Posada Sol de Oro is where I decided to stay in Arequipa, found it in Hostelworld, just picked it at random and turned out pretty good, the receptionist, Maria Elena and her brother Ricardo runs the show at the moment, they are so nice and go out of their way to help out, am happy I chose the place to stay for a week in Arequipa and chill. Met my roommate, Broad, an American from New Mexico, a retiree, he talks a lot but meant well, quite friendly and a bit weird at the same time, he makes his own sandals, [View Full Entry]

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The night bus from Cuenca, Ecuador left a little late and we changed bus at Machala to CIFA bus company. The bus was full and from what I gathered it actually came from Guayaquil. There was someone sat on my seat assignment so i sat where its empty, I am so tired to argue, most Ecuadorians I noticed dont really follow the seat assignment, they go wherever they want to. A lady with a crying child was sat next to me, this will be a long 6 or so hours to Peru. At the border some people got off the bus [View Full Entry]

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After a quick breakfast I took a taxi and asked to be dropped off at Puente San Felipe where apparently I can catch a bus at the Pan American highway to Cuenca. I was there at nearly 8:30am and waited for a good hour! Such luck! When I paid the $8 fare the bus conductor tried to stiff me, I gave him a $20 and gave me $2 change and quickly moved on to another passenger, I wasn't born yesterday I am aware of the "oh i did not notice how much bill you gave me " trick, I pursued him [View Full Entry]

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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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