Another early start today to drive from Chugchilan to Cuenca, with Cuenca sitting at 2500m above sea level, it meant a long drive down through the clouds to reach it our destination. Whilst the valley roads look amazing covered in clouds when viewed from above, it’s pretty scary actually driving through them. The local trucks and cars scream along the mountain passes, foot hard on the accelerator even when the visibility is zero, over taking on blind corners when they can’t see the front of their car let alone the oncoming vehicles seems the norm, thankfully we travelled at a more sedate rate and made it to Cuenca in one piece. Cuenca is home to the Panama hat so first call this morning was the hat factory to have a look around, after trying on loads ... read more

Arriving at the campsite so late meant that it was a lovely surprise the next morning to wake to find that we were camped in a beautiful valley surrounded by waterfalls and lush forest. Rio Verde is a tiny little town and its main attraction is the proximity to Banos and the many adrenalin activities in the surrounding area. After days on the road and in the jungle a day of leisure was much in need so with that in mind after breakfast we hitched the 15k into Banos. With buses few and far between in this part of the country it’s common for locals heading in your direction to give the gringo traveller a lift. After a few moments at the side of the road a couple stopped to offer a ride, it was bumpy ... read more

The Amazon Adventure – Day One Like all good adventure stories this one started with a plan, hiccupped slightly, fell apart completely and will hopefully (unconfirmed at the time of writing) have a happy ending. The Plan Leave Quito @ 4am to drive the 300k to Coca then travel by boat for 2 hours down the River Napo to reach an eco lodge deep in the Amazon jungle. Stay for 3 nights, go on jungle hikes during the day and night, eat nice food and generally have a lovely time. The Hiccup Combination of bad weather and bad roads meant that the direct route to Coca became impassable earlier in the week. New Plan – leave Quito at 2am to allow for a huge detour and still make the 1pm boat booking. The Falling Apart Bed ... read more

Escaped out of the city today to hang out with some hummingbirds, hike through a cloud forest and climb waterfalls. The Bellavista reserve is a cloud forest (or pre-montane / subtropical rain forest) at the southern edge of the Choco / Andean rain forest. With an early start of 6.30am our driver Jonny picked us up from the hotel and we set off on the 50k drive to the cloud forest reserve. Whilst only 50k away from the city the drive took a little over 2 hours as the last 10k is on an unpaved road twisting and turning up into the sky – it was a bone shaking ride with stunning and sometime slightly concerning views with steep drops to the side of the narrow road. The Bellavista lodge is an amazing setup in the ... read more