We wanted to spend at least 3 weeks in Peru and were enjoying Ecuador so much we realized time was closing in on us. So to get to Peru, we ended up travelling a lot over 4 days – long bus rides snaking through the southern sierras of the Ecuadorian Andes and into the desert of northern Peru. Fascinating sights of deforested mountains, hardworking people with few amenities in their lives, and stunning vistas. Most of the women in the south of Ecuador continu...

This is a quick entry. We spent a couple of days in Banos. Tried out the thermal baths for which the town is named. I have to say it is a bit creepy bathing with a crowd of strangers (we all had bathing suits on)! We are on a constant search for good coffee and mostly, cannot find it. Although in Banos, we not only found decent coffee we also found the best breakfast ever - fruit, yoghurt, pancakes and cane syrup served on a rooftop terrace surrounding by mounta...

Our rest and few days in Mindo changed dramatically…Susan, the owner of Caskaffesu, had mentioned that we couldn't stay there after 4 nights because a Miami-based medical mission, which Susan volunteered with every year, was coming to town and would be filling up hers and other local facilities. This group of about 100 medical and non-medical volunteers would see all the students of a local Catholic school and their families then anyone in the town and the ...

Mindo, Mindo, Mindo…wow! Mindo is a haven for birdwatchers. For us, it was a rest stop – some needed down time after 2.5 weeks going non-stop in addition to the craziness of Edmonton (Donna), work (Jim) and packing before we even started our trip! Little did we know what was in store for us here. We began our stay by checking into a hostel called Caskaffesu – an oasis with a garden, great coffee (finally), lovely music playing in the restauran...

Oh my! Our Spanish doesn't seem to be improving much. We repeat over and over, "no comprendo" and it's rather embarrassing. Maybe attending a Spanish school is in order at some point although we (or at least Donna) have talked about this since we travelled in Guatemala in 2001 and still have not done it. Accumulating 'stuff' during our travels, especially early on in the trip, is not what we want to do but visiting the largest market in Ecuador on its biggest da...