We were up at 9, not really feeling 100% to say the least.

We got a tourist bus down to the bridge on the far side on Baños, where Mina, then Julia & Vicky, then I all did a "Swing Jump". It was surprisingly good, although not such a brilliant idea with a hangover.

After that, we took the open-sided tourist bus down the valley, where we hiked to a waterfall in the middle of the forest. After crawling through a tight cave, you could get out and stand underneath the waterfall itself - an excellent hangover cure!

That evening afte... [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]

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]

Baños is famous for it`s thermal baths, as well as its wealth of waterfalls, the active volcano, and various sports and adventure activities, such as rafting, canyoning, bungee jumping, and trekking.

From our jungle lodges, it took us 5 hours on the bus to get to Baños, where I had a relaxed afternoon after having a typical lunch of fried chorizo, egg and potato cakes. In the evening, we went out for a few too many drinks - it started with flaming Bob Marleys on the house, then I started on the Black Russians (Vodka & Kahlua), with a few tequila s... [read more]