Hello peeps....updated

---

Hey

How are all you guys? I am sorry for being crap at keeping the blog up to date! Just been abusy bee travelling like mad!

Well I am back in Lima, staying at a friends appartment which is cool 😊

I should fill you in on what I ahve been up to....................

Ok well we left Lima 2 days after arriving to start a 36hr bus journey to Quito. I still can´t believe that we actually managed the journey it was the most uncomfortable two nights i have spent. Plus we had the additional bonus of dodgy pirate american movies (Octupus 2, and other random movies tha no one sane would have heard off!)playing at full blast throughout the whole journey! The scenery was pretty crap too! So you can imagine my relief when i got off the smelly bus in Quito.

Quito

Quito was lovely, quite a contrast to Lima, less poluted and less crowded. Actually you could feel the difference between the 2 countries as you passed the border. The northern part of Peru is all desert and barren land (so i dind´t spot any Llamas girlies!) whereas Ecuador is far more lush and green. Saw lots of sugar cane and banana plantations.

We stayed in the old town, which was lovely lots of churches and cobbled streets. Our hostal was pretty funky too had breakfast on the terrace which overlooked the main Cathedral and mountains.

We spent a couple of days wondering around Quito, soaking up the sounds and smells. Found our way to the gringo trail too which was vibrant.

We had met an english guy (Ben) on the bus from Lima, who took it upon him to take us under his wings the first night! Went ot a couple of cool bars, the # are lethal almost 100% pure alcohol!

Ben recommend that we should stop over in Latacunga.......so that was the next stop......

Latacunga

Hmmmmmmm not quite sure why we were reccommended this sleepy town! Oh well we found a hostal which had quite a cool view of the main sqaure. We decided to book a tour for the next day which would take us on a hike to the bas of the active volcano Cotpaxi. I was looking forward to this as ost of our trip had been to cities so being outdoors would be cool 😊

Woke up early all ready for this hike........The Andes do provide an amazing backdrop and the volcano was looking very cool had big snow cap on it. Couldn´t really see the top. We drove to around 4000ft which was cool then we were going to hike ot around 4300ft. Started the hike which seemed fine our guide did warn us about altitude sickness, but evreyone seemed fine..........toddled along for about 15 more mins then I felt really dizzy and sick! 😞 had to sit for a while and recuperate. The guide and Ivan were really cool and took care of me! After that I was fine! But hey i think it has given me an idea of what to expect when we go on the Inka trail. Apparently the best way to avoid it is to chew coco leaves.....(im sure that will be an interesting experience!) All in all the trekk was fine not that amazing if im honest but all was good! Next stop was Banos.......on the rek we met a couple who were also moving on to banos and they spoke spanish so we thought it was a good plan to move with them!

Banos ( the place where the volcano is on red alert!!)

The drive into Banos was fun, driving around winding mountains was quite amazing. I had a good feeling about our next stop even before we reached there. The town was situated in a valley whith lots of green mountains surrounding it-beuno! All the buildings were cool painted bright colours. Our hostal was also pretty funky we had a good view a pretty waterfall.

Just chilled the first day..............set alarm early next day and when headed for the hot springs. They were cool, quite smelly though and had a few to many okd wrinkly men for my liking!! Took a few dips in the freezing cold water too ( i had convinved myself that it would be good for me!!).

Found a cool veggie place for lunch...

Then the fun really started with our afternoon of quad biking! Was really cool, went up into the hills, and then along a route which had some funky waterfalls, even drove under a couple so got nicely soaked! Was all good, those quads go quite fast!! Ended up with a sore bum at the end but it was worth it!

Spent another day chilling in Banos and catching up on washing etc....( my mum will be happy to know that it is really easy to find laundary services here!!)

Quenca

Quenca is the 3rd largest city in Ecuador, and has a definate colonial feel to it. The cathederal is impressive with large blue domes. Overall it is a chilled city with a good feel to it. We didn´t really do much here. Found another cool veggie place that did a massive lunch for about 1 squid! Vic you would be impressed with my ability to seek out veggie places! Plus Ivan is a star and loves to find them too!

We stayed in this really random hostal, the owner was an artist she was quite old and eccentric! Its hard to describe the place but it was cold as part of the roof was missing!! It was nice to be amused by the old lady and she seemed to like the fact that someone had visited her bizzare hostal so evryone was happy 😊

Vilcabamba

This town is know to be the place where people live to a 100! Im not sure this is entirely true as there wer only about 10 people in the whole town! It honestly was very very quiet. The backdrop was pretty though had lots of mountains (reddish colour). We stayed in a resort type place ( your typical hippie traveller place). Has a swimming pool, suana etc. Was a nice enough place to stop and recharge the batterys. We didn´t explore too much as Ivan was a ickle bit poorly and it was nice to take a rest bite.

Puira (Peru)

Heading back to lima to meet Laura. we decided to split the journey up so we stayed in Puira, a city on the edge of the Desert. It was nice and hot which was a welcomed change.
We arrived at a hostal which was recommended in the lonely Planet ( which hadn´t let us down so far....)

The room seemed fine so we did our normal freshen up routine then headed out...the town was buzzing lots of people out and about. Also it was "tourism week" so there seemed to be more activity than usual.

Had a nice meal........got bakc to hte hostal ready for bed then gues what.............................so ugly ### creeping around! errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!! in our broken spanish we tried to explain to the manager... he came up with a spary can to try and kill them! And he claimed there was no other room. As you can imagine got very little sleep that nite! Oh well it had to happen at some point! I will be letting Lonely Planet know though! So that was a quick stop as we did not fancy another nite of roaches!

Whilst in Puira I felt the need to open the card from my goils ......thanks you guys it really cheered me up 😊 I am looking forward to opening the next ones and don´t worry i have been really good and not had a peek!

Trujillo (Peru)

Arrived in Trujillio another Peruivian town. We thought that it was time we discovered some history so we booked a tour to see the Sun and moon temples and the ancient mud city of Chan Chan. The tours were cool really interesting. Would be a cool place to be if you were an archeology student as they are still in the process of excavating sites! Chan Chan used to be a massive city, but all that is left are the ruins, was quite impressive!

Well that brings me back to Lima............

We have two weeks with Laura to explore more of Peru then we are off to do the Inka trail which should be fun! Then depending on the political situation we will probably go to Bolivia, which should be funky!

I will try and blog more regularly then i can give you guys a more detailed insight into my travels and day to day happenings! Also will try and add pics ASAP 😊

Love you all lots and lots and am missing you. Thanks for emailing me it always makes me giggle 😊

Sheena, love you lots and you dare even think about becoming a cleaner pops! You are a star and don´t forget it keep on working hard it will all pay of. Give my love to mum and dad too.

Lu lu i havn´t had an email from you! What u been up too? If i get the chance i will try and ring you on your birthday 😊 If not will definately email have a good one.

Faz that is fantastic news! I will email you soon.

Vicli, love you sweets thanks for you emails always make me smile......Im still on the case about finding a Llama and a cool place to salsa!

Meers keep on having fun hun...you know what i mean!

Shams thanks for the email and your updates i hope your not getting to broody!!

Jas where are you????????? I havn´t heard from you in ages!

---