I was exhausted after my emotionally draining journey from lush to lame the day before. As is so often the case, the little Hostals I stay in are a complete respite from everything. Hostal San Jose, once I was deposited by the reluctant taxi driver, was a lovely little place run by a couple of sisters....no, not the nun kind, real sisters.Marcia, the owner, speaks English - even more now having just returned from visiting her son in Austrailia. The place was ...

Time for reflection Long bus rides are the best time for reflection. The ride from Vilcabamba, or Loja to be exact, to Piura Peru was to be eight hours….or so…..one never knows what type of bus you might be getting and how long the journey might actually take. I have come to love that randomness. Waiting in the early morning at the Loja station, I hoped I was in the right place as there seemed to be very few gringos around and that both worried and ...