BertQ

Back in Ecuador, but still plenty of things to do ! This is my opportunity to do at least some of those things, because my to-do list in this country remains very long. Also the opportunity to take some additional Spanish classes because Quito has some very good and inexpensive schools. Back to Baños to do canyoning. The first time and probably also the last time because I did not really feel like it was worth the money. Driving a car again after 8 months of being driven around by taxi and bus drivers felt good, although I will probably change my mind on this quickly when I will need to get used again to the Belgian traffic jams. I also went to the "Baños de Cajon" to clean my body, because my stomach was in ... read more

After the touristy parts of Bolivia, I visited some of the more remote parts in the east of the country. Not so easy, considering that transportation facilities are often very limited. My first stop Samaipata, a nice little town with the main attraction being the gateway to the national park Amboró. The night bus from Sucre to Samaipata was terrible. After a long ride on a very bad road, the bus dropped us off at 5AM next to the road in no man's land. Fortunately I had already gotten used to taking night buses and sleeping in those terrible conditions was not a problem anymore. In Samaipata I took the opportunity to take the San Pedro powder that I had bought earlier in La Paz, i.e. a cactus that produces hallucinations. Together with a friend, we ... read more

First city in the Caribbean was Cartagena. I had heard a lot of great things about Cartagena and the city was indeed beautiful. The historic center next to the sea made it different from other cities I had visited so far ! Temperatures and humidity were very high. Fortunately our hostel had air conditioning. From there, we went to Isla de Rosario and Playa Blanca. We did this with an organized trip where a boat brought us to these places, but would have been better off doing this on ourselves. In the morning the weather was very bad and the boat was first not going to leave. After 1 hour waiting in a packed boat, the weather improved and we did eventually leave. Isla de Rosario was definitely not worth it, but Playa Blanca was beautiful. ... read more

Before going to the south of Colombia, I spent few days in Villa de Leyva. The perfect place to take some rest and to do absolutely nothing ! A very beautiful and small town, nevertheless with good facilities. Good shops, hostels and restaurants ! Three weeks for the South of Colombia seemed a long time at first, but ended up to be barely enough. I started in Cali, the city of the salsa and nightlife. Because of bad timing, I found myself in the city in the beginning of the week and on a legal holiday. Everything was closed and the city was dead. Beautiful but nothing special compared to the other cities I had seen so far in Ecuador. Next, I went to Bogota to pick up a friend, who will be me travel companion ... read more

In between my Spanish courses, I had foreseen one week for traveling. I used this time to go to Canoa, Cuenca, Loja & Vilcabamba. Quite an full schedule ! In total, I have spent 48h in the bus in one week. My trip to Canoa was the second time I went to the coast in Ecuador, very different from Atacames. Canoa is a small fishers village that is rather difficult to reach. In order to get there from Quito, you need to take a bus, a boat and again a bus. The result is a very nice large beach, with only very few people and with almost no pollution. There are a lot of bars next to the beach and nightlife is more friendly than in many other places in Ecuador. In Canoa, you can still ... read more