Day 777 (16.05.09) We´ve had to buy a new holdall to carry souvenirs from a recent spending spree in the lovely Otavalo market in Ecuador and since we´d managed to leave that behind in Antigua for collection in a few weeks we had some space in our backpacks itching to be filled - we really must do something about this market addiction of ours! So we´d made our way to Chichicastenango (thankfully shortened by most to Chichi) as we´d heard the twice weekly market was not to be missed. We would be there for the Sunday session, the other big day [View Full Entry]

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Day 774 (13.05.09) With all the buses leaving in the early hours of the morning we had no choice but to have an early start. However a couple of hours later and we were climbing down from our 'Chicken Bus' (the nickname for the cheap local transport) in Panajachel on the shores of volcano-ringed Lake Atitlan. Still pretty early we found an internet cafe for a little catch up before going down to the dock to find our boat across the lake to San Pedro La Laguna where we planned to settle in for a couple of days. Chatting to an [View Full Entry]

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Day 772 (11.05.09) It seemed to take us forever to reach Guatemala from Lima but finally after 2 flights, too many hours in airports and a hard-bargained taxi we arrived in Antigua. As the taxi took us through the cobbled streets of this pretty town we were glad we'd skipped out on Guatemala City to make this our first stop. We were shattered having not really slept overnight on the plane (too tempted by the in-flight movies!) so went for a wander around in search of a cheap place to eat finding that it wasn't that easy in this touristy town. [View Full Entry]

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Day 769 (08.05.09) Arriving into Lima at a completely different terminal than we had expected, we managed to get a shister of a taxi driver who insisted that the hostel we were aiming for was full and another had closed down. We eventually got dropped off at one in the Miraflores area and booked in for the night. By now it was still early morning and we still had the majority of the day left. Having spoken to our airline a number of times we had tried to change our flight to Mexico City (in an attempt to avoid the current [View Full Entry]

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Day 766 (05.05.09) We reached Piura, a few hours from Peru's border with Ecuador, at around 8am. Sadly we discovered that the next bus to Trujillo, today's planned destination, didn't leave until 2pm. With no choice (but desperately wanting showers after a night on the bus) we booked some tickets, dumped off our bags and headed into town for a bite to eat. The streets of Piura were teaming with traffic from tuk-tuks to trucks and crossing the road felt like we'd gone back to Asia instead of returned to Peru. There's not an awful lot to do in Piura but [View Full Entry]

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Day 763 (02.05.09) We woke feeling much more able to take the onward bus to Vilcabamba after a good night's sleep we first had a walk around town in Loja (not an awful lot to see there) before jumping on the bus. The valley that the town sits in is well known in the county as the Valley of Longevity as the people who live here just dont seem to kick the bucket. As we passed through the lush tranquil rolling hills on our way there we got our first taste of why people stick around here for a bit longer. [View Full Entry]

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Day 762 (30.04.09) Mark wasn't feeling too well when we woke up so we set out mid-morning after he'd had a bit of a lie-in. We took the morning to take a walk around the beautiful old town to see some of the city's sights. The slightly crunbling facades of some of the grand colonial buildings just made it more charming to us. We started off the with the impressive blue-domed cathedral in town and then managed to bump into all the other guys we were travelling with who had started a little earlier in the day. Moving on together we [View Full Entry]

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Day 761 (29.04.09) We'd come to Riobamba to travel on the famous section of railway between here and Sibambe. Usually this route is served by a large steam train and until recently you could ride on the roof of the train to enjoy the stunning scenery along the route. We'd had many mixed reports throughout the country as to whether the train was running, whether the track was open and whether you were still allowed to ride on the roof (after an unfortunate Chinese tourist lost their head a while ago). Even our taxi driver in Riobamba thought roof riding was [View Full Entry]

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Day 757 (25.04.09) Waking to a pretty dreary day and following our exertions of the walking on the Quilotoa loop we decided to take it easy only managing a walk around town. In most of the local shops you can see the local taffy being made as it is stretched, swung and looped repeatedly around a hook on the wall. They made it look so easy so we just had to buy some to try! As we've made our way through Ecuador we've seen election fever in full swing with free bullfights in Quito, trucks driving around blaring out slogans, cards [View Full Entry]

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Day 754 (22.04.09) We'd been promised incredible scenery, remote highland villages, Andean markets and interesting transport if we tackled what has become known as the Quilotoa Loop (a circuit starting and ending in the town of Latacunga that heads into the Andes and has Quilotoa as more or less it's central point.) Now we're not normally ones to believe everything our guide book says but this time it certainly delivered on its promises and led us through a spectacular couple of days on the loop. Leaving Latacunga early our first stop was for some breakfast in the market town of Pujili. [View Full Entry]

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