I think we must have fallen asleep as soon as we hit the bed in our lovely room at Luna Rumi as the next time I opened my eyes from what I thought was a blink it was dark! We had agreed to meet the gang at 9pm for drinks to celebrate or nuptials. We pulled ourselves together, grabbed a shower and waited for the knock at the door from Luis.
By the time he knocked we must have looked so exhausted as he started by saying we didn’t have to join them if we were too worn out! he had read our minds and we thanked him for understanding and promised to celebrate the following day with the team.
We slept so well in the feather duvet and soft pillows and woke early ready to face another day…the rest of the team however had celebrated for us until 3 in the morning and we enjoyed a lazy morning while they snoozed.

By lunch time we decided to get peggy ready to go and thank goodness we did as she was in a naughty mood and refused to start! We had the engine cover back off and adjusted the choke AGAIN, checked the oil AGAIN, and generally tweaked until she started. Alex was at the end of his tether with her and spat his dummy out in protest of spending another penny on fixing her! I argued that we loved her and he insisted that she can’t possibly love us to behave this way! We agreed to disagree while she chugged herself warm as the team filled Luis’s car with seemingly never ending equipment and people, that car was like a tardis!

We said our thank you’s and goodbyes to Fernando and team and set off in convoy to shoot some pictures at ‘a hotel’ nearby. ‘A hotel’ was all the information Luis would give us!

When we pulled into the dirt rack that led to ‘the hotel’ and drove along the river banks avoiding cattle carts we looked at each other in wonder of where we were going…then we saw the black marble arch with water flowing over it and exchanged another glance as we drove up to a huge building.

Luis went in first and we gathered my wedding dress by Fatima, accessories by Roxana and suit by Yirko and followed him in.
I almost dropped my dress as I lost control over my jaw which hung limp as I absorbed the stunning floor to ceiling stained glass window in front of me!

Alex didn’t even stop and I had to run to catch up with him as he walked out of the building into a green grassed and blue skied paradise! I ran along behind him and Luis and we were shown into a room in the SPA building where we could change. I was so excited to look around that I was ready before Alex and we left our things among the spa basins and massage beds and skipped back to meet Luis.
Alex (being Alex) asked one of the on hand hotel concierge for a coffee and as we walked along with Luis, Freddy, Julio and Roxana (Mrs moon) drinking in our surroundings. Minuits later we were presented as if by magic with a silver tray with a coffee pot and cups as we passed a crisp white sofa. Alex apologised and explained that he was expecting a cup of instant as we were seated and our coffee poured for us. We all took 5 with our coffees, us in our wedding clothes surrounded by our friends and piles of camera equipment, quite a surreal moment but one I will never forget.

Once break time was over we got to business (well, the fun bit, can hardly call it business). We shot in the beautiful mini plaza complete with splashing fountain, cobble stones and enough room for Alex to spin me around in my dress. We shot in one of the rooms, which was stunning with original restored furniture, beauiful decor and gallery worthy paintings. We were gobsmacked at the beauty of the place, we strolled around the pool, through trees filled with squawking green parrots and onto a bridge over a fish filled stream. Just when we thought it couldn’t be any more beautiful we found ourselves in a courtyard outside a gorgeous chapel!

Luis disappeared and we were busy wondering where he had gone. He soon reappeared with a dress bag! I haven’t told you all the mean trick he and Alex had played on me! After the wedding I had asked Luis if I would get to wear the ‘waterfall dress’. I had trashed the first dress (sob, sob) and had since loved wearing the embroidered dress but I was so desperate to wear the huge long skirts and the gold fairy swirls of the third dress that I had tried on at Fatimas! Luis had told me that he had forgotten the dress, that he had accidently left it in Lima! I had thought he was joking and said (jokingly) that he had better go back and get it then! Alex had later told me that Luis had really forgotten the dress and I felt dreadful! I had apologised to Luis immediately for being so cheeky and told him that I wasn’t bothered about wearing the dress after being so lucky to wear even one of Fatimas dresses! I spent the night telling Alex how terrible I felt about being so cheeky, my dry humour is often lost in translation and I forget to think before speak sometimes…ANYWAY! It HAD all been a huge joke and when I saw Luis with the dress bag I didn’t know what to do! I laughed and laughed and hugged him while he laughed too! My humour hadn’t been lost in translation at all, but reciprocated!

I was thrilled that I would actually get a chance to wear the dress! I changed in the chapel and as I emerged from under the stairs the hotel concierge appeared with a tray filled with pisco sours and nibbles for all!
We took another surreal break in the chapel with our drinks and fancy pretzles and finished the shoot soon after.

As we walked back to the spa to change I suddenly remembered the stained glass window and asked Luis and gang to stop packing up and take one last shot. The colours in the depiction of Macchu Pichu were being thrown across the black marble floor in the setting sun as we took the pictures and then I had no more excuse to keep the dress on and had to go and change.

We drove back in the dark and met in a restaurant to spend our last night together with the team.
We had finished the piggy bank we had made for Luis and had pre-arranged a meal at Chicha por Gaston for Freddy to say thank you which we handed over before we ate. Luis loved his Pig and I hope he knows how much he means to us everytime he looks at it! We struggle so much with finding something to express our thanks enough to the people who help us on our adventure. We have a limited budget and always try to buy lunch or drinks or a small gift but Luis had done so much for us! He had arranged so much, restaurants, hotels, treats and experiences and thats without even mentioning the photographs he has taken or the wedding he arranged for us. He has been the catylist for so much in our adventure and a pot pig doesnt seem much thanks. However, we are sure that he appreciates that we tried to capture some of the memories of our trip in our own personal way, the way that he did for us.

Once we had eaten we dragged the team to the local Irish bar to inflict some Guinness and pale ale upon them before we had to say goodnight.

The next day was going o be an emotional one, we had to say goodbye to our fabulous new friends…the peru roadtrip was almost over!