So England are out of the World Cup, but I can officially surf. Yup, I stood up and steered the thing and everything before falling off and noticing the toilet paper and other unsavoury objects floating around in the water. That should have really been a sign for the next few days, which involved not feeling too great, but then drinking sewage tends to have that effect!

From there we headed up the Peruvian coast, to Mancora a lovely little seaside resort with some serious sun and a nice beach. We took a sunset horse ride along the beach and found a some nice little food places that served the most amazing BBQ'd tuna steaks in a really nice sauce that was just described as "green".

We decided to completely avoid Ecuador, due mainly to the fact that we hadn't met anyone so far who hadn't been robbed there, but the problem was it was in the way of us getting anywhere else, so this is our guide to avoiding Ecuador.

1) Get a bus to Guayacuil (Ecuadors most dangerous city). Preferably take a direct (directo) bus whcih pretty much means it will stop every ten minutes or so to pick up random people and let people on the bus to sell you random junk - including at one point a clown.....

2) Arrive at Guayacuil (Ecuadors most dangerous city) at the worst possible time about 10pm in the evening and then find an overnight bus to Quito.

3) Start to feel settled and fall asleep on the overnight bus, then get taken off by the military for a frisking and bag search at about 12.30am!

4) Arrive in Quito and find a nice hostel, spend the day wandering around the city and attempt to take the public transport....

5) The next morning watch England lose to Germany... and head to Colombia. A bus to Tulcan, a taxi to the border, a walk across the border and then a bus to Pasto. Arrive in Pasto (Colombia) about 8pm tired and very hungry.

So we are now in Colombia, from Pasto we took a bus to Popayan, that SHOULD have been 6 hours but due to a delay while they changed a tyre and later a lorry which had blocked the road it took about 9hrs. However Popyan was lovely. The following day we visited Silvia where the weekly traditional market took place attended by all the local in full traditional dress. The day after we visited a thermal spring and had a little swim and soak in the medicinal mud baths followed by a four and a half hour bike ride back to the hostel. We indulged in the local specialitiy, a cup of hot chocolate with a large piece of cheese to dip in....sounds horrible but it works!

The next day we attempted to find some mummyfied monks but to no avail so took a bus to Cali which is where we are now. So far Colombia seems awesome, everyone is so friendly and the palce has a really nice feel to it. Next stop Bogota!

Love Rich and Em x