After travelling through dust and sand the colours of the cathedral and colonial mansions surrounding the plaza in Trujillo are nice but like every city so far there is so much noise. Mostly it is taxis and bus drivers yelling destinations. There are so many contrasts everywhere. The buildings look old and dark, but you step through the door into a bright courtyard and into offices that are very modern. Another strange sight is seeing the women in their traditional clothing, carrying their sacks of grain and produce to the market and then they will take a mobile phone out of [View Full Entry]

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I spent the beginning of July travelling south to Peru. I decided it was time to say hasta luego to Ecuador. I saw a lot of scenery from the bus windows and was lucky enough to see three (yes three!) Jean Claude Van Damme movies but the funniest sight of the trip was seeing a woman trying to fit an oven into the luggage compartment under the bus. When it would not fit the driver just tied it to the roof. I arrived in Loja to catch the bus across the border at 11 at night, just missing the bus by [View Full Entry]

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Just some pics until I sit down and write something....sorry! [View Full Entry]

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I´m a bit behind in writing about what I´ve been doing so I´ve attached lots of pictures of my trip to Quilotoa. I travelled from Quito to Latacunga, which was another exciting bus adventure. No movies this time! I arrived in Latacunga Tuesday afternoon. As I was sitting on the roof terrace of my hotel looking at Cotopaxi volcano I decided to take a trip the next day to Quilotoa crater. A group from the hotel were going and there was another place free and it seemed a better option than local buses, the back of pick up trucks and walking [View Full Entry]

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I arrived in Quito Saturday night. It is a lot bigger than I expected. Looking down from the plane it was beautiful to see the lights of the city spread out up and down the hillsides. After some confusion I made it to my hotel. I was getting picked up at the airport and I was searching for the person holding the sign with my name. Finally I realised that the sign saying Kelie Vraele was me. That is how my name translates from spoken to written in Spanish. On Sunday morning I woke up very early (no more sleeping in!) [View Full Entry]

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After a 16 hour flight I arrived in Santiago yesterday at 1pm local time and took a shared van from the airport into the city. I checked into La Chimba Hostel in Barrio Bellavista (and wandered around for an hour trying to find a phone to call Mum and Dad) then I explored the city and despite the layer of fog hiding the Andes, it is amazing. I walked from Barrio Bellavista to Central Santiago through Parque Forestal, with a detour through Mercado Central, which I discovered is a fresh seafood market. In the centre are restaurants and as you walk [View Full Entry]

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My plane leaves in 12 hours and I'm still adding to my bag. So far everything fits and I'm eight kilos under the weight limit. No one thinks I can last eight months with such a limited supply of clothes but I plan on doing a lot of shopping. My next message will be from Santiago! [View Full Entry]

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After months of planning and anticipation (and just a few farewell drinks) it's almost time to leave! Tomorrow I go to Tumbarumba to spend a couple of days with Mum and Dad and then on Friday I finally leave for South America. What was going to be a three week holiday in Peru is now an eight month round the world trip and I still haven't finished packing..... [View Full Entry]

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