Blogs from South America - page 5664

Pickup So, the longest journey so far began the previous night (24th October) with a shared pickup truck ride. I sat in the back into the village of Vilcabamba with the rucksacks and Dominic, another person doing the same journey. Minibus At Vilcabamba we hopped into the minibus to Loja with our luggage on the roof (secured by the conductor with the assurance that if it rained he would throw over the waterproof cover). At this stage I think there were 6 or 7 of us, all doing the same journey - so a good big group. The minibuses are great over here if you like overcrowding - at one stage I think we attained 23 souls in the vehicle. I think 16 would have been about full, in any normal country. Proper Bus (8 hours) ... read more

And so to the home of the Incas, and Paddington Bear... My trip to Peru was neither long, nor original. With time short, I basically devised a plan for a short, sharp hit on the jewel in the thorny crown of South American travel, Cusco, and Macchu Picchu. This is probably the most established tourist centre in South America, and dont they know it.. from the touts at Cusco bus station to the ski resort like prices at the Macchu Picchu cafe, you are reminded that you are certainly on the tourist conveyor belt. Leaving Rachael behind in Bolivia (she´d done the Inca trail last year), and arriving in Cusco at 4am, after a 13 hour bus journey from La Paz, followed by 4 unpleasant hours waiting for the bus company office to open, wasnt the ... read more

So, arriving in Cuenca late we checked into the Hostal Tinku where Claudia (another Galápagos friend) was staying. After marvelling at the spectacular noisiness of the place with the barking dogs and children we went for a brief excursion to get some food and thought "hmmm, this is a nice place". In the morning we met up with Claudia who was recovering from a rather nasty form of stomach bug and went for a walk via the Café Austria and the market - nothing to report there. A Real Panama Hat As part of our sojourn we came across a marvellous shop - that of Alfredo Pulla, a hatter since the age of 6 (now in his 80s). He showed us to his upstairs showroom from the main shop downstairs (with hundreds of hats hanging ... read more

Ok, so after arriving from Baños we spent one night in Riobamba in a hostel called Los Shyris near the train station. We bumped in to Stuart, an Australian guy that we did the Guagua hike with in a restaurant that night. He was in Riobamba for the same reason as us, to do the Devil's Nose train journey to Alausi - sitting on the roof of the train. This is a train run pretty much solely for tourists and one of the few (maybe only) train routes still in operation in Ecuador. The restaurant that we met Stuart in wasn´t great so we warned him against it (a far from accurate lonely planet recommendation). Next morning he kept us two seats on top of the train, we got there for about 6am, a bit later ... read more

Ok bods, probably one of the more interesting ones I hope - if you like wildlife and beautiful islands, that is. So we departed Quito on friday 8th October so this is where I begin. Friday - getting there Flight to Galapagos Baltra Airport via Guayaquil, uneventful. Guayaquil looks a bit swampy (Ecuador´s largest city - Quito is the capital but a bit smaller), so quite glad we´re not stopping there at any point. On arrival at Baltra airport we took some cool pictures of the mysterious-looking volcanic island-rocks. Paid the $100 dólar park entrance fee and met our guide, the rather more senior and charismatic than expected "César", to take us to the good ship "Amigo". We took a bus for 5 minutes to a canal (the bit of sea between Baltra island and Santa ... read more