http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from South America , Ecuador , Centre en-us Fri, 01 Jan 2010 13:53:24 +0000 Fri, 01 Jan 2010 13:53:24 +0000 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 disappoint http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Cotopaxi/blog-461904.html The past month has been relaxing but you wonrsquot believe it when I tell you all Irsquove done Most days Shana and I play 24 hours of Scrabble I go up to the hot baths 3x a week I read at least an hour a day and cuddle up with Maxi the dog and Chia the kitty to watch TV or a movie for a couple of hours daily. As always I am transfixed by the beautiful volcano which I can admire righ http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Banos/blog-461884.html 12.12.20091410viajando...Gluecklich angekommen in Riobamba wo ich mich erstmal bei einer grossen Tasse Kaffee von der Busfahrt aus Baos erholeMittlerweile 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 vo http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Riobamba/blog-461725.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Banos/blog-461042.html Dec 15 Banos So we started the day at 8.30am had some breaky and headed for the bike shop. We hired 3 mountain bikes and started riding to the various Cascadas waterfalls. First stopped at Cascada de Agoyan which was just before we went through a tunnel which I rode into Alice and nearly fell off. They said that most accidents happen in the tunnel as its black but I reckon its before as http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Banos/blog-460706.html 12.12.2009extraando...Ende des Praktikums und auch die Haelfte meiner Zeit in Suedamerika ist nun vorbei.Ich bin in Baos 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 KichwaHochzeit mitzuerleben bestimmt ein s http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Banos/blog-459961.html 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 Baos we found one that did specialized trips into the deeper jungle. We http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Chimborazo/blog-458713.html 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 dinne http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Riobamba/blog-458020.html Nov 29thI 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 Mass http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Central-Highlands/blog-457858.html Dsole de ne pas mettre jour mon blog chaque fois que j'aurai pu avoir internet on avait pas d'lectricit. C'est trs frquent en Equateur qu'il n'y ait pas de courant pendant la journe parait que c'est parqu'il n'a pas plu assez et que les centrales marchent au ralenti..Alors je reprends l o j'en tait.. De Cotopaxi notre hotel nous a organis une jeep pour rejoindre la ville la plus http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Banos/blog-457837.html So unlike Butch Cassidy the Sundance Kid and Che Guevara we made it out of Bolivia alive. Just. As Ed said lucky we didnt try to rob a bank or start a revolution.So where was it Sucre we left you Well let us see if youre all sitting comfortably... We rolled our way out of beautiful Sucre on the misery of a Bolivian nightbus to the Capital of Bolivia La Paz. Busy dirty full of old http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Riobamba/blog-457764.html 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 Ec http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Banos/blog-456943.html Puyo. Hot humid and the one nice resturant.... closed as we arrived. Your mildewy hostel has only one thing of interest a 24 hour porn channel. What would our parents say We are leaving straight away in the morning. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Puyo/blog-456574.html Nous avons organis notre sjour au parc national de Cotopaxi avec notre hotel Secret Garden qui a aussi quelques chambres proposer l bas. Le matin aprs 1h30 de route la jeep nous a dpos l'auberge et l c'tait comme le paradis. Loin du bruit et de la pollution de Quito nous tions dans les montagnes entours de 9 volcans certains toujours actifs. A Quito nous avions gagn un qui http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Cotopaxi/blog-455619.html Once we left our hostel in Quito we arrived at their sister hostel in Cotopaxi. This hostel was like a paradise exceot for the temperature as it is 3500 meters in the mountains On our arrival we were given our lunch and then brought for a short trip to a near by waterfall followed by the 4 dogs of the house. The house itself sits on two hecters of land and overlooks the giant volcano which is sti http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Cotopaxi/blog-455362.html Baos 14.11.20091630Meine letzten Tagebucheintraege berichten von viel Beschwerlichem aber es war auf keinen Fall meine Absicht ein negatives Bild von Ecuador zu zeichnen In Wirklichkeit habe ich mich laengst in dieses kleine bunte Land verliebt. Dabei habe ich erst einen Bruchteil davon gesehen doch bereits jetzt bin ich zutiefst beeindruckt von der Vielgestaltigkeit sei es auf die Landsch http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Banos/blog-453229.html We have entered Ecuador And here we go for our first extreme experience in this country more than ldquoExtreme Sommerrdquo the Volcano Avenue.The Volcano Avenue is a valley near Quito surrounded by several active volcanoes. There we would start our tour mountainbiking one of the highest volcanoes of the area the Cotopaxi volcano which reaches the very modest altitude of 5897 m We http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/blog-452990.html We are in Banos now after a very long day yesterday getting here from Puerto Lopez almost 13 hours on three different buses. We arrived after midnight last night found a hostel and awoke this morning to towering mountains and a clean friendly beautiful town. A little back log of the trip thus far to catch you up We left Lima Peru after a few days in Miraflores. We met a Frenchmen there who http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Banos/blog-452727.html JEcuador is so named because it's on the equator. So to see if water really does flush down toilets in alternate directions in each hemisphere we headed up to Mitad del Mundo 'Half the World'. We've already burned through about a third of our budget for the entire trip in Quito and the Galapagos Islands so to keep costs down we went on a couple of buses to travel the 22km to the Mitad del Mu http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Banos/blog-450246.html LrsquoEquateur se partage en trois secteurs la Costa llsquoouest la Sierra au centre et lrsquoOriente llsquoest. Ils se distinguent les uns des autres tant par leur climat que par leur vgtation leurs habitations et par les hommes bien videmment. Notre voyage ne nous mnera pas en Oriente la jungle les forts humides et les rios en cano ce ne sera donc pas pour cette fois. D http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Riobamba/blog-447952.html