South America in a nutshell

There sure are a lot of photos to go through, but I'll try to put a few of the best ones from Peru, Ecuador and North America on here to cover the gap from the other blog. The first one here is us at Laguna 69 near Huaraz in Peru. The walk up there was pretty exhausting, as you would expect at 4000-5000m above sea level. But the view was worth it, as you can see.



The coast of Peru was awesome, although it was hard to believe it at the time since our room at Huanchaco was so dreadful (a 44 gallon drum in the shower? Electric shocks from the hot water system and unwashed bedsheets?). The photo below shows part of the restored pre-Incan ruins at Chan Chan. Before restoration you wouldn't even know there was an ancient city there since sand dunes had almost completely covered it.



Our stay in Vilcabamba, Ecuacor mostly involved food, food poisoning, wine and jungle-walking, so the only pic of note is this one, of a gorgeous transparent butterfly, but it's a spectacular photo, don't you think?



Ecuador is mountain-biking heaven, so we have loads of pics from three different trips. I didn't ride the last two, since I had a big accident on the first one and had a multicolour bruise on my bum and a worrying injury to my shoulder that took weeks to heal. The first was a ride down Chimborazo Volcano near the town of Riobamba. The weather was really cold (snow!) at the top but much more temperate near Riobamba.



The journey north to Quito was also great, and we stopped for a good few days in Banos for a rest. Banos is the Spanish word for 'bath' I think, no surprises since the town is renowned for its healing thermal springs. The downside is that the springs are heated by the very active Volcan Tungurahua. Laguna Quilotoa was also excellent, it's a young volcanic lake near Quito and in the early morning the colours were just spectacular. You'd need a really wide-angle lens to catch it all so you'll just have to extrapolate from my pics.



We finished off our stay in South America with a relaxing few weeks in Quito. Quito is a heritage-listed historic town with loads of restored colonial buildings, although the high crime rate takes the gloss off things somewhat. We spent a good few days sitting in cafes and enjoying the lovely views during the tropical thunderstorms.



There are loads of things to do in Quito but of course the itinerary included a couple of mtb trips - one to the thermal springs at Papallacta and another one down Cotopaxi Volcano. I've put two pics in here, the first is of the phenomenal view from the last refugio atop Cotopaxi (you might be able to spot Pete, the one in blue somewhere on that road).

The second pic is from the end of that day, over a thousand metres lower. Despite the mud and rain, I've never seen someone so happy as Pete after that ride!


Well, that's South America in a nutshell. When I get another chance I'll catch up with the photos from the US and Canada. Hope you like it.