Farewell South America!

Since leaving Bolivia, we have covered a fair bit of territory - in fact 2 whole countries! We are currently in Ecuador and only have 3 days left of our time in South America, before we head into Central America.

Since La Paz, in summary the highlights have been:

• Whirlwind trip to Cusco, Peru and Machu Picchu - had a fabulous time cruising through the Sacred Valley on motorbike.


• A 4-day hike in the Cordillera Blanca Mountain Range in the Peruvian Andes. We staggered in the falling snow to our summit at 4750m. We were accompanied by a guide, a cook, 2 French-Canadian friends and 3 pack-carrying donkeys.


• Spending some well-deserved beach time on the Peruvian coast at Huanchaco - the beach didn´t compare to Sydney, but our accommodation was first rate (pool, mini-bar, TV in room - these are REAL luxuries over here), the seafood was delicious and drinking sangria by the beach sunsets went down a treat.


• Back to reality - we had an interesting border crossing into Ecuador (closely escaping an encounter with a dodgey cab driver at 5am), passed through the banana capìtal of the world in Machala (sorry Coffs Harbour) and arrived back up in the altitude (2530m) of Cuenca. Here we visited some local/indigenous markets, perused the beautiful colonial town and discovered the most amazing ice cream parlour..... it's never too cold for ice cream.


• Enough of the cold and the altitude, we travelled to the Ecuadorian coast and arrived in Puerto Lopez. We had fabulous accommodation at Hosteria Mandala - loved the individual bungalows on the beach, a hoard of board games (we HAVE spent 3 months together, so agruing over words in Scrabble was actually fun!!!) , sunsets and amazing pancakes at the Whale Cafe (yes, food again....)


• In need of a bit more beach, we went a bit futher south to Salango and stayed in cabañas perched right on the peninsula - it was just gorgeous. The beaches again weren't a patch on Sydney, but the hammocks heavenly and the serenity sublime.


• Out last stop in Ecuador is Quito. 1.4 million people and altitude of 2800m. The Old Town of Quito is very colonial and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1978 - lots of old buildings and churches. We took a cable-car above the incoming aeroplanes to 4100m to see the whole of Quito from on-high. Tomorrow we shall stand on the Equator and then we're off!