Well it seems like a long time since I`ve updated this site, been doing loads after a couple of quieter weeks.

We didn`t stay long in Peru, didn`t find ourselves warming to the place much and have realised that we`ve overspent on the budget so needed to go and find something cheap to do for a week or so. We did spend our anniversary in Cusco and met up with half of the guys from our previous tour group, so that was a good night out, although it ended up with a game of spainish pictionary - very bizarre.

Lima was grey, damp and expensive so we only stayed their 2 days and it wasn`t worthy of a photo, the hostel we stayed in was also rather grim so a 27 hour bus ride out of Peru up to Ecuador seemed like a great idea!

However, the scenery was drab, drizzley and dirty to the point where we decided we had to take pictures of how bad it was! and Chris had to rely on text updates from Eve and Bob to hear Chelseas fate in the Championship... so 27 hours certainly dragged! but never-the-less we made it in one piece accross the border and it still surprises us how much difference a border makes as straight away Ecuador comes accross as more advanced (still 3rd world mind), slightly better looked after and a bit brighter, as it doesn`t suffer the Guara (costal mist) that Peru does along its coastline.

We got to Guayaquil and stayed with a local family in a homestay as it was the same price as hostels here, it was great as it was out in the suburbs and had a garden full of fruit trees that we then got served up for brekkie, the Mum also cooked us a traditional Ecuadorian meal and then showed us where to go downtown to see the city at night before heading straight off again in the morning as its actually just a big commercial city. (however forgot to take our camera out so no pics of that bit!)

Montanita was our destination and we met a Canadian called Shawn on the bus who we spent the week with down there. Our days consisted of sleeping, eating, sunbathing, surfing, reading, eatting and drinking! it was great.

The hostel was owned by a surfer called Ricky who´d basically just built a giant tree house - and when Chris jumped up and down on the floor, the whole place would wobble! but we didn`t bother dwelling on that bit, as the hamocks were great and it was cheap.

The town only really had one main street but it had everything you could need and a load of stoned hippies to sell it to you, cocktails where 2 for 3 bucks so that sorted out the evening entertainment. We made friends with a few of the local cats as I felt sorry for some of the little kittens and it made me think of little Toots, especially when one of the cats came past us with a huge mouse in its mouth as apparently she`s got good at catching those too!

Chris rented a board most days and headed out following hottly in the footsteps of the pros to were the best breaks were, but obviously his board wasn`t as good as theirs and that`s why he kept getting trounced - honest!

We had to tear ourselves away from this place to head on up to Quito but it was great getting to chill out for a few days. The journey out was fun though as while waiting for a bus a few locals started offering us lifts for a few dollars so we eventually got 4 of us in this banged up old ford, with the boot flapping open cause our bags didn`t fit and it turns out a nearly fingerless driver who god knows how he kept hold of the wheel while we speed over pot holes and rubble to obviously get us to Peurto Lopez as soon as physically possible! Peurto Lopez however was not as glam as the book suggested so we hoped straight on an overnight bus up to Quito and got ready for another bumpy night.