Riobamba was the next stopover after Banos, from where we caught the scenic ´ La Nariz del Diablo´ train (Devil´s Nose) to a little village called Alausi. G was ere….The train was something from the forties, where passengers travel on the roof, legs dangling, hair ablowing, holding onto the metal bars around the roofs rim. From Alausi, we traveled on our first air-conditioned Ecaudorian bus to colonial Cuenca …home to a plethora of markets, the best being its sprawling food market, with lots of foreign fruits to entertain me, including red bananas!

Montanita was the chosen destination for the rest of Xmas week, a really chilled out beach town, full of hippies and surfer types. The weather here was lovely, as was our hotel, Charos, there were loads of bars and restaurants and of course the beach and pool to entertain us. On Xmas Eve we took a trip over to the Isla de la Plata , () where we saw hundreds of blue-footed boobies, grey and white birds with bright blue feet, among other various species, but after this day its safe to say that neither of us are bird-watchers at heart. Xmas dinner involved king prawns, rice and lots of beer, followed by the rest of the day on the beach and an attempt at surfing...a few large bruises were acquired…but we both managed to stand up at least!!

An hour or so up the coast from Montanita was where we found Los Frailes, a gorgeous, unspoilt beach protected as part of Machalilla National Park …there was hardly anyone here and we spent a whole day in our own cove enjoying the sunshine and tranquil waters.

From Puerto Lopez and Machalilla we made our way back to Quito where we then parted, with Jonny heading on to Mexico and myself onto Peru to meet Gina for New Year. Having 6 hours to wait in Quito was clearly not enough as I managed to miss my bus, and knowing how anxious Gina is, I was slightly worried to learn that all buses that night and the following day were fully booked to the border…so I jumped in a taxi which proceeded to ´fly´ as the taxi driver put it, 40 minutes southbound down the motorway to a place where the bus could later stop, where, by the skin of my teeth, I arrived as the bus pulled in. After an extremely stressful border crossing (Huaquillas-Tumbes) and a 3 hour camioneta down the coast, I made it to Mancora, a beach resort on the north Peruvian coast, at almost exactly the same time as Gina. So after meeting Jemima Puddle Duck, our snoring, sicky roommate, we headed down to a beach bar for a celebratory beer…where we discovered my wad of changed notes from the border were all, in fact, fake.

Our hostel here was an unfinished paradise, soon to be nicknamed ´the compound´ as no-one seemed to bother leaving. It had a huge pool and really good atmosphere, so inevitably with half the guests being Irish it was set to be a good New Years Eve party. In South America being a sign of good fortune for the New Year, everyone wore yellow, and we joined a group of Ecuadorians on the beach at midnight when they burnt their effigy as a sign of leaving behind all things old. The compound let off a few fireworks and with a countdown almost every hour for every different nationality, the drink flowed on until the small hours.

Slightly delicate the next day we took a tiny trip out to ´El pozo del barro´ - 10km in a tuktuk out across desert land to a small hole in the ground, great for a mudbath. That night, with a couple of people from the hostel, we treated ourselves to a meal at the local steakhouse and later played mass poker at the compound. We had a relaxing next couple of days, except for jet skiing...which turned out to be on quite a rough sea, and needless to say all four of us spent some time in the water. Our last night was another big night out with half of the hostel in tow and a great way to leave Mancora behind.

Not having much time in Lima , as soon as we arrived we headed straight out to see the sights of the city centre and the district of Miraflores, where we were staying. Later in the day we then met up with Peruvian friend of mine, Oscar, who I worked with when on my year abroad in Valencia . Oscar then took us to Barranco, an up-market district overlooking the sea, where we watched sunset over some ´chicha morada´ (purple grain juice) and ´picarones´ (sweet potato donuty things with honey), and then later on to the Magic Water park, a huge park hosting lots of differently designed fountains, some colourful, some dancing, some of bizarre shapes like pyramids and others you could play in. It was unbelievably busy, but a great atmosphere. We rounded off the night by sampling the national drink, Pisco (grape brandy).

The flight to Cusco was a great way to see the morning in…as we passed over the manymountain ranges between the two cities we could see its peaks (6000m plus) rising through the clouds. So now you find us in Cusco , a lovely indigenous town set high in the mountains (some 3300m), this in itself quite bizarre, as we´re both finding it quite difficult to adapt to the thin air. We´ve been drinking lots of coca tea and drinking only soft drinks like Inca Cola (Peruvian version of Irn Bru) to help with acclimatizing. The town is a nice place to wander around (slowly), especially the neighbourhood of San Blas, a great place to try alpaca (llama), the local dish and theres lots of artesania (crafts) markets and shops to while away the hours in. So we set off on the Inca trail tomorrow, apparently a completely different experience during the rainy season when everything is cold, soaking and a big challenge…so wish us luck…