After travelling from one side of the continent to the other by bus over the past few months, the flights to and from the Galápagos were an absolute joy… and the flights from Ecuador to Cartagena in Colombia were no different.

We arrived in Cartagena at lunchtime, the first time in a long time that we’d arrived anywhere at a decent hour of the day. I was reminded of the last time we stepped out of the plane into the thick wall of tropical heat and humidity – back in April at Kuala Terrenganu in Malaysia. The fleece went firmly into the bottom of my back pack and we took a taxi to our hostel.

We spent a few days getting to know the city. The old town section is a beautiful area full of historic public squares, cobbled streets and brightly-coloured colonial buildings with ornate overhanging balconies. It has a relaxed feel with lots of great bars and restaurants, galleries and museums. Our path was usually dictated by our hunt for the next cocktail to cool us down (because for some reason, water just wasn’t cutting it). Our location of choice for a few evening sunsets was Café del Mar which is situated on the old city walls, with an uninterrupted view west out into the Caribbean Sea… just perfect.

Read the rest of this post »

After a short (1.5 hour) bus ride and an overly convoluted border crossing – involving getting a Peruvian exit stamp miles before the border, crossing the border, getting an entry stamp after travelling 20 minutes past the border into Ecuador, then having to leave our bus and catch a cab back to the border to get a different bus (10 hours this time) – we were on our way to Quito.

Read the rest of this post »

We didn’t have huge expectations of Lima which was probably a good thing… we really enjoyed it. We spent a couple of days eating in the lovely restaurants of Miraflores and enjoying walks through the really wonderful park by the beach. Another spent in the Old Town, checking out the catacombs, churches and the museum of the Inquisition (Lima was the centre of it) and we were ready to head for some guaranteed surf and sunshine.

We arrived in Máncora after yet another 20hr bus journey and were not disappointed by the sunshine that greeted us. We found a really nice small hotel right on the beach, grabbed the suncream and headed for the sand. Unfortunately it was pretty windy on the beach so we didn’t spend much time in the surf, still, we got in a little bit of time in the sun in between hanging out in cafés and playing backgammon. On our last day it rained, so again we felt ready to move when the time came to board the bus to Ecuador and our adventures in the Galapagos Islands.

We arrived in Cusco an hour early at 4am on Saturday. The city was very much asleep (other than one incredibly drunken gringo party-goer with fluorescent pen all over his face who we saw stumbling in a gutter) so we were relieved that we’d decided to book a room in advance. Our hostel was closed when we arrived, but fortunately someone opened the door and agreed to let us sit in the café. Once it got light we hit the streets. We were amazed by Cusco, it is a really beautiful city. It’s the longest inhabited city in South America and is full of narrow cobbled streets and beautiful old buildings. We spent the morning wandering and searching for a company to book to take us on the Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu. Having read quite a lot about conditions for the porters and quality of camping equipment we were stunned by how cheaply some companies were offering the trek. We contemplated doing it on our own, but decided against the hassle of carrying all our own food and equipment and eventually booked with a reputable eco tourism company.

Read the rest of this post »