Quilotoa.

Quilotoa is a teenyweeny village out in the sticks, visited for the sole purpose of seeing its stunning Volcanic crater lake. We got there on a miserable day with pretty much no visibility and so decided to stay a night in the hope of sunshine the next day. The village was barren, literally nowhere to buy fresh food to cook and the only houses that were there doubled up as hostals in order to make some much needed money from tourists. This was optimistic, the place was deserted but hopefully only due to it not being a busy season. We chose to stay in one owned by a lovely family who als offered to cook our meals in with the price. As the altutude here was so brutal, it was freezing at night and so our room had a wood burner and extra thick blankets; it gave us such nostalgia for british winter time. The next day was the clear sunny one we'd been hoping for and we viewed the crater in all of its majesty. It was one of the most beautiful sights we had seen on the whole trip. Perfect tranquil turquioise water filled a gnarly open topped Volcano, which was still active, and reflected the fluffy white clouds from above. It was a true Paradise. The people of this place were also a sight to behold, every single one of them coforming to the tradition dress - the Women with one singular plait at the back and a smart trilby which matched their velvet skirts and knee high socks, the men in similar trilby's, ponytails and ponchos.

Latacunga.

Hmmm not much to report on this place as we only stayed a night and for the sole purpose of going to the infamous Saquisili market, the biggest indian market in Ecuador, a short bus ride out which only happens once a week. The market didn't disappoint. It was a bustling rich array of all mannor of goods which filled seven plazas in the tiny town. Some dedicated to food, second hand clothing and antiques, homemade shot guns, artisan crafts and livestock. The latter was fairly upsetting, the animals were crammed into tiny cages or gagged and bound pretty much with bags over their heads. The smell was awful too, a mixture of chicken sh*t and fish that had been out in the sun too long. We didn't stay more than a couple of hours as it was unbearable after a while but we were glad we went.

The Equator.

So we got the bus to the Equator and it was awful. Literally a line painted on the floor that you had to pay to see and wait in line to get a horrible cheesy photo as a queue of impatient rich north American tourists piled on the pressure before they got their long awaited money shot. Not the romantic riding horseback over a sun strewn desertscape we had imagined. Wouldn't recommend it. We did however buy these amazing masks...

Ecuador - Quito.

Quito is the capital of Ecuador and rivals La Paz fo its high altitude and beautiful surrounding mountains. After a night in an overpriced cheap hotel we moved to an even cheaper but more pleasant one with a balcony looking out onto one of the main roads of the old town, a good spot for people watching. It turned out however that people watching within the hostal was actually more interesting as it became apparent that it was fully functioning brothel, airing all of its dirty laundry in public - there was never a dull moment. Hosting kids partys and providing rooms for backpackers was just an extra way of making cash for the weird owners and the doorbell rang non stop, allowing entry for all mannor of shady characters from the grimy underbelly of Quito and much to our delight the first extremely rare and refreshing sight of South American transvestites. What with this excitement, along with the fact that we were both riddled with nits and needed hours of treatments, we had no need to leave the hostal and actually explore the city too much. When we did however, we were impressed by the beautiful colonial architecture of the old town and the grandure of the churches and cathedrals dotted around. Time was ticking though and we had to move on if we wanted to see much else of the country in only 2 weeks.

Mancora.

Mancora is a Beautiful Beach located at the northern cost of Peru.  Its a small town centered around tourism, saturated with bars, resturants and hostels, Whilst we were there it was out of season and like a ghost town therefore desperation fills the air.  The quietness that came with being out of season was very welcome, apart from being approached by every restaurant owner, it felt carm and serene, exactly what we were looking for; we felt we had found a little slice of heaven to rest up in after the Amazon.  The beach was empty and didn't cost money - perfect and we had a kitchen where we cooked our own cheap delicious food and lazily sipped cocktails.  There did however turn out to be trouble in paradise.  On the second day we went swimming early on not realising how brutal the sun was and both ended up with sun stroke, red as lobsters and throwing up after drinking too much rum.
 We had to move hostel because the humidity was unbearable so we moved to a camp site, thinking it would be a lot cooler and breezier sleeping with just a mozzy net, see pic above, which it was!  However more problems were to insue when the make shift canopy above the mozzy net was only a sun shade, so when it stated to drizzle a slight bit one evening I began to worry.  The guy owning the place who had promised us a tent assured me it wouldn't rain heavy, as it got worst he the assured me the canopy had plastic sheets in that would stop the rain.  As it got even worse and the rain started to come through on to our mattress he pinned up a plastic sheet.  As it got even worse the plastic sheet started to leek buckets!  So all our stuff got soaked, and we had to sleep in the the kitchen on a soggy mattress being woken up every time our head nodded by blood thristy vimpires mozzys. 
After a restless night we went out for some lunch, when heads began to turn.  We got up to see what all the commosion was, when we realised a young and friendly from our hostel was being beaten up by six Peruvians.  Another foreign guy further down the road was also recieving the same treatment. It seemed they were attacking travellers. They had circled him kicking him from behind while he was down, the worst and most pathetic way to fight.  This went on for two minuties until the poor guy stumbled of with a bloodied face and when the police arrived he pointed out the attackers, and to our surprise they did nothing.  We found out from some locals the police wont do anything unless they saw what happened, which we found astonishing.  It was speculated that he was selling weed in the wrong area and this is why it happend but we'll never know.  The next day we saw the disgusting fat Peruvians that were attacking him as they smily faced, offered us deals in resturants, or in tour agencys and it made us feel sick. Sadly we left mancora with a bitter taste in our mouths.      - Lyndon

Local boy Roye.

Animals of the Amazon.

In the couple of weeks of being in the Amazon, we were lucky enough to encounter some incredible animals; whether it be in the wild or ones that had been rescued from being sold as Belen market trophies. Here are a few photo's I managed to get of some of my favourites...
The Sloth is such a beautiful creature and literally the cutest thing I have ever seen. They move unbelievably slow and constantly have a smile on their face which is too much when combined with their blinking kind eyes and tudor bobs. The Boah Constrictor was one of the most majestic creatures we got to see.  Its smooth flesh is so cold and liquidescent and it moves so gracefully but obviously maintains a terrifying  presence. They can grow up to 40 metres in the Amazon and are a real threat to boats travelling down river - a fact we learnt whilst doing so ourselves after hitting something huge and almost capsizing! Apparently they attack boats not knowing what they are and then once they're overturned have been known to savage the people inside. We were petrified..
There are so many species of monkeys in the Amazon that they cannot possibly be recorded and during our time there we were lucky to witness a few special ones. Each type is so unusual and different from another, some bearing long mustaches, some like tiny cats, some with multicoloured furs and insane calls. The one thing that pretty much all of them seem to have in common. and which makes them different and further evolved from the Asian or African monkeys, is their spiral tail (prehensile) which is basically a third arm to help them swing from the highest branches keeping them out of reach from their huge feline or reptilian enemies.
The Tucan has only ever existed in children's book illustrations for me up until now. I was so shocked and completely in awe when we got to see them up close. The vibrancy of the colours and the ridiculously large beak along with the noises it makes are insane.