'South America's Worst Border Crossing' and beyond to The Land Where Lucy is Tall...!

We left the lazy beach town of Mancora on a CIFA bus to attempt the infamous Peru-Ecuador border near Tumbes (without getting hijacked, robbed at gunpoint or swindled out of our money by corrupt border police and unscrupulous taxi drivers!) To make things even more interesting we decided to cross at night! Despite the horrendous catalogue of nightmare tales we were told before we left, it all went fairly smoothly. It was chaotic and arduous but safe.

First we stop for exit stamps from Peru, drive a little way then stop again where our luggage is checked (several people were kicked off here for bringing dodgy chickens and some suspicious looking white powder packages...). We drive across the bridge over a really skanky river, get off again, fill in entry cards for Ecuador and get your passport stamped, all the time surrounded by a backdrop of shady looking taxi drivers and an atmosphericsoundtrack of distant gun shots. Nice. Then we drive on again, stop, get out to have our bags and luggage searched while the armed police check the bus inside and underneath.So finally at 2am, after about 3 hours of mayhem we breathe a big sigh of relief and collapse back into our 'semi-camas' (reclining seats) and they turn the lights out for some sleep... or at least we would have if the Peruvian Travelling Rooster Barbershop Quartet hadn't been stored in the luggage compartment below us ! They spent the remaining 5 hours of our journey practicing their set and by the time we arrived at Guayaquil, both me and Lucy had a strong craving for Rooster pie.

Our next bus took us to Montanita, which was a very exciting prospect as everybody had told us it's THE party town of Ecuador's coast; "The town that never sleeps"; "The party capital of Ecuador"; " The place where you find out the true meaning of the word 'party' "... so what do we do there...?! We both get sick and base our days around trying to sleep (and staying within a 50m dashing-radius of the toilets- PARTY!!! )

We're quickly over whatever we had, Lucy's dad's drugs stock did us proud! Thanks Nick! Montanita itself is a pretty unique place with a proper buzz about it. It's a small surfers town with a weird Caribbean/Latin feel about it. A stoner's paradise, rammed full of rastas, hippies, surfers, circus freaks... everyone! The music is RELENTLESS- ethnic jazz®gae blast out everywhere in all the cafes and hostels from about 8am, then it shifts to an insanely loud mix of Latino pop and R&B that batters your ear drums till about 5:30am. Thankfully I passed out and slept like a baby through it all but Lucy didn't sleep a wink until the 5:30 respite!

Memorable sights of Montanita include- a tiny little girl toddling up the street carrying/garrottinga cat around its neck which was roughly the same size as her; agod-awful kids marching band complete with bizarre braided uniforms leading a parade of about 10 village football teams through the street to a tournament. The sleep deprivation is too much (even after moving hostels) so it's onto the 'green bus from the main street' that we make our final coastal stop.

Puerto Lopez is a more tranquil fishing&tourism town, the heart of the Machailla National Park. The drive there was a precarious but stunning one, winding our way in a local bus along high up coastal hair-pin bends and through the semi-tropical rainforest gullies.Sol Inn, our hostel, was great apart from a gentle but continual waft of dead animal during the night, (may just of been Lucy mind.)

We came to Puerto Lopez to visit the 'Poor Man's Galapagos'. The Galapagos, although everyone who's ever been there say it's unbelievable, costs around $1200 to do and that's about a month's budget in South America! So we take a day trip to La Isla de la Plata for $50 each. It's small island with a barren landscape but the astonishing thing about it is the thousands of birds. They are all pretty tame and the paths you take over the island are right through their nesting grounds so you are literally in amongst them. Lucy liked it best because there were lots of birds called 'Boobies' which kept her in stitches for most of the walk.The boat trip back was great too as we stopped for a bit of surprisingly good snorkelling (considering the North Sea coloured waters that we were in) and saw a pod of about 300 dolphins that swam alongside our boat. They came really close and jumped and weaved about for a good 20 minutes! Truly amazing.

Our next insane bus driver, or 'El Stig' as he should be known, got us into Quito almost 3 hours earlier than scheduled which meant we were dumped unceremoniously in the middle of the notoriously dodgy New Town at 5am. We got out of there sharpish and moved into a great hostel called 'The Secret Garden' where we met two lovely Irish girls, Sharon and Emma. They filled us in on the pros and cons of the place and all the people that they'd met who'd been robbed, stabbed, killed, raped and pillaged during their few weeks there. So we were pretty much expecting to walk out into downtown Baghdad! But we actually had a totally safe, stress and murder free time in Quito. Lucy got clobbered by altitude sickness, food poisoning and other assorted ailments which was thoroughly miserable for her but it did mean we extended our stay in Quito long enough to meet a lot of great people who we've kept bumping into along the way since.

Quito Old Town was a beautiful, hilly, restored colonial era place with loads of picturesque churches, plazas and tree-lined streets of colourful buildings with ornate architecture and shuttered windows. We went up the Basilica, which unaware to us, is listed in the Lonely Planet as the most dangerous viewing point to see the Old Town from! It's a long climb up spiral stairs to the tower and across a series of scaffold planks spanning the fragile ceiling vaults and then up several sets of steep rickety metal ladders at which point they've just abandoned all attempts at safety, to the final viewing point. There were a few hairy moments but it was worth it for the view!

We spent a night and a day in Otavalo (just north of Quito) for the famous Saturday morning markets. It was a quaint, twee little town surrounded by stunning volcanic mountains. The markets were an overwhelming experience for all the senses. Constant bombardment of noise from the vendors shouting offers at you and an incredible array of bright colours and smells from the various stalls. We went in thinking we may find a couple presents for people back home and we went away with colourful woollen hats, gloves, hoodies, slippers, art work and (randomly) a beautiful hammock, all for next to nothing!

In the afternoon we head to the national park. We took a local bus to visit a massive lake next to a volcano, which was absolutely rammed full of people making their way home after the market. We were stood up in the aisle of the bus, and standing next to us was a mother and her little daughter. The girl, who was right up next to Lucy, had a bright red ice lolly that was as big as her head, there was no way of her actually eating this lolly without basically just smearing it against her face. She somehow managed to get red lolly juice on Lucy's pristine white top, which was a good couple feet of dribbling distance above her head. Impressive! I managed to capture the realisation of this act in the world's cutest photo.