After Galapagos, I spent another four days in this - after all - great city. I settled in at the Blue House which is right at the center of the new town and close to all the cafè`s, bars, restaurants and nightclubs. I met some new people and hang around with them at the hostel - drinking beer, playing lots of Shithead games, BBQing - or playing table fusbal at Finn McCool`s - and of course drinking some more beer here.

Yes these last couple of days I spend a lot of time drinking and having a really good time. And why not, it`s fucking Quito!! My final place in Ecuador. But besides drinking and partying I also did some sightseeing. We went to the old town and visited the old Basílica del Voto Nacional and climbed the towers from were you have an exelant view over the city.

We also went up the TeleferiQo and did a hike up to Pichincha. That`s an mountain of about 4100 meters high. Great views again but I didn`t really felt that well because the night before we had a little fiesta untill 5 in the morning. So I didn`t got that much sleep.

Anyways, Quito is really great. Once you get it to know, you can have a really good time here. Not only for partying, also for the sights! :)

More photo`s and here and here!

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A dream came true when I booked my 5 day boat trip to the Galapagosislands. Its fucking expensive to get there and to do the boat trip, but worth every penny!! I booked my trip with Sarvaltours (Av. Amazonas). I wanted to get on the Merek boat - because I got an recommendation - but it was already full. So I got another good deal on the Guantanamera - a bigger boat for 16 people.

I left Quito sunday morning early - after a very short night - by plane. We were supposed to leave Quito at 11.30 and get to Baltra Island at 13.30, but the plane broke down in Guayaquil so we had to wait.. we waited about 7 hours for a plane!! Yes 7 hours. So late in the afternoon we finally departed from Quito, flying first to Guayaquil, waited another 40 minutes and than finally departed for Baltra Island. I arrived around 19.00 on Baltra and luckily my pickup was still waiting for me :)

Once on the boat - who had to wait for me for several hours :) - I met the other 15 passangers and the 6 man crew. The boat looked good and was pretty big. We started with a cocktail and our guide gave us a briefing about the next day. After the briefing we had diner which was a buffet - all you can eat!!

So these five days were basically this: get up at 7 or 8 and have breakfast. First activity is either snorkeling or a hike over an island. Come back to the boat for lunch - again a big buffet :) - do another activity like snorkeling or a hike and again come back to the boat for diner. The boat went from one island to another during the night which saved a lot of time.

Santa Fè Island

Unfortunately I missed the hole first day, so after my arrival the boat headed south to Island Santa Fè. After breakfast we got dropped of at Santa Fè island for a 2,5 hour hike. You are not allowed to do any hikes on your own, so our guide had to be with us all the time, watching us where we walked because there is only one path, crossing it was strictly forbidden!!

During our hike we saw one of the seven species of land iguanas. There were sooo many of them, unbelievable! All I can tell you about those animals is that each of them has there own territory, which is a Opuntia cactus. The bigger the cactus the better, because getting a female depends on how much food you have. So the bigger the cactus, the more fruits you have, the more females you attract :) Wonderful life! Also many sea lions and many different species of birds like the red-billed tropic birds.

After the hike we headed back to the boat for lunch and had a little nap :) Around midday we went for a swim and were able to snorkel around. There was not much to see unfortunately. We had diner on the boat and I went to bed early. I was so tired from the night before. The boat went from Santa Fè to Española Island during the night.

Española Island

We started our day with a nice swim in one of the bays of Española. After that we had a drylanding on the island, and there we saw so many sea lions, we could even almost touch them, so close we were. Again we had a wonderful hike on this island and we saw so many different kinds of birds like the Albatrosses and the blue-footed boobies, which are really beautiful!

Floreana Island

The last Island we visited was Floreana Islandwhich is famous for the Post Office Bay. Here you can drop of postcards without a stamp. Other visitors will have a look through all the postcards and take the once from there country or city with them and deliver them. So sometimes it was be within a week, but some cards will be there for a long long time. I hope my 12 postcards will arrive someday :)

After having posted all the cards we went snorkeling again, and this time it was really amazing because I swom with giant turtels!!! Yes they were really huge and so close. Also many sea lions were again playing with us. Everytime I dove into the water they did the same swimming around me :) This was definitely the best activity I did on this trip!

Santa Cruz Island

The fifth day we got dropped of at the Santa Cruz Island were we visited the Charles Darwin Research Station, home to the biggest turtels! I booked an extra day on Santa Cruz, so I had enough time to see those wonderful turtels walking around, eating and even pooping :)

Thank you Galapagos for the great moments!! It`s really a once in you life time experience.

More amazing photo`s are here!!

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Did you know that it`s already 5 months ago that I left Holland? Yes really, I am already 5 month underway and still have 4 more months to go. I am still enjoying every single day here in South America doing so many wonderful things, meeting so many amazing people, and sharing so many great moments with people from all around the world that I am really looking forward on my last 4 months. So far I traveled about 13.500 km through 6 countries! I traveled with 19 people from the UK, 14 from Israel, 12 from Holland, 8 from Germany, 8 from USA, 7 from Canada, 4 from Switzerland, 4 from France, 3 from Australia, 2 from New Zeeland, 2 from Italie, 2 from South Africa, 2 from Sweden, 1 from Malaysia and 1 from Papua New-Guinea. (Yes I keep a list :))

And because it`s 5 months, I made some top 5`s!

(these top 5 are based untill the 6th of August 2009)

Top 5 hostals so far
1. 1004 in Bariloche
2. El Pueblito in El Bolson
3. Damajuana in Mendoza
4. Holandes in Ilha Grande
5. Caroline Loding in Huaraz
(Loki in Mancora is also worth mentioning!)

Top 5 breakfasts (incl. the price!)
1. Sammy`s Hostel in Santiago
2. Izhcayluma in Vilcabamba
3. Caroline Loding in Huaraz
4. -
5. -

Top 5 best hikes
1. Huayna Potosì (6088m), 2 days trek, in La Paz - Bolivia
2. Huayhuash trek 10 days in Huaraz - Peru
3. Condoriri to Huayna Potosí trek 5 days in La Paz - Bolivia
4. Torres del Paine National Park, The W trek 5 days - Argentine
5. El Bolson trek with Kelsey, 2 days in El Bolson - Argentine

Top 5 fun nights out
1. Party in Mendoza with Kelsey and Caroline
2. Deja Vu in Arequipa with my spanish class on friday
3. Nightclub crawl in Cuenca with Felicia, Myles and Tamara
4. Deja Vu in Arequipa again, dancing all night with Irina
5. BBQ party at El Pueblito, El Bolson, with Kelsey, Monica and David.
(also going out in Quito on my first night here :))

Top 5 BIG cities
1. Arequipa - Peru
2. Cusco - Peru
3. Bariloche - Argentine
4. Buenos Aires - Argentine
5. La Paz - Bolivia

Top 5 small towns
1. Ilha Grande - Brasil
2. Vilcabamba - Ecuador
3. Mancora - Peru
4. Rurrenabaque - Bolivia
5. Paraty - Brasil
(also worth mentioning are Ushuaia - Argentine - and El Calefate - Argentine)

Top 5 beaches
1. Lopes Mendes beach on Ilha Grande - Brasil
2. Copacabana & Ipanema beach in Rio de Janiero - Brasil
3. Trinidade beach by Paraty - Brasil
4. Mancora - Peru
5. any beach on Ilha Grande - Brasil

Top 5 views from Hostels
1. 1004 in Bariloche - Argentine
2. Caroline Loding in Huaraz - Peru
3. Izhcayluma in Vilcabamba - Ecuador
4. Hostal Plantas y Blanco in Baños - Ecuador
5. Loki Manoca - Peru
(also worth mentioning Hostal Secret Garden in Quito - Ecuador)

Top 5 sunsets/sunrises
1. Sunrise on Huayna Potosì 6088m, La Paz - Bolivia
2. Sunrise on Machu Picchu, Cusco - Peru
3. Sunset on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janiero - Brasil
4. Sunset on Mancora beach - Peru
5. Sunset on Quilotoa crater - Ecuador

Top 5 worst bus rides
1. Bus to Rurrenabaque to La Paz - Bolivia
2. Bus Uyuni to La Paz - Bolivia
3. Bus to Mancora to Vilcabamba - Peru/Ecuador
4. any bus in Bolivia!!!
5. any local bus in Ecuador!!!

Top 5 places to go back to
1. Ilha Grande - Brasil
2. Mancora - Peru
3. Ushuaia - Argentine
4. Bariloche  - Argentine
5. Buenos Aires - Argentine

Top 5 best cardgames on this trip
1. Shithead
2. Kabul
3. Janif
4. 99
5. Asshole

Top 5 BEST MOMENTS!
1. Standing on 6088 meters!
2. Walking on the most beautiful beach on the world
3. Seeing parts of an glacier falling - Puerto Moreno
4. Walking with backpak on 5300 meters
5. Doing a 3 day trek alone - Fitz Roy trek - Argentine

And to finish it off, a list of the best activities done so far! In no particulair order!

- Huayhuash trek, 10 days in Huaraz - Peru
- Torres del Paine National Park, the W trek, 5 days
- Puerto Moreno Glacier
- Condoriri to Huayna Potosí trek 5 days in La Paz - Bolivia
- Huayna Potosì, 6088 m
- Salar de Uyuni tour
- Walking 60km from Arequipa to Cusco
- Fitz Roy trek
- Iguazu Waterfalls
- Favela tour in Rio
- El Bolson trek

So many wonderful things to remember and never to forget! Most of them because of the people I did it with of course! :)

Let`s go another 4 months!!

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After the peaceful days in Vilcabamba I continued my journey north to Ecuadors third biggest city calls Cuenca! The city is located in the highlands of Ecuador at 2500 meters above sea-level. According to many travellers Cuenca is the nicest city of Ecuador. It has many churches and other historical buildings, no wonder that the center of the city is on the UNESCO World Heritage Trust list.

I arrived pretty late that day and checked in at hostel El Cafecito, which is near the center and near all the bars and cafe`s. For only 6 US dollars a night I shared a 5 persons dorm, next to the cafe/restaurant of the hostel. It`s crowed until midnight, so sleeping before that time is rather impossible. I met Felicia from Australia, and together with her I went out for a diner at the real Colombian restaurant.. yes kinda strange eating Colombian food in Ecuador, but what the hell, it was good and cheap! After diner we had a few drinks at El Cafecito before I called it a night.

The next day I was checking my email at a internet cafe next door, when suddenly David walked in. He came to Cuenca a little bit later than me and stayed at a different hostel. Together we did a little sightseeing tour, but once you saw one church, you excually saw them all. Cuenca is nice for a day, but not longer! Later that day we met a Irish couple which we saw in Vilcabamba and all together we had diner. Next door from El Cafecito, at a small bar a live band was playing so we went over for some cervezas. The music was fun and I met some more people and also saw Felicia again. That night me, Felicia, Myles from Ireland and Tamara from Australia went out!! Oh man what a night we had in Cuenca. We started our little pub crawl a local cafe with again some live music, followed by a nightclub where we got in for free thanks to Tamara! Normally you had to pay 5 bugs.. anyway, the nightclub wasn`t that big, but the dance floor was just big enough for us to dance on the fast salsa beats. The club closed at three so we moved on to another club where we had to pay a 3 dollar entrance. But at least we where able to dance until 5 in the morning!

Me and Felicia got back to the hostel at half past 5 but talked until 6-ish. So it was a really good night out again.. the only problem was that me and David left for Baños at half past 7! So with only an hour of sleep David came to my hostel and woke me up. Half awake and still a bit drunk I packed my stuff quickly and we got on an 6-7 hour bus to Baños.. felt pretty good during the bus ride :)

Baños

Arriving in Baños we went for the place to be: Hostel Plantas y Blanco. With a nice roof terrace it`s a really good hostel. I went for a quick walk around the town, bought some food, and didn`t do much after diner. I was still sooo tired that I went early to bed. The next day I had chill-day. Doing absolutely nothing! Sometimes it`s just nice to sit arround, do some reading and drinking some Pilsener :) I also met Myles again and so the night started early. Before I knew I was dancing again at one of Baños cafe`s. I also found myself screaming at a karaoke bar :) Oh man it was a good night out again..

The next morning the hot baths were on the program, but having a bad hangover I skipped that. I went for a bicycle ride with two girls I met the day before - Shelly from Papua New-Guinea and Tali from Israel/USA. It was a really fun ride, but it rained too much and by the time we were out of Baños I was totally wet. But we continued until the waterfall del Diablo which was absolutely amazing! At one viewpoint you could even stay under the waterfall seeing tons of water falling down just a meter away from you. Never saw something like that before.

Quilotoa

Back in the hostal we warmed up and had a nice quiet (movie) night :) Because the next day, we got up at 5 to go to the hot baths. Now that`s a nice way to wake up and start the day. We took it easy and arround noon I and the two girls got a bus to go to the Quilotoacrater. So first a bus to Latacunga, and from there with a local (very bad smelling) bus to Quilotoa. The bus ride was amazing, so many wonderful views. Once in Quilotoa we got a hostel for 10 US dollars including breakfast and diner. There are many treks you can do here, but we only made the trek down to the lake which took about 30 minutes. After some relaxing we hiked up again in an hour. And at 1 we took the next bus back to Latacunga and up north to Quito! Well we had a little break in between that, because the original plan was to stay at Cotopaxi. But we couldn`t find a hostel so we had to go Quito.

Check for more photo`s here (no Baños and Quilotoa yet)

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