On arrival at Vilcabamba, a tiny town deemed the 'Valley of Longevity', we hopped in a taxi and took a 2km ride up into the hills to our accommodation, an eco-lodge called Izhcayluma. 
The lodge was magnificently set overlooking the valley and had a pool, a giant chess set (peices almost as big as Bi!), a treatment room and lovely bar with pool table, table tennis and hammocks for lazing around in. We stayed in our own private cabin that was situated in tropical gardens, with views over the mountains, our own balcony (complete with hammock for Ash!) and a large walk-in rustic stone shower. It was such a tranquil place and so we took the opportunity to completely unwind and spoiled ourselves with a 1.5 hour pampering session on our first day. Ash had a back massage, facial and a reiki healing while Bianca went for the facial, hair treatment (which she's 
still trying to wash out !) and a reiki. All for a tenner each! 
We spent almost all of our time at the lodge only cycling down to the town on bikes with dodgy brakes just the once! You really just come to this place to chill out and nothing else. We spent both our evenings eating in the lodge restaurant overlooking the valley, followed by cocktails, pool and darts and general laziness! Well, actually Ash did all the drinking as Bi is still on antibiotics, which may be the reason how Bi was able to whoop his ass at darts... it was almighty embarrassing nevertheless! On one evening there was a total power cut in the valley which was a bit creepy!
On our final day in Vilcabamba we went for a horse ride around the valley. It was quite an experience and not for the faint hearted! We were picked up at our lodge and taken into town. The usual blaze attitude ensued as there was no briefing, no waiver to sign, no helmet to wear... we were simply plonked on a horse and off we went almost into an immediate canter! We were both pretty nervous as we were straight into tricky territory, climbing 
up steep, narrow and muddy banks with trees and barbed wire either side! We spent two hours trotting, cantering and galloping around the valley with the most spectacular scenery around us. We crossed through two fairly deep rivers which gave Ash wet feet with his long legs! Along the way we had the opportunity to see people go about their daily life in the hills, such as the women doing their washing in the drains along the sides of the road! Not something you see back home! Well, that was the last of our fun for 36 hours. On Wednesday afternoon we left Vilcabamba and took a 90 minute bus ride to a town called Loja. There's not much in Loja, just a town and a connection point from where we needed to catch our early morning bus across the border into Peru. Our hotel turned out to be the dingiest place with no hot water and see through curtains, but it was only four pounds each and was only for one night. The following morning we took an eight hour bus journey through the last of the mountains in Ecuador and across the border into Peru. To say our bus journey was dodgy is an understatement! Whilst the driving was actually fine this time, there seemed to be some very dodgy goings-on on the bus prior to and during the border crossings. We both thought it best to lay low and keep well out of it. We crossed the border without any problems and arrived safely in the Northern Peruvian town of Piura three hours later.
The town of Piura resembled the sort of towns we saw in Egypt.. eg. very basic and very chaotic shanty towns and it didn't feel particularly safe to us especially when laden with all our bags and worldly possessions. Piura is mainly a transport hub for travellers overlanding from Ecuador into Peru so we very quickly headed straight to the Cruz Del Sur bus terminal, a highly recommended and luxurious bus company in the hope of getting two seats to Lima. 90 minutes later we started a 14 hour overnight journey 1000km south along the PanAmerican Highway to Lima, the capital of Peru. The bus was a complete breath of fresh air, it was 5 star luxury with fully reclining seats with seatbelts, air conditioning, waitress service, movies, good security and a careful driver.....it was just what we needed after our earlier journey! The scenery in Peru is so different to Ecuador.... we have gone from so much green and mountaineous terrain to being near the coast and surrounded by desert and mountains made of sand and rock. The roads, in parts were lined with shanty towns which further reminded us of being in Egypt.
This morning as we approached the city of Lima, we drove through seemingly endless shanty towns which stretched for miles from the city out into the desert. Due to its geographical positioning, Lima also experiences 8 months of fog a year, and as we came into the city the fog hung over us giving everything a rather grey and dismal look. Our accommodation for two nights is a nice B&B in a quiet, safe and peaceful area called Santa Beatriz just on the edge of the City Centre. Having been travelling for 36 hours and feeling a bit sickly from living on just a packet of cookies and some crackers (in a bid not to get ill from local food) we d
ived on breakfast at the hotel! After freshening up.. and boy did we need it... we spent the afternoon wandering around the city centre. The centre itself is beautiful (another UNESCO spot) and full of colonial architecture and is a stark contrast to the areas that surround it which are choked with cars and completely chaotic. We will spend two nights in Lima before we take another bus, 7 hours south to see and hopefully take a flight over the famous Nazca lines. The past couple of weeks of overlanding independently (and often alone as we have not seen any other tourists) through Ecuador and down to Lima have been challenging at times and we would be lying if we did not admit that we had suffered from a little culture shock and a few frazzled moments along the way! We realise that we are so protected in our western way of life and have been far out of our comfort zone at times during our journeys and in some of the towns we have visited. However, our travel is not only about the sights but also seeing how other people live and the experience, both good and bad, has been a rewarding one especially as we have done it all on our own. We have learned a lot.
Having said all that, we are quite relieved to have now made it, overland, to Lima and be firmly back on the busy 'gringo' trail which we will now largely follow for the remainder of our time in South America.
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