I have now spent two days in Miraflores in Lima, in good company of friends that I met in Brazil during my last trip. Isn't it fantastic to be able to meet the same people again?!?! Destiny. Lima itself is actually not really worth visiting, but Miraflores is a nice place to spend a day or two when you need civilisation and good food (I really missed sushi...). Hehe. Yesterday I arrived to Cusco, for the Independence Day parties. Cusco is a beautiful place, but oh, so many tourists! I am already geting tired of "Psst, senorita..." and "Mi amiga...". The city itself in the center actually reminds me of the Alpes, there are treehouses with wodden balconies and tons of tourists in winter clothes running around. It is definitely worth visiting, but I am really ... read more

Just got to Guayaquil after having seen "the Devil's Nose" from the roof of a train between Riobamba and Alausí. Riobamba was a quite calm and pretty litte city. I hooked up with a group of Spanish-studying people who were in the city for the WE. We all went out to eat and dance salsa (even though the salsa there was different and not nearly as fun as the one they dance in Quito) and raggaeton (you cannot go to Ecuador without hearing this music - it is played everywhere) on Saturday evening. The trainride seemed very early when I got up at 5h45 Sunday morning... But it was definitely worth it. Roof-riding was of course permitted and we took off at 7 in the morning on the narrow traintrack, on the railroad that was once ... read more

My time as a volunteer at Alto Choco is over and I cannot enough emphasize what a lovely experience it has been and what good friends I have made. Fantastic!!! I would resume the three weeks to beautiful landscapes, hard work, good laughs, fun friends and primitive life. Getting back to Quito and the city was a relief - especially when I got back my new washed clothes from la Lavanderia. Mmm, they smelled so good and very actually totally clean :o) Me and Jess, who was kind enough to accompny me, went to Quito Thursday morning and spent all day today visiting the old town. Jess was very interested in churches and dragged me along to many of them, included guided tours - but actually it was not bad at all and the view from ... read more

Another week has passed in this lovely paradise of Alto Choco, in good company with people from all over the world. This week we have done exhausting work: chopping wood with machetes, transporting rocks, soil or wood; as well as interesting work: reforestation, making lokal bags, watering the worms, learning how to make tortillas fritas, milking the cows, making beds, treeclimbing and horseback riding. So you see - you don't really get bored here! The week passed enormously fast an for the WE we went to Apuela, the "center" of the mountain region close to Otavalo, after a hard good-bye to some of the volunteers. Saturday night there was supposed to be a great party in the school of Apuela according to the local volunteer coordinator Milton. We went there quite early and to our big ... read more

After one week of voluntering, including activities like feding the hens, picking corn, digging, carrying wood, making an entrance sign for the reserve, chopping plants/herbs with machetes (oh yes, if you want to challenge me in armwrestling - any time with my new found muscles - hehe) and other less demanding activities like relaxing in the hammock (oh I love those hammocs), enjoying the beautiful views (have a look in the photo album), playing with the dogs, frisbees or dart, making art out of bamboo fibres and swimming in thermal baths; I feel like my baterries are charged. The highlight of the week was definitely the two-day hike to the volcano Cotacachi where we also had a wonderful view of a lagoon. I actually climbed my first 4000 m peak! We started Thursday morning, taking the ... read more

Ok, for all of you who missed it - I did get the job at Volvo Cars that I really wanted. The best thing of all is that it will not start until September. Therefore I am taking the opportunity to go back to lovely South America!!! Oh, am I going to enjoy my last summer of fredom, hehe. This time I will explore Ecuador, Peru, briefly Bolivia and then a favourite from Brazil: Salvador to further visit the city when there is no crazy carneval going on. Leaving tomorrow and have tons of stuff to prepare.... read more