On our way to Loja we jumped off the bus in a small town called Saraguro. We were surprised to find a nice hotel there (we were expecting to rough it!), dumped our bags and took a walk around the town. The people dress very traditionally there, the men with short black trousers, long pleated hair, ponchos and black hats and the women in black dr...

It was such a pretty hotel - why did it have to let us down so? Big room, grandma style with frills, a tv with 2 trashy English speaking channels and some beautiful narrow streets outside lined with the best of colonialisation. And then the fight. Some drunken friends playing cards in the foyer down below and there is a moment, just a moment at ...

I had been holding high hopes for Ecuador during my last days in Peru. Ecuador has for a long time seemed a rather majestic and forgotten about place. Tucked in between the drug lords of Columbia and the great tourist mecca of Peru, is has been rendered dwarf. In a continent of Brazils, Argentinas and the politics of Venuezula, Ecuador seems to ...

I parted company with my Canadian friend leaving Cuenca as she fancied some beach time in the north of Peru and the route via Loja would mean she'd have to back track up the coast. As chance would have it, on the bus from Cuenca to Loja, I met Jo form UK and John from Australia, a great couple who were heading to Peru on my route too..We arrived...

Home to one of Ecuadorīs top universities... urm, was really just an over-nighter, these photos are from the journey to the Peruvian border, which was the best border crosiing of the whole trip. Easy, quick and no money, finally! The road from Loja to the border was excellent, although I ended up on it by accident due to Ecuadorīs fabulous road ...

Stopped for a couple of nights and one full day in Loja. I actually rather liked the city if not the spooky hotel which I stayed at - no lights , no other guests except me , long pitch-black corridors , banging noises in the night and managed by a muttering old lady and what appeared to be her hyperactive juvenile grandchildren. Anyway Loja the ...

In Loja for a day, we decided to visit one of Ecuadorīs national parks, situated a few kilometers outside Loja. We didnīt think we needed a guide and for once we were right, that would have been useless, but it took us a bit of time to get there. We started our walk at 7.45am not knowing too much where to go, we were just asking locals ever now ...

Zaterdag 31 mei 2008 Na veel te lang geluierd te hebben op het strand, wilden we nog wel eens een eindje wandelen of hiken. Het Podocarpus Nationaal Park, dat op een half uurtje rijden van Loja ligt, leek ons de ideale plek om onze benen nog eens te laten werken. En jawel... ze hebben hard mogen werken!! We wisten helemaal niet wat we moesten ve...

We are officially in Ecuador since 10 a.m.! It has been a hell of a long trip but worth every minute, bump, land slide and litre of sweat. So thats the 8th country for the time being, and the last one in South America. It was only 3 hours on the Peruvian roads, but the contrast was huge - passing from desert and heat to green forrest and tropica...

SO Ecuador at last (im actually in trujillo... yo se yo se mentirosa!!!) heres the deal my visa ends april 17. and apparently it is easier to cross the border than deal with peruvian bureacracy...brilliant. SO left on sunday afternoon at 130 pm with Els and her friend Asha. Asha has been volunteering in LaPaz for five months in a womens prison -...