Sunday eve sat in the dorm alone at Hostal Tiana resigned to the fact that I won't be able to do the Quilotoa loop as I can't find someone to go with, there are tours around but wanted to do it without paying for a guide. Then as luck would have it, 2 guys checked in, Frenchies! The boys told me of their plan to hike the loop tomorrow so I asked them if I could tag along with them, and now there are 3 of us, sweet! The fellas, Julian and Clement are travelling Ecuador for 1 month, Julian from [View Full Entry]

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The town of Latacunga, the capital of the province of Cotopaxi is chaotic on a Saturday, arriving mid day, lots of things going on I noticed as the bus crossed the blue bridge and into the narrow streets, i was the only one left in the bus, the driver told me to get off, i said take me to the terminal, he said it was before the bridge where everyone else got off! I got annoyed and yelled at him and the bus conductor, why the hell did they not tell me! Just gave me a blank stare back. Mumbling to [View Full Entry]

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The border town of Tulcan was built on a hill, cobblestones and all and when it's pouring down rain the water gushes down like a torrential stream to the bottom, the taxi we were on was caught one too many times in this deluge and we got a bit worried but the driver got us through safe and dropped us off at the bus terminal .85 cents per person but he did not give us a change for the 2 dollars we gave him, he quickly sped off, 3 people were shouting our destination, Quito, Quito!! the most aggressive person won [View Full Entry]

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Popayan to Pasto took about 6 hours, we have to haggle for the best price bus company everyone is competing for our fare at the bus terminal in Popayan, we settled to the lowest price and we got a proper bus not a van. The bus was good for a good 2 hours, it actually have a strong a/c then it broke and the heater went on and somehow they cant turn it off so the roof has to be opened to let in fresh air. I was so tired and slept through most of the way. Took a taxi soon [View Full Entry]

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By 7am we are in town to wait for a collectivo to take us to Pitalito. A taxi was waiting as well we figured it will be faster if we got on it but it did not want to leave until one more person comes, we got tired of waiting we asked him to leave but would not budge so when the collectivo started moving we hopped off the taxi and got on the collectivo leaving the driver without a fare at all, his loss. Took roughly 45 minutes to get to Pitalito, a bigger town and a nicer bus station. [View Full Entry]

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Left Popayan early, Johnny the French dude is the last addition to our group of now 5. At the bus station we got swarmed by bus conductors wanting our fare, they were pushing and shoving each other, we went to the bus company that gave us the cheapest fare(16,000 pesos). We had a quick breakfast then hopped on to the collectivo van. Scenic windy road trip to rough gravel roads all of us but Johnny were at the back of the van and we felt every dibs on that freakin road. 3 1/2 hours later we got to the junction where [View Full Entry]

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Popayan is about 3 hours away from Cali, arriving at the bus station i took a taxi cause i feel lazy walking to the Hosteltrail. Nice place i was by myself in the dorm, then I noticed stuff in one bed, so there mst be another person here. I walked around town to get food and also to sight see. Almost everything here is white, the buildings, the walls etc. That is why they call it the white city. it was a holiday so the streets are empty, very quite so was able to walk freely and great to take photos [View Full Entry]

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At the bus station in Armenia the buses are the same prices as the expresso collectivos, for 20,000 pesos you get to Cali straight, no stops. 3 hours later i found myself at the bus station, I went inside to look for an ATM machine then found the info desk, I asked the lady how much taxi costs for Pelican Larry, the hostel I will stay. Nice place with comfy beds. My roomies are Veronica from Oz and Lafonsa from Alabama. I was on FB when Sasha my German friend happened to be online as well, we found out we were [View Full Entry]

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After a big night Chris and I slept in for a bit trying to get to coffee country today will be a tall task, we checked out and took the bus to Armenia, we wer surprised to find out it will take 6 hours to get there, Luis my friend said only 4 hours, liar! it was a small bus and our seat is next to the toilet and it stunk. The roads are windy and the kids in the bus are throwing up. Occasional wafts of smelly toilet and a/c that barely worked was too much for a 6 hour [View Full Entry]

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Arriving on a night bus from Bogota, we passed through areas where there is rain luckily when we got to Medellin it was fine, just a bit cloudy and much warmer than Bogota. i decided to take the metro, i asked the lady at the Banos Publicos where the train station is, i have to walk a bridge walkway then bought a ticket 1, 500 pesos for the fare. Took me awhile to get my bearings I found the right direction to take, the trains are so crowded! its about 6:30am and everyone is probably trying to get to work. My [View Full Entry]

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