Our last GAP activity...the jungle trip into the Amazon Basin. We left Quito at an ungodly hour (around 7am) to get to the airport to fly to Coca, from where we would be getting picked up by our lodge people. Right from the start we got VIP treatment...this was going to be a good end to our trip. We sat in the VIP lounge at the airport taking advantage of the free drinks and canopes! We had a 25min ride to Coca, mainly an oil mining town where we met our guides...

So here I am in Banos, the penultimate city on my trip. This place is supposedly famous for hot springs...cant be arsed with any more of those. Luckily it also has an active volcano which you can horse ride around, which is what I did this morning. We went up some of the slope of the mountain, you can still see where the volcano errupted in 2006, and where the lava flowed down making a deep cut in the valley, where the lava has stained the rocks orange and there ...

One of the easiest border crossings so far! They even have elctronic print outs for the vias in your passport-very snazzy. All was going well until we changed buses over the border from Tumbes, Peru...now I know why there are so many bus crashes in this country. I could have done a better job...teh driver did not knwo what breaking around a corner was, and when he did find the breaks he slammed them on so hard we all nearly flew off our seats! Anyway we eventua...

Mancora...an arrival at 4am did little justice to this place. An absolutely stunning view met me this morning...sun, sea and surfers. I´m looking forward to relaxing on the beach for two days, then off into the highlands again.

Huanchanco...or wherever we are...a beach town where the fishermen go out on reed boats, then surf back in..crazy! Tomorrow we go to see a moon and sun temple, you guessed it more ruins, although think these are pre-Inca. We´re also going to see the largest city built of mud, chinca...interesting? guess I´ll find out tomorrow...then off on our last night bus to Mancora...supposedly the best beach resort in Peru-woo hoo!