I think I could start every blog entry with "it's been a busy few days", but it's true.

Mancora was good, chilled out and practically Spanish-less, but good. We ended up with a posse of Irish & English people (hence the lack of Spanish), some beginning their trip and others ending theirs.

The first full day was overcast, so we got a game of 5-a-side on the beach. The second day we saw plenty of sun, and in typical Irish style, we both got burnt.

I also attempted surfing again but it was a disaster. While trying to avoid the current, I waded through about 20 feet of rocks, only to cut my feet, knees and break a fin on my board. With my second board (and without S50 for the fin), I attempted to reach the breaks the same way as everyone else - straight into the current. Half an hour later I was there, but too tired to do anything and too cut up to stand properly.

There were three of us leaving that same night, so our posse went out for some nice Mexican food. We took a night bus to Ecuador.

Our original plan was to spend a night in Quayaquil, to check it out for ourselves, even though it hadn't been recommended to us. Some confusion and stupidity on our part at the bus terminal led to us heading straight to Montanita.

Quayaquil bus terminal in a mammoth. It's three storeys high, and has a shopping centre in it, about twice the size of Mahon Point.

Bus journeys in Ecuador shouldn't be that different from those in Peru, but they are. The buses themselves are pretty much on a par, but the landscape is completely different. Peru was desert on both sides, with the odd mountain appearing, with the mountains sandy in colour.

In Ecuador everything is green. The mountain roads are lined on both sides with thick, dense rainforest. The mountains too are covered in rainforest. Regular roads are mostly lined by banana trees from what I've seen. Strangely, the banana bunches are covered in plastic bags.

The other difference is the altitude. In Peru, we traveling along the coast, with mountains in the distance. Ecuador has them shoved right in your face, even along the coast. It makes for some impressive views.

Also, Ecuadorian buses don't serve Inca Kola, which is a blessing. Inca Kola is a luminous yellow soft drink that tastes horribly sweet, kind of like bubblegum, and is served everywhere in Peru. On buses you get a glass for free.

Another Peruvian speciality we tried is a Pisco Sour. It's made from a local liqueur, called Pisco, with lime and ice, but they add beaten egg whites to it, which give it a light froth on top.

Anyway, two buses after Quayaquil and we arrive in Montanita, a beach town popular with surfers. It has it's own hippy vibe too, with tons of roadside stalls, full of handmade bracelets, necklaces and earrings. Unusually these stalls are mostly run by gringos, so you don't get the hassle of the hard sell being shouted at you.

One of the few locals selling was selling sunglasses. He approached us and waved his wares in our direction. I don't know if he did it out of habit, didnt notice or was just a die hard salesman, but Callanan and I were both wearing sunglasses at the time.

We took a day trip while in Montanita, whale watching and hiking. We drove to the local whale watching port of Puerto Lopez, and took a boat about an hour out to sea to see some humpback whales and dolphins. Then we went onwards, to Isle de la Plata, an island that is also a national park. Here we went on a three hour trek (practice for some of the bigger ones to come) covering half the island and getting to see some birds, including the blue footed booby (it really has blue feet) and an albatross. On the way back we went snorkelling - unfortunately with fish, not whales.

From Montanita it was another eleven hours and three buses to Banos, our current location. We are currently at an altitude of 1850m, in the heart of the Andes. Literally, the town is surrounded on all sides by mountains, and is not far from an active volcano. The photo above is only part of the view we had this morning, having breakfast on the hostel's rooftop cafe.

Banos is different from any town we've been in so far. It's cleaner and there's far less stray dogs around the place. There's also far more indigenous people around, but here they walk the streets as locals, unlike in Lima where we only saw a handful in a fiesta. The town is good for outdoor activities (kayaking, abseiling, rafting, biking) and spa therapies (there's a hot spring bath in town). Today we sampled some local melcocha, which is like taffy.

Tomorrow, we're off rafting in the morning, then it'll be cuy con fritas for dinner - that's roasted guinea pig with chips!