Humpback Whales and Boobies, Puerto Lopez, Ecuador - June 2011

We headed further north from Montanita, to the far less touristy town of Puerto Lopez. A working fishing town, with real charm and character. We stayed for a couple of nights at the Dolphin Hostel, which was spotless and took a day trip whale watching and to Isla de la Plata, part of a National Marine Park.

Gringo Town - You Either Love it or Hate it, Montanita, Ecuador - June 2011

We crossed the border without any fuss and got the bus to Montanita, famous Gringo and surfer hang out. We stayed away from the main action, where you could actually have a room without music blasting in. It reminded us a bit of the Khao San Road in Thailand. Everything was designed for the foreign tourist and it was a party town for the young (God we sound old). One night was enough for us old fogies.

The beach was beautiful - pretty wild, even though we could see plenty of development coming. Building sites everywhere.

We enjoyed a scramble through the rock pools. Booming sea life and amazing rock formations.

Every inch of wire in the town became a home to birds for the night. We had to watch where we walked.

The streets perpendicular to the beach were lined with these cute little cocktail shacks.

Dinner for two and a game of s**thead.

Our terrace and Richard dancing with the hotel dog.
We hope this adorable little puppy does not have rabies as it scratched me and licked me - yikes!

We had delicious breakfasts in this Argentine run cafe. Good coffee too, which is hard to find in Central and South America. They export all their best stuff.

Beautiful Beaches and Hip Youngsters,Mancora, Peru - June 2011

Yes, we can still hang out with the cool kids!

Our beach hut at the hostel.

There were beautiful sunsets.

The view from our upper balcony.

A new sport hits town. Don't ask us, we didn't try it.

The horrible horny dog, which turned up everywhere on the beach, his mistress in the background.

A Whole Lot of Transport. El Brujo, Huanchaco and Lord Sipan's Tomb, Chiclayo, Peru - June 2011

NINE forms of transport took us to these marvellous ruins for the day.

Our exciting auto rickshaw was one of them. The lads who drove us were about 15 years old and very sweet. A bit like being driven by your nephews.

One of the beautiful pieces of pottery in the museum. There was also a mummy so well preserved you could see the tattoos on her arms. It was fascinating, as you can imagine.

Trujillo town centre, near the beach of Huanchaco.

 The following day we took the luxury bus to Chiclayo ( I had an upset stomach, so we had to go all out for luxury).


Richard visited more ruins and I had to lie down on the bed all afternoon, watching TV. I did however, make it to the museum, before my stomach gave in. The museum displayed pieces from Lord Sipan's tomb. The museum didn't let you take photos, but it was probably one of the most amazing collections we have seen of gold and silver jewellery.

Two beautiful owls that Richard came across on the deserted path.

What is left of Lord Sipan's tomb.

Chan Chan and there were the ruins - Huanchaco, Peru - June 2011

Huaca De La Luna and Chan Chan

The pier at Huanchaco. The waves, which were good for surfing, apparently, came in almost at right angles to the coast. This picture almost captures it...

The mountain, where legend has it a giant lizard, trying to eat the locals, got trapped.

The inside of the layered pyramids, which is almost 2000 years old.

The incredible wall of one of the pyramids, with it's huge reliefs.

The hairless Peruvian dog. You've got to either love it or hate it.

Chan Chan!

The Poor Man's Galapagos - Islas Balletas, Paracas, Peru - June 2011

We took a half day trip to the beautiful 'Poor Man's Galapagos' en route to our next destination on a night bus. Joe, Julia and Anna came too and had fun on their desert camping trip. We then continued our journey north on the ever so delightful 'Cruz del Sur' bus, the cream of the bus companies. As they say, you get what you pay for.

The cute penguins.

The even cuter baby seal. Or as they call them here, 'sea wolf'.

The dark shadow on the rock is thousands of birds.

Passing the time in Paracas whilst waiting for our bus to Lima and then onto Huanchaco.

Dune Buggy Adventure, Huacachina, Peru - June 2011

We took an overnight bus from the border town of Tacna to Huacachina and arrived in the early hours of the morning at the oasis town. The town was surrounded by amazing sand dunes, which we were to later explore by buggy and sandboard.

The famous land mark of Tacna. A pleasant border town in Peru.

Huacachina in the early morning light.

The beautiful calm oasis.



Some of the friends who we went sandboarding/buggy adventuring with.
L-R Joe (US), Julia (UK/France/various) and Anna (UK/France/Various).



Our clever driver, Jesus. We felt safe in his hands. He built the buggy from scratch.

Richard in his safety specs. Believe me, you needed them to protect your eyes from the wind of the buggy ride and the sand.

On your marks, get set...

Note, Richard's proper snowboard and my plank of wood. I went down the fun way - on my tummy. Well, I only went down the first slope as the others were all too steep and the buggy ride down was sooooo exciting. Like a roller coaster without the rails.

...GO,GO,GO!

More jumping escapades. This time Richard and Joe.

Some of the other friends we made on the sandboarding trip.
L-R Martin (English, living in Oz), Alyssa (USA), me, Tom (English), Johnny (English) and Richard. We had a great night of salsa with them. Our other friends had gone to camp in the desert overnight.

A salsa teacher came out with us - not sure what good it did!