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Published: November 2nd 2009
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Quite, nesteled between Volcanos and Mountains with a elevation of nearly 3000m, is not only an amazing city but also the exit point for many tours. Again there are so many options and too little time to do everything so that I had to decide on only one trip. As time did not allow to see the Galapagos Island (I need to come back for this...) I decided to do a trip to the Amazon. I soon found the perfect trip and was sitting in a bus the same evening to get to Lago Agrio, where I will be picked up to start the adventure. I arrived at 5.30 am and had to wait until 9 am to be picked up, in a sleepy little town with nothing to do.... Well, somehow time went by and I was sitting in a truck heading to the river. 3 hours later I was welcomed by the sounds of the Amazon and a canoe, which brought me to the camp, another 3 hours down the river. The campe was simple but beautiful and in the middle of the rainforest. I meet with the other tour participants and we went straight back to the river
to watch out for birds and other animals and watching the sunset from the birdwatch tower.
At dinner I meet with the other inhabitant, a big tarantula was hanging around the dinner area. The next morning it got some company by another one.... I am glad we had mosquito nets to avoid that they are climbing in my bed at night!!! Unfortunately it was raining the second day (what else should happen in a RAINforest...) but we went off to see some Riverdolphins and meet the locals in their community center and backed some Yucabread. At dusk we headed out for Piranhia fishing (I did not caught one but others were lucky) and searching for caymans. Our guide found amazingly two little ones and caught one for us to have a closer look!
The next day the tour was already ending and we headed back the same way to Quito, where we arrived early morning. I decided to stay another day in the city and headed out to the middle of the earth, to the equator! There are 2 lines, one discovered in the 18th century and another one about 250 m away, which is the real one.
Back in
the hostel I meet an american-brazilien guy again, who is travelling form Canada all the way to Argentina and back again. He offered me a lift to go south, as he is heading the same direction. The next day we left for Baños, where we had our first stop for 2 nights. Baños is only 4 hours from Quito away and we arrived there in the afternoon, taking a walk through town. We decided to rent motorbikes for the next day to discover the many waterfalls around town. After that we climbed a little mountain next to the town, where we had an amazing view on the volcano, which is still active, and the city.
The next morning we picked up the motorbikes. It was the first time for me on a motorbike but I really enjoyed it. After a quick introduction on how to drive we were off to see the many waterfalls around town. At the end we tried another attempt to see the volcano, but there were too many clouds.
The following day we picked up the way down south again. We were planning to cross into Peru but unfortunatley there were so many road constrution on
the way that we did not make it to the boarder in time. We stayed a night in Machala, 50km from the boarder and headed to Peru the next day. During all these drives it was amazing to see how the landscape changes quickly and once in Peru, we were surrounded by the desert. About 1.5 hours away from the boarder we hit the town Mancora, a beack resort, which seems to only exists of bars and hotels. It was good to be back by the coast again and see the beach. I really liked the place but unfortunately I had to head down to Lima, as my tour through Peru to Bolivia starts soon. As my travel partner really liked the place, he decided to stay so that I took the overnight bus to Lima. The bus journey was smooth and the next morning waking up, it was a surpise to see that we are still surrounded by desert and sand dunes.
So far I was lucky with all my bus journey, a lot of times I heard of breakdowns but it never happend to me. Well, there is always a first time and the bus broke down just
before we arrived at the bus terminal in Lima. It was not too bad, as it was daylight and close to the end.
Lima was full of parties due to Halloween and All Saints this weekend. I strolled around a little bit and meet with my new travelpartners. But there is not much exciting to see, so I am not too sad to head out today to some more interesting places and soon to see Machu Picchu.
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