Hotel Esmeralda Piura

... walking from Tumbes to Piura. A couple of the groups were quite large, 40 or 50 people, carrying 3 large crosses, others were in groups of 3 or 4. They carried drums and guitars, and the children were strapped to backs when they couldn't walk any further. We bade them Bon Camino as we passed them and made a donation of food to a couple when we stopped for lunch.

The buses today were a right pain in the proverbial ****, particularly towards the end of the ride ...

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Top Scary moments
- Whale swimming under our flimsy boat
- Going over a 50 foot drop, dangling from some rope when not fully expecting it (Alex was too sensible to do this)
- Maverick Andean Bus drivers

Top Characters

1) Isidro. There is a bit of me that is very jealous of him, but I'm big enough to put him in. He was our surf instructor who was born in the Galapagos, started surfing at the age of 3, has represented his country and been ...

Well there are bus trips and then there are bus trips.

Who thought that getting out of Peru could be so much fun! Guide books suggested that the coast border between Peru and Ecuador could at times be a challenging affair. They also suggested that the 10 hour bus trip (it took 12) between Piura and Guayaquil could be open to interpretation in terms of reliability and general rowdiness of the customers.

This time ...

We woke up Piura, but didn’t jump to an early start, liked we’d hoped we would. Andy’s immune system has gotten a proper welcoming to the developing world as he got hit with round three of being sick. Grounded to the toilet, he had no desire to walk around or jump on the 3 hour bus to Chiclayo. Eric and I went for a half an hour run and came back to a puke-plugged sink, which Andy was trying to fix. By ...

Had a good nights sleep although it was very humid so had the fan on full all night. Got up expecting to make our bus journey up to loja but after a quick visit to the bathroom i realised i wasnt feeling too good. It was coming out of me full force from both ends. Helen wanted to go to the doctors anyway so it looked like we would be having an extra day in Piura. Made an appointment to see an english speaking doctor at midday and so ...

... the town were breathtaking, and we had a great hike up a sand mountain to gaze at the miles of sandy peaks surrounding us (and then an exhilarating descent down the steeply pitched side of the dune in racing leaps and bounds!) We left Huacachina early in the a.m. in order to get to nearby Pisco for a tour of the Islas Ballestas, hailed as the poor man's Galapagos. The islands were ...

... one in the lonely planet and scoot off for dinner. We sit down and play cards, two young children come up and started speaking rapidly in Spanish to us, but we do not understand! So then the youngest starts yelling at the top of her voice oh english bla blab English, then the boy joins in as well. We play card tricks with them and they teach us the numbers on the cards and we teach them the english version ...

... Lima OK, walked to another bus company and there were big protests (economy, pay etc etc) with riot police ready to do some damage. I got told not to take a photo. On the bus from Lima south, we were held up for over 2 hours as some protesters had blocked the road, see pictures.

... bags and then I went to act as translator while the policeman took 2 hours to fill out the relevant forms. At one point we had 10 angry bus passengers telling the guy (via yelling at me) to give up and let the bus move on.... but the policeman wouldn't let him give up half way through in case he then tried to report it in another town and the policeman would get in trouble for not completing the process...and he still had to ...

I back to Mancora this time for a photography work, in this hotel, the zone is Las Pocitas Mancora, nice place, the coworkers are very friendly. Was a nice experience do this work, excellent view for take the pictures, this is the best time to go in Mancora, the weather is excellent, not wins, the sun all the day ...