Dad & David this one is especially for you both, I know you would have loved this ride! Looking forward to roof from Riobamba all the way to the Devils Nose... only to find out on my way there that the line is broken and has been for some time. Hmm this was a problem, the sole reason for going to Riobamba was to take the train... I figure surely there must be some option of taking the train from somewhere else. And, I was right, but it ment taking a bus to Alausi, ha a mear 2 hours where [View Full Entry]

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Our last few days volunteering at Arutam were probably the best. Linda, who cooked our food, promised us she would teach us how to make Chicha (the Shuar drink I briefly described in the previous entry). Good to her word, on Monday, we (just the girlies) headed over to Ernesto´s (the daddy) house. Crouched on the floor in the kitchen hut, Linda whipped out a giant pot of boiled yuca that she placed in the middle and started to stir it with a big stick. She then taught us the secrets of the art of chicha... Chicha, according to her husband [View Full Entry]

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Guaranda is a pleasant country town and known as the 'city of the 7 hills'. I stayed there one night and a morning, and then went on to Salinas. Salinas is interesting, as the whole town lives from the production of various goods in cooperativas. Especially famous is the cheese cooperativa and they are selling their cheese throughout the country and also export it. Furthermore, they produce other milk products, chocolate and other sweets (mmmm), dry mushrooms, artesanía, footballs (with 'Made in Japan' printed on them...), cosmetic products etc. Together with Anne, a German aspir [View Full Entry]

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Casa Cóndor is a community-based tourism project in the village of Pulingui San Pablo at the foot of Chimborazo. About 240 indogenous inhabitants live here. They have a great system of hiking trails, with sign posts along most of them, as well as an excellent map (to be purchased for 1 USD at Casa Cóndor), based on an IGM map, with the GPS tracks of the senderos displayed in different colors on the map, very similar to how I make my maps. It is a nice place to stay at, I just encountered a couple of minor problems: I had not [View Full Entry]

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Up at 4.30am! aaah. It was a killer and very hard to eat breakfast which as always was accompanied by eggs at 5am. We got to the train station in Riobamba by 6am to bag a seat inside the carriage by the window. I resisted the temptation to sit on the roof for a number of reasons: 1) It was very cold 2) It had only recently been re-opened due to the deaths of a number of tourists 3) It looked uncomfortable 4) I wasn't allowed. Well my Dad didn't seem too keen so in the end I sat inside on [View Full Entry]

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Hmmmm welll not much pics but a few things will either make you cringe or sigh... So coming up from Cuzco...a nice 21hr bus ride through mountains and desserts...past Nazca (note the giant highway built straight through the middle of one) on the coast and the panamerican highway north.... leaving the dessert lands of the westcoast we visited the excavated tomb of the king of Siam, wow how much Gold can you put in the ground....(sorry no photo´s gringos) but im sure you can google them... Gold,silver, copper, turquoise,red corral amaising fabric still in ok condition...burried lamas (d [View Full Entry]

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Slowly but surely, Ryan and I are making our way to the Peruvian border. We have spent the last several days wandering through Quito´s Old Town, marveling at the beautifully restored buildings, imposing churches, and frenetic pace! The city teems with life, and I could not help but feel as though I had just been swept along with it. We learned the ins and outs of Quito´s complexe transport system, and quickly learned to watch our pockets: In the cramped Metro, commuters, families, and vagrants alike stream in and out at every station. I was often unlucky enough to be squeezed [View Full Entry]

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HOLA AMIGOS!! Hope you are all well and husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and pets are all treating you well! Arriving towards the one year anniversary of my travels, I though I would give you some stats of my adventures for you to google, be amazed, envy or just laugh at how crazy this whole thing has been. The only stat I cannot measure for you is how much I have enjoyed doing this so far and how sad it will be stop at the end of it all. However, this is not the last of my journeys [View Full Entry]

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Well...I figured out the pictures, finally. But it takes waaaaay to long to have them upload. Not sure if it’s because 1) I was shooting in 8 mgpxl, 2) This blog sight is slow 3) I’m in south america and am using an apple II??? I´ll have to find a faster way to share this trip with you guys...in the meantime...here is my trip so far...in a nutshell 3/17: Flew in to Quito 3/18: Took bus to Riobamba. Pick-pocket tried to ¨help¨ me with my bag. What’s the harm I thought, all he’s doing is putting it under the seat for [View Full Entry]

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hi, ehjoy the long awaited photos [View Full Entry]

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