End of Ecuador and beginning of Peru!

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Guayaquil, Cuenca & Vilcabamba

Guayaquil may be Ecuador's biggest city, but it definitely isn't the prettiest. We walked along the renewed riverfront parade and around a colourful little hilltop village with a nice view of the whole city, but after that there wasn't much else to do. So the next day we went to Samborondon, a suggestion from our Quiteño friends, which turned out to be a very posh neighborhood with only closed condominiums and shopping centres. Interesting, but not really our thing.

So we were happy to get on the bus to Cuenca, which is a charming city with many colonial buildings and churches. We had a funny night out with some other travellers, starting off at a microbrewery and ending up sipping cocktails at a live music bar with really bad and loud rock. We did our favourite Sunday thing here too: heading to a little village and soaking up the Sunday afternoon feeling!

Vilcabamba is a beautiful little town in a valley surrounded by waterfalls and forest'covered mountains. We stayed at an eco-lodge and went horse riding for a whole day, so that the next day was very painful! It was definitely worth it for the amazing nature in the Podocarpus national park and the magnificent views of Vilcabamba in the valley we had on our way back.

The crossing

To cross into Peru via the very remote 'La Balsa' crossing, you have to get several buses to the border, walk across the bridge and then several 'collectivos' on the other side to get to a decent sized town.

It was very interesting to arrive in Peru... who knew they have tuc-tucs here!? These moto-taxis are not only very loud, but also crazy, so you're on the edge of your seat the whole ride.


Moyobamba & Tarapoto

Moyobamba is a dusty town, and we weren't expecting much from it apart from being interesting as a transition from mountains to jungle. We were happy to have a day off travelling when we got to Moyobamba, so after a good piece of grilled meat for dinner we went to the riverside walkway, where we found a whole street full of bars! It turns out that theres a bigger nightlife here than in Cambridge!

In Tarapoto we bumped into a university and military parade (which they seem to love around here) and then did a little trip to some waterfalls up in the mountains, again with a beautiful view.

Next stop: jungle!

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