Lima and Mancora

After a short(ish) bus ride along the Peruvian coast we arrived in Lima. The city is huge and we stayed in the southern district of Barranco. The main bonus here was the close proximity of our hostel to the most incredible little fish restaurant where we sampled ´cerviche´ for the first time (raw fish marinaded in lime and chili).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!

After our very brief stop in Lima we wanted to start heading towards Ecuador for Christmas and New Year. Flights to Quito from Lima were astronomical so we instead decided to stick to what we do best and buy yet another 16 hour bus ride! Rather than face the painful 30 odd hour trip all the way to Quito, we decided to stop at the beach resort of Mancora in northern Peru for a night or two.

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.

Ecuador was calling though, so after another bus ride (with Al nursing another little bout of stomach issues..... but we won´t go into that) we arrived in Guayaquil to do a little bit of Galapagos research for the day.

Next stop is the Ecuadorian coast to find a nice little place to spend the festive period (probably Montanita or Canoa).

Al drinking rum and trying to look like a pirate....

Lots of love (hope it´s not too chilly back in the UK...!).
Jo and Al x x