helloooooo,
its been so long, Im sorry! But, despite having a sprained ankle and minor sunstroke all is extremely well. Since I last wrote we've done so much, the time has passed without me knowing. We went down south in Ecuador to a place called Vilcabamba, a tiny town with a mini paradise as a hostel. It had a pool, a bar a restaurant and lovely staff with views over a valley where it is said the inhabitants live longer than anywhere else. Not sure, but looks good! We headed off on a two day horse ride up to the local national park, not before booking a one hour full body massage for our return! The ride was great, just Rhiannon and I and a 50 year old cowboy! We stayed at a hut he built up near the cloud forest - quite spectacular at dawn the next morning. Riding was fun, not toooo painful! We galloped half the way home which was such a rush - no helmets or anything though. I guess theres not the public liability issues here!
The massage was divine - really WHOLE body which is a new experience! Our rockclimbing mates rocked up that evening which was great, cos there was a full moon party at the hostel that night - lots of locals, live music (Buena Vista Social Club style) and proper dancing - with partners and all. I danced with the bands drum player who looked like ghandi.
Had another couple of days there with more horse riding and getting up at 4 in the morning to climb a mountain to watch the sunrise. Was fantastic, although thats where the ankle comes in. Fell in a drain the night before, but didnt want to miss out on the walk so pushed it a bit, nevermind.
Then we were off to Peru. A group of 7 of us headed off for the night bus. Rode to Loja in the back of a pick up truck under the most fantastic starry night which was soo lovley. The bus took 9 hours overnight, including a border crossing at about 4 in the morning. We had to get off the bus and walk across the border - felt like a movie. All went quite smoothly despite Peru not being awake yet. Had to bash on the door for a while to wake immigration up. So back on the bus and driving along we encountered a makeshift barricade across the road of sticks and rubbish. All the locals seemed quite alarmed and yelled 'dont open the door'. The driver went around it and continued, but was hailed down by a guy on a motorbike yelling in spanish, so we had no clue. The driver immediately turned around and went back to the border where we sat for a while, the locals making gun signs to their heads in order to explain what was going on.... We then had two guys with machine guns hop on the bus and we set off again, through five of these barricades, with apparently no hitches (somehow I fell asleep). Turns out there are robbers who stop the tourist buses and demand money...
So all fun and games in Peru. We landed in Piura and proceeded to get very ripped off by money changers - doing magician tricks with couterfeit notes. I lost about $50. Nevermind. We then caught more buses through the most stark, miserable desert style landscape (that may have just been me feeling a bit rotten), with shanty style towns all around. Felt a bit yuck at this stage, but we came to a beach outside of Trujillo to a hostel with a yummy breakfast made by a 78 year old swiss lady. Homemade Jam yum. Visited some inca ruins yesterday which was really interesting, a whole city and a couple of huge temples. This morning I went fishing in the sea on the traditional reed boats. Was very proud of myself being the only girl to give it a go. It was hard paddling out through the surf, however I caught no fish!! The 3 other boys caught quite a few and the guy who took us out took them home to his wife who made them up for our lunch which they brought to the hostel. Fantasitic! But, being out there for 3 hours, I got really burnt and feel really wierd right now, kind of hot and cold fevery. So Ive been resting up in bed. Gotta take time out every now and then.
So basically its been busy busy and theres so much more I could tell, but itd be a bit long. Getting in the swing of things and cant believe its been a month already.
Hope all are well.
Miss you all lots
Love Hannah