Okay people, from here on out, I am going to split my blog posts into smaller chunks (for faster processing) focusing on specific towns, locations or activities. So this one is pretty short and sweet with my entrance into Lima (the capital of Peru). Now I didn’t really go straight to Peru... actually I visited a number of other towns in Ecuador on the way, including Latacunga, Ambato and Rio Bamba which are really quite pretty, with colonial architecture and churches etc etc . In fact I spent 4-5 days heading south, with a plan to climb Cotopaxi (5997m which is near Rio Bamba). However upon arriving in Rio Bamba, there were very few climbers and doing it solo was really expensive, so after some deep thought (and some research) I figured the climbing in Peru ... read more

Flying into Quito City is quite an experience, its a bit like a city in the clouds. Rather than descending into the clouds and then landing, the plane ducked up out of the clouds (approach was less than 10,000 ft or 3000m) where you are met by mountains (up to 5000m ) and the city at 2800M. The landing is like in reverse. In terms of stats, Quito (2 million) is the Capital of Ecuador and is the second largest city after Guayaquil (2.2 million) Quito Town Arriving in Quito, I jumped in a taxi and headed for Mariscal (the "gringo ghetto").... the place I booked (this was the first and last time I bothered to actually book a place) turned out to be full, so the taxi driver suggested another place a few blocks further, ... read more

The First Border crossing - Mexico / Belize After an overnight bus to Chetumal (on the Mexico border) arriving at 6am, i made the mistake of sleeping through (until the doors of the bus opened and people started piling out). Mental note, set alarm for at 1 hour before ETA. Why? Well staggering off a bus 1/2 asleep, battling various people to get your luggage and then finding a ticket office for your next leg across the border (most buses do not do though crossings, unless you are with one of those boring organised tours) with only part of your body functioning at 100% (your legs) and some parts not seeming to function at all…. Is well not much fun. The "wake before you arrive" method worked really well for all future overnight trips.... Belize ... read more

San Cristobal De Las Casas This is an affluent settlement, about 12 hours by bus from Pochutle (near Mazunte). I took an overnighter and arrived at about 8am. This town has the typical Zocalo layout (town centre) with lots of shops and so on and plenty of tourists (too many for my liking). I managed to take a look a the local live music scene which was a mix of Samba and Rock and Roll, an interesting combination. There were a number of salsa clubs (which are in just about every larger town) however these dont get going until after midnight. It seems that all Mexicans i have met can salsa, its almost genetic. I also sampled a local drink known as "posh" which uses alcohol extracted from corn mixed with fruit, in a sort ... read more

Okay, what can i say about Mexico city...... WOW! Totally not what i expected!! Vital Statistics Population: 19 Million ++ Elevation: 2280 M Land Area: Huge Polictical Demonstrations Firstly, i was staying in the city central historical district and on my first day there, the good people of Mexico City decided to hold demonstrations due to the problems with the recent election! GREAT! There were people and police everywhere (not sure how many turned up but you can imagine with a pop of nearly 20 million it doesnt take much commitment to get a few 100K of people!!). Regardless i did go in and take a look and overall it was pretty calm with no violence or arrests.... certainly an interesting first day. Frankly speaking, wandering around for the first few hours i could not even ... read more