Sand, surf and humback whales!

Sorry it's been a while since the last post, we haven't had much internet connection recently. We are now in Ecuador in a small village called Puerto Lopez which is part of the country's only coastal national park. There are some really gorgeous beaches here, the nicest is called Los Frailes, so we've spent a few days just chilling out on the sand and having a swim. On the second day we were here we took the boat trip to go whale watching which was awesome! Apparently, at this time of year there are over 1700 humpback whales in the area! We got on the boat about 9am, but annoyingly, we had to wait for a group of school kids who were about an hour late. Even though we left after all the other boats, we were actually first to the whale watching site because our 'captain' was a speed demon, which didn't bode well for the sea sickness on the way back, but I'll come to that later.

After about an hour, they stopped the boat we just heard a huge splash of water, but when we looked we could only see the spray. Then, a few moment later a HUGE whale came up above the water,into the air and crashed down on its back only about ten metres from the boat! After that we saw quite a few, some jumping, some just swimming and splashing through the ocean with its flukes (tail). It was so amazing to watch. After a few minutes they asked if anyone wanted to go up to the top of the boat, so of course, Jandice got up there.

After navigating our way along the slippery side of the boat which was only about 15cm wide with just a ledge to hold onto, we hauled ourselves to the top to find out that, unlike all the other boats, ours didn't have any seats at the top. So, we stood on top of a small speed boat, on a slippery floor, with only a hand rail to hold onto while the waves crashed against the boat and the stupid school kids downstairs ran from one side to the other nearly sending us flying into a whales mouth! It was a better view up there but it was pretty scary.

Then they took us to Isla De La Plata where we did a short (but very fast) hike and saw loads of blue-footed boobies! They were really cute and I think even bird-hater Candice had a little soft spot for them. After lunch we did a bit of snorkeling and I had a little mishap. I got a bit too excited and couldn't be bothered to wait for the school kids to move from the ladder so I just jumped off the side of the boat straight into the water. As I did the tube came off my mask and started to sink into the ocean. I could hear the guide (Richard) shouting something at me but I thought he was pointing out a fish. Anyway, couldn't reach it and it took Richard and the 'captain' about half and hour of diving to the sea bed to find it. Whoops!

After feeling a little bit sea-sick on the way out we were kind of dreading the return journey and we were right to because after about 20 mins we both thought we were going to throw up and at one point, when the boat stopped to see some more whales, Candice did actually chuck over the back of the boat. Back on dry land, we were so traumatised from the journey that when we got back we had to go and have a lie down for the rest of the night - a sure sign we're getting old!

So that's Ecuador so far, here's what happened for the rest of our time in Peru (I'll try to keep it brief)...

After Lake Titicaca we headed up to a place called Huacachina which is a very small town/village build around an oasis in the Peruvian desert. We stayed for three days and had a brilliant time doing a wine and Pisco tour (our guide William had us singing 80's power ballads in the car on the way back) and taking a trip to the Ballestas Islands where they collect the bird poo for using in fertilisers - it used to be Peru's primary export! There were so many birds there I couldn't believe it and, of course, Cand loved it! We also saw some sea lions which was nice.

The best trip was the sand surfing, we got into there sand buggy things (pics of Facebook) and you're strapped in like a roller coaster while the driver speeds up and down the sand dunes. Some were at least 20 metres tall and had an almost sheer drop. I thought I was going to be terrified (you know how I'm scared of heights) but it was SO much fun. We also stopped at three points along the way and slid down the dunes on snowboards! In the evenings we hung out with a cool group of people who were almost all crazy but loads of fun, including a Spanish guy called Tutti, who has been travelling around SA for five years and a German girl who I think might have literally been insane.

After Huacachina, we went to Lima where we more or less ate or way around the city for three days and where we met up with the lovely Ria for a coffee and some lunch. From Lima we made the epic 16 hour bus journey to a beach town in Peu called Mancora. Nice beach but the weather wasn't great. Candice had a bit of a bad luck here, twisting her ankle, getting electrocuted and then set on fire all in one day! The Peruvians and Ecuadorians are also having major problems with her name, variations so far include Candy, Candies, Candele, Candable and my personal favourite - Candifer.

My Spanish is coming along pretty well due to the fact that there are very few people who speak English where we are. We are both picking up some Salsa moves as we keep getting forced to 'vamos a balar' by guys who are about 4 feet tall. Actually, we are like giants on this continent in general.

Anyway, this is super long so I'll leave it there for now. Off to Banos tonight or tomorrow for some rafting, hiking and mountain bike riding. Yay!