Quito, Ecuador

After a full days bus ride I arrived to Quito, the capital of Ecuador. The skies were overcast and threatening, but I found a hostel just before it began to rain. I stayed in the slightly dodgy area of  'La Mariscal' (also known as the tourist ghetto) which is lined with night clubs, overpriced restaurants and sketchy looking people hanging out on the streets. Still, the hostel was nice and provided cereal for breakfast which I haven't had in months!

The nest day I took a bus to the historical centre of Quito, and walked around the many churches and plazas the city has to offer. A beautiful sunny day, the highlight was climbing the clock tower and spire of 'La Basillica' - a gorgeous church with an amazing view of the surrounding city, provided you brave the steep narrow staircases to the tops of the structures.

The following day I made my way to 'Mitad del Mundo' (middle of the world), a monument dedicated to the French Geodesic Mission to measure the size of the earth in 1736. The true equator is in fact 240m to the north of the monument but it was a cool place to visit, although it was very touristy.

The next couple of days I spent walking around Quito, through several parks filled with locals playing football, tennis, basketball and volleyball - and another trip to there historical centre with some people I met at the hostel. I enjoyed my time in Quito, a nice relaxed city in the valley between some mountain ranges, but it is time for my next country.... Colombia.

More photos here

Mompiche, Ecuador

Another week, another tiny beach town on the Pacific Ocean. Finally north of the equator, the warm clear water, hazy (overcast and cloudy) days and mild nights were very seductive. The perfect place to unwind, I spent a week in Mompiche swimming, reading, relaxing and eating fresh fish a couple of times a day. It is such a great feeling being 20m from the beach, swimming in the mornings and afternoons, having the sand between my toes and dried salt on my skin all day long.

The town's livelihood depends on fishing, every morning a small fleet of wooden boats head out for the day, at night they line the beach on wooden rollers ready for the next day. The beach disappears at high tide, at low tide the nearby point is supposed to be a world class surf break. For the week I was there it didn't get any higher than a foot, instead I walked along the long stretch of beach past groves of Coconut palms and thatched roof huts.

Very easy to slow down and get into the spirit of being a beachcomber, the first time on my trip that I have felt on holiday rather than travelling.

More photos here

Canoa, Ecuador

I spent five days in the very small beach town of Canoa in Ecuador. With constant onshore winds, sloppy surf conditions and mostly overcast skies I spent my days swimming, reading, and relaxing in the warm weather. Not a lot else to do, but it feels good to slow down sometimes...

More photos here

Baños, Ecuador

After leaving Cuenca my intention was to stop overnight at Riobamba and check out Chimborazo. The active volcano is Ecuador's highest peak and due to the earth being an oblate spheroid, the furthest point from the centre of the earth.

Instead there was a slight mix up with the bus and after making a few decisions on-the-fly I ended up in Baños. A town centred around adventure tourism, it is small and generally unexciting place but it had a few options for nearby treks and plenty of waterfalls.

I spent the first day hiking up the ranges surrounding the town, but the weather turned bad and after ascending to the vantage point I was unable to see the Tungurahua volcano (the town is built on its foothills) and got very wet for my efforts. Still, the views to the town itself were uninterrupted affording me a great birds-eye view.

The following day I rented a mountain bike and started a 25km ride (mostly downhill) following the 'Rio Pastaza' and stopping at the many waterfalls. I made it back to town before more rain set in, spending the rest of the afternoon eating delicious cane sugar taffy and relaxing in my hotel room.

More photos here

Cuenca, Ecuador

I spent a few days in Cuenca, the third largest city in Ecuador. In the central downtown area the streets are lined with cobblestones and there are numerous parks, museums, churches and cathedrals throughout. The rest of the city is mostly charmless, with the streets being indistinguishable from each other, the same clothing shops, pharmacies and bakeries seemingly endlessly repeated .

An hour out of Cuenca is the small town of Giron, where I visited the 'El Chorro' waterfalls. The falls are 6km outside of town but it was a nice walk in the hot sun. It was great to sit at the base of the falls with a gentle spray of water cooling me down.

A few days was enough to see all there is in Cuenca, but it was nice chilled place to relax for a few days.

More photos here

Vilcabamba, Ecuador

It was time to leave Peru. As I was still in the central highlands and did not want to retrace my steps back to the coast, I chose to take the less common border crossing into Ecuador. I left Chachapoyas at 4:00 AM on the first of three taxi/mini-bus journeys for the day, eventually arriving to San Ignacio after lunch where I had to spend the night. A small town, I wandered the streets until dark before heading to bed.

Another early start, catching a 5:00 AM taxi (supposedly the only one of the day) to the Peru-Ecuador border. I arrived around 7:00 AM and had to wait a couple of hours until immigration opened, then it was a simple matter of walking 50m across the bridge into Ecuador.

After getting my entry stamp into the country I was told the first available transport further into Ecuador left at midday, leaving me three and a half hours to kill in a 1/4 horse town. Luckily my Kindle was fully charged....

The transport finally arrived, a flat bed truck that had some wooden bench seats in the rear. It was actually a really nice way to see the countryside, no dirty windows, just fresh, dusty air and unspoiled views.

Arriving at La Balsa I immediately jumped a 'proper' bus to the town of Vilcabamba, arriving 6 hours later just after dark.

I spent a couple of days in Vilcabamba, going on treks (without ending up where I wanted to go, the reason you are supposed to hire local guides) and reading / relaxing. The town has a very relaxed atmosphere, supposedly contributing to the greatly above-average lifespan of the local population.A nice introduction to Ecuador.

A couple more photos here

Gocta falls, Peru

The following day I took another tour out to the local Gocta waterfalls. At a height of 770m it is the tallest waterfall in Peru, and among the tallest waterfalls in the world. Unfortunately it wasn't flowing much when I visited due to it being the dry season, but it was an impressive sight none the less.

Sitting at the bottom of the falls, surrounded by a shear rocky amphitheatre watching the falling water disintegrate in the wind was a nice reward after a sweaty hike from the entrance.

In the wet season it would be pretty spectacular, but it could never compete with Foz de Iguacu...

More photos here