From the start of April, I wil be spending the rest of this year and some of next year travelling in South America.
I'll be leaving the UK 01 April and flying to Quito via Madrid. In Quito, I'll learn spanish and then travel down through Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, hoping to make Brazil in time for next year's Carnival.
I arrived in Huaraz 2 hours late. Immediately I stepped out of the security of the bus station, I was surround by 5 taxi drivers touting for business of hostels or tours (much to the amusment of some locals standing close-by). After saying no thanks probably 5 times, I started to walk off pursued by one die-hard. He got the message eventually! I decided to go on a 4 day/3 night trek hoping to see more of the mountains than a one day trip would have allowed. I booked with Galaxia Expeditions who turned out to be very well organised and the guide was excellent. Day 1 On Sunday morning, an early start was needed at 6am as there was approx a 4 hour drive from Huaraz to the drop-off point where the walking would begin. ... read more
Whilst in Trujillo, I booked day trips to Chan Chan, Huacas del Sol and de la Luna and also El Brujo which were all worth the money and well organised. Huacas del Sol and de la Luna - Temple of the sun and temple of the moon. This is 5km south of Trujillo the site has two pyramids built next to a hill called Cerro Blanco - White Hill. The pyramids were built by the Moche. Only a small part of the pyramids have been uncovered. There are 7 pyramids in total. As each king died, he would be buried in the pyramid, the pyramid would be sealed and a new one built on top of the last. The parts of the wall which have been uncovered show the paintings/reliefs made on the side of each ... read more
Vilcabamba Sunday 30 May - caught the bus from Vilcabamba to Loja which took about 1 hour. Loja Hadn't booked a hostel in Loja so spent about an hour trying to find something I liked. Stayed just one afternoon and night in Loja so I could catch the 0700 bus to Piura, Peru. One night was enough - there´s not much to see in Loja. It's convenient as a place to change buses if you´ve come from Vilcabamba or some other place but time would probably be best spent elsewhere. I caught the 0700 bus the next morning for Piura, Peru and arrived at around 5pm. Didn't like the look of Piura so made a quick decision to move on to Trujillo travelling on the overnight bus. Used ITTSA for the bus who I found very ... read more
The host family dropped me at the bus station in Cuenca early Friday morning in time to catch the bus for Loja. Once in Loja, I then took another bus to Vilcabamba. The bus from Loja to Vilcabamba took approx 1 hour. Vilcabamba is a small and quiet town but despite it´s size it still has quite a few hostels to stay in. I´d opted for a place out of town (approx 4km) Cabanas Rio Yambala and is owned by a British woman (Sarah) and her American husband, Charlie. The place is surrounded by mountains and next to the the river Yambala. The rooms (or Cabañas) all have a nice view of the surrounding countryside and you fall asleep listening to the sound of the crickets and the river flowing below. The promised hot water existed ... read more
Thursday 27 May - I borrowed a bicycle from the host mother´s brother and following their instructions, I followed the cycle path by the river Tomebamba until I came to the sign for Turi. Cycled uphill for about 30 mins until I reached the small village of Turi. Nothing spectacular there but great views down into the city. Thankfully the day was clear. Finished off the day with more cycling by the river and into one of the parks. ... read more
Visited the old ruins of Ingapirca which are the most important Inca ruin in Ecuador. The original stonework was very precise with straight lines and tight fitting blocks and bearing in mind that this was all produced and constructed by hand was pretty impressive. Visited the market in Canar on the way back which had lots of fruit and veg for sale. (The Thursday market at Saquisili was much more interesting). ... read more
17 - 24 May During this week I´ve visited a few churches and museums with my Spanish teacher: Museo Centro del Banco del Ecuador (Pumapungo) - the site of the Inca city of Tomebamba. In the ruins, it is still possible to make out the different rooms in which the Incas lived. From the main living area, there are stepped terraces leading down to an area set aside below the main living area to grow crops. Museo de Sombrero - not as boring as it sounds. Cuenca is famous for making Panama hats and they show you the whole process of making the hats. Prices range from 15 USD for a cheap hat to 140 USD for one with the finest material and which you could roll up if you wanted to and it won´t lose ... read more
For Sunday, I booked a day drip to Parque Nacional Cajas. For 35 USD I was provided with an English speaking guide, transportation and lunch. I met the guide in the city at 8am and collected the other two members of the group, one Ecuadorian and an American. After 30 mins drive mainly uphill, we arrived at the park entrance. After a further 15 mins drive we reached our starting point for the day´s walk and where we had to pay the 10 USD entrance fee. The height here was 3950m (Cars can go a further 1000m). A brief tour of the information centre told us that there were 235 lakes in the Parque information centre overlooked one lake, Laguna Toreadora which is at an altitude of 3960m. The park is also home to many different ... read more
Monday 10 May From Riobamba, I caught the bus to Cuenca which took approx 6 hours for a cost of 6 USD. The scenary during the journey was spectacular taking us up and down mountains, through small villages and some larger towns. After half way, the roads became quite bad which made the journey longer in time. In some places, the driver took some bends quite fast, but we made it in the end. In some places we were driving through the clouds. I arrived in Cuenca at approx 5pm. As I hadn´t booked somewhere to stay in advance and couldn´t be bothered to telephone around, I accepted an offer from someone touting for business at the bus station. The hostel was called Santa Fe, and a single room with private bathroom was only 8 USD. ... read more
My first impression of Riobamba was good. Although Riobamba has many old buildings and appears a bit run-down I felt safe walking around the town and there´s plenty of shops if you need to buy something. It´s main tourist attraction is the train to the Nariz del Diablo (Devil´s Nose). Unfortunately, the most spectacular/scenic part of the train ride is closed for six months (from March 2010) for repair work. The official re-opening has not been confirmed. As I didn´t think it worth riding the train for only half the journey I decided to give the train ride a miss and concentrated on my main reason for coming to Riobabma - to book a cycling trip to Chimborazo. On Saturday, I visited a couple of biking agents with a view of booking a one day trip ... read more
