Today, we took a three hour bus ride to Otovalo, the largest indigenous market in South America, although we kind of misjudged how long it would take to get there, and it turned out we had just an hour there before we had to head back, for the 6pm group meeting.

The market itself was OK, alot of the stalls were selling the same stuff though – alpaca wool, bracelets and jewelery, ponchos, and wood or stone carvings. There was also a food market there though, where we saw one guy selling live baby chickens in paper bags, and several stalls with kilos and kilos of so many d... [read more]

We left Cuenca early, taking a long bus trip South into Peru. The passport controls were surprisingly easy, no more than a twenty minute wait at each, while the border was a trickle of a river, over which passed a wide bridge, packed with traders flogging everything from livestock to clothing and electronics.

Once over the border, we met our new tour leader, Sylvana (26, Lima) and said goodbye to Belen who had taken us through Ecuador.

We arrived at our hotel in Mancora at about 5.30pm and we were all delighted by our first sights of Peru. The town was a sma... [read more]

This morning, our bus from Quito took 7 hours, to Tena, where we had lunch (Caldo de Pollo - chicken soup, and Spicy Pork Belly), before we got another bus for about 40 minutes to the Cotococha Jungle Lodges.

In the jungle, it was insanely hot, and humid, but the place was amazing. It´s so quiet compared to Quito as well, just in the middle of nowhere, miles from the nearest village.

The lodges had no electricity, so any light is by kerosene lamps, with cold showers using river water.

In the afternoon, we went to visit the Quichuan local... [read more]

Just after arriving in Quito, having travelled for more or less 18 hours, the taxi driver responds to my directions with "Oh, the Gringo Quarter." Which is nice.

First impressions of Quito are more or less as I expected. It´s similar to the sightly dodgier parts of most European towns. Only it´s all like that. There´s a KFC just round the corner from the hotel (no, I haven´t been yet), and the security guard there is armed.

The hotel is much better than I expected, I´ve got a double bed with ensuite, free internet in t... [read more]