No Fixed Plans

We had our third boarder crossing of the trip as after 25 days in Peru, we were finally going into Bolivia. While we all like Peru, we all felt like 25 days was an extremely long time, especially given we only had about 8 days in Ecuador. 

We had about 4 hours to the border point, which we were warned when we got there that we weren’t allowed to know our ceo once we got off the bus. We were explained that this was due to the fact that Bolivian boarder control does not like anyone with a Peruvian passport and that G adventures had actually had issues in the past where their Peruvian ceos weren’t allowed through the boarder and they had to send another ceo out to continue the tour. 

Due to these issues, and the fact our ceo didn’t want to tempt any of us to accidentally talk to him,he made sure we all went in front of him and that we had a bunch of strangers in between him and us. the boarder crossing here took a lot less time than our first one (an hour 30 compared to 3 hours and 40 minutes) which  made us all happy. However, due to the fact I was the last in our group, I had a French family behind me with a dad who didn’t understand that not allowing me to have personal space wasn’t going to make the line move faster and I could feel him preying against my backpack the whole time. I think he finally got the idea that maybe he should back up though when I had leaned forward to put my drink bottle in bag and when I stood back upright, I realised he had moved closer and got slightly hit with my backpack. 

Once we got through boarder control, we only had a couple of hours until we got to the bus terminal and then about 20 minutes to the hotel. We all got our rooms and then were given about 20 minutes before we had a briefing about activities in La Paz and  an orientation walk. As this was technically the last day for some of the group, we all had a group dinner at 6pm, where we also said goodbye to our ceo (we won as he said we were genuinely the best group that he had ever had) and then we went out to a pub. We had all wanted to do karaoke so we eventually moved pubs to a place that would allow us to. 5 of us ended up walking ahead as we were tired of waiting for people to finish their drinks and as we were trying to figure out google maps, two locals sitting on their balcony started asking us about what we were chanting in the pub, as they had never heard of it (we were doing the chant to get people to chug their drinks- “we like to drink with (name) because (name) is our friend. And when we drink with (name) s/he gets it down in 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1) and then pointed us in the right direction.

We arrived to the pub, all ordered a drink and while drinking we got given a free shot. It took a bit of convincing by the ceo to let us do karaoke, which eventually got shut down after an Irish guy that had followed us (two people in our tour had befriended them in the first pub) had gotten up onto the pool table to start singing. 

About 8 of us went back to the hotel just before midnight (most due to the fact they had to get up at 5:30am) while the rest stayed out and ended up finding a club. 

The following day I had planned to go on a walking tour with 4 of the group members who were leaving, which one of the guys who was originally meant to do death road biking also joined us on due to the fact he hadn’t slept before the death road biking and I had sent him the link the night prior. 

We all grabbed a late-ish breakfast together in the hotel before going to the starting point of the hotel. The tour lasted about two and a half hours where we got shown inside a church, explained things about the witches market (like why they had real dead llamas hanging from their storefronts and about how they had ceramic frogs for sale that if it had your dna would provide you wealth) before we got shown around the cable car lines. 

We then headed to lunch together in a street where the tour guide had recommended to get food before me and the guy who was meant to do the biking had to head back to the hotel. We had booked to go to a cholita’s wrestling show and were to be picked up at 3pm. The tour had 3 different parts of the show, the first being 5 men wrestling, the second being 3 cholitas wrestling, and the last being where 2 different cholitas were fighting (and the ref ended up siding with one and helping her). 

We had a welcome meeting that night that was set to start at 8pm, which we thought was perfect due to our previous ceo telling us that we would be back from the cholita’s show at 7pm. However, we soon realised that we would be late to the welcome meeting as the show didn’t end until 7pm and then a bunch of people on bus wanted to take photos with them. However, we only missed the first 10 minutes and didn’t really miss much given it was just people introducing themselves and we only had 2 new people joining. 

After the meeting ended, the 2 of us who were late went to grab dinner (which was dirt cheap because we were in Bolivia) and on the way back we realised what the ceo meant about don’t walk alone at night in La Paz as we had one person behind us that we felt was a bit dodgy, however it ended up being fine. 

The next morning was our last day in La Paz as we had an overnight bus at 6pm. 

I had breakfast in the hotel where I was able to properly talk to the two new people as we were the last to have breakfast. Everyone in the group had booked some sort of tour so I ended up walking around the witches market by myself for a bit and had gone back to the frog from the shop we had went into the day before. 

Everyone ended up meeting at the first pub we had went to our first night to watch the World Cup final together before our bus (we were very lucky it finished before we had to leave considering it went into overtime) however we were all upset that Argentina didn’t win. 

We then went back to the bus station for the night bus, which we were all happy to see it was better than our other ones.

We started the day early with a 7 hour public day bus to Puno. 

Upon arriving, we grabbed our bags from the bus and went over to the cars. 4 ended up in one while the other 14 of us ended up in a van. The 4 who chose to go in the car ended up having the smarter idea as the 14 person van ended driving into a wall and, making oil leak everywhere and leaving half the bumper next the road. Despite the fact none of us were wearing seatbelts, surprisingly none of us were injured. All of us were in shocked silence for about 30 seconds, which is something our driver didn’t struggle with as he just kept driving. Luckily after the shock wore off one of the guys noticed the oil and started telling the driver to stop, however this took a few tries for the driver to actually listen.

We all got out, took our bags (luckily for me and one of the other guys, our bags ended up in the other car) and walked 5 minutes to the hotel. The driver didn’t say a word during that whole encounter. 

Our ceo was extremely apologetic, even after we all told him we didn’t blame him and it wasn’t his fault. He ended up telling us the driver got drug and alcohol tested and that the alcohol was clean. We never heard about the drug so we assumed that was clean too. 

We settled into our hotel rooms and went on a short orientation walk and then went to a restaurant for a late lunch/early dinner. All of us decided to order a lot as it was 4:30pm, we had to be up early the next morning and given we were a group of 19 and everything in South America takes a long time as it is, we knew we wouldn’t be eating until 5:15 anyway and wouldn’t be hungry later. 

After the dinner we all went to a supermarket and then headed back to the hotel, where I called my aunt for her birthday before heading to bed. 

The next morning we headed off to lake titicaca. A guide met us at the hotel and took us to these cyclists with seats attached that reminded us all of Mario cart to take us down to the marina where we could buy gifts for the family’s we’d be staying with that night (we were told it was expected) before heading onto the boat. Our first stop was at an Uros floating island, which is an island made from Totora reeds which they pull from the ocean. They explained to us how they expand the island and why some parts feel bouncy while others don’t (the bouncy bits are the man made bits). They also allowed us to step inside the homes. We then all did a boat tour around the ocean where we got shown where the reeds are as well as the fruit that we saw the kids eating was. They explained that because they only travel to mainland on Sundays, the kids only get fresh fruit on Mondays and Tuesdays while the rest of the week they got those plants. 

We then went back to the island and got back onto our boat to continue to Taquile island. We had a steep hike up to the top of the mountain where we saw locals perform a dance (some of the group were invited to get up and join after) before we walked up a little further to were we would be eating lunch. 

We had the choice between fish and an omelette (both for 45 soles) and majority of us chose the fish. We also had soup and bread included with both options. 

We were initially told that we’d only be able to watch the first half of the World Cup match but given that there was 10 of us really interested in watching it, our guide and ceo were both interested, and we had stolen two peoples phone’s who had wifi to watch it, they let us stay and watch until the end. Personally, I think the ceo was more inclined to let us stay in hopes that England would loose and he could see the reaction of one of the guys (spoilers, that was reaction was him loudly running around the table, scream chanting “Lizzie’s in a box, in a box, Lizzie’s in a box). 

After arriving at the home stay island, we walked up to the school and the families were there, ready to dress us up in traditional clothes. They then performed a dance, which we later had to do (one of the women was laughing at how bad I was). 

We then went back to their homes, got shown were our rooms were and then had about 15 minutes until we were due in the kitchen for dinner. I was in home with two of the other girls where we had befriended their 4 month old kitten, who loved that we all wanted to pat her. 

When we went into the kitchen, we asked them about the kitten and what happened to its mother and they told us (with smiles on their faces) that the mother was a barn cat and had chocked to death on a mouse. We moved on to dinner, where their 7 year old daughter was making us laugh for most of it. 

After dinner, we helped the wife with the dishes and then went to bed, ready for our 6am wake up. 

We were due in the kitchen to help with the bread making at 7am. I had left the room at 6:45am where their kitten had run up to me and started crying for me to pick her up, so I did (and held her until we went into the kitchen). We helped them make their local fried bread (apparently not one of my strong suits, I spent 15 minutes with one piece and it was very broken) and then had it for breakfast along with a hard boiled egg. 

We offered to help clean up but the wife said the water was too cold so it would be done later and gave us 10 minutes before we were due to start helping (we were expected to help them all day until we were due back at the marina at 1pm). When I came out, the cat had found me again and I was holding it until I was told what we were helping with. Turns out, they and they’re neighbours owned a bunch of sheep so the three of us plus the two that were staying next door were told to help the husband of our house heard all of the sheep and bring them on a 20 minute walk to a field, where they get tied and left during the day. Only 2 of the sheep and their lambs were left when we came back. We then had another 10 or so minutes before we went into the neighbours garden and helped to peel the corn (of course, the kitten finding me again before we had to go). We did that for about an hour and a half before they told us it was enough and gave us a free two hours to do whatever we wanted. 

The three of us sat in the field near the sheep, talking and going on our phones, surprised that they had no more work for us to do. The cat ended up joining us for a while, but was put off when one of the lambs walked over to us (we think it was scared of the lamb), however the cat was pretty happy when it’s mum kept yelling at the lamb to get away from us. 

Once it hit 12pm, we wondered back into the kitchen of our home where we realised it was only the wife left and we ate lunch with her. Afterwards, she pulled out a pouch thing, which is when we learned that she normally weaves during the day and would sell them. We each decided to buy something off her, and then walked down to the marina to meet the rest of our group (they were also shocked to learn that from 10:30am onwards we were expected to do anything).

We all thanked them and then headed back onto the boat to go back to Puno.

When we arrived there, it was a similar car situation where there was 5 of us in one car and the remaining 13 in a van. The 5 of us in the car had all been in the accident the day prior, and two of the guys were saying they were hoping we got into another accident so that we’d hopefully get vouchers from G, much to one of the girl’s dismay. 

Unfortunately for them, we all arrived to the hotel safely. 

Upon arriving back, about 8 of us went for crepes as an afternoon snack (it was about 4pm) and then we all went our separate ways for dinner as again, we had to meet early the next day for our day bus to La Paz. 

We arrived fairly early at our hotel (where unfortunately couldn’t check in yet)

We headed off to breakfast, our ceo pointing out atm’s and some other shops along the way

We all were very happy when the food came out as we were all starving

Afterwards the ceo took us to a local market and showed us around it and informed us how it was good for tourists as they never tried to rip us off

Everyone headed to the shops selling Patagonias and gloves in preparation for rainbow mountain as well as Bolivia and the salt flats. One of the guys was happy that I wasn’t looking at anything as it meant I was staying near him, holding his things when he was trying on things and giving opinion. 

After he bought what was needed we got news from our ceo that our rooms were ready so we went to check in and relax a little before 3 of us went to find a bar to watch the World Cup at. It took two goes but we found an Irish pub that could accommodate what we thought would be 6 of our group, that turned into about 11 of us. 

After the game 3 of us went to help one look for a Patagonia and get some supplies from the supermarket before going our seperate ways.

We all separated for an early dinner as we had to wake up at 5am for rainbow mountain the next day. 

We all started bright and early for our 6am rainbow mountain tour. Our ceo didn’t come with us, however he did send us off with the tour leader. A few of us went back to sleep for a bit on the bus before arriving at the buffet place where they were giving us breakfast. We were all happy for an included breakfast but just about none of us were that hungry due to the time. 

We then had about another hour to the start of rainbow mountain

It took us about two hours to climb to the very top (I found it harder than the rest due to health issues) and then 14 of the 18 continued to the red valley while the other 4 of us went back to the bus to wait for them. 

We then went back to the breakfast spot and had lunch there (we were all a lot hungrier now) and then proceeded back to our hostel. 

We all seperated for a bit before those of us who started the tour in Quito met up with two of the people who left for dinner, however we were all exhausted and knew we had to get up at around 7am the next day so we didn’t hang around much talking after we finished eating (they were tired too and had to get up early as they were doing rainbow mountain the next day)

We started early for our trek to Ollantaytambo where 16 out of 18 of the group would be starting the Inca trail. 

Everyone doing the Inca trail was instructed to only bring their duffel bags while me and the other girl doing it were told to pack an overnight bag and we were all to leave our big luggage in luggage storage in the hostel. 

We made multiple stops along the way, the first being at the white Christ. We all took photos and listened as our ceo explained why Cusco was so separated from the rest of Peru and how the city was shaped like a puma. 

We then continued to sacred valley where we stopped at a G-Adventures supported women’s weaving co-op in the Ccaccaccollo community. We were able to feed sheep and llama and then got a demonstration on how they dyed the sheered wool. We were also able to feel the different wool and shown how they clean it. We were also shown all the different patterns and how they weave them. 

We were then given the opportunity to buy things from them (which majority of us did). 

We continued to be able to take photos of the sacred valley before making our way to a brewery for lunch. Majority chose to sample 4 beers from them whereas about 6 of us chose to have juice instead. After the beers and lunch, we hung around for about 15 minutes playing the games they had set up in the yard before heading to the hotel. 

We had about 5 hours before our group dinner that night. We had the option of going on a 45 minute hike with our ceo, however only 3 took him up on the offer. The rest of us went to the shops/ to walk around a little and then started playing cards. While we were playing we ended up befriending the 7 year old child of the owners of the hotel, who loved that we were doing “6 7” back at him. 

We then headed to our last group dinner for 3 days. As it was one of the girls birthdays, we had gotten her a card and a few presents and our ceo had organised a cake for her. And as per South American tradition, she had her face pushed into it. 

We then called it a night and headed off to bed.

We all awoke early, 16 for the Inca trail the other 2 of us to send them off. 

After the send off, me and the other girl had about 15 minutes to pack our room up and check out as we had a tour before heading back to Cusco. We visited the Ollantaytambo ruins with a tour leader and then hoped into a car to go to ancient Incan agricultural terraces of Moray and visit the Mara’s salt mines. We then headed to a fancy lunch with our CEO, tour leader and bus driver before getting back to Cusco.

When we got back, we made a quick stop at our first hostel to go to a different hotel for two nights. We were both exhausted when we got there so we hung in the hotel for a bit, before trying (for about 30 minutes) to get local delivery apps to work (without success). Neither of us wanted to have to sit at a restaurant for ages (nor leave the room for long) so we made a 5 minute walk to a takeaway crepe place and promptly taking them back to the room to watch a documentary in bed before falling asleep. 

The next day we met our ceo at 9am for a small walking tour of the city, where he showed us a small waterfall and the local school. We had a 3 course lunch together before he left us to our own devices at the supermarket closest to our hotel. We were in line to checkout when a 600g chocolate cake caught our eye at checkout and we decided we were tired and that was going to be our dinner for that night. 

We went back to the hotel, relaxed a little bit, and then halved our chocolate cake and turned on a movie. Afterwards, she was able to go to sleep while I then had to wait for my laundry to be done. 

The next day, we had to get up at about 7am to make our way up to aquas alienates for our Machu Picchu tour the next day. We ended up meeting our ceo’s dad as he drove the three of us back to the first hostel so we could drop our big luggage off again, after which we swapped cars to the person G actually hires for that stuff. 

We stopped in the Ollantaytambo town, right at the train to wait for it. We sat in an empanada place to eat and wait for it. While on the train we attempted to do a puzzle she had gotten for her birthday, gave up halfway through and then went back to doing it. Every time we made progress, we excitedly told our CEO (who was sitting across from us), much to the judgement of people sitting around us (everyone who was looking at us ended up being our tour guide + group members the following day). 

Upon getting there, our ceo took us on an orientation walk and gave us suggestions for things to do, however we made just made our way back to the hotel (stopping to take photos with Paddington who was sitting on a bench) and went back to the puzzle (we ended up giving up when we realised there was 2 missing pieces). 

The next morning we got up at 7am to have breakfast before the tour, where our ceo then walked us over to where the rest of the group were. The line was long and our group almost adopted a stranger who had asked them to pay online and she gave them the cash (she then tried staying with us on the bus to follow us around but the tour leader shut that down pretty quickly). 

We went up to Machu Picchu for about 3 hours, our guide giving us lots of information about the area and allowing us to take a lot of photos. The one thing we weren’t expecting to see up there was someone proposing to his partner (she said yes). 

After finishing, we took the train back down to the town where we reunited with G group over lunch. They all showed us photos and told us how exhausted they all were (one more than the rest as he ended up being dared to do 200 pushups and did it despite the altitude. Unsurprisingly, he ended up sick)

We all looked at souvenirs before heading to the train, where me and the other girl who didn’t do the Inca trail ended up in a different carriage to everyone else, much to our dismay. 

After the train, we were on a private bus back to the first hostel we stayed in in Cusco, a drive that felt like 8 hours but in reality was about 3. No one had the energy to do anything before bed but we all knew we had to eat something so most of the group walked across the street to the local chicken shop for dinner while 4 of us just stayed and ate at the hotel so we could go to bed straight after eating. 

The next morning we all woke up late. I waited for everyone else in my room to go before showering. By the time I was finished the one girl left who had been sleeping (I was in a room with 5 other girls) had woken up and invited me to join her and her partner for breakfast in the hotel (which was included). We were all doing our own thing for the day, and most of the group was pretty happy to relax and not do a whole lot. I walked around the town for about 2 or 3 hours looking at all of the chess sets and settled on buying one with local pieces, the white being the Spanish and the black being the Incas. 

After heading back to the hotel, I was reading for a bit before playing a few matches of chess with the guy who was sick. 

We all then started re packing our bags before heading to a briefing with our ceo for the next day.

9 of us went to dinner together and met with 3 of the people from our first tour before heading to the pub we watched the World Cup at a few days prior for drinks. While paying, I meant to tell the waiter I was going to tip 10% but he misheard me as 10 soles and I didn’t want to correct it (10 soles is only about 4AUD anyway). Because of this though, he offered to give me a ticket for a free drink at the same Irish pub in a different city. I, however, declined this as it was a city we had already been to and wasn’t going back to. 

We all then headed back to go to sleep as we had a transfer to Puno the next day

We rolled into Arequipa at 8am after what we all unanimously agreed was the worst overnight bus of the trip so far due to lack of sleep. 

We dropped our bags at the hotel before heading out to explore the city. One of the first things we got shown was the ATM with no withdrawal fees.

Breakfast was our next stop, and while the food was pretty decent, it took almost an hour and a half to arrive. Most of us had ordered avocado and eggs on toast… so we’re still not entirely sure what was happening in that kitchen.

Once our rooms were ready we happily checked in and spent a couple of hours doing absolutely nothing, which was exactly what we needed after the overnight bus.

That afternoon we caught an Uber out to Rita Del Sullar. In an attempt to save money, four of us squeezed into the back seat while one person claimed the front. It seemed like a smart idea until we realised the drive was 40 minutes long. Safe to say the 4 of us felt pretty squashed by the end. 

We wandered around looking at all the statues for about half an hour before discovering our driver had disappeared… along with the 20 soles we’d paid him to supposedly wait for us. Lesson learned.

Luckily the staff there helped us organise another taxi. We assumed they’d send a bigger car since they knew there were five of us… but nope. Another normal-sized car. Another 40 minutes with four people crammed into the back seat. We all agreed that no matter how much we liked each other, we never wanted to be that close to each other ever again. 

Later that afternoon, two of us went back to find the fee-free ATM again but somehow still managed to get lost. A security guard quickly realised we were two very confused tourists and kindly pointed us in the right direction.

That evening we met back at the hotel before heading out together to watch the sunset, followed by dinner at the sports bar our ceo had pointed out to us. With another early start ahead of us, it was an early night.

The next morning started bright and early as we jumped on a day bus to Colca Valley.

Our first stop was a little local shop where everyone grabbed snacks and warmed up with coca tea before continuing through the mountains.

Not long after, we stopped to meet some llamas, and naturally everyone’s cameras came out immediately. There may have been more photos of the llamas than the scenery.

Once we arrived in Colca Valley we checked into our rooms before heading to the local hot springs. Well… eventually. Our departure was delayed because most of us were far too invested in watching the World Cup.

After soaking in the hot springs, we headed to a traditional Peruvian restaurant for dinner. We were running a little late (again… thanks, World Cup), but luckily the entertainment was still going strong. There were local dancers performing throughout dinner, which made for a really fun night.

Then it was straight to bed for yet another 6am wake-up call.

After breakfast we checked out and started our private tour through Colca Valley towards the famous canyon.

One of the highlights was hiking up to a condor viewpoint where we actually got to see the enormous birds soaring over the canyon. They’re even bigger in real life than they look in photos.

After spending some time there, we made the drive back to Arequipa.

That afternoon I went on a mission to find birthday cards for two people in our group. Unfortunately, the shop’s selection wasn’t exactly extensive (particularly for ones big enough for 18 people to sign), so they both ended up getting the exact same card. Slightly awkward considering it was definitely a little on the girly side for the birthday boy.

Everyone split up for dinner that night, but we all met back up later to sign the cards before another early night.

Our final day in Arequipa was a bit more relaxed.

Half of the group headed off on a tour of the Peruvian salt flats, while the rest of us decided we’d earned a slower day after all the early mornings.

We wandered around town, browsed a few shops and eventually made our way back to the sports bar from our first night for a late birthday lunch. Somehow the CEO even came over with a birthday cake, which made the celebrations feel pretty special.

Before leaving town, we made one last supermarket run to stock up on snacks for the next overnight bus.

We all had breakfast at the hotel before getting on private bus at 11:30. 30 minutes later arrived at a pisco brewing place where we ordered lunch and then went to see the pisco farms and how they make it. The place had rows and rows of plants where they grow all of their ingredients and showed us a picture of the machine they use to make the plants into alcohol. They then gave up about 15 different pisco shots to try (where I chose to not have any) and told us how to buy the bottles and the prices of the bottles. We then went and had lunch (where we realised I was likely to be called Dobby the rest of the trip and that Dobby and Tobi sound a lot alike). After we had 15 minutes to go to the bathroom/buy any pisco that we wanted. We then went back onto the bus for another 5 hours before arriving in nasca, where we went to withdraw money and buy snacks for the next days. However, a few of us were not happy on the way back to the bus as they still do construction after sundown and wet cement ended up spraying at a few of us. 

We headed to the hotel (about another 5 minutes) where we had an hour to settle in before dinner, which  afterwards we all hung around playing a game together before heading to bed.

The next morning, we were told to be ready to go to the nasca lines flights by 8:10am however we were picked up closer to 8:30am. When we got there we had to hand over our passports, pay the 47 soles tourism tax and those of us who hadn’t paid for the tour had to pay the $122USD

We then got an explanation from the guide all of the different geographs (13 total) and shown where we can buy souvenirs. 

We then had to wait over an hour for fog to clear before our flights actually started. 

There was 8 of us in our group, however they can only fit 6 on a plane so they split us into 5 and 3 and the group of 3 were in a plane with some randos. 

The flight lasted 30 minutes and while it only made me feel a lot of pressure from how low we were, it made two of the others feel really sick. 

When we finished, the 5 of us were instructed to go into a white van with two other people we didn’t know who proceeded to drive us back to the hotel while the tour leader waited for the other 3. 

After arriving back at the hotel, we had an hour to chill until we had lunch, which was cooked underground, the steam being kept in by banana leaves and rocks. 

After lunch everyone (bar 3 of us) prepared for the activities they had booked in nasca. 

The other 3 of us relaxed and mentally prepared for the overnight bus we had ahead. 

The day started with breakfast at 8:30am before we got ready to leave. We were supposed to head off at 10am, however due to us forgetting that preparing food and drinks for 14 people and then splitting the check 12 ways takes a while, we ended up being a little late. 

After a quick 20-minute trip to the bus station, we checked our bags in and had some time to relax at a café before boarding our seven-hour public bus. It was definitely a long ride, but it was worth it knowing we were heading somewhere exciting.

Once we arrived, we transferred onto a private bus for about five minutes, which took us straight to our hotel. We barely had time to settle in before heading straight out to the sand dunes to do our only activity for the day.

We jumped into dune buggies and zoomed over sand dunes before giving sandboarding a go, which was so much fun. The views from the top of the dunes were unreal, and it definitely felt like something straight out of a movie.

After all the excitement, we headed back to the hotel where we caught the end of the FIFA World Cup game before getting showered and changed for dinner. It was the perfect way to wind down after such a full-on afternoon.

I made a few phone calls before finally calling it a night. After a day packed with travel, adventure, and amazing views, I was more than ready for bed.

We arrived at around 9:45am, and after travelling it was so nice to finally be somewhere we could just relax a little. The first thing on the agenda was brunch at a little café, which was exactly what we needed after the journey.

After that, we spent some time wandering around town and getting our bearings. A few people decided to head down to the beach instead, but I stayed in town and just enjoyed walking around, looking at the shops and soaking up the atmosphere. It was one of those easy, laid-back afternoons where there wasn’t really any rush to do anything.

We headed back to the hotel and chilled until about 5:30pm before everyone got ready for dinner. Unfortunately, dinner was definitely the lowlight of the day. The service was honestly shocking. One girl in our group waited almost three hours for her meal, by which point everyone else had already finished eating. To make it even worse, the staff tried convincing a few people that the plate of ribs sitting in front of them was actually the steak they’d ordered. It would’ve been funny if it wasn’t so frustrating.

After dinner, we had to say goodbye to a few people from our tour group who were leaving, which was a little sad because we’d all gotten pretty close. Once the goodbyes were over though, eight of us decided to make the most of our last night together and headed out to a club. It ended up being such a fun way to finish the day and made for some really good memories.

The next morning started early with breakfast at 7:30am so we could say goodbye to two more people who were leaving the tour.

After saying our goodbyes, we went to another café for breakfast before catching an Uber into the city square. We spent a while wandering around, souvenir shopping, and just exploring. While we were there, we watched the changing of the guards, which was really interesting, but we also ended up stumbling across another ceremony happening nearby.

There were these men wearing white masks with painted faces, and they had what looked like llamas on their backs. I still have no idea if they were real or fake. They were dancing around in circles while whipping each other as part of the performance, and before I knew it, one of them had pulled me and another girl over to take photos with them. It was completely unexpected, slightly intimidating, but also hilarious.

After that, we headed to a shopping centre to browse the clothing stores before grabbing lunch at an Asian restaurant. Once we’d eaten, we walked over to see the Paddington Bear statue, which was such a cute little stop and definitely worth seeing.

Later in the afternoon, we went back to the hotel for a bit to relax before having to say goodbye to another two people from our group. It definitely felt like our numbers were getting smaller, which was a strange feeling after spending so much time together.

In the evening, we had a group meeting together where we also got to meet the new people joining before heading out for dinner together. After dinner, I went back to the hotel, packed everything up, and got organised for the next day’s adventure.

Our overnight bus was mainly smooth sailing due to the lack of a boarder crossing (which pleased many of us). 

We started with a 10am brunch. The portions and type of food pleased everyone as it looked more like a dinner than breakfast and everyone was starving. It was then followed by a Peruvian shot, which we were told was to ease the stomach. 8 of us didn’t want it so we peer pressured two of the guys into doing 5 shots each (they informed us later that 40% alcohol does not, in fact, sooth the stomach, but rather the opposite.)

We then headed for an orientation walk though out the town. After which, many went to a cafe followed by a sports bar to watch the FIFA World Cup game whereas a couple of us split off to rest at the hotel before heading off on our own wander. 

We quickly realised why they don’t have many tourists as there was just about no activities for us to do other than walk around and look at what everyone was selling. We ended up walking for about 3 hours with the only purchases being 2 slices of cake and a T-shirt. 

We went to dinner around 7pm and all headed back to the hotel for an early night as we were all tired from the overnight bus. 

The next morning we had a private tour planned where we got to see the Moche Countryside, Fertility Huaco, Huacas of the Sun and Moon and Chan Chan ruins. Throughout the whole tour we got a history lesson on how the cultures interacted with their land. We got back at around 6pm where half of us decided to pick up stuff from the supermarket and the other half decided to get maccas for dinner, where we all headed back to prepare for the overnight bus

Our adventure officially started with an overnight bus at 9pm. I tried to get some sleep, but it wasn’t the most restful night knowing we had border control in the middle of it.

We arrived at border control at around 2:20am, and the staff decided to take their sweet time (at one point we were fairly sure one of the two was asleep). By the time everyone had made it through, it was already 6am. Safe to say we were all exhausted.

We finally arrived in Máncora at about 8:30am and jumped into little tuk-tuks that took us to our resort. After dropping our bags, we all headed straight to breakfast before spending the morning relaxing by the pool. It was exactly what everyone needed after such a long night of travelling.

At 2pm, we went on an orientation walk around town where our guide showed us where to find the ATM, where to exchange US dollars, and where the local police station was.

We grabbed lunch afterwards, although it took so long that our food didn’t come out until nearly 4pm. After eating, we wandered back to the hotel to relax before everyone met up again for dinner at 7:30pm. We were all still pretty tired from travelling, so it ended up being an early night.

I woke up around 8:30am and wandered down for breakfast at 9am. Most people had already eaten, so there were only a few of us left.

After eating, most of our group signed up to go on an ATV tour. We headed out in the afternoon, starting around 4:30pm, and it ended up being the highlight of Mancora, however about six of the ATVs broke down during the ride, so there were plenty of unexpected stops while everyone swapped vehicles or waited for repairs. Even with all the mechanical issues, we still had so much fun driving through the dusty trails, on the road (which we all questioned whether it was legal) and on the beach. 

By the time we got back around 7:30pm, we were absolutely covered in dirt. We all showered and spent ages trying to rinse the dust out of our clothes before meeting up for dinner together.

After dinner, we watched a bonfire being lit on the beach, which was such a nice way to end the day. Then it was straight to bed after another full day.

Everyone was up for breakfast at around 8:30am, and we decided to spend our last day in Máncora taking it easy.

We hung out by the beach for most of the day, soaking up the sunshine, swimming, chatting, and making the most of our last few hours there. It was such a chilled atmosphere and the perfect way to finish our stay.

Although we officially checked out of the hotel at 6pm, we stayed around until it was time to leave later that evening. We had dinner at the resort before heading off, and one of the highlights was watching four people from our group learn how to make Pisco Sours. It was so entertaining, and of course everyone had to taste-test their creations afterwards.

Finally, at 10pm, we hopped back on another overnight bus, ready for the next stop on our adventure.

Our bus arrived at 8:50am after being delayed 50 minutes however we still got to the hotel around 6pm. We weren’t able to do much on the bus due to it being a public bus and it only doing minimal bathroom stops. 

We went to dinner around 7pm where we watched the Ecuador World Cup game and saw them draw and how different teams react to that before we headed off to bed. 

In the morning, majority of the group decided to head off on a half day tour of the national park in Cuenca, however there was a couple of us who wanted a slow day (and didn’t want to pay the $40-65USD to do it) so we stayed behind. Me and one other went for a brunch at a different hotels cafe where we were seated upstairs and got a good view of the new cathedral. After eating we went and saw all the architecture inside of the cathedral and ended up hearing the end of the sermon before we went for a wander around outside, trying to find the Cuenca sign. We stopped in a $2 type shop to get some nail polish as one of the guys had made a comment the day before about letting the girls paint his nails. 

We ended up looking up where the Cuenca sign was and made the 15 minute walk over there. It’s positioned outside of a market and we went to look at the stalls. I ended up buying earrings, however this was more due to the fact that I needed an earring back as I had lost one. We made our way back to the hotel where we dealt with checkouts (I checked out, she paid for a late checkout) and we hung out in her room a bit, looking at the photos that our group had uploaded. 

We then took our books to read in the public park for a couple hours before putting them away and meeting the rest of our group for an early dinner. Afterwards we all hung around before our 7:30pm meeting where our tour leader explained what the next few days would look like before we made our way to our overnight bus.