Love at first earthquake: how the world shook for Kate and John in Peru

While stranded in Cusco, Peru, for two weeks after a magnitude eight quake, Kate and John bumped into each other quite a lot, writes Rowena Walsh

John Keeley, who was born in Cusco, Peru, and brought up in Ballina, Co Mayo, met his wife Kate originally from Yorkshire, while they were both travelling in Peru. Picture: Moya Nolan

If it wasn’t for an earthquake in Peru, Kate and John Keeley may never have met.

It was 2007, Kate and two friends were travelling around the world for nine months. They had just completed the Inca Trail and were staying in an Irish-run hostel in Cusco in south-eastern Peru.