Ecuador! Still swaying and star struck from the Galapagos, Soumo and I have travelled close to 300 kilometres over the past two days, through the Andes in a combination of buses and pick up trucks.. The landscape is quite different to the Peruvian and Bolivian Andes and more like a cross between the Alps and Ireland, a lot greener and more cows! We visited a little co-operative town today called Salinas, at 3,500m above sea level, which produces chocolate, pasta,...

Sun, sand, surf, sea.. Ceviche and plump avocadoes that you would sell your children for.. After almost three months away from the coast and the first time by the Pacific Ocean since December, I have reached the sunny surf village of Mancora in northern Peru. The last few days have been wonderful..kicked off the hiking shoes, jacket and winter hat and found the sarong in the bottom of the backpack and settled down for some serious hammock gazing.. I am staying at...

Back in Cusco today after a week in the Valle Sagrado (Sacred Valley) after taking the advice of a friend of a friend who lives in one of the little villages in the Valley to go slowly through this part of Peru.. Good advice and it was very hard to leave yesterday.. The photos (which I will load later today) will tell the story better than I can but briefly I left Cusco last Monday morning with my little daypack packed with enough clothing and bits n pieces to la...

So, in the dead of night last night I left my beloved Bolivia.. It still hasn´t quite sunk in and fortunately the landscape and people haven`t changed too much so as to induce withdrawal symptoms and shock.. Marco and I arrived in the city of Arequipa at the ungodly hour of 3.30am..never a brilliant time to be in a bus station in any city, least of all one that has a reputation for ´thieves hiring licensed taxis and luring unsuspecting tourists who are then kid...

Wow..after a slow journey by boat to Isla del Sol from Copacabana (we had two engines but the driver only wanted to use one..is this why I like Bolivia so much?!), we arrived in the little harbour to start our walk across the island.. Fortuitously I had, by chance, met up with Marco, whom I had met in Rurrenabaque a few weeks ago, in the main street of Copacabana the day before and we were both headed to the island the following day.. So, the island is about 9kms...