Ecuador

Tena – white water rafting

Tena is a small, quiet town in the Amazon rainforest worth visiting if only for the trip on the bus. The views are stunning. We are only here for two days, a chance for us to break up the trip en route to our volunteering and also to try a bit of white water rafting!

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Ecuador

Quito – exploring the city at last

Back in Quito after our many excursions, we decided to spend a couple of days soaking up the city and exploring the old town. First stop on the list was the teleferico, which the guidebook described as a sky tram but was actually a cable car.

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Ecuador

Mindo – Cloud forest and evil spiders

Just a two hour local bus from Quito through stunning mountains and we are deposited into a tiny town deep within Ecuadorian cloud forest. I think we will come to prefer the cloud forest to the jungle, it’s essentially a tropical jungle with persistent cloud cover, making the place rather wet yet very green.

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Ecuador

The equator, middle earth, no Hobbits.

You really can’t come to Ecuador without including a short visit to the actual equator, our next day trip out of Quito. It’s about a two hour trip to the San Antonio parish north of Quito on some great local buses.

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Ecuador

Cuenca – hello Ecuador!

Ecuador is the world’s largest exporter of bananas, and as we drive past the enormous farms, we even recognise some of the brands from back home in Sainsbury’s

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Peru

Mancora – sunburn

On our travels, Mancora has frequently been recommended. Stories of a so-laid back it’s horizontal atmosphere, year round sun and surf made this our choice to say farewell to Peru.

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Peru

Trujillo – first taste of the Pacific

Our time in Peru is almost up and Trujillo is our first visit to the Pacific coast. Hours spent with my face glued to a bus window watching local village life fly past have become my favourite pastime.

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