So our pancake party on Thursday for Jess and Reb leaving escalated quickly. We ended up making whisky pancakes before heading out to a karaoke bar where we drank beer by the litre and sang some pretty dodgy group covers on Bohemian Rhapsody, Grease Megamix and (most shamefully) Barbie girl before heading to a club in town we haven't been to before which involved all the people dressing as Aladdin and drink service to you on the dancefloor! Some of the people we were with bought jugs of rum for us all too! After years of hating rum, I now like it, although I have realised it makes my limbs move in crazy ways on the dancefloor.
Yesterday after a sad farewell to Jess and Reb at the bus station, Elizabeth and I boarded a bus bound for La Merced in the jungle, where we are right now. The bus was pretty uncomfortable because of the lack of leg room but I'm getting used to that now, and I didn't mind so much as the views from the bus were amazing. First of all we snaked up through the Andes to the top were you could see mountains for miles, some even had snow on, and there wasnt a building in site! It felt like we were literally on top of the world in amongst the clouds. Then we descended down into the mountains where the terrain got more extreme and atmospheric as it was beginning to get dark and we were driving through the clouds, the road clinging to the mountain side as it began to rain. When we reached the bottom of the mountain the weather very quickly became tropical with a warm breeze and the humidity quickly heating up the bus. We arrived in La Merced around 7pm, after the 5 hour trip and booked in to Hotel Eden on the main square.
This hotel was definitely a surprise, we have 2 of the most comfortable beds I have stayed on in Peru, a fan, and an enclosed balcony with views over the main square, all this for £5 a night too!
For tea we went to a Mexican restaurant where we ordered what I thought were enchiladas but when it came it was like a pancake used as a wrap filled with chicken, chorizo and chip sticks, all covered in sauce and in a bag. This was by far the nicest meal I have eaten since I arrived in Peru, and it was made even better by being absolutely huge!
We went to bed pretty early as we were exhausted from the trip, and the fact we didn't get in till 5am the day before!
After an amazing sleep, despite Elizabeth waking me up to ask about 'the kids?!?'' we are now getting ready to go get some breakfast and book on to the Indiana John trek through the jungle! Sounds like it's going to be a fun day!