We have spent the last five days relaxing on the beach in Montanita which is a very touristy little surf/beach resort on the coast of Ecuador with brilliant sea food. Our Hostel (Brisa Marina) was right on the beach so we could swing in the hammock and watch the sun set... awesome! We also had a go at surfing and the waves were pretty easy so even Jo managed to stand up.
The rest of our time has been spent drinking the most amazing fruit smoothies, eating pan au chocolate, drinking cocktails...(Montanita has a street dedicated to cocktails!)... 
and taking silly photos on the beach!!!!
Great news is that we have managed to get a last minute deal to the Galapagos Islands so we fly there tomorrow (Christmas Day) and will spend the next 8 days on a boat cruising the Islands. We will be sure to let you know how we´ve got on. A Very Merry Christmas to you all and have a great New Years Eve.
Lots and lots of love,
Jo and Al xxxx
We also went into the centre of the city to the Plaza de Armas and got there in time to see the changing of the guard at the presidential palace. There was loads of riot police around (apparently they´re present every day for the procession!) and we witnessed a mini-protest (only a very small bit of tear gas used).
We headed back south along the beach (not as nice as Bournemouth beach!) from Miraflores back to our hostel in time to catch the fish restaurant before closing!
This turned out to be a wise choice as we managed to find a hostel with beautiful little beach front cabañas just outside town. We had a lovely 2 days chilling by the beach and one boozy night on the rum! And randomly we bumped into two friends (Jim and Tom) from the Inca Trail.
Al drinking rum and trying to look like a pirate....
The Colca Canyon is one of the deepest canyons in the world and it is also the home to the Andean Condor. We went with a couple from Belgium and our guide Marcel who had grown up in one of the villages in the canyon. The first day we walked into the canyon which was all downhill so fairly painless and gave us a chance to see three condors which were massive (wing spans of about 3metres). That night we stayed at the family home of our guide in a small adobe hut with a thatched roof and we kept warm around a camp fire.
The second day we walked through the canyon visiting two villages which are totally cut off as they currently have no roads to them. The villages had primary schools but, when they reach secondary school age, the children have to walk up and out of the canyon to a school in the town at the top. Essentially our trek was Marcel´s old walk to school!!
Marcel was also able to point out which trees and shrubs they used as various medicines (apparently wild pepper is very good for arthritic pain) and he gave us cactus fruit, miniature pears and some weird banana type things to try.
At the end of the second days walk we stayed in a place called the Oasis which had a swimming pool and lots of little huts.
Unfortunately as we arrived the heavens opened so our swimming was limited to a quick dip and then we kept ourselves amused playing cards, football and Al tried his hand at a bit of trout fishing. On the final day, we got up at 5am and started the steep climb of 1200 metres back up and out of the Canyon. It took two and a half hours and several chocolate biscuits but we made it! At the top we caught a bus to Chivay where we stopped for lunch and saw lots of dancing in the streets and celebrations as it was a religious festival.
Al putting his rabies jab to the test....
From Arequipa we caught an overnight bus to Nazca where we went to the Aerodrome and took an overflight (Thanks to Auntie Pauline). There are hundreds of figures and shapes in the Nazca desert believed to have been created between 200BC and 700AD and they are best viewed from the air. We set off in a small propeller plane which held five of us and a disturbingly young pilot.
During the flight Al saw lines such as the monkey, the hummingbird, the astronaut and the spider. Unfortunately, due to the bumpy ride and the constant swerving from side to side, Jo just saw the bottom of the sick bag!
We decided not to stay in Nazca as the town is pretty ropey and, following our flight, we jumped straight on a bus to the capital city, Lima.
There are loads of Inca ruins around here besides Machu Picchu and we took a local bus out to a site called Tambomachay which has some impressive aqueducts, canals and waterfalls. We then had a nice 8km walk back to Cuzco taking in a further 3 sites ending at the large Saqsaywaman site (pronounced sexy woman!). This features some incredible Inca stonework including one 300 ton stone! Cuzco is said to be built in the shape of a puma and this site represents the head of the puma. Having looked at maps of the area we really couldn´t see it, but all very impressive nonetheless! Although for a short time we became the biggest tourist attraction as we were accosted by a group of Peruvian kids who all wanted their photo´s taken with the pale, blond gringos!
The first day is classed as the ´easy´ day, starting at 2600 metres above sea level with a 7.5 mile trek to the first campsite, Wayllabamba, at 3000masl. We had heard reports from others that we´d met that the food from the company we were trekking with was really good and getting to the designated lunch stop midway through the first day we were amazed to find a dining tent awaiting our arrival together with an incredible 3 course lunch. Our group had 20 porters who had the unfortunate task of carrying all of the food, tents and cooking equipment (including big gas cannisters!)! Somewhat embarrassingly they applauded us each time we stumbled into the next lunch stop or camping site (they routinely carry around 25 kilos, our packs weighed around 8-10 kilos!). We got used to having them jog past us up hills as we crawled our way along!
The second day is classed as ´challenging´. We left the campsite at 7.00am and had an imposing view of the ´challenge´ that lay ahead, a climb up from our camp at 3000masl to the first pass at 4200masl called Huarmihuañusca or Dead Woman´s Pass! We certainly found it a challenge but everyone is allowed to go at their own pace so we took our time trying to remind ourselves that we were meant to be enjoying the experience and the spectular scenery. Reaching the pass was amazing and the views back down the mountain and trail we had climbed were beautiful.
We then had a knee-jarring descent to our second nights campsite, Pacamayo, which was at 3600masl. We were happy to arrive there although again somewhat embarrassed as the porters once again clapped our arrival!
We passed through two Inca tunnels that had been carved into caves and the scenery all along the way was breathtaking. The guides warned us that the 1000 steps down from here to the final campsite at Wiñay Wayna (2700masl) were particularly steep and had earned the nickname ´gringo killer´! So we took our time and again the views were totally stunning. On our way into the final campsite we were greeted by a little lady selling nicely chilled beers and it seemed incredibly rude to pass by without supporting her cause, and we definately think this was the nicest beer has ever tasted!!
The fourth and final day is described as ´unique´, the principal reason being that it takes you to Machu Picchu. We´d had 3 days of really good weather (considering this is the rainy season here it had only rained at night when we safely tucked into our sleeping bags). So we were all a bit gutted to wake on the final morning at 4.30am to really low cloud and rain. At least we got a chance to try the ponchos we´d purchased fearing the worst in Cuzco! 
We left for the climb up to Intipunku (Sun Gate) where, on a clear day, you can enjoy the sun rising over Machu Picchu laid out in the valley below. Sadly we could barely see a few metres so after a few shots modelling our poncho´s, we headed on down to Machu Picchu with our guide´s attempts of reassurance that it would ´probably´clear up later on ringing in our ears (although he did also start to say as time wore on that it can stay really cloudy all day!). 
We got down to the site with everything still covered in a blanket of heavy cloud and were starting to get really concerned that we were not going to be able to enjoy the famous picture postcard view in real life. Whilst we were stood trying to form mental pictures of the site from the tiny bits we could see a little clearing occurred in the clouds above and all of a sudden the centre of Machu Picchu was lit up in front of us. With the surrounding cloud it made for an amazing sight and our guide seemed positive that the clouds were beginning to disperse.
We went down into the ruins for a guided tour during which time the cloud cleared almost entirely revealing Machu Picchu in all it´s glory. The other added bonus (although not for our weary legs) was that we were able to climb the famous mountain, Huayna Picchu, that sits in the backdrop of all postcard pictures of the site. Normally the restricted daily 400 tickets for this extra climb get quickly snapped up but, as the cloud had set in, people hadn´t bothered trying to get the tickets. It was a ridiculously steep 360m climb up from Machu Picchu but we´d had plenty of practise in the previous few days and we arrived at the small rocky summit to look back at great views of the ruins below. 
We descended back down to climb up to the otherside once more to get a few final pictures of MP in all it´s glory from the classic angle. 
We also walked the length of the island to see some Inca ruins at the northern end before catching a boat back to the south. We would have been happy to stay on the island for a week or more but, owing to the fact that it´s fairly remote and we couldn´t access any extra funds and also our 30 day limit in Bolivia was about to expire, we sadly had to leave.
After a couple of days walking the city, we left early one morning to go on 'the worlds most dangerous road' mountain bike tour (thankyou Emily and Dave!). A minibus took us up to La Cumbre, a mountain pass at 4700 metres above sea level and we all disembarked to be presented with the mountain bikes that were going to be responsible for carrying us 64km down to an altitude of 1100mabsl! After a short safety briefing, we had to pour a drop of alcohol onto the front wheel of our bikes before taking a swig ourselves as a prayer to Pachamama for a safe passage. Then we set off. The first 20km was on tarmac road and fairly straightforward although we hadn't realised that whilst most of this was steep downhill, there was 8km of uphill at 3500mabsl (ie very little oxygen!). Needless to say Jo overtook Al at this point. We then reached the turn off for the 44km of the worlds most dangerous road proper, basically a gravel track around 3 metres wide chiselled into the cliff egde with no barriers and sheer drops of 1000m waiting to eat you if you get it all wrong! (Needless to say Al overtook Jo at this point!) 
Both of us made it to the bottom unscathed and able to enjoy a cold beer at an animal sanctuary. We then took a taxi with a few of the people we'd met on the bikes to the town of Coroicco. Here we stayed at Sol y Luna a pretty retreat amongst the trees of the cloud forest. It was amazing to suddenly be somewhere so green and humid after weeks at altitude. Unfortunately the downside of this is the amount of bugs and, despite using our mosquito net for the first time, Jo had a rude awakening at 2am to find a two inch long caterpillar crawling in her hair.. argh! We also had to share our outdoor shower and toilet with a frog and spider (Jo got particularly friendly with these due to an onset of Bolivia Belly!). Not sure how we will survive in the amazon proper! The views from our little garden outside the room and learning card games from Damien and Charmain (who we met on the bike ride) made it all worthwhile...
Before
Next stop was Potosi, the highest city in the world at 4100 metres (we laugh in the face of altitude now!). We spent a pleasant few days here, and took a local bus out to a local hot pool that´s situated in the crater of a low lying volcano which was cool. Our stop here also coincided with ´The Day of the Dead´ which is a two day holiday where locals remember relatives and friends who have passed away. The markets are filled with bright pink pastries that people buy to leave as gifts at the graves of loved ones (we bought one so we could take this photo and Al ate it?!?!).
Unfortunately Al developed his first (and hopefully last) bit of Bolivian food poisoning thanks to (we think) a humble piece of cheesecake. A days bedrest was needed (watching the US presidential election on CNN!) before we moved on to the next stop in Sucre.
We had to lead our horses back up the steep slope and Al´s horse was really not enjoying the experience, in 25 degree heat it was an amusing sight seeing Al trying to drag a fully grown horse up a hill! By the time we´d returned to town we´d developed some serious walking issues and any seating needed to be very well cushioned!