..... and relax!

We were a little naughty and skipped the bus from Cusco to Lima, opting for the flight instead. The bus would have taken a 'mere' 24 hours, weaving along high altitude mountain roads...yuk. So given that we would be bussing it all the way to Guayaquil, Ecuador in 10 days we took the (financial) plunge and caught the plane.

It was an interesting introduction to South American aviation. Word of advice - do not take the ticket instructions seriously. We got to the airport 2 hours before departure and upon arriving at the airport at 3.30am we found it to be closed. As you can tell we were ecstatic. There is something slightly disconcerting about being left in the cold darkness with all of your stuff in a city that is renowned for tourist muggings! Thankfully we were ok.....this time.

We spent only a few days in Lima, as there's not a great deal going on in this city and the sun rarely makes an appearance. However, we were on a massive high having come down from altitude, it was the first time at sea level in 7 weeks so we were feeling great and beer went down a treat!

It was definitely time for the beach after so much time in cold climates, so we headed to a small surfing town called Huanchaco, famous for having the longest surf break in the world - you can literally ride a wave for 1km!












To Tom's delight we were in the town for the procession of candidates for 'Miss Peru 2011'

It was still not quite hot enough in Huanchaco and we were craving some sun rays, so we headed north, on yet another overnight bus, to Mancora. We stayed in the slums area, which had a much nicer vibe than the party fuelled area on the beach. We stayed at a new hostel run by the loveliest couple who cared for 25 stray dogs and we generally took advantage of the time to relax before catching our flight to Europe for the 'Fiesta de Bradshaw'.