Ola amigos and amigas!

It´s been quite a while since our last update, so now you will be rewarded with an extra long one...

Yes, after almost one month it´s time to leave Peru and move to Ecuador, the last country in Latin America we will visit on our trip before heading to Central America. As true ´stars´ we travelled VIP- class (yes, a bus with blinded windows, leather fauteuils where we both can fit in twice and a sexy stewardess) from Huanchaco to Piura (Peru), a 6 hour trip for just Eur 3,75,- per person... From Piura we jumped on a bus to Loja (Ecuador), the busstation in Piura was closed but opened its doors just for us... hmmm, VIP´s... In contrast to our busride in Peru this was a pretty ´Spartan´ ride: freezing cold, no space for our legs, and the company of 50 teenagers all very excited about a schooltrip to Ecuador...

Although Loja is not really the most exciting town it was a good hub for us to get adjusted to Ecuadorian ways of doing and arrange our tickets to Galapagos. Arranging something here is something you need to be very patient for... of course the usual struggle to pay for something that costs more than 100 USD also presents itself here....

1. A nice website with online payment possibilities that ..... doesn´t work.

2. Possibilities to pay with Mastercard at the TAME office (YES!).... just not today....

3. A non- cooperative bank that doesn´t upgrade our daily limit of cash withdrawals from the ATM....

But in the end we managed to pay and get what we wanted... we go to GALAPAGOS!!!

From Loja we moved deeper into the Ecuadorian Southern Andes, to the village of Saraguro (¨golden maiz¨), referring to the fertile grounds in the surrounding mountains. Saraguro is a truly indigenous village where the Saraguro people, descending from the Incas, live in harmony with the descendants from the Spaniards. It´s a ´feel good´- town with very friendly and mostly traditionally dressed inhabitants. It´s the first place in Latin America where men are also dressed in traditional clothes, consisting of black 3/4 trousers, black shirt (sometimes covered with a very bright- coloured cape) and a Michael Jackson- style hat (he´s alive?!). Women wear long black skirts, black top and very colourful necklaces, sometimes complemented by a colourful blouse with black voiles. Completely different from the Quechua-people in Bolivia and Peru. As we were the only ´gringos´ in town we were as much an attraction for the locals as they were for us.... that made things definitely less complicated.... Our days in Saraguro felt like we were watching a movie about daily life in a traditional Indian village... this village definitely has conquered a special place in our hearts. Besides ´watching the movie´ we hiked to the ´Baño del Inka´, a waterfall in the communidad of Ñamarín, close to Saraguro. It is a beautiful place which made us realize that we should appreciate all the small wonders of nature equally as much as the potentially New 7 World Wonders like Machu Picchu and the Salt Flats of Uyuni...

Moving further North we went to the city of Cuenca. Cuenca is a rich and beautiful city with lots of churches, nice plazas and a great climate (eternal spring!). Here we spent some days hanging around, wandering through the streets, getting a sun tan on the roofterrace of our hostal and meeting Z (yep, just Z). Z is an Autralian dude who we met in Huanchaco (Peru) already. We had some experimental food in a local restaurant and after that the night evolved into philosophical one contemplating about life... this was the right time and the right place for a night like this...

From Cuenca we moved slowly in the direction of the Galapagos Islands and we went to the city of Guayaquil, the largest city of Ecuador (yes, REALLY large!). Although there were many reasons NOT to come here... it´s a very criminal and violent city, it´s humid and very hot, there is no well- developed infrastructure for tourism, etc, etc....we came to Guayaquil because our flight to Galapagos was departing from here (cheaper then from the capital Quito). We searched for hours to find a place to sleep, for hours to find a ´lavanderia´ (go there, no go there, no... there, no there are no lavanderias in Guayaquil...

). Although the boulevard (Malecon 2000) and the old district of Las Peñas were great we left Guayaquil with mixed feelings... especially when a few days later we heard on national television that a again someone was murdered on the street around the corner from our hostal....

Then........... GALAPAGOS! Arriving at the Galapagos Archipelago from the criminal hotspot of Guayaquil evoked a range of emotions:

- Unconfortable because we were the only people who were not picked up from the airport by a guide or a hotel. There we were in Galapagos.... what now? The whole Archipelago is a National Reserve which can only be visited with guides... so...

- Disappointment at first sight because we had a picture in our minds of totally wild, pure and more or less uninhabited islands with turtles everywhere. But they are pretty well developed like villages on the mainland....

- Excitement (the ´wow´- factor) because of the different nature, skies, soil, clouds.... compeletely different from anything we have ever seen before.

Having spend one day on Isla San Cristobal we the mix of emotions (and more or less fantasies) changed into a slightly more realistic picture and we already knew that we wanted to stay longer than the intended 4 days. So at Isla Santa Cruz we changed our flight back to Guayaquil so that we have 6 days in the Archipelago. It is not as expensive as we assumed (after reading information about travelling to and in the Galapagos Archipelago). Only getting there and the entrance fee of 100 USD per person is a big bite from our budget... . Last- minute cruises (supposedly the best way to travel between the islands and see the most) were not available for the days that we were there, so we decided to do some island- hopping on ourselves. The daily charter boats between the islands made this mode of travelling possible and affordable. We visited 3 islands, isla San Cristobal, isla Santa Cruz and last but definitely not least isla Isabela. On the isla San Cristobal, the most eastern island of the archipelago, we rented bikes to visit the sea lion colony of La Lobería and the Interpretation Centre which provided information on the origin of the islands and the problems it faces today due to climate change and illegal migration to the islands. Another day we spent on going to the other side of the island, to a beach called Puerto Chino, to spot the male frigate birds. With a pick-up truch taxi we and some rented mountainbikes in the back went there. On the way we visited La Galapaguera, a new breeding centre for the land tortoises of San Cristobal. From Puerto Chino we drove to the highest point of the island called El Junco - the only freshwater lagoon in the archipelago. After hiking around the lagoon we unloaded the bikes from the truck and went downhill and highspeed for one hour back to Puerto Baquerizo Moreno (wow, what a chique name for a village). On the way down we stopped at El Progreso, the first industrial activity in the Galapagos islands, which provided income for the locals but at the same time distroyed more then was intended... Puerto Baquerizo Moreno is a relaxed village where people and sea lions share the streets with eachother (yes, the sea lions are walking and sleeping on the streets....). A unique thing for Latin America is that you don´t hear so much people screaming and shouting, but the sea lions.... especially the ´preacher´ and his followers who agree with him or not.... loud protest ór consent.... Isla Santa Cruz and in particular Puerto Ayora (the biggest town on the island) has a very different vibe: less relaxed, more tourism, expensive souvenir shops and a lot of fat rich American tourists....On Santa Cruz we visited the Charles Darwin Research Center (Darwin questioned the theory of creationism here and formulated his hypothesis of ´the origin of species´) and its Centro de Crianza (breeding centre) for the giant Galapagos land tortoises and land iguanas. We met Lonesome George there. Who? Lonesome George is the oldest land tortoise still alive... We also wanted to see the highlands of Santa Cruz to get a good mixture of flora and fauna, but unfortunately the weather didn´t cooperate. We also went to Bahía Tortuga, a beach where we met numerous sunbathing marine iguanas, where we finally got close (face to face) with boobies.... blue footed boobies to be more specific, and we swom between sea turtles, pelicans, frigates, boobies and some small ´rats´ called Darwin´s Finches (they eat form your hands... not scared at all...). Isla Isabela (the biggest island of the archipelago but one of the least inhabited) is definitely a paradise. Puerto Villamil, the only village on this ´young´ volcanic island (just about a million years old.. it´s nothing....), has only a few sandy streets with palm trees, a long white sandy beach, fantastic sunsets and a very laidback vibe. One day we hooked up with an Australian couple and a Spanish/ British couple and we arranged a cheap trekking of 8 hours to volcano Sierra Negra. This volcano has the second largest crater in the world with a diameter of 11 kilometers. It was very impressive to stand next to this gigantic black lake of stones and lava... we continued the trekking to volcano Chico with dramatic lava formations. Wow! The other day we hiked and biked to the Zona de Humedales (wetlands), an area of 6 km with different ecosystems ranging from green water lagunas, mangrove forests, swamps, etc. Although the traffic on the route was not too bad, we still had to deal with heavy traffic consisting of turtles and iguanas on the way .... We also went to the Muro de Lagrimas (wall of tears). This wall was build by American Second World War prisoners who built it as a punishment. Impressive. Back on Isla San Cristobal, ready for our flight back to Guayaquil, we were welcomed by our amigos sea lions. They were still screaming as before and the ´preacher´ is still preaching devotedly to his followers who still loudly protest or consent.... We will miss this place. Galapagos made a deep impact on both of us. yes, we will definitely miss this place.... Contrasts - a word which seems to be the red line during our trip so far...

After the pristine nature of Galapagos, its humid climate, its flat volcanic landscapes, its unique animals, we went to the town of Latacunga in the Ecuadorian highlands of the Central Andes. Latacunga is not the most beautiful city there is, but it´s a goog starting point for our trip to Parque Nacional Cotopaxi. Despite our expectations Latacunga turned out to be a true party-place, all because of the 4-day fiesta of Mama Negra (Black Mother). The festival consisted of colourful groups of dancing people all belonging to their own specific church, men carrying pig carcasses decorated with bottles of whisky and other spirits om their back, ´mama negras´ dancing through the crowds, children blessing spectators for money and lots (I mean LOTS of alcohol) ... all this to prevent future eruptions of the vulcano Cotopaxi... After having experienced 1 day of the fiesta we headed for a 4 day trekking in Parque Nacional Cotopaxi. We and our ´poco loco´guide William took off for the North Face of Cotopaxi. Starting at Laguna Limpiopungo we started an 8 hour trekking to the top of vulcano Rumiñahui. It was a beautiful but f%&king heavy hike and climb to the top at almost 5000m. With our heads (literally) in the cloude we celebrated our victory of reaching the top and beating our enemy called ´Altura´. Thhis is even better then an orgasm (at least according to William...). Just after sunset we finished our descend and set up our tents at the foot of the snowtopped, perfecty cone-shaped, Cotopaxi. Not bad. Not bad at all. After a campfire with some bullshit stories it was time to go to sleep. But the animals in the Parque Nacional had other plans for the night... wild cows and horses liked the camping area pretty much as they walked, mooooooood, pissed and shitted almost on our tent. At least it sounded like that.... The next day we went deeper into the park to the South Face of Cotopaxi. We stayed in a mountain refuge at 4200m. From the refuge we made another 5 hour hike to Santa Barbara and the canyons. From here Cotopaxi looked again completely different from the day before. Amazing. That day the wind was so strong that we had to fight to keep standing straight and not to be blown of the mountain into the canyon. The way from the mountain down to the canyon was extremely steep. The easiest way to go down was on the ´cula´ (ass). Marco managed to sandsurf downhill (or something close to that) and Lina tried the ´cula- method´ which had as a result a even hotter ass than she already has.... The third day the plan was to go to Quilindaña, a mountainous area with beautiful lakes. But as we were almost at the point from where we would start the 2-day trekking, the 4x4 truck got stuck. Really stuck. The weather was pretty bad here. Around the corner the sun was shining. And then... a matter of waiting, hoping that some jeep would pass and pull us out. As it´s a very remote area and chances of passing traffic are pretty small, we packed all our stuff including tents and food, preparing for a night being stuck... Fortunately a jeep was passing and 3 completely loaded guys helped to pull our car out. Because of the bad weather we changed plans and went to the village of Chugchilan, to visit Laguna del Quilotoa the next day. Laguna del Quilotoa is a beautiful volcanic crater lake at 4000m altitude with sometimes green and sometimes turquoise water depending on the interaction between sun and minerals. The 5 hour hike around the laguna on its crests was a again ´wow´- worthy! Finishing our trip with black and brown trousers turned grey, with bruises everywhere, with hurting muscles all over, but again with unforgettable memories! An unforgettable experience!

Back in Latacunga ready for some good sleep, the f&%king Mama Negra fiesta was still alive and kicking.... right under our window.... the salsa rhythms even made our bed move (yes, just because of the music...).

Our last days in Ecuador we spent in Quito, the country´s capital. Although we knew its reputation of not being the safest city, the first evening in the centro historico this was confirmed. At 21.00h we made a stroll around the old town just to go for a beer on a saturday evening. But the city was dead. Everything was closed and (almost) no people around... strange.... and then, yes, we got robbed again... almost.... This time we were lucky that some people were around the corner and we didn´t take anything else then just 15 USD. Reasons to take a taxi to the fancy (and save) district of La Mariscal. There we entered a New World. Nightly traffic jams, party dressed people, dozens of uber- trendy bars and clubs, something we didn´t see in 3 momths travelling (and even at home...). To be honest: it was quite a shock! The beer was ok though and our 15 USD disappeared as fast as the beer... result: not enough money for a taxi back to the old town... In the end we found some agitated taxidriver how was stupid enough to drive us ´home´ for half of the normal price... Yes, Quito is a beautiful city. Really. But its people don´t seem to fit. We left Quito with mixed feelings, but Ecuador ´mi pais´ is a true paradise! Guatemala here we come!

PS. Unfortunately we have had some serious problems with the photos, we lost quite a few from Galapagos. Damn it! Hopefully you will get a good impression how it was anyway...