Day-trippin'

The last 10 days in Ecuador have been some of the most enjoyable of my whole trip thus far. I have completely fallen for this country - for its lush green landscapes, laid back atmosphere and incredibly friendly people to name but a few of its assets. This relatively small country is certainly a land of abundance with 84 volcanos (24 of which are active) a huge section of the Amazon as well as coastal lowlands, more exotic fruit than there are names for and more species of plants than the whole of North America. I learnt that Ecuador is the world's biggest banana exporter, second in the rose department with 24 roses costing just $2 and has a growing economy going from the 2nd poorest nation in South America to the 3rd most successful in just 10years since their dramatic switch to the dollar. I decided to take advantage of the small distances between the must-sees of the country and base myself in just 2 towns and day-trip my way around the country - reducing the number of packing and unpacking, hostel booking and bus finding situations. 

My first base of Banos was a welcome haven after my hideous 40hr bus journey - a tiny town set in a steep-sided jungle-clad valley with waterfalls at the end of every street - a South American Lauterbrunnen. I started with a self-guided trip to 'casa del arbol' - a famous treehouse overlooking the valley from which you can swing into the abyss - if you work out the correct camera angle. It was a beautiful place with an array of other swings, balance beams and zip-lines - a play park in the sky! 

The next day I had a near-enough private tour into the Amazon jungle - with only one other girl, our own driver and guide at our beck and call. We visited an animal sanctuary (for all the rescued-from-smugglers monkeys and ocelots), had a hair-raising canoe ride, saw the end of the road into the Amazon basin, hiked through mud and rivers, did a Tarzan swing, bathed in a waterfall, ate termites and ants, had our faces painted tribal-style by 8yr old girls, tried blow-piping and helped make our own hot chocolate straight from the tree! Hard to believe this was all in one day, right? That is the beauty of the organised day-trip - despite being a little more expensive than venturing out alone it generally grants you a multitude of activities you just wouldn't be able to fit in when having to navigate from place to place yourself. 

However, I did attempt this feat a few times in Ecuador as travelling on public buses is just so cheap ($1.25 per hour) although my travel companion on my outing to Mindo (a village in a cloud forest with a fab butterfly park) had her money stolen from her bag by sneaky snack-sellers that got on the bus and took her bag to the back without us noticing. After this, I splashed out on an organised tour to Volcan Cotopaxi - the highest active volcano in the world. It was well worth the money, as the fantastic tour guide Omar was worth his weight in gold, his energy, knowledge and cheeky personality keeping everyone entertained on the bus journey. We hiked up to the refuge at 4864m in hail and on slippery volcanic sand and then attempted to mountain bike down (I gave up after the first corner - Omar hadn't been joking about this being for experienced riders only). 

I ended up spending the following 2 days listening to more of Omar's fascinating histories of Ecuador and its politics (7 presidents in 10 years and they've tried to kill their current one) as I took more day trips to Quilatoa lake (a crater lake formed by the melting of a glacier as the volcano it sat upon erupted and collapsed) and Otovalo (an arts and crafts market where I overloaded my backpack with fantastic textile purchases). 

Oh and let's not forget the equator, the country's namesake, which I stood upon not once but twice on different day trips from Quito (proof that the Incas knew this was the centre of the Earth too as Quito means middle in Quechua). Ecuador, ofcourse, is not the only country on the Equator but the Andes give it a distinct advantage as they can use volcanos as reference points for sunrise and sunset points at the solstices and Equinox. I visited a fab sundial that had lines for every time of year, corresponding with exact locations of Inca settlements, and a huge vertical column in the middle into which the sun shines directly at noon on each Equinox day and your shadow disappears for 3mins - shame I wasn't there for one of those - did see the water spiral in opposite directions on either side of the line though. 

The day-trips, interspersed with relaxing days, great food and brilliant hostels, and, of course, lots of conversation with tour guides, taxi drivers and fellow travellers, left me planning my next, longer, trip to this stunning country as I said goodbye. Might need more than a day for the Galapagos though. 

Fatty but happy

I doubt this will come as a shock to many of you but a huge part of any travel experience for me is the food! Nowhere has this been more true than in Peru. I have to admit that, after the culinary delights of Asia, I wasn't expecting much excitement from South American cuisine - just a lot of rice and beans. Ofcourse there have been plenty of meals accompanied by those 2 staples (and some form of potato too) but whilst hopping around Peru, on my hop-on hop-off bus, I've realised that this country, in particular, has a lot more to offer the palette than the infamous Guinea-pig.

As soon as I crossed the border into Peru I went for the first of many evening meals out, in Puno, and had a delicious slice of Alpaca with apple sauce and wine gravy - almost a roast dinner! My second taste of the tender, lean meat came in the form of Alpaca steak 2 days later, in Cusco - cooked to perfection (medium-rare) and accompanied by mushroom sauce and interestingly seasoned broccoli. Other traditional Peruvian dishes I sampled once or twice include Aji de Gallina (chicken in a yellow pepper sauce), Lomo Saltado (like beef stir fry served with chips and rice because why not?) and Ceviche (raw fish and seafood marinated in lemon juice and onion served with giant corn and a sweet potato - it's delicious, honestly) but only on the coast to eliminate freshness concerns.

On the rare occasions when I felt I could let the inner-gringo out and go for something totally un-Peruvian, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the international food such as a fantastic vegetarian Indian sharing meal and a classic pesto pasta which (unlike elsewhere) wasn't fluorescent green slop. The service at this particular restaurant, however, left a lot to be desired - the first waitress getting our order very wrong due to not understanding her own specials board, the second one trying to take my plate whilst I was still eating (you can imagine my reaction), bringing us extra drinks, taking them away and still charging for them. Thankfully this was an exception to the rule.

In between all these meals I did manage to squeeze in some non-food related activities such as white-water rafting, dune-buggying and a speed boat trip to the bird metropolis of the Ballestas islands - all of which had their own element of stomach-churning! For a less adrenaline-fuelled activity Peru provided a plethora of free/tip-based walking tours in major cities such as Cusco, Arequipa and Lima. After a little bit of history and some photo opportunities, inevitably the tour always turned to food - Peruvians' favourite subject. We would visit local markets to admire the exotic fruit, juice stalls (there were always atleast 10 ladies waving madly from behind a blender) and sample the local delicacies such as the 'queso helado' - literally cheese ice cream but actually more like cinnamon and coconut flavour. On the walking tour in Lima we even got a full 3-course meal at a local restaurant for the grand total of 12soles (£3), by far the cheapest meal in Peru and possibly all of South America. Another common theme of all these walking tours was the promise of a free pisco sours. Only one out of the three actually followed through with this and also gave us chicha - a traditional fermented corn drink that tasted like gone-off jam. I much preferred the zesty pisco sours made with tequila-like pisco, lime, sugar, egg white and cinnamon.

As I ventured up the coast towards Lima I was treated to a free pisco vineyard tour, near the town that gives it its name. This tour, unlike the previous day's Nazca lines viewing, was not a disappointment thanks to the most enthusiastic guide you could ever imagine. His caricature presentation as he showed us the vineyard and cheeky  inuendo whilst sampling wines such as 'perfecto amor' were a delight. His explanation of Peruvians love of sweet wine, sweet drinks and all things sugar was music to my ears (and tastebuds) and his 'fatty but happy' description of his countrymen the inspiration for this blog's title. My sweet tooth had certainly enjoyed all the desserts on offer (naughtily just having a pecan tart and ice cream for dinner one night) and even the Inca cola which people had warned me tourists never like. Despite its urinary appearance I thought it rather delicious though not quite as good as lucozade which is yet to make it to South American shelves. There were all manner of other 'inca' snacks available such as inca corn (giant roasted corn) and inca chips (banana chips) although I'm not sure if any were actually consumed by the Incas. I had a fair few 'Machu Picchu' pizzas and sandwiches on tourist menus too.

Peru is certainly one very proud country, both of its cultural heritage and gastronomy - so who cares if the inhabitants are a little bit chubby!