Mansion Alcazar Cuenca

... coast to Trujillo and go to the beach at Huanchaco.<br><br>The busses and border crossing all went smoothly. Cat &amp; I had to give the perubvian border guard a kiss on the cheek before he would stamp opur passports! I mean, can you imagine arriving into the uk or even the usa, and the border giuard asking for a kiss!!!! Hillarious<br><br>Tumbes was a bit shady, we were taken form the cus drop off to the next bus going south by some rickishaws (i felt like i was in thailand again ...

... his teacher for the week and I met Carmita, my teacher, who seemed very serious at first but I soon found was lovely with a good sense of humour. We just had a chat at the start so she could evaluate my knowledge, then we began on irregular verbs and common Spanish expressions and phrases. During the break we people-watched from the balcony of the downtown building, our school was on a lovely street and Shelley and Carmita took us up on the roof where we could see across the red tile ...

... was nicely dressed (heels, tops, dresses, etc...) and we were sitting there very fashionable in a normal jeans with fleece sweaters ;-) But we have enjoyed a lovely Chilean wine, which was as expensive as in Belgium, so it was a little adjustment, from cheap to standard Belium price. :-) It will be an adjustment when we head up for Argentina and Chili...and definitely when we return to Belgium.<br><br>On Sunday, everything is closed, so we went to the old ...

... to leave I saw a rock in the main estuary which I thought was clear before, sure enough this rock moved closer to me and as it got to within a metre I could see it was a stingray. As I turned to shout to Jody and Niamh to come and see it sped off back towards the ocean.<br><br>It took about 15 minutes to clamber back to the truck. By the time we got back it was 4-30pm,we asked our driver if he could recommend an economic restaurant and he suggested La Playa, a restaurant near ...

... came back ****** as newts! Hilarious how they come in smelling like a 6foot cocktail, swaying slightly. Then sit on the each of the bed stroking your hair and saying how they are worried about you so came home early. Now without the hiccup in the middle and the knowledge that this is kick out time, this may manage to sound sincere- however you and me both know- bo****ks!<br><br>Anyway enough about that! Well with the help of 3 lines of antiemetics and some ...

... arrive around 8 am which was perfect because we had no place to stay and needed to do that first thing. We ended up getting dropped off at 6 am and nothing was open. I was expecting to have to wander around for a couple hours waiting for hostels to open but luckily we found one (Hotel Milan). We wandered for most of the first day after getting settled. We visited a couple of the main plazas, Plaza de San Francisco and Plaza de Sebastian. We also explored the Cathedral de la Immaculoda ...

... br> <br><br><br><br>So--that's about the state of the McAlevy's to date. Mercury goes retrograde for a few weeks, so be thorough with your communications-don't buy a computer or a car unless you've already scoped out the model and such...be patient and be good to one another.<br>Stop and smell the roses, or the freshly mowed grass, or that coffee brewing. They are the little things that remind us we are human.<br><br>Hasta Luego, until later<br>Jenice<br><br> <br><br>

... cultures. Who would have thought you could make wind chimes out of large rocks? There was lots of pottery and little figurines. And the first real shrunken head that I have ever seen. Creepy...<br>The city itself was particularly lively, especially since there was a parade this day. The main square with the massive cathedral was filled with dancing girls, marching bands and older women dressed like princesses (not really sure why, but they seemed to be taking things quite seriously). The ...

... place housing more of his work. The building itself was designed by him in homage to the human being, a huge space with murals built into the walls and lots of geometric shapes. There are big windows and areas that then have art around or through it, really amazing. There was a dark artwork of Pinochet which was great. On the way home Tommy and Jennifer scoffed at my repeated suggestions to get a cab so we walked back down the hill and on to the trolleybus. Of course it ...

The journey from Puerto Lopez to Cuenca took me through the city of Guayaquil, and its massive bus terminal/mini-metropolis. Guayaquil invested a lot in building the most enormous land transport monstrosity structure in all of Ecuador (and maybe the universe). Attached to the terminal is a multi-story shopping mall complete with a food court (including Pizza Hut!) on par with the monuments of consumer gluttony found in every American city. Surprisingly ...