(Part of a series of articles by Fi trawling the archives for photos taken on the tiny compact camera way back when).

Upon the recommendation of our fellow travellers we decided to head up the coast with a short stop at Trujillo – a multicoloured colonial style town which has various large archaeological sites close by. Another means for excitement was meeting the Peruvian Inca Orchid Dogs wandering around the streets. They’re hairless and look slightly freaky but are so soft to touch and friendly that we soon fell in love with them.

We decided on a brief stop in Mancora as we headed north to Ecuador and treated ourselves to a few nights in a beach bungalow a good way out of town in an area that reminded me of Sihanoukville in Cambodia. It was a beautifully quiet little spot with our private bungalow having direct access onto the beach. Fulfilling a childhood fantasy we had a walkie talkie to connect with the main house where we could order food and beer to be delivered to our bungalow.

Despite the calm surroundings I was finding it difficult to switch off and relax so dragged Paul into town by Tuk-Tuk a few times for food. We sat and watched the fishermen coming in, surrounded by huge flocks of birds hoping for a lazy feed.

Back at the bungalow with no TV or WiFi and the chance to just stop I tried to take in as much as I could – the crashing waves, super fine sand and cool breeze bringing sand clouds up to our room. We had just over a month of travel left and I knew that I needed try to appreciate every second and experience and life was about to change again dramatically.