The bus trip from Alausi to Cuenca was twice as long as we expected but we did eventually arrive at the bus station in the modern suburbs of Cuenca. Cuenca is a beautiful colonial city in the south of Ecuador - certainly not as grand as Quito but the old centre’s cobbled streets are lined with dozens of pretty houses and shops, most with lovely carved wooden balconies over the street. It was placed on the UNESCO’s world heritage list in 1999. We found a room in an old courtyard house and were given a suite out the back in the garden. It was great to have some space to spread out into for a change. We even had an armchair! Luxury after tiny little rooms, most which don’t even have single chairs in them. And ... read more

After our exhilarating wind blown ride on the back of the truck we arrived in Latacunga and headed straight for the bus station after collecting our large bags. We had no trouble catching a bus to Ambato as they left frequently. It wasn’t a long trip - Ambato is the next major town on the Pan American highway and was just a place for us to spend the night. We had some more great views of Cotopaxi as we headed down the highway. Ambato didn’t have much to offer in the few hours we spent there and we were up early next morning and off to yet another bus station. Bus stations are interesting (usually lots of local colour) but can be very chaotic and you really have to watch your belongings in them. We’ve seen ... read more

Our next destination was the highland town of Otavalo, 2550 meters above sea level, and two hours north of Quito. The town is known for it’s huge Saturday market (which we weren’t going to be there for) - a mainly tourist affair where traditionally dressed indigenous people sell their handicrafts. Otavalo is very prosperous as the indigenous population sell their woven products world wide. We caught a local bus from the northern bus station in Quito - nearly an hours taxi ride from our hotel there- Quito is a long city! Close to Quito we passed some deep canyons - no doubt formed during previous volcanic action - then acres of plastic covered greenhouses where all the gorgeous long stemmed roses on sale in the streets of Quito were grown. Soon we were in the vibrant ... read more

Our last day in Costa Rica was spent exploring the area around Alajuela. We arrived and against Trip Advisor advice checked into The Alajuela Boutique Backpackers Hostel - It wasn’t a good end to our time in Costa Rica! Thankfully they had great showers which made up for the rest of the faults with the place. We ended up at another hostel trying to find information on a trip to Poas Volcano and the Waterfall Gardens. The Hotel Pacande B&B was run by a lovely Columbian lady who couldn’t have been more helpful, despite the fact that we weren’t staying there. She even invited us to have free breakfast at her hotel before our trip when she found that our hostel provided nothing. Alajuela was an odd place - the main square was lined with the ... read more

We chose the jeep-boat-jeep option (3 hrs as opposed to 8 hours via car or bus around the perimeter of the lake) to go from Monteverde to Arenal. One and half hours over very rough gravel roads took us down to the edge of the lake. It was a trip made more interesting by seeing very obious climatic changes in the scenery in a short period of time. We crossed from the dustier, drier Pacific side of the mountains to an obviously much greener Caribbean side. Very hilly country but scenic. There was no boat ramp at the lake - the jeep parked at the waters edge and we waited 20 minutes or so until we saw a boat heading across the lake towards us. In the distance Arenal Volcano loomed on the horizon and it ... read more