Peru

As I edged across the log bridge, the Peruvian jungle stood silently waiting across the river. Rotten timbers shifted beneath me and crumbs of the turf topping fell into the torrent below. Reaching the other side, I worked my way up river along a stony shore. The cliff above me became green and slimy and a sulphurous smell began to fill the air. A few metres further on I found the hot springs of Banos de Collpampa pouring out of the limestone into a large rocky pool. As night fell I pulled off my clothes and climbed gratefully into the hot water. All the sweat and aches of the last few days dissolved away as I floated on my back and gazed up at the sky.

Summer lightning flickered beyond the hills and, as darkness flowed out of the jungle, the fireflies started flashing. Bats darted across the sky, snapping them up. And as I concentrated to remember this moment, so too I felt a distance from reality, as if looking through a pane of glass. That moment summed up Peru for me; so magical that it doesn't quite feel real.

People used to get rather cross when they booked a package holiday and arrived to find their hotel was a building site. I was visiting four lodges with a friend and not one of them was built. We were in South America researching a new route being developed across the Andes to Machu Picchu, the iconic Inca site. The classic Inca Trail is becoming overcrowded and we were looking for an interesting alternative. The trail we were trying pre-dates the Inca era. It is an ancient trade route that crosses a pass between two snow-covered Andean peaks.

The starting point for just about every expedition in these parts is Cusco, around 3,400 metres above sea level. This Spanish colonial city is built on the stone foundations of the old Inca capital, and many of the intricately fitted dry-stone Inca walls have survived. They generally come up to about waist height, above which Spanish mortared masonry takes over. Cusco is a good place to acclimatise to the altitude, not least because it has lots of good restaurants, an Irish pub or two and a strong feeling of history that has resisted the earthquakes.

We hopped on to a minibus going to the high plateau beyond the city and took a walk through the Inca site of Moray, a series of extraordinary internally terraced craters. It's thought they were used as high-altitude plant nurseries.

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