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!!!!

Oct 23rd... Day 5

Sarah and I decided to have a chill day. Most of the group decided to go to "The Poor Mans Galapagos" to do some snorkeling and hiking. It would have been neat to see the blue footed boobies and such, but we decided a regroup day was a little more important.

So we rolled out of bed at noon for some breakfast, put a little aloe on the shoulders (and our burns were probably the least in the group haha), and I finally checked me email (thanks to Chris... as some of you may have realized my email got hacked the day I left.. so hotmail locked me out. I needed a cell phone number in order to regain access to my account... and since I'm in South America, I seem to be lacking a cell phone number... so my apologies to all those that received some span from my account).

That night we went for a group dinner to celebrate one of our group members 70th birthday!! I guess on that note it's probably a good time to introduce the group. So, you already know Sarah and myself are on this tour. Then we have a couple from BC, Oscar and Joy. There is a lady from just outside Calgary, Janice. We have a few more young ladies, Kim from New York and Sarah from the UK. We have a charming young man from Switzerland. We have another Canadian girl joining us a little later in the tour names Erin. And lastly, our lovely leader Giovanny!

Anyway, for Oscar's 70th birthday we followed the Ecuadorian traditions... he basically had to smoosh his face in to his birthday cake... and then that was followed with a belt beating for every year. He was a pretty good sport about it.

Oct 22nd... Day 4

The bus was long. My sleep... was not so good. But we did watch a Van Damme flick.... which does not particularly make you want to sleep.. a little too much fighting to be considered a bed time story.

Anyway, we arrived safely in Puerto Lopez bright and early in the morning and hopped on a tuk-tuk to take us to our hostel. There we all opted for a little nap before breakfast.. as I don't think many people slept all that much.

After our nap.. and breakfast.. we all decided a beach day was in order.... most of the group decided to work on their tans, and a few of us decided to go for a hike. Gorgeous. The beach was in Machililla National Park. I'll get a picture up here as soon as I can. It's pretty desert like, but the sand an the ocean.. so pretty.

Oct 21st... Day 3

Today was another day in Quito (the capital of Ecuador)... and we decided we wanted to go to the equator (Mitad del Mundo). So neat! I figured we would just go and stand on the a nice little painted line and take a picture.. but it was oh so much better than that! There's a "museum" there.. and there's all these nifty things you can do while standing right on the equator. We had a guide that showed us all these things they've discovered... you can balance an egg on a nail, because the yolk settles inside the egg to make it balance... water doesn't funnel (either does air.. but water was easier to see), so when you pour water our it just drops straight out without turning clockwise or counter clockwise, but if you stand a meter of the equator it funnels in the appropriate direction...... also you're crazy week when you straddle the equator...

Anyway, that took up most of our day............ on to the night bus to the coast! Here we come Puerto Lopez.

Oct 20th... Day 2

Today was the first day of our tour, but it was a day to ourselves because people were arriving at all different times. So, Sarah and I decided to take the day to explore Quito. We started with a nice late lunch at Coffee Tree (despite the English name.. there was no English spoken there... as there is no English spoken anywhere in Quito we quickly realized).

After breakfast we caught a taxi to the Old Town and just had a look around, and then headed to the market a couple blocks from our hostel.

That evening we met most of our group. We have quite the eclectic bunch. Should be fun!

Oct 19th... Day 1

So most know I'm a little bit of a procrastinator... well, there were no exceptions when it came to my packing.

My flight left at 8:30am... and I was packing until 4:30am.... oops.

It worked out just fine though (minus the fact that I think my backpack is a little too full... but when you finish packing at 4:30am you have no time to repack). Anyway, Sarah Penner and I boarded our flight bright and early and didn't arrive until 11:00pm. It could have been a long day, however since I only slept an hour the night before I pretty much slept the WHOLE way down. It was lovely.

Anyway, first impression of Quito..... no one seems to be on the streets at 11:00pm...

Alright... let's do this.

So.. I'm back in Quito... and I'm going to see if I can get some blogging in today. I'm going to attempt to do a day-by-day... so I guess I better catch up.