From Amazon Rainforest, Peru
Everything is constructed from sticks and vines. One wall of your cabin looks out onto the jungle. You sleep under a mosquito net in the candlelight. I'm well protected, but it's about as close as I'll get to camping in the jungle.

It's also a proper scientific research centre, people climb trees to take samples and observe scarlet macaws. You might find one comes and steals your toast at breakfast. The macaws that is, not the people.

From Huanchaco, Peru
An early flight from Lima and a couple of hours clambering around a Moche temple had left our little group of four more than ready for some ceviche when we reached Huanchaco, its spiritual home.

I don’t know if it was the fish, the cook, or watching the totora reed boats diving into the surf, and listening to the waves hit the beach below - but Peruvians and gringos alike, we all swore it was the finest ceviche we’d ever tasted.

From Sacred Valley, Peru
Chicha is a drink which appears in many forms in many different parts of South America. In Peru it is usually a fermented corn beer which you’ll see being served up by street vendors in most towns, served in front room bars in villages.

But I defy anyone to find a chichería whose proprieter can rival Mercedes for character, as both her smile and the enormity of her glass will testify. Meeting her is one of my favourite memories from Peru.

From Machu Picchu, Peru
15 years after my first visit, I was back at Machu Picchu. In 2004, it was beautifully quiet. In 2019, I expected packed crowds. Guess which year this photo was taken in?

November 2019, not another soul at Machu Picchu. Priceless. Tired from walking for eight hours from the valley depths to the Puerta del Sol, we were so grateful to be the last guests on a beautiful afternoon. It has to be the perfect time of day to look down on Machu Picchu.

From Cusco, Peru
4pm. Time for coffee. We clocked a terrace and tottered off. All was calm, all was normal, all was... utter mayhem.

Trumpets blared, crowds gathered, colours merged into a rainbow. What was happening? For an hour we watched as Cusco came alive with a religious festival. It came from nowhere, and everywhere. My photos capture the colour, but the sound, the energy, everything else is locked away in my memories. Perhaps I didn't need that caffeine hit after all.

From Lake Titicaca, Peru
The bus pulled into Pucará and we all spilled out into the streets. Most were funnelled into the little museum. I went for a stretch of the legs and to buy water.

I don't know why, but I followed a local up a flight of stairs to a rooftop, below which a group of local women were playing a 5-a-side football match, Barcelona vs. Argentina. It's amazing what you find when you let your feet wander. This is one of my favourite photos.

From Colca Canyon, Peru
You know how nice a hot bath is after a long dusty hike? Well I'd spent a week tramping the Sacred Valley. It had been utterly magical, but wow was I ready to wind down.

When we got to Colca Lodge, I lowered myself into the bubbling water of its natural hot springs. A pisco sour appeared from nowhere. I listened to the river gush by, looked out across the valley stacked with ancient Inca terraces and felt the aches flowing away.

From Colca Canyon, Peru
Traversing a narrow track cut into the canyon, down to a shady oasis, I was focused on putting one foot in front of the other. Suddenly, I let out a shout that I can't repeat in print - pure, gut-wrenching panic.

A huge condor had floated into sight, a few metres away. I looked him in his big beady eyes, that vast hooked beak could rip my arm clean off. It was like being ambushed by a fighter jet. And then he was gone. Did I really just see that?