We spent practically the whole day on the bus going to Baños, a town in the middle of Ecuador hemmed in by luxuriant green peaks, blessed with steaming thermal baths and adorned by a beautiful waterfall. Nearby was the volcano Tungurahua whose last major eruptions were in 2006 (when 7 people died) and 2008 when Baños was evacuated. Unfortunately, when we got there it was raining and the volcano was covered in cloud which lasted our entire visit. Baños is an ...

Crossing the border to Ecuador was no mean feat and involved 3 buses, one to take us to the border, one to cross over and one to carry on. It therefore took a full day to get there. Also our guide could not escort us through because being Peruvian, if he had been seen to be with us they may not have let him through! Complicated. One noticeable thing about crossing the border was straight away the change of scenery. From desert and rock, sprang greenery and ban...

An overnight bus took us further up the coastline to Mancora. Supposedly the creme de la creme of Peru`s beaches, with sandy unlimited beaches it attracts the must-be-seen of Peru. In reality, it had a slight Blackpool theme about it and seemed just a little bit more than a shanty town. Trujillo was certainly far better. The first day we spent there was cloudy and wet so spent it wandering through the town and catching up with emails. The second day was a lot br...

Heading to the sea, we took a night bus to Trujillo. This lovely little town had some excellent restaurants (and cocktails) beside a quaint sea side. Excited about being near the sea again 3 of us hired body boards and went out to test the Peruvian waters. Unfortunately it was hard to catch good waves and a strong current kept pulling us down the beach. It was still fun to try though! The scrummy mango and strawberry daiquaris also helped the situation!Day 2 was ...

Lima the capital of Peru, is a mixture of Spanish colonialism and a buzz of a city multiplying within the 21st century. Driving through it was a mass of high class living and basic living all crowding together to find space. For the majority of our group this would be the last destination for the tour - only 7 out of the 15 would carry on into Ecuador. Therefore our first night in Lima involved a goodnight dinner and many, many drinks. At the bar we were at, we d...