Ecuador

Hola, I have made it back to the Northern Hemisphere for the first time in 8 months. As you might expect, the equator passes right through Ecuador. I have seen first hand that the water really does go down the plug hole in different directions each side of the equator. Loco! I have not made a post for a while, so here is a few pics from Quito and Baños. (Thats Baños the volcanic thermal spring town, not the bathroom)
The must have cheesy equator photo!
They are very patriotic in Ecuador. You are only allowed to drive cool looking yellow cars. Ignore the red one behind, it is probably from Peru.Took a bike tour around Baños... (Perhaps the cleanest city in all of Ecuador, due to the proliferation of scarry clown bins!)
...Followed along the river on the bike tour...
...checking out cool waterfalls like this one - The Devils Caldron. (As usual the real thing looks better than the photo - or am i bad at taking photos?)

Whilst chilling out on the roof terrace of the hostal yesterday, we saw puffs of smoke come out of the local volcano every 5 minutes. Thought we might have to evacuate somewhere! We looked over the otherside of the terrace and saw that the locals were still swinging in there hammocks, so it was definitely "situation normal"!

How to make friends in Ecuador without even trying? Go to Central Del Mundo hostel in Quito on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday. TV is switched off, 12 litres of free rum and coke arrives. Genius! Instant party!

Peru: Lima to Mancora.

I continued north to Lima, stoppping for a few days, before heading to the surf town of Huanchaco, near Trujillo. Then on to the surf town of Mancora in the far north of Peru. Um, do you notice a pattern emerging? Without further ado, heres some photos!The Guitar of Destiny Sticker Collection. This is so I can remember where I have been. So far, i have made it to Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Brasil, Paraguay and Peru. Wowzers.Miraflores in Miraflores, Lima. Ha ha ha. Spanish joke.Reed Fishing boats, Huanchaco. Arty photo eh?Chan Chan. So good they named it twice. These are some funky ruins by Trujillo, worth a look if you are ever in the area.

Sunset over the Pacific, in Mancora. Can never get enough beachy sunsets. We went to the same spot 3 days running to check this out!
And to finish... a Peruvian hairless dog. Que Feo!

Peru: Arequipa to Huacachina Oasis

Hello! I have returned to Darkest Peru, filling in some gaps that I missed back in 2005, on my short 2 week vacation here with Jimbo and Gav. That trip being one of the reasons I am taking a year out around Latin America. This time I entered the country at the Chillian border and am heading north towards Equador. First stop, Arequipa and 3 days trekking in Colca Canyon, to check out the scenery and Condors. I saw one huge condor here, swoop past my head. Some might say it had a 2 or 3 meter wingspan. Oops no photo though, it swooped away again moments later down into the mist, for some low level swooping.

Next stop, Nazca. Where I saw a giant spider, a spaceman and a huge monkey. No I hadnt been over induldging in Pisco, I was in a Cesner (swooping) over the Nazca lines, which had been etched into the ground in Pre-Inca times. Hummingbird! (I wanna be a) Spaceman!

Next on my tour I took a bus North to Ica, to stay at the desert Oasis town of Huacachina.We took a crazy rollercoaster ride over the sanddunes in a beach buggy. The driver was absolutely insane! I suspect he was formerly a taxidriver in Istanbul. When the screaming had died down, he would let us out for a bit of sandboarding. Nice!The tour ended high up in the dunes checking out the Sunset! Digsbys Dinner. Cuy, not Lasagna. Mmmm Guinea Pig heads. Que Rica! (Oasis jokes mercifully finish here.)