Okay..... day by day... obviously not going to work..... as it has been over a month..... so instead I'm going to do a quick overview now, and then try to be better with short, more frequent, updates. Sound good?

So, my friend, Sarah Penner, and I had quite the adventure the first five weeks. We started in Quito, Ecuador on Oct 18th, and did a three week tour all over the country. We went canyoning (climbed down waterfalls) in Baños, rafting in the Napo River, swam in a gorgeous natural pool in the jungle, zip lined over a canyon, burnt on the beach, hiked on the tallest volcano in the world, shared our beds with cockroaches for two nights, and I'm pretty sure I have a few more stories if I had the time (I'm keeping a diary... so Im sure Ill fill you all in later).

So our little Ecuadorian adventure ended Nov 6... on to Peru.

Sarah and I started our solo trek (not on a tour) with the longest, sketchiest, overnight border crossing ever.... okay.. huge exageration... but the bus did drop us at the border and then left with our bags... then we caught up to them.. and got them back. Then we walked over the border with a Chilean man who spoke no English... so my limited Spanish led us to a shared taxi ride to Tumbes, Peru... then we found a minibus to get us to Mancora, Peru!!

So we spent a few days in Mancora.. did some surfing.. then headed to Trujillo.. then Casma.. and then Lima.

From Lima we flew to Cusco to aclimatize for a few days. After that we continued to Ollantaytambo and then Aguas Calientes (by now this will make absolutely no sense unless you have a Peru map in front of you haha.. so if you do, we started on the coast at the Ecuador border, then we headed South to Lima, then flew East to the Andes). In Aguas Calientes (in English, hot water) we headed up the mountain to Machu Picchu. Gorgeous!!! Beyond my expectations!

After we wandered the ruins for 6 hours, we started our 4 hour train ride back to Cusco. And from there, we had a short flight back to Lima. This is where Sarah and I spent our last three days as travel companions..... I still miss her. Sarah headed back to Canada on Nov 24th.

So you are probably wondering where I am now. I have now settled in to my home for the next month in Casma, Peru. I'm staying in a lovely homestay in the department of Ancash... basically a city on the coast 5-8 hours (depending on how reliable your bus is haha) North of Lima. I'm practicing my Spanish here and teaching some English.

Anyway, this is where I will be until boxing day. I'll try to post a few updates about what I'm doing here though... just so I don't leave you hanging for another month haha.

Love and miss everyone back home!!!!