Welcome to Peru! It was a long bus ride from Cuenca to here. Our bus departed at 9PM, so we got cozy for a snooze. The sleeping was decent all things considered, we collectively got 10 hours or so in short bursts. The chairs reclined a lot. Crossing the border at 1AM was certainly interesting. …
Ecuador. Where do we even start with this country. We spent 30 days exploring as much as we could but there is still left so much on the table for a future trip. This country is one that will take your breath away, both figuratively and literally. The people were amazing, the scenery was stellar, …
We didn’t take a cooking class in Ecuador but I did learn lots about the food and the culture. Food in Ecuador is very simple. The most popular type of Ecuadorian food is almuerzos (lunch). Every town we went to had a food market where you could get some for $2.50. These meals consist of …
What a lovely way to spend our last day in Ecuador. Cajas National Park is a lovely stretch of grassy highlands just outside of Cuenca. We got up bright and early to catch our bus to the park. The system for that, as it turns out, is you take the bus to Guayaquil and just …
This city is a gem. What a lovely place to chill out and explore. We arrived in the afternoon after an eight hour bumpy adventure bus ride. That was an interesting ride. The bus double-backed at one point for reasons unknown. We got crowded by a bunch of local’s crammed into the aisle. But we …
We had a plan. We were going to do some adventure sports, then stay at a farm for a couple weeks and learn all about Ecuadorian cuisine. That was the plan. That was not what happened. We (Graham mostly) got really excited as soon as we got to Baños and signed us up for a …
The Quilatoa Crater Loop is a three day, 35km hike up through farming villages and valleys to the Quilatoa volcano crater, which the goal of the hike, on the final day. Now, you can take a bus there, but what’s the fun in that. We started our journey by arriving in the start and finish …
Our second stint in Quito was planned with the Diez de Agosto celebrations, and Huecafest, Ecuador’s Taste of London equivalent. Of course, things never quite turn out the way you think they do. When guests came in on our final day in Cotopaxi, they came with disturbing news form the capital. Presidential candidate, Fernando Villavicencio, …
Quite literally one volcano over from Quito, to the southeast, lies an expansive plateau valley nestled between similar giants. What we call volcano valley, and what the world calls Cotopaxi National Park, was a landscape unlike anything we’ve ever seen. We booked a trip with our hostel to their sister location, Secret Garden Cotopaxi. At …
Mindo, Mindo, Mindo!!! Any apprehensions we had about finding our bus were gone in an instant. Its clear that bus stations in Ecuador have dealt with too many clueless gringo’s so everything is very simple. Easier for us, I guess. The bus ride was a memorable one, quickly descending the country on small two lane …