It was time to leave Ecuador and enter Peru, across what the Lonely Planet guide calls “South America´s worst border crossing”. One of the problems is the border guards charging you an exit or entry fee which doesn´t exist. The simple solution is to ask for a receipt. Suddenly you will get through without any charge! But the trickiest and most ridiculous thing is the oficial exit requirements from Ecuador.In an ideal world, a border crossing goes like this: 1. Leave Ecuador, get an exit stamp 2. Enter Peru, get an entry stamp Simple,yes? But for Ecuador you also need to fill out a “T-3 Immigration” card when you leave the country. Common sense would have these available at the border. But noooooooo, that would be far too easy. You can only get this form at ... read more

After my high-altitude mountain adventures, I decided to hit sea level for some "normality" and sunshine. I had three delightful bus journeys to look forward to before I reached the coast. When changing buses in one town, I saw a man selling crates of multicoloured chicks! He had used food colouring on the poor little things. There were brown chicks, blue chicks, green chicks and orange chicks. He was picking them up by the handful and throwing them into paper bags to sell. (Pick´n´mix) The poor chicks were piled up "two storeys" high, and the ones on top were quite happily walking over the ones underneath. Meanwhile the ones underneath were desperately battling to get on top (the underdogs? the underchickens?). I thought to myself "this is cruel. This isn´t a humane way to treat chickens" ... read more

My next stop was Quilitoa, a remote mountainous region and some of the most spectacular scenery I have seen so far. It was a 4-hour journey over unpaved roads, with a bus driver who was a certified NUTTER! Generally if a road has potholes, the bus slows down and gently weaves around them. This guy continued at full pelt and wrenched the steering wheel hard to avoid them. This caused the bus to lean on it´s side precariously, passengers flying around and with the back-end sliding out on occasion. He also went dangerously close to a number of crumbling cliff edges. A white knuckle ride for sure. But we got there on time and in one piece. I stayed at an Eco-Lodge called "The Black Sheep Inn", which was quite possibly the BEST place I have ... read more

The journey was bad enough to begin with. I had to get back to Ecuador, so the Dragoman tour continued towards Brazil without me, setting off at 8am. I had a nightbus back to Caracas that night at 10pm, which meant waiting around by myself for FOURTEEN HOURS. And the nightbus itself was a ten hour journey. Plus, when I arrived at Caracas airport, I would have a further eight hours to wait for my flight back to Quito. Oh, the joys of travel! I was not looking forward to Caracas airport in particular. I took an "official" cab from the bus station to the airport, because normal cabs have been known to drive people down back streets and rob them blind. An official cab has an official sticker on the side with an official cab ... read more

Deep in East Venezuela lies the Orinoco Delta, named after one of The Wombles. This is the country of swamps, mangroves, and endless networks of mucky rivers filled with pirhanas, caimans and anacondas (and other creatures which can be scientifically classified as "scaly things that bite"). We stayed at a place imaginatively entitled the "Orinoco Delta Lodge." By lodge standards this was a palace. The main area hada 30 foot high thatched roof, chunky furniture and tropical plants littered throughout. But they really should have called this "Dr Doolittle´s Lodge" because it was a crazy animal-filled menagerie! An assortment of well-kept cats, kittens and dogs were running around, sitting on laps and generally cavorting about the place. There was a parrot flying around, with whom I had various battles. It landed on my shoulder one time, ... read more