I can hardly believe it - my 5 months of travelling is coming to an end !!! Where does time fly ? I am currently enjoying summer heat in sunny Lima (almost 30 degrees). I like it here, and apart from staying in a 6 bed dorm at a hostel I have felt less like a backpacker the last days... Went for a manicure / pedicure, paraglided off the cliffs at the beach (wow), had Chai tea Latte at Starbucks (yummie), went to the cinema, had some sushi (yummie again) and enjoyed drinks with one-night fellow room mates from Hawaii. What [View Full Entry]

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Hola todos ! I wanted to update you on the weeks since New Years as I only wrote about the Inca trail in the last blog. The Intrepid tour started in Lima on Dec 28 with 11 other persons (6 from Australia, 1 Kiwi, 2 English, 1 Dutch and 1 Russian). We started with two days in the Peruvian Rainforest where I saw some more monkeys and enjoyd a very luxorious lodge (we even had a swimming pool !). The river was much larger than in Ecuador, so a different Amazonian experience this time. For New Years Eve we had all [View Full Entry]

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Happy New Year to you all ! I am now in Cusco, Peru, and we got back from the Inca Trail yesterday evening. I will have to update you on the trip between Lima and Machu Picchu later, because the Inca Trail needs a separate entry ! It was 3 days of pretty hard hiking but I can tell you - it was worth every step of the way !!! We celebrated New Years Eve in Cusco and the next day we went to Ollantaytambo which is closer to the km 82 start of the Inca Trail. Wednesday morning we were [View Full Entry]

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Here comes Christmas greetings from Montañita, at the beach in Ecuador :))) The trip to the rainforest last week Monday started with delays at the airport (flights had been cancelled the night before due to the weather in Quito). Mine (and 2 others in the group) TAME flight was only 3 hours delayed in the end (for a 30 minute flight) but the others were worse off: the VIP flight should have left 7 in the morning, but only got in at Lago Agrio at 5 in the afternoon. And two persons had taken the night bus, arriving at 4.30 in [View Full Entry]

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I´m currently at the internet cafe in warm Ayora Harbour (Santa Cruz island - Galapagos). Got so much sun on me yesterday when hiking around the volcano on Isla Isabela that I can stay out of it for a while today... Highlights of the trip: - Swimming with the sea lions on Sante Fe Island - Wildlife on Española Island - The beach at the port ¨town¨of Isabela Island We were 11 persons on the boat with 5 crew members and 1 guide. I shared a cabin with Juliette from France (who didn´t speak much English so we spoke Spanish instead.... [View Full Entry]

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The last week has been a good week of travelling around Ecuador, and also some partying in the city due to the ¨Quito day¨ (which means festivities all week, not just one day). I headed to a free concert on Saturday last weekend that I read about in the paper. Getting to the queue at the park entrance I realised this would not be the normal pop concert in the park - this was the alternative Death Metal scene of Quito I think... and I didn´t wear my black t-shirt :( I went in anyway since I had climbed all those [View Full Entry]

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I think it is official: of all the places I have been in the world Ecuador tops the list of my favourites (and I haven´t even been to the jungle or the Galapagos yet...) !!! This is such a beatiful and diverse country. This week I was supposed to go to the jungle with my Spanish school, but since the other student cancelled the trip I couldn´t go (minimum 2 students). But I´m happy it didn´t because instead I went to Baños on Sunday with Mel, Michelle & Peter (which I met in the SAE-club my first days in Quito). It [View Full Entry]

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Here a first blog from Ecuador ! I arrived last Wednesday night, flying in over the houses of Quito in the dark. (The airport is now located in the city, when it was built the city wasn´t so spread out. 2 days after I arrived an Iberia plane skidded of the runway in bad weather..... no one got hurt luckally, but the airport has been closed for a few days !). The weather is good in the morning, and in the afternoon the dark clouds come rolling in and it can rain a lot. We are on 2.800 m which you [View Full Entry]

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My trip to S.F. is almost at an end, only 2 more days in this lovely city !!! It has been fantastic weather, summer warm most days. Great to just take each day as it comes and explore a new part of the city (have been here before, so no need to do all touristic things this time). I have staid with Sima (from Amsterdam) in the Mission (feels like I'm in South America already), she moved here 3 years ago for her work. We have had nice dinners as well as relaxing DVD nights at home, and I have tried [View Full Entry]

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Hello to you all, writing from a very sunny and summer warm San Francisco ! Started the travelling Monday 2 weeks ago by being picked up at the airport in Montreal and heading for a cottage at Lake Cameron, with my ex-colleagues from Cirque - Patrick, Nathalie and their now 11 month old son Olivier. The place was super relaxing and had a great location by the lake. We went for some trips around the area (great autumn colours of the leaves !) and as Nat & Pat are looking into opening up a Spa in the area we went to [View Full Entry]

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