So, as the previous entry should state we arrived in Cusco really early and had an extra day here almost. We checked out a load of hostals and settled on the Marani on Carmen Alto (San Blas area) because it had a bath and a massive room. We could only stay one night but we took advantage of the bath and booked in for another 2 nights when they had free rooms again. It also had cable tv which was nice. Not much else to say for this day, just general admin stuff. Checking out Cusco So on Sarah´s birthday I [View Full Entry]

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Ruins, ruins and more ruins Trujillo provided a taste of things to come in Peru with some fascinating Moche and Chimu ruins (these guys were pre-Incan civilisations). We decided to stay at the beach outside of Trujillo called Huanchaco, our first beach in South America. It was a pretty nice place, lots of fish restaurants and surfers. They seem to be doing some work to the beach front at the moment and are putting in extra flood defences - possibly in preparation for El Niño. The fishermen use the same boats made out of reeds that the fishermen on Lake Titicaca [View Full Entry]

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Pickup So, the longest journey so far began the previous night (24th October) with a shared pickup truck ride. I sat in the back into the village of Vilcabamba with the rucksacks and Dominic, another person doing the same journey. Minibus At Vilcabamba we hopped into the minibus to Loja with our luggage on the roof (secured by the conductor with the assurance that if it rained he would throw over the waterproof cover). At this stage I think there were 6 or 7 of us, all doing the same journey - so a good big group. The minibuses are great [View Full Entry]

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From Cuenca, we took a bus to Loja with Claudia arriving at about 8:45 pm. The weather had turned pretty crap by the time we reached Loja, rain and fog. We knew Vilcabamba was pretty close to Loja but were having no luck with taxi drivers who seemed to be quoting us a pretty hefty price. In the end we managed to bargain a bit with one of them getting a whole three dollars off the price!! We eventually arrived at a hostel that had been recommended to us, with a swimming pool and private lodges and great views called Izcayluma. [View Full Entry]

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So, arriving in Cuenca late we checked into the Hostal Tinku where Claudia (another Galápagos friend) was staying. After marvelling at the spectacular noisiness of the place with the barking dogs and children we went for a brief excursion to get some food and thought "hmmm, this is a nice place". In the morning we met up with Claudia who was recovering from a rather nasty form of stomach bug and went for a walk via the Café Austria and the market - nothing to report there. A Real Panama Hat As part of our sojourn we came across a [View Full Entry]

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Ok, so after arriving from Baños we spent one night in Riobamba in a hostel called Los Shyris near the train station. We bumped in to Stuart, an Australian guy that we did the Guagua hike with in a restaurant that night. He was in Riobamba for the same reason as us, to do the Devil's Nose train journey to Alausi - sitting on the roof of the train. This is a train run pretty much solely for tourists and one of the few (maybe only) train routes still in operation in Ecuador. The restaurant that we met Stuart in wasn´t [View Full Entry]

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First forray into SA bus travel So, we met a girl called Mellisa at the Secret Garden and she was going to Baños that morning too; So we thought it would be a good idea to go together seeing how paranoid people get when talking about the Quito Terminal Terrestre (or Baghdad as some people would have you believe). Anyway, we managed to buy our tickets with our lives and possesions still intact (a miracle if you listen to some paranoid nancies). Well, a rather uneventful journey later and we arrived in Baños and found our Hostal, Plantos y Blanco (Plants [View Full Entry]

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Ok bods, probably one of the more interesting ones I hope - if you like wildlife and beautiful islands, that is. So we departed Quito on friday 8th October so this is where I begin. Friday - getting there Flight to Galapagos Baltra Airport via Guayaquil, uneventful. Guayaquil looks a bit swampy (Ecuador´s largest city - Quito is the capital but a bit smaller), so quite glad we´re not stopping there at any point. On arrival at Baltra airport we took some cool pictures of the mysterious-looking volcanic island-rocks. Paid the $100 dólar park entrance fee and met our guide, the [View Full Entry]

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Our first week has gone so quickly, we have had between 4 and 6 hours per day of Spanish lessons, so no lazing about in the sun for us - yet! Quito is an interesting spot, it is a big city with all the pollution and dangers that come with a big city but it has given us some giggles during the week, not least the sight of a Lada with a Mercedes badge! We have spent some time walking around Quito exploring the sights, practising our spanish and trying out the local food - almeurzas and empanandas. We have only [View Full Entry]

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