LAMBAYEQUE: good bye Ecuador, hello Perú

Current location: click here

It was a nice feeling when I crossed the border to Peru. After almost 5 months, 8 countries and 25.000 km I'm back to the starting country and getting close to the end of this trip. I was happy not only because of tons of good things learned and experienced, but also because the lack of bad experiences. Even the most optimist must agree there is always a chance that something happens, gets lost or similar, but I had nothing to regret and this made the nice feeling really complete. The border crossing was again a time consuming experience, especially because it was at 3am that we crossed Aguas Verdes in Tumbes, Peru.

SANTA ANA DE LOS CUATRO RIOS DE CUENCA: what a name

Current location: click here

The flight from Puerto Baquerizo Moreno in San Cristobal island to Guayaquil went without any incidents. I spent one short nicht in Guayaquil and continued the next morning to Cuenca by bus, back to the heights of the south-american Andes. Cuenca is the shorter, most commonly used name of the city. It is Ecuador's third largest city and is located at 2.500 meters over the sea level. Cuenca was founded on April 12, 1557 as Spanish settlement by order of Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza, then Viceroy of Peru who wanted the city named after his home town of Cuenca, Spain. 

GALÁPAGOS ISLANDS: another dream becoming true

Current location: click here

After spending two days in Guayaquil trying to find the best cruise / boat trip combination, I still didn't know what would be the best option for me in order to visit the islands. One problem was that most cruise tours focus on selling the ship's facilities and comfort (or lack of them) and didn't want to commit to a route / tour of what you will see of Galápagos. Difficult were also the dates and length of the trips available; and their price. At the end I decided to go for island hopping (no cruise) and explore the islands "from land", aware that this will not provide the "full Gapalagos experience", but will help me decide next time when I come back to explicitly visit these islands; and I will!

SANTIAGO DE GUAYAQUIL: back to the Pacific Ocean

Current location: click here

Santiago de Guayaquil is Ecuador's largest and most populous (4 million inhabitants) city, and most important port at the same time. It is located is the western bank of the Guayas river, about 60km north of the Gulf of Guayaquil in the Pacific Ocean.
Guayaquil is not much of a touristic destination. It is however an important place for travelers going to the Galápagos islands, and that was the main reason for me to visit it.

BAÑOS DE AGUA SANTA: a place for adventure or relax

Current location: click here

Baños de Agua Santa is the place where Ecuadorians go for therapy with thermal waters for example in case of soared muscles; exactly what I had after the extra kilometers needed to get to Sigchos.
As it names suggests, Baños is also a religious center and pilgrim destination, making it one of the most visited places in Ecuador. The town is located next to the active Tungurahua volcano, with several waterfalls in the area. All these has added adventure tourism to the already booming town.

QUILOTOA: an active volcano with a lake in its crater

Current location: click here

Quilotoa is a small town in Ecuador that is becoming increasing attention from travelers.
The town is named after the volcano on which its located, and the lake that has formed inside the crater. It is an active volcano.
The reason for me to be here is the Quilotoa Traverse, a 3 days hiking tour starting at the edge of the crater, passing through the small village of Chugchilán and ending in Sigchos.
I've being looking forward to hike again since we left Quito. With an altitude of 3914m seems to be challenging and rewarding enough.

SAN FRANCISCO DE QUITO: ciudad Mitad del Mundo

Current location: click here

I'm surprised to see how many cities in south america have a rather long name that is not used in the praxis. Quito is one of them; its official name is San Francisco de Quito. Bogotá used to be called "Santafé de Bogotá" until 2001 when they shortened their name. Santiago de Cali, San Carlos de Bariloche, ... its a long list. It shows the strong religious influence the Spanisch conquistadores had when founding the new cities in the colonies.

IPIALES and OTAVALO: good bye Colombia, hello Ecuador

Current location: click here

The road between Popayán in Colombia and the border with Ecuador has bad reputation. The internet shows many reports and inquiries of worried travelers planning to use this road. But if you check carefully will see that most of these reports are a few years old.
I didn't want to ignore them and their recommendations but disliked the idea of being controlled by the anonym reporters commenting incidents somebody else told them. I checked with the local people and at the end decided to take a day bus to Ipiales and spend the night there before crossing to Ecuador. This was not a bad decision. 

POPAYÁN: the white city of Colombia

Current location: click here

Popayán is a small city located on the southwestern part of Colombia, between Cali and the border town of Ipiales. It is the capital of the Department of Cauca and has a population of 260.000 inhabitants approximately.

My interest in Popayán comes from its colonial setup and its architecture, with streets of houses all painted in white color, a big contrast to the colorful Cartagena as well as many other Colombian cities. Popayán was also home for more than a dozen presidents and has being a center of power in the country since its independence.

SANTIAGO DE CALI: the world´s capital of Salsa

Current location: click here

Have you ever heard Salsa music?  I assume you did. Now a more difficult question, do you know where does it come from? some will say the rhythm comes from Cuba eventhough it was called differently; others will say Puerto Rico. For most New York will be the right answer and even some will call Colombia salsa's birthplace. There is more than one city in the world that claims to be the place where salsa was borne.
But when it comes to the world's capital of salsa, there is only one answer (so far): Cali. The city will host this year's international festival and judging by the number of dancing schools in the city, it will be a BIG event. 

BOGOTÁ: the Athens of South America

Current location: click here

It's time for me again to visit a large city, Bogotá. Colombia's capital is located at 2.600 meters above sea level. With more than 7 million inhäbitants, also the country largest city. Founded in 1538 by the spanish colonizers, it was later the capital of  the Viceroyalty of New Granada until the independence  from Spain and capital of the Republic of Gran Colombia until 1831.
Our tour guide said Bogotá is also called "the Athens of America" due to its large numbers of students in one of the many local universities and its many libraries; I would add "and traffic jams".

MANIZALES: in the land of coffee

Current location: click here

Coffee! one of the most popular drinks in the world.  About 7 million metric tons were produced last year world wide, with Brasil and Vietnam as the two major producers. Depending on the coffee type Colombia comes next, and has being very successful creating the Juan Valdez brand.
Manizales is the capital of the  Departamento de Caldas in Colombia, and is considered the center of the country's  coffee production region. It's spring-like weather and the inviting coffee haciendas around the city makes it a nice place to visit.

MEDELLÍN: once the most dangerous city in the world

Current location: click here

Named the world's most dangerous city only two decades ago with about 380 murders per 100,000 people, Medellin has improved in a big way since the drug lord's death in 1993. Also known as the "City of Eternal Spring" due to its near-perfect climate, it has 2,5 million inhabitants (3,5 million for the metropolitan area), is the capital of the Departamento de Antioquia and the second largest city in Colombia after Bogotá.. 

Located in the northern part of the Andes, Medellin was outside the main colonial gold, silver and pirate routes. This was perhaps the reason why it did not get the same attention from the Spanish conquistadores as let's say Cartagena, and it wasn't until the Medellin Cartel illegal activities in the 70's and 80's that the city got worldwide attention, in a negative sense.

CARTAGENA DE INDIAS: a place in most pirate story books

Current location: click here

Founded by Pedro de Heredia in the name of the spanish King in 1533, Cartagena rapidly became a strategic stop for the spanish vessels on their route between Spain and the colonies. Combined with its slave market, one of the biggest in southamerica, Cartagena became a rich and prosperous city, So much that it turned into an attractive plunder site pirates and corsairs could not resist.
All this past has left visible signs everywhere in Cartagena, from the wall and fortifications, to its people, to its houses and neighborhoods. The city is very photogenic and lives now from tourism.

TAYRONA NATIONAL PARK: forest, fauna and beach

Current location: click here

The Tayrona National Park is a protected area in the Caribbean region of the Department of Magdalena 35 km east from Santa Marta. The park is about 150 square Km big and has a geography that goes from sand beaches to tropical forest and mountains as high as 900m. It is the second most visited national park in Colombia and home of some small Tayrona indian villages. The rain fall last year was extremely low and the park vegetation shows the results of this drought. This year's rain season is just starting.

SANTA MARTA and TAGANGA: at the caribbean see

Current location: click here

Santa Marta is a well known colombian city at the Caribbean coast. It is third in size in the region after Cartagena and Barranquilla. Quoting Lonely Planet: "Santa Marta is the place where colombians go when they want sun on their backs, sand under their feet and rum in their glasses". Sounds like a good place to be! After 4 months, around 20.000 km and 7 countries I'm now there, at the Caribbean sea.
For many travelers Santa Marta is also the base for reaching Taganga beach, the Tayrona National Park and Ciudad Perdida (The Lost City).

TABATINGA and LETICIA: a (too) short stop

Current location: click here

Tabatinga in Brazil, Leticia in Colombia and Santa Rosa in Peru are the towns at this three-countries border in the Amazon. Not part of the initial plan, leaving Brazil through Tabatinga and entering Colombia through Leticia turned to be the best route to skip Venezuela considering cost, time and also flexibility to flight to Lima via SantaRosa/Iquitos if the situation required as my father was at the hospital and it wasn't clear for how long.
Fortunately he recovered fast and I could continue travelling keeping my stay in Tabatinga and Leticia very short, too short perhaps.

MANAUS: a big city in the middle of the Amazon rainforest

Current location: click here

With a population close to 2 million inhabitants, Manaus is not longer a town but a big city located at the north back of Rio Negro in the middle of the Amazon rainforest close to the confluence of the Negro and Solimoes rivers.
Also known as "Paris of the Tropics", Manaus was once considered the richest city in south merica. This happened at the end of the 19th century, during the rubber boom years.

BELĖM DO PARÁ

Current location: click here

Belém do Pará is a busy port and capital city of the Brazilian state of Pará. It is located close to the Amazon river's delta, becoming its main entrance gate. Sugar trade, cattle ranching, coffee and  rubber plantations caused the region importance to alternately rise and fell. Today, the main income is obtained from aluminum, iron and other minerals, nuts, pineapples and other tropical fruits as well as hardwoods.
Belém is not one of Brazil's World Cup cities and most inhabitants of Belém are happy about this.

TIANGUÁ and UBAJARA NATIONAL PARK

Current location: click here

Without Venezuela in the plan, my new route to Colombia should go from Pantanal to Fortaleza, Belém, Manaus and Tabatinga. This change also removed some of the time pressure that had accumulated, allowing for longer stays or even new places. 

I was therefor glad when Inés, a good old friend from Magdalena del Mar, and her husband Jim invited me to their place in Tianguá. To get there I took a 5 hours van from Pantanal to Campo Grande, stayed overnight, flew to Brasilia, then to Fortaleza and took a 6 hours bus to Tinguá. I'm very good on all these by now and my friends and the fresh and mosquito free air in Tianguá more than compensated the effort.