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Welcome to Peru, and the Oldest Civilisations in South America
The first thing that is immediately noticeable when catching the bus between Piura and Chiclayo was the fact the bus was pretty damn awesome. The girl at the ticket counter asked if I wanted the panoramic seat, so I figured why the hell not. I thought this was just a fancy name for the window seat, something which I…
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2 Weeks in Cuenca, and Goodbye Ecuador
While waiting at the Banos bus termainal to head out to Riobamba, a good portion of people I had met at the hostal made an appearance. They were catching the same bus that I was, some heading onto the buses final destination of Guayaquil, or were changing at Riobamba to another bus into Cuenca. I was…
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Banos
The town of Banos is an adrenaline junkies haven. I’ve not seen so many rafting, climbing, jumping and nature defying tour companies in the one small town. It’s a tourist town for sure, but like so many tourist towns in Ecuador it’s filled mostly with South American (predominately Argentinian) tourists and a handful of gringos. The bus…
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El Oriente
After spending 2 weeks in Canoa it was time to make the conscience decision to leave. This is a lot harder than one would think when you’re surrounded by a beautiful beach, great weather and cheap beer. Finally I summoned the courage to pack the backpack and jump on the bus to Bahia, the main…
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Christmas and New Years on the Beach
One of the most stressful decisions on this trip so far has been where to spend Christmas and New Years. Trust me, after only having to worry about street maps and whether this bus is actually going to where I want to go, I had to think long and hard on how to approach this dilemma. …
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To the Pacific Coast – No Photos Edition
It’s been a week with no internet access from any of the hostels since I left Otavalo, and today I sit in an Internet Cafe quickly getting used to the Spanish keyboard layout. So what’s been happening this past week and what I’ve been getting myself up to. From Otavalo it was a short bus…
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Lakes, Condors and a Bit of Walking
Tonight is the last night in Otavalo. What was to be a 5 night stay turned into 7 nights. For most people this would be a week longer than planned, but when you’re surrounded by the Andes it’s hard to just walk away and say yep I’m done here. There’s just something so serene looking…
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Otavalo and a Waterfall
A two hour bus journey from Quito leads to the town of Otavalo, famous for this Saturday markets. There’s a lot more than just the markets that make this town great, there are no less than four volcanoes surrounding the area, three lakes and several small villages. It takes some hiking to get around (or…
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4100m and the Middle of the World
The TeleferiQo is an amazing cable car that takes you up 2.5km along the volcano Pichincham, making it one of the highest in the world. The summit is another 3 hour hike that I decided wasn’t the brightness idea to attempt. Even at this height the altitude was taking some getting used to, and I’m…
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Don’t Do Typhoid Pills and Public Transport
Because I’m such a giant baby when it comes to getting stabbed with needles, the option for the Typhoid vaccine in pill form was a blessing. I was already sacrificing my arms with Hep A/B and Yellow Fever jabs, so it was a little hard to pass up an oral vaccine that lasts two years…
The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page