La Piedra Hotel Bahia de Caraquez

The Lonely Planet had said about Canoa that its such a nice place that its hard to leave - and they turned out to be right! We dont usually stay places for longer than 2 or 3 nights and had planned to be in Canoa for 2 - and ended up staying for 4!

Its a small and chill place that doesnt have much apart from a nice big beach and loads of hotels, restaurants and beach shacks, and thats really all you need there (maybe apart from an ATM coz we ended ...

... us to the region to live.

We stopped in the most inviting place in town, the Coco Loco Hostel with its beautiful garden and hammocks set up in front. We had a very warm welcome at the hostel and the owner, Mau, begged us to let him ride our bikes - he had sold his bike a little while back and was just itching to get on one again - and so Sylvain made a deal that for a 15 minute ride, we would get the second night in the hostel for free. Sounds like a good ...

... where you work!!!. Had a bit of a look through Bahia, its a pretty small beach town on a peninsula. There was an earth quake here about 8-10 years ago and there are still abandoned apartment buildings, its a little creepy. Apparently its too expensive to demolish them so they just sit there. We walked along the beach and acquired a dog, it was so desperate to play ...

... sunburned back. I could hardly wear a shirt without serious irritation of my precious white skin. I realized a long 8 hour bus ride would be very unpleasant, so i decided to spend one more night and leave the following day. Well... the following day came and as i went to the bathroom i noticed something different than usual. I was ******* out my butt! oh this cant be good as my stomach rumbled. After running to the bathroom every 30 ...

... along the way. I will then head to the highlands and take a boat down the 4 day river into the large city iquitos. This is where the amazon river begins. I will then head down the river further, close to Brazil where I plan on staying in a village for a week or more. Hopefully spanish speaking, but I doubt it. I have no idea where the roads will take me, just a rough estimation ...

... encounters with some scarcely believable scenery - it appears that at least half of Ecuador is built on the side of a cliff! For long parts of the opening stage of the journey the road skirted drops where the floor of the valley was obscured by the steepness of the banks. It was remeniscent of some of the 'interesting' bus journeys in Bolivia, though at least the roads were of much better condition even if the standard of driving was not.

Apart from the inclination of ...

... money and I'm good to go." Well, I was perhaps a little overly optimistic. I have not pinned down the exact reason for it, but apparently trying to pay for anything without exact change is akin to tempting a cat into a bathtub filled with cold water. Here is a typical scenario: Scene: I want to buy a couple yummy-looking breakfast pastry for 25 cents each. Hand vendor a five dollar bill. Response: Sour look, a bit of quick Spanish-slangy discussion with nearby ...

... critters dig into you skin and lay their eggs in your skin, you kind of act like as the host for these flee like critters. For the record, I never actually showed a sign of the disease, but just about everyone else in the house was full of the scabs. In order to wipe this despicable disease off the face of the planet drum house, an extensive routine of body cream application, showering on special times, and washing absolutely everything in the house was needed. If it ...

... machetes for tree plantings is so far removed from the work that I am accustomed to, that it is much closer to therapy then it is as a job. In fact, I would not be the least bit surprised if at some time in the near future, yuppies bogged down with the burdens of middle class life and a growing sense of the world being ambivalent to their lives leave the day spas and weekend getaways for the jungle, machete in hand. The beauty of the therapy is in the ...

The cab ride from my hostel in Guayaquill mostely consisted of me complimenting the women of Guayaquill and my cabbie making geastures clearly indicating intercourse. Itīs always easy to talk to men about women. At the bus station, which is also a giant shopping structure I find myself imedetaly lost. There are a lot of shops, none really look like ticket booths and I have this giant pack on with all my gear in it. Its also about 80 degrees in ...