Guinea Pig Preparation and Cooking 101 On a long bus ride to Cuenca from Banos on what was arguably the slowest bus in the world (two turtles and a snail passed us) we stopped for a couple of hours at a village near Chimborazo (Ecuador's highest peak) to try the local delicacy of Guinea Pig. We were told that we would get to eat the Guinea Pig at this location but we got to see the whole process of guinea pig preparation from the capture and killing...

Banos is a really cool and popular tourist town sited at 1,800m above sea level between the jungle and the Andes. Its chief claim to fame, other than the natural springs from which it gets its name, is that the local church blesses the cars of the faithful every Sunday. Everyone who is anyone in Ecuador (or at least anyone who can afford it) will drive their new car to Banos to have it blessed. The ironic thing is that the car (and its owner) would probably be b...

We spent the last couple of days at a lodge on the Napo river in the Amazonian province of Ecuador. The 'eco' lodge was pretty nice, though the only eco part I could discern was the fact that the cabanas didn't have electricity so we had to use kerosene lanterns at night. Got to visit a couple of local Amazonian villages (the Quichua tribe) and saw how they lived, the bits I really liked were seeing how they hunt with blow pipes (3 meter long hollow rods...

Methinks that I've entered about as many blogs from experiences on transportation on my travels as I have about places and people. Anyway here is another one on Ecuadorian public transport on buses from Quito (2,850m) in the Andes to a lodge on the Rio Napo near Tena (~500m) in the Amazon basin. Leaving the crowds of Quito behind the bus climbed to a high pass (4,500m) in the Andes before descending to the steamy tropical jungles, winding down ridges with...

Wooooooohoooooooo, for the first time since June I'm back in the southern hemisphere. I flew into Quito, Ecuador today which is approximately 25km south of the equator. This is also my first time in South America, its always a good day when visiting a new country, let alone a new continent and leaves Antarctica as the only continent I haven't visited! Quito is located in the Andes and at an altitude of 2,850m above sea level is officially the second highe...