The salt flats. That's all I thought we would be seeing to be honest as a Swiss friend and I headed south from Potosi to the small town of Tupiza. We received a few tips from people that this would be a better starting place, as we would get to see more of the countryside and would not come across any other jeeps for the first two days. In hindsight this was probably one of the best bits of advice that I took on my trip. After arriving in town around lunchtime we were lucky enough to secure a spot in [View Full Entry]

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THE DEATH ROAD.....AARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!! No seriously it isn't that bad. If you have no common sense and no idea how to handle a mountain bike on a dirt track than maybe this isn't for you. But for most kids who grew up tearing around their neighbourhoods and hitting some "sweet jumps" as Napoleon Dynamite would say it is one of the most enjoyable and exhilarating rides I have ever done. After sifting through all the agencies in La Paz I ended up going for Barro Biking which were charging a mid-range price of 380 Bolivianos (a bit under $40US). They had nice [View Full Entry]

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Wow! That was my reaction alter we reached the mirador de cristo after battling through the fog for the last hour. The view either side was a patchwork quilt of greens with houses sporadically jutting out of the steep hillside. Sorata lay in the valley below, so after diving down in the collective I was ready to relax and unwind. I had a good time in Copacabana but I dearly missed the mountains and this was the exact setting that I was looking for. I found a hostel with a magnificent 360 degree view around the valley (ok it was called [View Full Entry]

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Yay!! Back to the mountains!!! I had a nice time on the coast but I was constantly questioning what was missing and I found it as soon as we entered Huaraz in the early hours of the morning on the night bus from Trujillo. The cool air hit me as we left the bus and the white snow capped peaks all around the city made me feel at home again. After having around 6 weeks in the mountains of Ecuador I was ready to reacquaint myself with the altitude and do some great hiking. I found Huaraz to be quite charming [View Full Entry]

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After climbing Cotopaxi we were all looking forward to spending some time relaxing and closer to sea level. Therefore the Cuyabeno was the perfect place. Firstly we had to negotiate a night bus from Quito to Lago Agrio. After having some dinner at the German girls house we were all pretty tired from the last week and all 3 of us fell asleep instantly as we settled into our seats. To our surprise and delight we all slept the entire journey but we soon realised after we disembarked at Lago Agrio that we had taken the earlier bus and we had [View Full Entry]

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Whilst in my first week at spanish school I was talking to a Norwegian guy about what he did on his weekend. "I climbed a volcano with my friend who is a guide," he was telling me whilst we had a cup of tea and munched down the free bread that they provided for us at morning tea. "It was horrible weather, very tough and not much of a view at the top because of the weather. But I would do it again." This guy was crazy...he would do it again?? "I will check it out," I told him in a [View Full Entry]

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I vividly remember when I was first thinking about travelling to South America 1 year ago when I came across a picture of Quilotoa Crater. It was a stunning photograph and it kind of filled me with excitement about the type of adventure I was going to have when I went to the Latin Continent. So no surprises it was top on my list of places to visit in Ecuador. As soon as my plane landed at the Mariscal Sucre International Airport I was secretly counting down the days of when I was going to Quilotoa. I tried to organise a [View Full Entry]

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Well I will do my best to describe what it was like to live like a Quiteño for one month. My first impressions of the city were slightly mixed. After the spectactular landing in the valley I was surprised how clean the city was. For some reason I thought it was going to rival Bangkok but apart from the local buses that spit out black fumes all over the city it was quite the opposite. I had organised to stay in an apartment for my one month and on my first night I met my 20 yr old Swedish room mate, [View Full Entry]

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I have been waiting for this day for quite sometime. Being an avid football supporter I was looking forward to my first South American football match. And it wasn´t just any match: it was the Ecuadorian version of the "el classico" where equivalents range from Boca v. River to Barcelona v. Madrid. Deportivo Quito and La Liga de Quito have been bitter rivals throughout the history of Ecuadorian football and every year they play this important fixture to determine who has bragging rights on the streets of Quito. Adding more spice to this match was the fact that Deportivo were 3 [View Full Entry]

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2 weeks in and I am definitely getting better. The last week of spanish had let in a few rays of light I was looking forward to getting away again and practicing a bit more. This time we had a group of around 6 poeple though and everyone could speak better spanish than me so negotiating prices at hostels was not going to be my job. Oh well, maybe next time. We decided to leave early Saturday morning instead of leaving Friday afternoon and saving a nights accomodation. This worked out really well after we rolled into Otavalo and found the [View Full Entry]

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