Arrived in Nazca in the afternoon, checked into our hostal and had a much needed shower! Kat booked her flight over the lines for the next morning. We then went off in the search of food..and had to of course sample the local Ican wine, which as bad as it may sound, is actually very nice! Bought a very classy Inca Kola t-shirt..which is bright yellow! You would be so jealous Al!! Woke up bright and early to have breakfast and waved Kat off on the plane. I took the budget travellers option and went to the Mirador to see just [View Full Entry]

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So arrived in Ica from Lima yesterday and then well suprisingly enough went to bed.. Our first day was spent in Ica calling home, visiting a couple of churches and a rather interesting museum full of dead people, trepanned skulls and a preserved sawn-off hand in a jar. Not quite sure why any of them were there though.. We then caught a taxi to nearby Huacachina and checked into 'The House of Sand'. We walked around the oasis and up onto one of the dunes which took all of half an hour..got absolutely exhausted just going up the one dune so [View Full Entry]

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So after our lovely night bus from Trujillo, two days after the start of the strike, we arrived in Lima - one of the dirtiest cities in the world. Were going to stay in the centre but our taxi man decided it was too dangerous. Drove around for an hour until we just couldn´t be arsed any more and ended up paying a horrible amount for a hotel. Only one night though. Went to sleep for a few hours in our riduculously expensive bed! Ventured out and walked an hour to the market (it really didn't look that far away [View Full Entry]

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So today we embarked on another educational visit in the north of Perú. We visited the Sun and Moon Temples this morning. Two Pre-Incan temples built by the Moche civilisation over six centuries to AD600. We had an English-speaking guide, which was really useful and saved our "translation times" half way through tours! Only the Temple of the Moon is open as there isnt enough money to excavate The Sun Temple. Nevertheless, the actual complex was huge. The temple is actually five temples, one built on top of the other. The first was buried and then the next built on [View Full Entry]

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So after our interesting nights sleep, we had a six hour bus ride to Cajamarca so of course by the time we got there all we could do was find a hostal (the owner of which seemed quite surprised we wanted to stay there!) and then go out for ice-cream (anyone see a pattern here?!) at, according to the LP, the best ice-cream in the North of Perú. It was good..but not a patch on Ec.! Decided we were the worst travellers in the world and we never do anything we plan, so hailed a passing mini-bus and headed 8km [View Full Entry]

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Well, yesterday we started our trip for real. After a quick wander round Piura for some brekkie and a money stop, we hopped on a bus to Máncora - a beach in the middle of the desert! Consequently is pretty hot..and looks like a scene from "The Hills Have Eyes" - one of the many qualitly films me and Kat have seen on buses since being in South America. Still, wasnt quite as good as "Dogs of the Devil..3!!" which was a piece of cinematic genius..ahem.. Anyway, Had a lovely S/. 10 dinner and tried Cristal - the national beer [View Full Entry]

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So our first day off travelling started..well less than successfully! Had a hellish start of 4.30am wake up call in order to catch the first bus of the morning from Vilcabamba to Loja..unfortunatley as we were in Ecuador, suprisingly enough this didn't turn up until 5.50am..leaving us just enough time to make the 7am but to Piura..unfortuntely we werent that lucky and as we were going into the terminal, our lovely bus passed us going out. Damn. Unfortunatley this then meant a six hour wait in Loja bus terminal in order to get the 1pm bus. After going for a chicken [View Full Entry]

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So, me and Kat set out on our great adventure today! Having said goodbye to all of our Cuenca friends, family, babies and kids at school and of course the remainder of the Cuenca crew, having already said our tearful goodbyes to Matt and Jack - much to their disbelief..me and Kat left Cuenca and headed off for the little town of Vilcabamba! Had two days well doing nothing really! Had a massage and ate some very lovely food, packed and well generated a fantabulous plan of what to do in Perú! Which is where were headed tommorow..very very exciting! [View Full Entry]

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Well, as we thought this weekend may of been our last in Cuenca we were well making the most of it and I went out 10 days in 12! Lots of fun was had though so its all good! I wont bore you with details but after all our partying we decided we would go and do something healthy on Sunday and went to Cajas! This is the massive national park just outside of Cuenca and is one of the "Things to do in Ecuador" malarkies.. So, we got to the bus terminal at 12 and got on the first bus. [View Full Entry]

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Well this weekend we were supposed to go to Los Frailes - one of the most beautiful unspoilt beaches in Ecuador..unfortunately we had to spend a night in Montañita and well never left..! As it was a public holiday here, we had the Thursday off work as well! Very exciting. Arrived at Montañita on the Thurs night and went back to our good old hostal again. Went out in search of food and found Tiki´s which became a bit of a haunt for us over the weekend! Pretty much collapsed straight away after though - 9 hours on buses takes it [View Full Entry]

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