A "short" update

One month since my last post. Maybe I was too busy to write, maybe just too lazy ;-). After Torotoro National Park, I spent couple of days in La Paz, a big city where probably the main attraction is the market. Unfortunately I couldn't make lot of shopping because my backpack was already too heavy. From La Paz I came back to the cocoa plantation. I took a bus to Puno, then another one to Lima, then one to Ciclayo and from here a last bus to Tarapoto. Once in Tarapoto, I took two collettivos to get to Huapo. Time: 3.5 days. I arrived at Christmas eve, the perfect day : in the village they organised a party with hot chocolate and panettone. I spent couple of weeks in the farm and then I decided to go back travelling. I visited Moyobamba, the city of the Orchards. Unfortunately the garden was closed and I could only visit some viveros (orchard shops). I also had to renounce to visit some waterfalls and hot spring near the city because of the weather. So after few days of rain, I decided to move on. I took a bus to Jaen, then a collettivo to San Ignazio and another one to La Balsa. La Balsa is one of the three borders between Perù and Ecuador. There I met the only other tourist that was crossing the border and we travel together for some days. From the border there is only one open bus with wooden seats and the road was so rough that it took us 1.5 h for 10 km. We got to Zumba and here we took another bus, a normal one, to Vilcabamba (about 5 hours). We spent here the night. The day after we hiked in the mountains to see one waterfall, the path was completely muddy and slippery but it was worth it. In the evening we took another bus to Loja. We visited the city, then the German guy had to go to Quito to take the airplane back home, while I took another bus to Guayaquil. This city is for sure the most modern city I visited in South America. The main attraction is the promenade, a long walk in the tropical garden of the city. Here you can see any kind of trees and flowers of the region. The main reason why I came here is to take a flight to the Galapagos Islands. The trip is expensive, but I'm sure it will be great. I'm very excited, tomorrow at this hour I will be already there...