We spent another few days in Banos taking in the countryside and friendly people, there was a independence festival in Quito (capital of Ecuador) starting on December 1st so we took the bus there, Quito was pretty expensive by South American standards, and not the nicest city we've ever been to it was meant to be dangerous after 10 in the evening and was a busy thriving town and rather disappointingly the festivities weren't properly kicking off for a few days! After 2 days (and visiting the important museums and churches) we decided we'd had enough and headed back to Banos [View Full Entry]

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12.12.2009 14:10 viajando... Gluecklich angekommen in Riobamba, wo ich mich erstmal bei einer grossen Tasse Kaffee von der Busfahrt aus Baños erhole: Mittlerweile bin ich ja Busfahren hier gewoehnt, die zum Bersten ueberfuellten Klappergestelle, die mit Heiligenbildern tapezierten Cockpits, die gackernden Huehner auf dem Schoss der Mitreisenden, die bruellend laute Musikbeschallung und die Haudegen von Geldeintreibern, die einem - wie einst in Quito geschehen - schonmal um das Wechselgeld prellen oder - wie in Misahuallí - ihr schleimiges Bronchialsekret von innen geg [View Full Entry]

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Dec 17 - Equador - Banos Zoo / Overnight Bus to Vilcabamba - After such an exciting day previously with all that bike riding and waterfalls, we thought we'd go for something a little more easy like going to see the local zoo. I always feel a little wierd going to zoo's as all the animals look a little unhappy which is to be expected, but it is amazing to see some of the animals for real which you would normally not be able to do. - Check out some of the photo's of what we saw - was definately worth [View Full Entry]

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12.12.2009 extrañando... Ende des Praktikums, und auch die Haelfte meiner Zeit in Suedamerika ist nun vorbei. Ich bin in Baños, bereits das dritte Mal, auf der Durchreise zum Chimborazo. In einer Woche werde ich nochmal zwei Tage in Tena verbringen, da ich dort auf einer Hochzeit eingeladen bin. Ich freue mich sehr darauf, nicht nur, weil eine traditionelle Kichwa-Hochzeit mitzuerleben bestimmt ein spannendes Ereignis ist, sondern auch, weil ich dort mit Ausnahme von Chris, der dann bereits mit einer Backe im Flieger sitzt, alle wiedersehen werde, mit denen ich waehren [View Full Entry]

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After our great day in Misahualli, although the jungle was not in our comfort zone, we , along with Stephanie, decided that we wanted to experience a bit more of the jungle, but this time something that was a bit more challenging, something that was not just put on as a tourist show. After exploring a few tour operators in Baños, we found one that did specialized trips into the deeper jungle. We had to go with a tour operator as to go this far into the jungle you have to obtain written permission from the chief of the tribes you [View Full Entry]

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So, unlike Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and Che Guevara we made it out of Bolivia alive. Just. As Ed said, lucky we didnñt try to rob a bank or start a revolution. So, where was it, Sucre we left you? Well, let us see, if you{re all sitting comfortably... We rolled our way out of beautiful Sucre on the misery of a Bolivian night-bus to the Capital of Bolivia, La Paz. Busy, dirty, full of old women, still rocking those bowler-hats, selling bread rolls and stolen phones. Found some nice little spots but it did not have the pleasant cleanliness [View Full Entry]

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Désolée de ne pas mettre à jour mon blog, à chaque fois que j'aurai pu avoir internet, on avait pas d'électricité. C'est très fréquent en Equateur qu'il n'y ait pas de courant pendant la journée, parait que c'est parqu'il n'a pas plu assez et que les centrales marchent au ralenti.. Alors je reprends là où j'en était.. De Cotopaxi, notre hotel nous a organisé une jeep pour rejoindre la ville la plus proche, Machachi, et de là, nous avons sauté dans le bus pour Baños, à environ 4 heures de route. Baños est une petite ville thermale située au pied du [View Full Entry]

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Nov 29th I woke up at around 8am for a quick breakfast and headed straight back to bed, there's a long day ahead. At 11 we were fitted by our guides Jose and Nueto (Milton). The gear includes crampons and ice picks. After the fitting we started our drive to Cotopaxi and stopped for a quick chicken foot lunch. Protein! The drive into Cotopaxi was long but the park definitely stands alone. Three Massive mountains surrounding a plateau that dwarfed us in comparison. We crossed rivers and streams as we climbed higher and higher. Clouds soon appeared overhead followed by rain [View Full Entry]

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So after Huanchaco we take the night bus which lasted 9 hours to Mancora, Its a very touristy town with pretty beach lots of kitesurfers and a few surfers. Lots of bars and Restaurants which kept us awake for near on 3 nights solid, so moved to a more quiet part of town to get some sleep! Not that much to do accept laze away the days on the beach. After 5 nights in Mancora we decided to head to Ecuador, it was meant to be a simple 8 hour bus journey which swiftly turned into 13 after delays at the [View Full Entry]

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After only five hours on a bus from Quito, I threw in the towel and said forget Cuenca! I felt awful and it just didn't seem worth it to continue another 4 hours. We stopped in Riobamba and got a little hotel room right down the street from the bus station. And you know what? It was AWESOME! The room was the cleanest yet, and we laid around watching tv and eating chocolate icecream cake for dinner Oliver went out and got me for dinner. It felt like a mini vacation from our vacation, haha. Sometimes it is so nice to [View Full Entry]

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