the way down we saw some ladies in traditional dress, with a lot of embroidery. Angela explained there are two 'tribes', one of them wears simple white hats (one flower for married women, two for unmarried and a black one for widows) the others embroidered ones (brim up for single women, front of the brim down for married women).

Then we went to the hot springs and after to dinner. The dinner was pretty similar to lunch, the Andean people do good soups though, which was good because I was freezing in my sandals... The peña consisted of poncho'd men playing traditional Peruvian music featuring lots of pipes and kids in cute costumes. They even got some of the tourists to dance and make fools of themselves, which must be how the locals amuse themselves in Chivay.

I had ordered trucha, trout, just like Chrissy and suddenly she looks at me and goes, like a prissy schoolmistress: 'If you do it this way, it's easier'. I mean, the nerve of her! As if I'm some kid she can tell what to do. I didn't talk to her much before, but I positively ignored her after that.

The Germans and the French guy had all been studying together in Santiago and Roman, the French guy, and Anja, the German girl, were now a couple. I thought they made a very strange combination, as they were both so typical for their own country (and I thought France and Germany were still arch enemies - tsss, how prejudiced of me), plus they could only communicate with each other in Spanish...

I liked Rose, who was a bit ditsy but very kind, Marcus and the Brasilians best, the rest sort of kept themselves to themselves.

I have a distinct sense of deja vu, and hope the canyon will be a bit more interesting. I mean, it was pleasant, but I've seen better terraces, better ruins and had better food... perhaps I'm just spoilt.