We spent Thursday daytime exploring the old town of Quito, though didn't have much luck in terms of things actually being open for us and so had to content ourselves with visiting the Jesuit church rated as the most stunning in all of Ecuador. After lunch break from the rain with the locals in a small cafe and a bit more mooching around we headed back to the hostel in a taxi where the driver was a hard taskmaster in testing me on my Spanish by getting me to pron...

I'd like to say that the bus to Latacunga on Monday, being only 2 hours long, was easy and uneventful. Once we got on it was, but therein lied the excitement! As we got to the station in Banos the bus was about to leave and so we all threw our bags and were then ushered into the office a few yards away. Not really thinking, we all quickly went and bought our tickets only to turn around to find that the bus was no longer there!!In that one moment the lot of us s...

After an ear popping bus ride back up into the mountains we arrived in Banos in the rain on Friday night and after getting dropped off in the most ridiculous of places that was a pickpocketers dream we found a hostel and then went for a Chinese. Saturday afternoon was spent around town and trying to local speciality, taffy, but only after an ill-fated trip to the supposedly 'essential Banos experience' that was a visit to the hot baths. All it basically was was ...

The last few days since leaving the chilled out salsa beats of Cuzco behind can be summed up pretty easily: Sunday: lie in in Cuzco then 22 hours on a crap bus sat next to a big smelly local guy who snored. Result = arrive in Lima with next to no sleep! Monday: walk round the bohemian area of Barranco. Then spend the evening at the artesan fair where a friendly Colombian family clearly thought I was sone kind of pimp! Cake!! Tuesday: to make use of the stopove...

It seemed like things were going from bad to worse on Thursday night as the hostel we wanted to stay at had no room but the manager hooked us up with beds for the night with one of her friends, and after cancelling all my bank cards we had chicken and chips as a quick but bargain of a tea and then got to bed, though I was still going over everything in my mind whilst trying to forget about it and learn for next time. On Friday morning whilst Heather and Becky w...