Hacienda Rumiloma Quito

... days but everyone seems normal and v friendly so that is kool and the gang. There is a good mix of brits, aussie, kiwi and even polish...and a massive mix on age. Iīm trying to īplay it cool triggerī by not being too loud and just making sure I get around and speak to everyone in the group. No group dynamics at play yet but it does feel a bit like iīm a big brother contestant. All coolio though. Didnīt have long to see Quito before the tour started, but did ...

... in my step as if I just had been welcomed into town by the godfather of Popayan. We left the next day.

From there we had 2 choices. San Augustin, or Tierradentro. Both have statues. Neat huh? They are cool...they were left by a culture around 1100AD that carved these statues out of a solid rock to mark the entrances to tombs and burial spots. The ones in San Augustin have statues of people as well as animals depicting ...

... that was just before we found a ball. It was quite fun and I am definitely considering going there to spent some weeks working in the school. Afterwards we drove to Atacames, a bigger city nearby where we had lunch and while some stayed to check out the market and relax in the beach, I and a few others went home to rest. In the evening we went out again, the others early to go eat and me a little later as I liked to cook for myself, something I miss doing in Lumbisi where Mathilde ...

... next few stops on our trip. I have already met countless people taking a similar route to mine, some taking two months, some taking two years, and I expect to run into them along the way. After exploring the city we went out for pizza with a british kid for his birthday and then hit the bars of the Mariscal. We were all careful not to drink too much because the altitude alters ones ability to hold alcohol.

Yesterday we caught a bus an hour out ...

... begging it to stop. Oh and not to mention the hail that struck your face from time to time. Then add to that the fact that the ground was more like sand and when you took a step your foot sunk into the ground and then you were pushed back by the wind. I tried to spit once and forgot to turn and got it all over my face. By the time we got to the refuge my face looked like I had either been in a fight from the redness and swelling or I had gotten ...

... destination: Colombia. The though of spending a few days on buses, stopping in tin-pot towns that dont really interest me along to way didnīt really appeal to me all that much. Therefore i managed to find a cheap flight and avoid that whole ordeal.
And thus, after four whole days in Ecuador i am headed for Medellin, Colombia... the headquarters of Pablo Escobar, the second largest city in the country, and bound to be an interesting place to spend a few days!

... our plans had changed we moved out stuff out of the new room and put it into the hostelīs locker. Then we headed of to the New Town. We settled for The Magic Bean, a rather bright tropically decorated bar-restaurant with an excellent logo of a coffee bean sporting a rather fetching wizards hatī. It was a bit expensive in there but worth it as all of our meals were huge and our drinks were great too; I had a lovely falafel sandwich with an obscene amount of roasted potatoes, and an ...

Milli says:

On my first day off in 8 days of work I decided to skip the ‘very important’ staff meeting and go on the free walking tour that the agency at the hostel organised.
There were four of us in the end, with a guide and a translator for the guide. The guide was a really sweet girl studying at uni and knew a lot about the city but she really wanted to practice her English so it was win win for all of us.
We went first to the largest church, La Basilica, which ...

Today we left Santa Martha after two weeks. It was a great experience and we got to get so close to the animals in a way we never would have on a tour. It was such hard work though, Iīm not sure I could have handled another week! We met some great people and had a really good time though. My favorite job ended up being feeding the bear in the morning.. you could hand feed him ...

... blend of reggae and Latin which is extremely popular in Ecuador) while some men were circling around like lions eying out their next prey - not surprising considering the club's interesting entrance policies. While the others went off someplace else, Caleb and I spent most of the evening alone talking about almost everything from families, what we thought of Ecuador to conspiracy theories to what Caleb really thought of ...