I caught the bus to Piura in Peru from Loja in Ecuador. I think it was about 9 hours. No problems at the border crossing, apart from trying not to get trampled by the pigs and goats wandering around. Once across the border I began to see lots of shanty town settlements which you didn't really get in Ecuador. And all along the roads by the shanty towns were piles of stinking rubbish, including at one point, what I think was probably a dead dog, although I had to s...

Things I have learned while travelling (part 2):- 10. A 'jungle lodge' is not as grand as it sounds.11. My expectations of plumbing and hygeine in accomodation have dropped dramatically.12. If the advertised length of the bus journey is 3 hours, this means it will take 4 and a half hours. If it is 5, then expect 7 hours, and so on.13. Choice of music on a long, solo bus journey through incredible scenery is cruical. DO NOT listen to anything emotional or thought...

After catching a bus from Otavalo to Quito I realised I'd underestimated how long it would take to get to the coast - another 8 hours, so I stayed the night in Quito and visited the Mitad del Mundo - a tourist village on the equator. I forgot to charge my camera so I don't have the obligatory 'one foot in each hemisphere' photo. I also visited an ethnographic museum with info on all the different indigenous tribes in Ecuador, of which there are many, all with t...

I'm spending 2 nights in the Andean town of Otavalo in the North of Ecuador. It's famous for it's handcrafts market and although the big market day is Saturday and I turned up on Sunday, it's probably just as well there weren't more stalls than there were as I hit the markets for a serious Christamas shopping spree. I have now set a new personal record for the amount spent on postage - 50 quid. This probably cancels out all the bargaining I did will stall holders...

I arrived at the Flor de la Amazonias animal rescue centre on Monday 22nd September. The power was off when I arrived so no water available either as the centre is on top of a hill and the water has to be pumped up it. This was not a great start but I settled in fine and immediately had a better feeling about it than I had at the Santa Martha rescue centre. I was sharing a room with 4 others again but this time at least it wasn't all in the same room as the li...