“Time is the most important ingredient in the recipe of life.' Charles Darwin

After about 17 hours (pure flight time), we landed in Guayaquil/Ecuador. A bustling, colorful city with a Parque Seminario, the city park for iguanas and turtles instead of pigeons and squirrels.

Our next stop is Seymour Norte, a Galapagos island that is about 2 square kilometers in size. Here, frigatebirds are hard to miss, as the males display their red throat pouch during mating season, except in the summer months (which are too hot), so almost all year round. Additionally, land iguanas and sea lions call this place home.

Bartholomé, one of the younger islands with its own unique landscape, the Pinnacle Rock.

The northernmost penguin species that is also endemic to the archipelago is native here. Its name is of course “The Galapagos Penguin' ;-)) who would have thought?

Rábida, approximately 5 square kilometers in size, is characterized by red, partly yellow sandy beaches colored by iron oxide-laden volcanic slag. Galapagos sea lions, brown pelicans, boobies, Darwin's finches, and the Galapagos pigeon thrive here.

The Galapagos Islands stand out for their untouched nature with endemic biodiversity and were rightly declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978.

Review/Preview: From Day 44 to Day 77 (New Zealand) no internet. Therefore, initially only photos as a supplement.

The first night on the ship was quite okay. Although the night was a bit restless and loud due to the relocation of the “Cachalote” around the island to the west side at Punta Moreno. On such a relatively small ship, you can hear the engine and feel the waves. Thankfully, the sea was calm.

In the morning, wake-up call at 06:30, breakfast at 07:00. If you come too late, you miss out. And this is the case every day until the return flight🥴😭😳. It reminds me a bit of my time in the military 😂

Well, it went quite well.

Around 08:30, we set off on the two 'Pangas' - the ship's two inflatable boats - to the coast. The numerous lava rocks, cuts, and passages were very impressive. But also quite dangerous: Sharp rocks lurk underwater, and the cliffs are jagged and sharp-edged.

I can hardly name all the animals I saw: in the air frigatebirds, pelicans, terns, ... In the water turtles, penguins, sea iguanas, seals, numerous species of fish, ... On land: the terrestrial animals found here are mostly also found in the water.

In the afternoon, I treated myself to a little break after the tension of the previous evening and morning😵😴😬, while my friend enjoyed the afternoon land excursion to a turtle breeding station.

A brief note about the ship itself: We intentionally chose a smaller vessel to avoid the usual tourist frenzy. There are a total of only three couples and three solo travelers, including Erhard and myself on board. The crew consists of about 7 people, along with the official and mandatory tour guide and caretaker.

Here is the link to the ship for anyone who wants to know more about it:

https://www.cachalotegalapagos.com/gallery/

END of Day 17!

… I will skip ahead a bit to the Galapagos Islands. … I will catch up on days 8 to 15 when I have more time 😬 …

This 16th day of our South America trip - simultaneously the start of our 6-day Galapagos Island cruise - unfortunately began just as chaotically as the previous day ended 😳😡😳:

First it was said we would leave the hotel at 6 AM for the ship in the harbor of Puerto Villamil on Isabela, the largest Galapagos island. So we were on time, 5 minutes before 6 AM, with our packed bags outside the hotel. Even the taxi driver was on time this time - and we were both happy that from now on everything seemed to be going according to plan.

But surprise No. 1: the driver informed us that the ride to the ship would now take place at 8:30 instead of 6 AM. So we dragged our bags back up the stairs and laid them down. At 8:15 the driver was again promptly (!) at the door. This time, bags were actually loaded up, and off we went to the ship. However, after 5 minutes, there was a stop and frantic phone calls - Erhard and I became a bit nervous 😨 … but after a few minutes we did continue to the harbor - phew! 😅

And here was surprise No. 2: we were greeted by a very upset tour guide. He and the other passengers of the ship had apparently been waiting for us for almost half an hour 😳 - there was an excursion planned to the crater of the Sierra Negra volcano. So the coordination and flow of information between the agency and the ship had again failed.

I quickly grabbed my hiking boots from the suitcase and off we went to the volcano.

My friend Erhard went - quite upset by the mishaps - directly onto the ship with the bags - the hike was supposed to be quite strenuous.

The drive was in a truck, whose cargo area had been converted with benches and sun protection. It felt like the rear axle was not suspended. This uneasy feeling was confirmed as we went up the paths to the wilderness on unpaved roads at the volcano 😩😆.

At the beginning of the drive, we still had sunshine, but from about 200 m elevation, the ride continued more or less in the clouds up to over 1500 m elevation. In the lower area, there were banana plantations, agriculture, and thereafter livestock farming. And it got colder🥶 - good thing I had taken a warm jacket 😬.

Just before the parking lot at the edge of the caldera, fortunately the sun came out, and the cloud cover here broke up. From the parking lot, we continued on foot into the caldera.

The view of the caldera walls and into the crater was impressive. First, we went steeply down about 150 m along the inner rim of the crater, then about 1500 m in the crater to the inner active volcanic cone, and afterward about 50 m up to the active vent. At this point, the smell of sulfur became stronger. Around the active vent, the lava rock was colored yellow to yellow-orange from the abundant sulfur. One should not stay too long, nor take sulfur crystals as souvenirs - the 'stuff' is toxic!

By now, the clouds had almost completely dissipated, allowing us to see the vast expanse of the crater. Consequently, it became warmer on the way back to the parking lot. The air stood still in the crater and shimmered with heat.

Now it was time for the return journey with a brief stop at a small but lovely lake with flamingos - and then it was my turn to board the ship for the first time - where Erhard welcomed me nonchalantly from the upper deck. Afterward... 😅

… inspecting/settling into the cabin, lunch, siesta 😂

We then returned by boat, going through the usual process with the small taxi boats at the ports back to Santa Cruz. We were pleasantly surprised by our hostel, which contrasted our previous impression of Galápagos where everything seemed to be done poorly; here we were properly registered and even received a receipt.

On the island, you can embark on various snorkeling and diving boat excursions, but after our previous outings, we felt that we had gotten close enough to the animals (perhaps even too close at times) and could still cherish those experiences. While the landscapes and animals were amazing, the excursions were quite expensive, and the guides treated us mainly as walking dollar bills; sometimes we weren't even greeted properly, and interactions were minimal. Not to mention the already mentioned rudimentary knowledge about nature.

However, we did reluctantly play along with the guiding game when we went to Las Grietas, a kind of mini-canyon good for swimming. Not long ago, it was free to go there (or included in the high national park fees), but now it had been decided that tourists would be charged an extra $10 per person. For that, we were hurried by a 'guide' along a very clear path and immediately left upon arrival, as he had to capture the next tourists. The place was nice enough for swimming, but not spectacular. After barely an hour, we were asked to leave again. Well, at least we could walk back in peace...

A highlight in Santa Cruz was the Museum of Nature - it was relatively modern and effectively conveyed why the islands are so special in the context of Earth's history, evolution, and climate. However, the publicly accessible part of the Charles Darwin Research Station felt somewhat outdated. Hopefully, the research department is more up-to-date. We opted not to pay for the turtle breeding station. One thing that became increasingly noticeable was the lack of culture. Since most residents of the Galápagos Islands moved there in recent decades, their identity seems almost entirely based on tourism, which is a bit unfortunate. Well, the superstars are indeed the animals and plants, while the people are merely performers.

One day, we rented bicycles (the last heaps of junk) and pedaled over 600 meters of elevation gain into the green highlands of the island. It was quite a torture in the heat; we were also the only ones doing this, and locals thought we were crazy. We came through small villages in the hinterland where not much was happening, which was quite nice. Now and then, we saw giant tortoises strolling across the fields; one apparently stole food or drink from a dog in front of a house. Finally, we reached our destination, Los Gemelos, two large collapsed and heavily overgrown sinkholes (which formed because the upper layers of lava solidified while the still liquid hot lava continued to flow beneath). Here, we saw Giant Daisy trees (Scalesia pedunculata) from the daisy family (which also includes daisies, sunflowers, lettuce), growing up to 20 meters tall. The daisies play a similar role in the Galápagos plant world as Darwin's finches do in the animal world: under varying conditions on the archipelago, many different endemic species likely evolved from a single daisy that made it to the islands, adapting into various forms as bushes or trees to fit different ecological niches. They play a very important role in the ecosystem here, providing food and shelter for various native birds and attracting many pollinators. At the same time, Giant Daisy Trees are especially endangered, as they only seed every 15 years (after which the trees usually die, and a new generation grows) and stand little chance against invasive species like guava trees, which reproduce continuously. Unfortunately, there is a relatively high risk that this species will soon become extinct. On the way back, Marike's bike finally gave up completely, and the chain, which had jumped off countless times before, completely jammed. Luckily, it was all downhill, so we managed to get back to the bike shop reasonably smoothly, even without pedals. There, they weren't particularly interested in the non-functionality of the bicycles, so the next tourists will likely experience something similar.

Otherwise, we chilled and snorkeled at the beach, observed sea lions, and after our trauma in Trujillo dared to eat fish again, enjoying fresh and delicious Brujo multiple times at a small nice local place. And we read to each other a lot about the biology of the animals and plants, simply fascinating!

The journey to Isabela Island, one of the three largest main islands of the archipelago, turned out to be unnecessarily complicated in our opinion. First, we were taken by a small boat (water taxi) to the 'ferry' (more like a worn-out angler's speedboat), even though the water depth would have easily allowed for direct docking at the pier. This concept seems to be designed to create a few extra jobs, which of course comes at an additional cost. However, we were not taken directly to Isabela, but had to first travel to the third main island, Santa Cruz, then take another water taxi to the pier, and spend a few hours loitering with our luggage along the promenade until the second ferry departed in the afternoon (water taxi procedure included, of course). For some reason, all ferries operate simultaneously in the morning and afternoon, turning the whole boarding and biosafety checks (which are supposed to ensure no animal and plant species are transferred between the islands, but unfortunately the actual measures only serve as an alibi) into a huge chaos. The boat trips themselves were also challenging, with rough waves and reckless speeding with no regard for losses (ouch, whiplash). In Isabela, one had to pay an extra fee at the harbor for some reason (let's remember that we had already paid a hefty national park fee for the entire archipelago), but it's all just money.

Then we walked through the quiet, sleepy town of Villamil to the hotel; everything here is quite small and manageable. In the evening, we visited the various little corner shops to buy supplies, and the prices varied greatly, making it necessary to really piece everything together individually. The culinary offerings in the restaurants were also quite limited, but we found a nice local place with delicious grilled skewers and cold beer. Overall, the island is significantly less touristy and very relaxed.

The next day, we rented bicycles and rode to Muro de las Lágrimas (Wall of Tears) — it was nice that the rental guy said bike locks were unnecessary; if the bike happened to be missing, one should just look around the town a bit since someone likely borrowed it for a short while. After just a few kilometers, we discovered a group of giant tortoises in the bushes; it was fantastic to observe and experience them in their habitat. Such wonderful animals, deeply relaxed and completely unfazed by us. The bike ride featured beautiful viewpoints overlooking the sea, marshes, mangrove forests, lava tubes, and of course, animals (various insects, numerous iguanas, and the tortoises). El Muro de las Lágrimas is a tall, semi-collapsed wall of sharp-edged lava stones located in the middle of nowhere, built by prisoners from a penal colony established after WWII by the US Army for the purposes of labor and punishment. Countless people died in this process. Old American radar stations, which can still be found in ruins on the hills, now serve as viewpoints.

The next day, we went on a boat trip to Los Tuneles, one of the many tunnel systems found above and below the water. They were formed by fast-flowing magma that drained into the sea after various volcanic eruptions, solidifying the outer surface first and leaving behind these tubular formations.

Equipped with snorkeling gear and wetsuits, we boarded a boat with a reassuring captain who knew the sea and the coast like the back of his hand, skillfully maneuvering us through 10-meter high breaking waves with speed and power, but also with a lot of finesse. We had to hold on tightly and were uncertain at times if it would go well, but he perfectly anticipated the waves without capsizing or crashing onto rock formations. Impressive.

The scenery and landscape were once again incredible. After stepping onto land in a surreal world of tunnels, where we could observe birds and sea turtles in the crystal-clear water, we entered a cove where we could snorkel among the tunnels. And who did we meet? Sea turtles, sleeping white-tip reef sharks, mantas, seahorses, sea lions, fur seals, blue-footed boobies, penguins, and various colorful fish. So many unique impressions that we truly needed a few days to process everything. Unfortunately, we had to return as the tide was rising; our captain skillfully navigated us back through the strong surf, and then we returned to the home port, blue in the face and exhausted.

The next day, we set off for one of the volcanoes! Sierra Negra is a shield volcano that rises to 1,124 meters. With dimensions of 7 × 10.5 km and a depth of 300m, it has the largest caldera of all Galapagos volcanoes and the third largest in the world. The floor of the caldera is entirely covered with lava, which flowed out during the 2005 eruption from a slightly elevated fissure. It is also the most active volcano on the islands. We were picked up in a wooden truck and then traversed bumpy roads up to the crater rim through clouds and fog, where we could see the various vegetation zones as we passed through them. Our destination was the sulfur fumaroles in the caldera, which we hiked to first down to the crater floor and then up to the sulfur fields, which were mined on a small scale under very simple conditions during the 1930s-50s. Quite a smell, but also a fantastic excursion. Unfortunately, the tour guide's knowledge (as was the case with previous ones) was very superficial and limited, so we already knew more than he did with our gleaned Wikipedia knowledge. It's a pity, as we thought we would be dealing exclusively with proud nature experts on the islands who know every detail about their unique home. Nonetheless, it was a great experience!

The visit to the tortoise breeding station the next day was rather sobering, and it certainly wasn’t the turtles’ fault; they were great. Yes, something is being done to preserve the species, and it's indeed the right thing to do. The obligatory bored guide, who just wanted to quickly send us off and was more than expensive for what he told us, was somewhat annoying, especially because we had no time to really observe the animals. The argument for why we couldn’t linger was that apparently 300 young turtles were stolen, the exotic animal trade is booming, and it seems to be an enticing business here too. However, the very old animals in the station - some over 100 years old - were amazing, showing 'scars' from hot ash and lava from the aforementioned volcanic eruption in their shells. The large number of young turtles, which are released back into the wild after 6 years, gives hope that the species will survive, if not dogs, wild goats, rats, and humans make survival impossible.

Overall, we really liked Isabela - fewer tourists and great nature that you can enjoy in solitude if you wish. After eventful days, we headed to the third island - Santa Cruz, which we had already briefly encountered on our way to Isabela.

After more than 5 months on the South American continent and over 17,000 km by bus, we boarded a plane again to the island of San Cristóbal, one of the three largest islands in the Galápagos archipelago. We were very excited.

After the procedures at the airport (a very superficial biosafety check and a 200 USD/pax entrance fee for the national park), we walked to the small town to our hostel right on the promenade; the distances here are short. And there, everything was full of Galápagos sea lions! On the beach, on the road, on benches. Incredible and absolutely wonderful!

The part of the island that can be explored on foot is fairly manageable. The animals are numerous and not very shy. A small hike through quite dense thickets to very secluded beautiful beaches with numerous animals (many finches, lizards, iguanas, spiders, insects) over small hills of volcanic rock and a lagoon for snorkeling with sea lions and turtles were the first highlights. The fauna and flora were easily recognizable even to the untrained eye as unique, bringing us wonder and contemplation of the whys and wherefores.

In addition, we took a 360-degree tour around the island, where we could snorkel wonderfully in some lagoons and in the deep water by the rock Kicker's Rock, which gave us fantastic encounters with turtles, small sharks, and fish. Especially snorkeling and swimming in open waters with lots of sea turtles was absolutely amazing.

We spent our evenings happily at the sea lion beaches, which in the evening are populated by hundreds of animals for their overnight stay. A unique spectacle with deafening moans, rustling, and roars, never boring to watch. On our first day at one of these beaches, which was also used for swimming, we - like many other tourists - were first driven away from our beach towel by a sea lion - the sea lions clearly enjoyed teasing and chasing us humans.

Then we continued by 'ferry' (actually quite worn-out old boats) to the island of Isabela.

Since we now had very little time before our flight to Galapagos due to all the lounging around, we decided to head directly to Guayaquil, from where the plane should depart.

Crossing the border in the middle of the night went very smoothly again; only our yellow fever vaccinations were closely checked due to a few outbreaks. Actually, for crossing the border by land, one now requires a (translated) police clearance certificate, an attempt by the government to control the sharply rising crime in the country. However, when we asked the border authority in advance about an exemption, we learned that this procedure does not apply to tourists.

We already knew in advance that Guayaquil is not the best place for travelers. Ecuador, which a few years ago was considered a peaceful country, has unfortunately developed into a stronghold of drug gangs during the course of the Corona pandemic, which has reshuffled cocaine trafficking routes in South America, and consequently, it has also become one of the most violent countries in South America. And in Guayaquil, violence is particularly exploding, here you can find one of the highest murder rates in the world.

However, since we had seen online that there were still many tourist activities offered, such as trips to volcanoes, haciendas, or mangroves, and that there are a few neighborhoods where one can move around safely, we thought that we could find plenty of ways to pass the time productively. However, upon arrival, we were disillusioned to find that all these tours weren't officially offered and would be unaffordable privately.

The real atmosphere in the city also felt strange. During breakfast at the hotel, news reports were airing where the police chief in full combat gear reported his successes against various gang members. On the way to the shopping mall in the safe district (where we got snorkeling gear and diving goggles), we were 'checked out', kiosk owners only served through grates onto the street, and when we tried to enter a simple restaurant, the armed security first had to open the gated door, which was immediately closed behind us. And then getting from point A to B could only be done quite expensively by taxi. Thus, this city of 2-3 million shrank for us to a rather manageable size.

Nevertheless, we spent our time well visiting the few open museums (many had genuine water damage issues, and many rooms were closed, a pity for the art), in the Iguana Park, and along the river promenade. When the cable car reopened on the last day after maintenance, we also took a ride over the Rio Guayas to Duran. However, since it was said to be particularly dangerous there, we only dared to stay for a short time and returned quickly.

Our time in South America was coming to an end, and our mood was a mixture of nostalgia and anticipation for Galapagos and the worlds that still lay ahead of us.

Oh my God, Wow, incredible. We had just been on the first island for 4 hours and those were about our first words. Without having dipped a foot in the water or set foot on the beach, we had already seen pelicans, sharks, iguanas, turtles, and sea lions. The first sea lion was sleeping in the queue for the ferry, the first iguanas were lying next to the runway at the airport, and we saw the turtles by the roadside during the bus ride. The sharks and pelicans were in the harbor basin of Puerto Ayora, the main town on Santa Cruz Island. Sea lions and iguanas are everywhere, under benches, at the boat dock, on the sidewalks, and wherever people aren't bothering them.

The next days continued joyfully, to incredibly beautiful beaches where the white sand felt almost like dust. On the right are sea lions, in front swim iguanas in the water, and to the left, pelicans sit on towels while small Darwin finches are nearby, and above, frigatebirds fly.

We decided against a cruise since 4 days are said to cost around €1000, with the first and last days mostly just travel days, so we book day trips instead. Although the costs were also between €120 and €240, they were absolutely worth it. The first trip went to Santa Fe Island, where we first observed blue-footed boobies before swimming with countless sea lions. The sea lions are so curious that they swim up to only a few centimeters away or even nudge you... Along with picturesque bays, turquoise water, and snow-white beaches, simply put, an absolute dream.

We rented two bicycles and took the bus to Santa Rosa, which is 20km away. Then we cycled a few kilometers uphill to two old lava craters, before heading to our main goal, the Galapagos turtles. If you want to save the $10 for the mediocre tour, you can simply view the giant turtles by the roadside, as they sit in the hundreds on the meadows, by the roadside, or even in the middle of the roads. The tour was quite short and a few more details would have been nice, but it is what it is, we also went through three impressive lava tunnels before we were finally able to enjoy tea and coffee while observing the giants from a beautiful terrace. The way back to the main road was quite strenuous, and we often pushed our bikes, as the sun was blazing, and we were glad that the last 15km were almost downhill, before we returned exhausted to the main town.

The next wow awaited us on Isabela Island. Even longer and whiter beaches. If you see a shadow in the water, don't be alarmed; it might be a small shark, an iguana, a pelican diving into the water a meter away, a sea lion, or a penguin. Yes, exactly, there are penguins here, my first time outside a zoo, although the islands are practically a big zoo and people seem to be just annoying interlopers. I spent half the day swimming and watching the animals; sometimes, that's all you need. The wild ride continues with a day trip on a boat to 'los túneles', a rock formation formed by a volcanic eruption a hundred thousand years ago. Lava solidified on the surface and flowed further inside until nothing more came. After the ice age, the sea level rose again, and thus the caves are now in the water. A huge aquarium with seahorses, curious penguins, giant turtles that come very close, sharks, rays, and a variety of smaller fish; on land, we saw some blue-footed boobies and Nazca boobies.

Then we rented a kayak and paddled through a lagoon, and again the same image: penguins, iguanas, sea lions, boobies, pelicans, and so on. It may sound boring and repetitive while reading or writing, but it is not at all; I could observe all this for much longer and more thoroughly. For a change, we took the bike to the 'Wall of Tears', which had to be built by prisoners in the past, and behind it is a small lookout point. On the way back, we saw turtles, pelicans, flamingos, and hundreds of iguanas; if you don't want to run over any, you should go slowly because they really lie everywhere! Isabela has a bit of a Thai flair; some bars are right on the beach, and you can enjoy a mojito in a beach chair, but I'm still waiting for good food...

After 5 days, we continued by speedboat to our last island, 'Santa Cruz'; it was quite up and down, but if you sit in the back, it goes. I was mainly here for one animal, the hammerhead shark. It is currently peak season, and at the famous Kicker Rock, a rock formation through which a narrow channel runs, groups (schools) are said to be regularly seen; I'm excited! But the island has much more to offer. Sea lions, for example, many sea lions. I actually thought I had seen a few, but the number you see here surpasses everything. Just lying on the beach? Impossible! There’s always something going on; towels, shoes, or backpacks are lying around, so you have to be quick or patient, as the animals don't care at all; even though the sea lions look slow and clumsy, they are anything but! It is entirely possible for a sea lion to come out of the water just 20cm away from you and walk up the stairs next to you; for the sea lion, it seems like routine and no problem, for tourists, an absolute attraction!

Our booked 360-degree tour (around the island) started at 7 in the morning, our first chance to see hammerhead sharks, but first, we headed to 'Bahia Rosa Blanca', a huge natural pool with only a small access to the sea. Accordingly, the water was very calm, and we again got to see sharks, sea lions, turtles, and two huge rays (about 2.5 meters), the largest of this species I have seen so far. Afterwards, we went to the next bay to see the third type of boobies, the red-footed boobies, but from such a great distance that the animals were barely recognizable. Blue-footed boobies get their blue feet due to their diet, sardines. The red-footed boobies mainly eat flying fish and squids, which is why they have red feet. The boobies are disturbed during their feeding by large frigatebirds, which can be found on all three main islands. After lunch, we went to another snorkeling spot where a pretty big blacktip shark was interested in us :)

Then it was time, and we jumped into the water at Kicker Rock, next to me a steep wall that rises up to 150 meters high, and below me the deep blue sea, making it impossible to see the bottom, which is up to 40 meters deep. Then, after a few minutes, the first hammerhead shark appears, then the second, the third, fourth, and fifth. Wow, we are incredibly lucky and can observe up to 40(!) sharks for 30 minutes as they keep circling around; you can dive a few meters behind and swim along, what an experience! 😍

The next day, we went back to Kicker Rock, but this time, two dives were planned. Although there were not 40 sharks this time, there were still some very large specimens interested in us, along with eagle rays, turtles, more sharks, and finally a big manta ray! 😍

What were those two days on the boat? Unique(!) and absolutely happy to have seen that.

Via Guayaquil, we went non-stop to Cuenca, and the third-largest city in Ecuador is truly beautiful and nearly my favorite city in Ecuador. We ate very well (goat stew, Indian, Mexican), visited the ruins of Ingapirca, and hiked in the absolutely worthwhile 'Caja National Park'. Well, in the end, it was only almost a hike, more like a walk because someone didn’t get out of bed that morning and so we naturally got caught in the daily rain that starts between 12 and 1 PM. Nevertheless, it was probably one of the most beautiful short hikes I’ve done; the national park is at an altitude of 4000 meters with various peaks, lakes, caves, and cloud forests. Additionally, we accidentally stumbled upon a punk concert in Cuenca, tried the local beer (which we rated highly), and checked out the historic buildings as well as the river promenade.

Onward towards Peru, but first, another stop in Loja. We couldn’t quite explain why we got off here; there isn't much to see in the city, so we spent almost the entire day in bed, and I also went to the hairdresser. Then we went another hour to Vilcabamba. Picturesquely located in a beautiful valley, we stayed for two nights. After our arrival, I immediately got ready for a hike; 4 hours were indicated, Fina wasn’t in the mood and stayed in the village. After the first hour, I had already completed the ascent to the summit; then I continued to a rock with a really beautiful view; I overtook a few people and a few were coming toward me, so I decided to follow the path of my app because there were a few people around... It became a beautiful ridge walk at almost too warm temperatures; I gradually wondered why no one was following me and why the guide (of the other group) wasn't visible, but I thought they were performing some kind of ritual; they appeared a bit strange to me. Well, first I continued until the path became increasingly unclear and partly overgrown. However, I could orient myself well with my map. Eventually, I couldn't recognize the path anywhere; the dry grass was getting higher, and I couldn’t see where to step. Back to the last point, with the now torturing sunshine and the altitude. At some point, the grass was so high that I could hardly proceed and I slipped; I could just cling to some bushes, but I could no longer find the way back; furthermore, my phone battery was slowly dying. Panic rose in me, but I had to keep going down and tore my shirt on a thorny bush. I couldn’t go forward or backward, and I was somehow confused, wandering around in the middle of nowhere; would someone find me here? Fina would probably inform someone. I rested for 10 minutes, drank some cola, and tried to clear my head. Then I somehow continued, through bushes, high grass, scrub, and a dried-up riverbed. I followed that. In between, I saw something that looked like a well, covered with a tarpaulin, strange vessels, and a lot of barbed wire. I moved on and ran into a fence that I hadn’t seen; fortunately, I remained uninjured. It continued, slowly the paths got better. Because of the incident with the fence, I moved more cautiously and looked more closely and saw even more strange constructions; something odd must have happened here. Then something hit me on the head, barbed wire at head height (why the hell would someone do that?) a wound half a centimeter below my eye... Lucky to have escaped, that could have literally gone into my eye, and whether I would have found the way down after that is very questionable. I could finally see the road. That’s enough for the next few days, so I’ll take it a bit more cautiously...

So, the next day, it was time to go horseback riding. Less dangerous for me, but not for my behind. The horse was probably a bit small for me, the Western saddle was old, hard, and naturally also a bit small for me, so after a 4-hour ride, I literally had a sore bottom (chafed) :D

But it's not that serious; the view and the path were super beautiful, and it was a lot of fun! A minor drawback, I can’t judge whether the paths are a bit too steep and the tourists a bit too big for the horses. Because they are significantly smaller than the horses I know from home, but since the horses were not only small here but also in Central America and Colombia, I just trust those who know better.

Not less dangerous was the 12-hour bus ride to the border to Peru; unpaved roads, rain, mud, and deep gorges are not a good combination; my hands were slightly sweaty due to the proximity to the abyss, the blown tire was replaced in the next village with a worn-out 'spare tire' and didn’t really alleviate my discomfort. The border crossing was easy, and the roads to our first city in Peru got better.

Cali is significantly calmer than Medellín, cleaner, greener, and has less poverty, or it's simply less visible here. Like everywhere in Colombia, the main squares and selected streets are adorned with countless blinking string lights. Santa Clauses, Mickey Mouse, and Hello Kitty mascots roam the streets for photos, while clowns with chainsaws scare people.

Street food is available, but the food mainly consists of meat skewers, fries with chorizo (including plenty of ketchup and mayo), bad hot dogs with soggy sausage, corn on the cob, dry arepas (rice or corn bread), wafers with jam, sweetened condensed milk, and cheese, as well as sweet drinks in various forms, including diabetes and high cholesterol. Therefore, we decided to eat Arabic food twice; in the neighborhoods of San Antonio and Barrio Granada, there are good international restaurants! Otherwise, we enjoyed a relaxing massage and a guided tour through a market, where we indulged in a lot of food, which I could see myself doing again; there were a few small snacks that we hadn't tried before. Why go to Cali if you don't want to dance salsa? I find Cali worth visiting even without a dance lesson, especially if you spend a day trip or better yet, a night in San Cipriano. So we did, taking the bus from Cali towards Zaragoza. Just before our destination, I asked the bus driver to stop. A small bridge led over the four-lane road to an inconspicuous ticket booth, where we could buy two tickets for the trip to San Cipriano, and then we crossed another hanging bridge, before I could already see the tracks, and my excitement grew. I had seen the small village of San Cipriano and its African-American inhabitants in a documentary long ago; the village has no road connection, and when the train stopped operating, the residents had to come up with something. The solution was small Brujitas, also known as little witches. Eight lodges were built under a wooden pallet, four run on the tracks, and the other four run inside, so that the vehicle stays on the tracks. A motorcycle is attached on the right side, with the rear wheel running on the rail and serving as a drive. What fun it is to go through the jungle over the aging bad tracks, through tunnels and over bridges; if there is oncoming traffic, one party must get off and clear the tracks.

Upon arriving in the village, we treated ourselves to lunch (of course grilled chicken), before heading upstream on two tires. A quick cooldown in a waterfall followed, and then we went into the crystal-clear river towards the village. A few small rapids provided some variety; otherwise, I enjoyed the tranquil jungle atmosphere during the rain and simply let myself drift. The return journey with the little witches was just as much fun as the ride there, a lovely highlight!

12 hours of bus travel through serpentine roads in an overly small bus and no legroom? Not if there is a 50-minute flight for €70, we simply treat ourselves to that. The landing approach to Pasto with the surrounding mountains at 2500 meters was already impressive. Pasto is the theological capital of Colombia with 56 churches and 23 monasteries, of which we visited a few. In the evening, we had the first mulled wine of the year, a welcome warmth at a cool 12 degrees for me. The warm passion fruit juice with a bit too large a splash of Aguardiente tasted excellent. The supplies of the presumably taxed and not self-distilled liquor came from a large old gasoline canister.

For a day trip, we went to the next valley to 'Laguna de la Cocha', where there was a small picturesque village. From the village, one could take a boat along the little river to the lake, before returning to one of the small, beautifully arranged wooden houses for a cool beer!

The last stop in Colombia was Ipiales, already at an altitude of 2900 meters, but I don't feel the height yet. The city is not very interesting; we visited the impressive pilgrimage church of Las Lajas. Once in the evening with the appropriate lighting and then again during the daytime before heading into the Intag Valley for two days. I also tried the local specialty 'Cuy', delicious! Anyone who likes crispy chicken will like it too :)

The border crossing was the most straightforward so far. It took 3 minutes for the exit stamp, 3 minutes across the bridge, and then another 5 minutes for the entry stamp before going directly onto the bus, which surprisingly left immediately. In the Intag Valley, we hiked to a large waterfall and an archaeological museum on a plateau. An older gentleman asked for $5 for the tour. The “museum” consisted of a few pots and bowls found in the area. After that, we walked over some hills (under which the temples and graves were located) back to the starting point. We saw nothing because the locals do not allow excavations to preserve the peace of the dead and not to upset the spirits. One must respect that, however, there is no need to offer guidance there since there is really nothing to see; at least we got a freshly picked banana and a few equally fresh tangerines.

After dinner, then the shock, next to our bed was a palm-sized spider (and my palms aren't that small) with hairy legs, a huge body, and small fangs. They aren't that quick, with a flip-flop we'll probably catch it. The last thing I saw was a shadow behind the nightstand, wow, I really didn't expect that speed. In the past, I wouldn't have entered the room again, but what choice did I have (except to sleep outside in the hammock). When I woke up again during the night and saw the creature sitting a meter next to me on the wall, that was it for sleep until I was tired enough to close my eyes again. The next morning, we packed our things (hopefully without a stowaway) before heading on the way to Otavalo for a short hike around the Cuicocha Lagoon.

What struck me immediately was how much quieter it is here, a relief; let's see if it stays that way in Ecuador. In Otavalo, there seems to be an evening market every day (at least on the three days we were there), where everything that you might need (or not) is sold. I was more interested in the food; there was “Morada”, a thick warm drink that somehow resembles red fruit pudding. 'Morocho' is also a thick, warm drink made from corn that resembles rice pudding a bit. But what I liked best was the roast pig served with a type of potato pancake and salad. After a short walk, we also visited the local waterfall and then hiked along a nice trail to the next crater lake. However, we were a bit shocked to find that the entire tourist infrastructure was nearly non-existent; in general, since Medellín (except Cali), I have barely seen any tourists; okay fairly, one must say that Fina and I were also no longer in hostels, but even at the tourist hotspots, no one else is seen. Mario and Alessa, who have been studying in Ecuador for a few months, also reported the same. Since Corona and the unrest in Ecuador, there are only a few who wander here, which is a pity because so far I really like it here (or maybe that's exactly why?!). I had imagined the largest market in the Andean region differently; the people from the villages sold all kinds of handicrafts and everyday items like bags, backpacks, scarves, balaclavas, sweaters, ponchos, etc. In between, some vegetables, fruits, and spices were sold, but there was no one buying anything. Again I wondered how the people here survive or why they still come here to sell or if things were different before. I can hardly imagine that one can survive on this since the Ecuadorians also prefer to buy jeans and 'normal' sweaters at the evening market and aside from a small group from Germany, there were no tourists in sight. What I also did not expect: the quiet. Due to the lack of customers, there was no hustle, no noise, no bustle, but that is also very relaxing.

After three nights, we continued on a three-day hike, the so-called Quilotoa loop. We were a bit worried because 0 hours of sunshine were forecast, but more rain was predicted. So we set out early in the morning at 6 am to do the trail, as the rain was supposed to start mainly around noon. It was cloudy but dry; the paths were well marked, and we reached our first accommodation by 1 pm. We got an upgrade to a nice little hut with a private oven.

On the second day, we started a little later as breakfast was only at 8 am, but it was still dry. The path was even more beautiful than on the first day, through two valleys over bridges, along small rivers, with small villages, farmers, and many animals in between.

On the third day, I struggled with a minor food poisoning for the first 6 km to the next village before we decided to take a pickup to the main town and from there the bus back to the city. Our poor Spanish, however, complicated things, and we ended up on the opposite side, exactly where the hiking trail runs, which allowed us to skip the exhausting two-hour ascent. Still, I didn’t know how I was to walk the last three kilometers on foot; I was really exhausted by then, and it was terribly cold and windy. A nice lady then made me my first Coca tea in her little hut on the fire, making the last kilometers a bit easier for me! Then another two hours of bus ride back to Latacunga, and I fell into bed tired.

I spent my first day in Baños in bed; only in the afternoon did we go to a waterfall just behind the center and for dinner in the city. The next day, we wanted to explore the area on a scooter; however, the local scooter mafia wanted $20 per hour(!), while in Central America, $25 for a full day was already outrageous. Eventually, we found a dealer who let us rent a scooter for $35 for 4 hours. Clearly, Baños is one of the most touristy places in Ecuador, which surely has to do with its beautiful location. Following the main road, one can visit five impressive waterfalls within 20 kilometers, each one more impressive than the last. However, this also means that there is a cable car to each waterfall, where one can do bungee jumping or zip-lining. But I won’t get into such a 'cable car', where hopefully a well-trained locksmith has welded a basket, got four heavy-duty rollers from a hardware store, and used an old diesel engine for propulsion. Automated? Think again, where the black diesel smoke rises, someone is sitting with ear protectors accelerating and braking the whole contraption... The zip-lines are no better, and the first ones hung 50 meters above the gorge and had to be retrieved with an extra rope; no thanks, no matter how cheap (zip-line - $10, bungee jumping - $20...) We were satisfied with the waterfalls and a brief detour to the next viewpoint (around 1000 meters higher) before our four hours were up.

Happy New Year from Quito. The highest capital in the world (2850m) is being explored by us together with Mario, Alessa, and their friends. We met Mario and Alessa in our accommodation in Otavalo and were invited to New Year's Eve. On the first day, we climbed the impressive “Basilica nacional” and enjoyed the rainy view. The church was completed about 100 years ago, which isn't particularly long for a church; if one looks closely, there is a lot of concrete and metal. After that, we went to one brewery or another to taste some local specialties.

On New Year's Eve, we met with Mario again in the afternoon by the roadside somewhere in Quito, where we observed the tradition of men dressing as women, stopping cars, and dancing suggestively. The money collected was then used to buy drinks and snacks. It is also a common tradition to buy puppets made of papier-mâché, burn them, and jump over the fire. The puppets were available for purchase at every corner, comic figures, politicians, military, Chucky, Spiderman, Batman, etc. My bull (1312) burned well :) Then we made a quick stop at a party of Mario's friends before heading to his family. We got to watch the gift exchange and chatted a lot while drinking before going outside at midnight. With 12 grapes (one for each month), each person gets to wish for something for the new year! Feliz Año! After that, there was delicious roast pig, salad, potatoes, a variety of snacks, and one or two more drinks at 00:30(!). We then went back for a beer at the party, only to fall into bed exhausted at 03:30.

Before heading to the Galapagos Islands, we made a stop at the Equator, specifically at the point where the equator was first determined accurately to 240 m without modern instruments in 1736. A small museum and monument were built there, but it is, in fact, 240 meters away from the actual equator. 

Hello dear ones, 

Another week has passed, during which I have experienced an incredible amount. Ecuador truly has a lot to offer! 

Last proper Saturday, I hiked up the Cotopaxi volcano with my new friend Linda. 

It was quite an adventure, we started very early and drove with a tour group first to an altitude of 3800 m and then to 4600 m!

The roads were very rough, and the whole bus was shaking. From 4600 m, we then had to climb 300 meters to a hut where hot chocolate was available. The ascent was very tough; four out of our ten-person group stayed behind, and one woman only managed to reach the top with the guide's help. 

The weather did not cooperate. It was icy cold, incredibly windy, and it started to rain :(

It's insane how clearly you notice the lack of oxygen. Your legs feel like lead, and you feel a bit nauseous.

Coca leaves help with that; you chew them and then place them in the cheek between your teeth and cheek. They taste herbal, and only when smoked are they considered a drug :) they promote oxygen absorption in the blood, and you feel the altitude less!

We arrived at the hut and had a traditional hot chocolate made from real cocoa with lots of cinnamon and cloves for $2.5. We had earned that!

Then we went a little higher until we reached 5000 meters.

That was a wonderful feeling, and gradually the weather cleared up as well. 

The descent was much, much faster, but I was really glad when I was sitting in the still bus out of the wind :)

On the way back, we had a delicious lunch, typically soup with popcorn and a main dish of rice and meat. 

It was a fantastic Saturday! I am proud of myself for achieving this and look forward to the next adventures!

Warm volcanic regards, 

Your Paula 🌋

Here, I help with the English lessons for children aged around 12-14 years.

Per day, I have 4-5 hours of lessons, but there are also small breaks in between.

The children are all super nice and welcomed me very warmly!

The school is modern, and the lessons are not really different from those in Germany. We read texts together, sing songs, and practice the children's pronunciation!

Unfortunately, as the teacher explained to me, incredibly few people in Ecuador can speak good English, as many do not see the point in it. They will always remain in South America for work, and only Spanish is needed.

She believes that this is a reason why the economy is not performing as it could be, as job opportunities are limited when one cannot speak English. If more people spoke good English, one could stand out more internationally.

I haven't really noticed this; many of the children speak an average level of English, and some are even very good.

However, this is also a school that places particular importance on English lessons!

After two days of school, I had a quieter weekend, during which I met a new German girl!! She lives only 15 minutes' walk from my house, and we really get along very well. I'm looking forward to spending the next week with her :)

Until then, I wish you a nice first Advent,

For me, it's hard to think of Christmas with 31° and radiant sunshine :)

Best regards,

Your Paulita 💞

It was not my intention for my last part to be so reflective, as the weekend was anything but sad!

But sometimes it's good to let these thoughts go:)

So it continues on day two, Saturday, when we traveled in the evening to a large lagoon after visiting the indigenous tribe, where I also swam!

The water was really pleasantly warm, and there were many tourists. Boats there to enjoy the sunset.

In the evening we went on a night walk through the jungle! It was less exciting than expected, as we only saw a few beetles and a spider, and not, as hoped, a few snakes.

However, the starry sky that welcomed us was even more beautiful!

We returned over the lagoon and saw the starry sky in 180°! It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen :)

I love stargazing, and we took a lot of time to analyze the individual constellations. It was truly magical, as everyone on the boat listened in awe to the guide, and I would say that in that moment, the world stood still for just a moment!

With these impressions, we returned to the lodge, where we all fell into bed, tired but happy from all the experiences.

On the last full day, Sunday, we took a jungle hike on foot, mainly to look at the fauna. We trudged through the so-called mud forest, where we almost sank knee-deep in the mud. During the hike, we saw some monkeys and many frogs.

We also tried the so-called Lemon Ants, which taste sour when you put them on your tongue :)

In between, we swung like Tarzan on vines and then paddled back to the lodge in a canoe.

In the evening we stayed together for a long time and shared stories about the beautiful experiences.

On Monday, we sadly headed early back towards Quito, as the journey back was long! First by boat and then another 10-hour bus ride really exhausted me, but I still returned to Quito feeling incredibly happy and euphoric!

I had never felt so isolated from civilization as I did here in the Amazon jungle in Ecuador! I was a bit apprehensive about this before the trip, as we are used to being at least a little reachable. However, I found that it did me incredibly good, and I engaged much more with myself and my thoughts! Of course, I would have wanted to tell my family and friends about all of this right away, but it was nice to live completely in the moment and have so much time to think :)

Maybe this is something I can inspire you with back home in Germany! It's important to turn off your phone completely sometimes and not always be available for everyone :) I will definitely make it a point to not use my phone for whole days and focus more on others :)

So that was the adventure in the jungle!

There is still so much more to tell, but I can't capture it all here in this blog. So this was more of a short version.

Still, I hope you could empathize a little and I'm still very glad that so many enjoy reading my blog :)

Gracias a todo!💞

A luego,

Paulicita

Hello dear ones!

So I'm back from what was probably the most exciting weekend of my life!

And I can say this after traveling all over Costa Rica for six weeks and having so many amazing experiences ☺️

I was on, in, and at the Amazon! Let me tell you how my journey began.

On Thursday night, we were picked up directly in front of our doorstep by our travel bus. At 11:00 PM, we set off, traveling for 10 hours over very bumpy roads to the meeting point at the Amazon. We were greeted by our guide for the 4 days and received an introduction!

The Amazon is, alongside the Nile in Egypt, the longest river in the world, with nearly 7000 km of the main river flowing through the countries of Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Brazil.

The Amazon region contributes immensely to global air purification through the storage and transformation of CO2.

Also, the breathtaking flora and fauna, which attract researchers and nature lovers from around the world, must be mentioned. The guide explained to us that there are species of flora and fauna that exist exclusively in the Amazon jungle. The locals, especially the indigenous people, are very proud of this, and the highest priority is to protect this wonder!

We started on one of the tributaries of the Amazon - Rio Negro, which flows into the main river.

In the jungle, it's important to be attentive and never venture in without an experienced person, as many species of spiders and snakes are venomous.

With these first impressions, we boarded a banana boat that took us to our lodge, a small settlement of wooden huts!

The lodge is nice - modest but beautiful.

My first impression of the jungle is that I can hardly put the beauty into words. It is as green as I have never seen before and everywhere you can hear different animals, like a grand concert!

The air is very fresh and smells like the palm house in Frankfurt, only more natural and less intense.

On the first day, we made our own chocolate from cocoa beans, which was delicious but not very sweet, so we added a lot of sugar!

Then in the evening, we went to a lagoon of the Amazon, followed by a night tour where we saw a caiman, snakes, and owls.

That was incredible because we got very close to the animals with the boat.

On the second day, we visited the indigenous people who have lived in the jungle for generations! The guide explained to us that there are several tribes along the river that get along but avoid each other.

The visit was really impressive; we met a man who lives with his five wives in very cramped quarters in a very makeshift wooden house. Food is cooked over an open fire, and the walls and roof are definitely not completely sealed. As we entered the house, a turtle was being grilled - a specialty!

We didn’t try it because we went on to see the shaman, the oldest and most experienced man of the tribe. He was dressed very interestingly, in a long shirt and a lot of handmade jewelry. He taught us about the powers of nature and demonstrated it on some plants.

Then we could buy the handmade jewelry of the people, and then we went to Mirella, a woman from the tribe, who cooked for us. There were many fruits, and we also made traditional yuca bread together.

It is very delicious but very labor-intensive to make.

Sadly, it was already time to go home; the encounter with the tribe left a strong impression on me. After the visit, I was very contemplative because, while it is very special and exciting to meet such a foreign culture, I didn’t feel that the women were very happy.

Mirella told us that she has already sent all her five children to the city to build a life away from the tribe. She seemed very sad that she could not be with her children; why, I don't know :(

As I write this, I realize that my report is becoming longer than expected, so I will make it into two parts!

During my time in the jungle, I wrote a lot in my journal and realized how grateful I can be to grow up in such an emancipated world.

Mirella can neither write nor read and is completely inferior to her husband. I wouldn't wish that for any woman in this world.

With these thoughtful reflections, I conclude the first part and will go right into the next one :)

Warm regards and enjoy looking at the photos!

Paulita

Welcome to the highest capital in the world!

On Sunday, November 17, I arrived in Quito, the highest capital above sea level at 2850 m.

My flight was very relaxing; I was picked up directly from the airport and met my host family.

My host mother is named Monika, and she lives in a large house in downtown Quito with her 90-year-old mother and the housekeeper Paulita.

She is incredibly warm, and I felt welcomed right away.

Along with me, there is another German, a Swiss woman, and two friends I already met in Costa Rica :)

My first day on Monday in my new project was really amazing; I work on a charity farm that specializes in birds. In addition to the usual farm animals, there are many parrots and birds of prey.

A highlight of the farm is the big bird of prey show with eagles, buzzards, owls, and more.

My task is to clean the cages, then we feed the birds and do flight training with them.

In the afternoon, I went downtown for the first time; Quito is really exciting!

It is very crowded and loud, but also incredibly colorful due to the clothing of the locals or the many fruit and vegetable stands along the street.

There are hardly any tourists to be seen, so people look at you a bit strangely.

A major highlight of downtown is the basilica, but there are countless richly decorated churches since the Catholic faith is very important here.

In the evening, we went to a restaurant with a view over the whole city; it was truly indescribable!

Currently, Ecuador is experiencing a severe drought, which is why electricity is cut off twice a day for about 4 hours.

Everyone is affected, even restaurants and cafes have to work with generators. This is particularly dramatic for cooling food and caring for sick people.

For me, it was something new not to always have electricity available, but I have gotten used to it after a few days. It is a privilege that we have electricity at any time of day or night in Germany!

For the last four days, we had dinner in the host family by candlelight; candles are not common or too expensive, and the electricity was off.

During the city tour we did on Tuesday, we tasted real Ecuadorian chocolate, which is truly delicious!

Ecuador is very different from home, and also quite different from Costa Rica, which I experienced in the last six weeks.

It is not a vacation destination but a land for adventurous travelers! I love the new impressions but also had to adjust a little at first.

This weekend, I'm going on a huge adventure! I will be heading to the Amazon for three days and living right in the jungle.

There is no reception there; you are completely cut off from civilization.

Moreover, you get to see and meet completely unknown animals, and on the last day, we will meet the indigenous people of Ecuador and have lunch with them.

I am very grateful that I have the opportunity to take this trip to the Amazon and look forward to all the new stories!

Stay tuned for what’s to come!

Warm regards from Ecuador,

Besos,

Paulita

After a few relaxing days in the wilderness, I stepped into the Pan-American highway with my backpack, and within less than 30 seconds, the first bus stops and takes you 1.5 hours further to Quito, the capital of Ecuador. Upon arriving at the bus station on the outskirts of Quito, you can immediately hop onto the brand new subway of the city (in operation for less than a year) and for less than 50 cents, you can glide into the historic center of the city. The subway and the entire infrastructure are spotless, and you can see everywhere that this prestige project of the city is not very long in operation and is in absolutely pristine condition. Once you get off in the center, the path directly leads through the historic center to the Viajero hostel. On the way, you get a direct impression of how things work here: everything is a bit wilder and rougher than in the previous stations in Ecuador. This statement is not meant to reflect any negative touch, but Quito is something special, and you notice that immediately. Upon arriving at the hostel, I find myself with another unknown person (only the shoes give away that someone else is in the shared room), as I am the only visitor in the 10-bed dorm, and here too the lack of tourism is noticeable. The rooms are of the finest quality and the beds are top-notch. The house, an old government building that has been completely restored, impresses with its rustic charm. Up to this point, everything is great, and the view through the historic streets promises a lot. Beautiful colonial buildings as far as the eye can see, and in the horizon, a massive cathedral looms at the edge of the old town. On the day of my arrival, Quito is struggling with a dreadful forest fire that has crept into the outskirts of the city. A state of emergency is declared, and there is a curfew in some neighborhoods. Allegedly, it's arson, which is definitely not a pleasant circumstance, but fortunately, the firefighters get the fire under control within the next two days, and aside from the smell of burnt wood, that's the only contact I have with this event. I visit the huge cathedral right after my arrival. The building stands out prominently over the city center and attracts curious visitors like a magnet. Once you stand in front of it, you marvel at its size. A true colossus stands before you – the Basilica Sagrado Corazon de Jesus, Patron of Ecuador (Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Patron of Ecuador) – as it is called in full – is the largest neo-Gothic basilica in the Americas. After a short awe, the entrance to the higher spheres of the cathedral is purchased for 4 euros, and I am curious about what the structure inside has to offer. It goes high up, first to the towers, which house a few souvenir shops and even a bar. A bar in a church, which I had seen in Dublin before, is actually quite unusual. The background was explained to me later during a free walking tour: the church rents out the imposing walls to the shop operators, thus generating extra income. From the tower balconies, there is a wonderful view over the city center, and you can see on one side the opposite Cerro Panecillo with the Virgin statue overlooking the old town from the other side. A spiral staircase takes you one floor higher directly into the clock tower, placing you essentially behind the far-visible clocks. The clockworks are not functional, and both towers display different times on their clocks. Unfortunately, I did not receive a precise explanation of this. Some people say these are the times of Quito and the Vatican, while others claim it reflects the inequality between the earthly and divine worlds. It could also symbolize the contrasts and contradictions of the country or represent the coexistence of tradition and modernity, as well as the various spheres in which people live. Whatever the reason may be, the space in the tower behind the giant clocks is undoubtedly impressive.

The spiral staircase continues up for a bit more, and if you bend your head, you arrive through a hatch in a small room above the clocks, ultimately having a similar view as one floor below. That's enough height for me, I don't feel quite comfortable in these spheres anymore, and I descend the tower again. Through the souvenir shop of the other tower, you reach a wooden walkway over the nave of the church and find yourself in the middle of the structure, from where you can reach the pointed tower above the back of the cathedral. This is the highest point that can be accessed on the building. So theoretically, as in practice it is simply crazy. Two freestanding staircases built with a platform at a 180° angle allow for further ascent, and you look directly into the void from the steep stairs. Even though the highest viewpoint of the cathedral is said to offer a wonderful 360° view, I unfortunately have to retreat here. It's simply not doable if you aren't absolutely afraid of heights – so I can't proceed any further. Among the visitors on the church roof, I am certainly not the only one who is making a controlled retreat. And since I had already enjoyed magnificent views beforehand, this isn't too bad. On the way down, one passes over a balcony into the nave and can look down at the vast interior of the structure. Numerous colorful representations of saints adorn the windows, and the church appears very tidy, without the greater kitsch that can often be found in other churches. Upon reaching the exit, one finds a statue of Pope John Paul II, who was already ubiquitous in Peru and who blessed the building in 1985. Besides, the façade features various figures and water spouts which, however, are not gargoyles like those found at the world-famous Notre Dame in Paris, but representations of native animals, such as iguanas, armadillos, or Galapagos turtles. The tour through the massive cathedral is indeed impressive and sets itself apart significantly from other buildings of this kind (not least due to its size). Among the more than 100 churches that shape the skyline of Quito, this one is definitely a visual highlight, at least from the outside. Incidentally, there is a legend that states the church can never be completely finished because the completion of its construction would mean the end of the world or would at least end with an unimaginable catastrophe for the city of Quito. Perhaps the reason behind this is simply that unfinished buildings are taxed much lower and completing them would represent a greater financial burden for the church budget. But that is merely a conjecture. ;)

The return journey through the old town offers truly beautiful views, and you are overwhelmed by the abundance of noteworthy buildings. However, I simultaneously feel a different vibe when strolling through the alleys compared to my previous experiences in cities in Peru. Essentially, everything is relaxed, but something tells me that one should sharpen their senses a bit more here, and so far, I have been able to rely well on my instincts. More than before in Cuenca, heavily armed military personnel stand at almost every hotspot in the center, and even though this is intended to convey a feeling of safety, it can also be perceived as rather uncomfortable. While during the day the streets and squares of the Centro Historico are bustling with activity, this image changes dramatically with dusk's arrival. After dark, the center resembles a ghost town. The locals and even the hostel staff explicitly advise against walking outside in the dark and recommend using Uber to get from point A to B. The fact that downtown areas, especially in South America, become deserted at night due to security concerns is not new, but the situation in Quito hits differently. Following the locals' advice to move through the city using ride services, you can sometimes not encounter a single person on the street in certain areas. It's a rather disturbing feeling, and all windows, doors, and other entrances are barricaded or secured with grates. Whether the current situation is just a bit extreme due to the not-so-optimal security climate, I can only speculate. The locals say it is a mix of the tightened security situation and the constant power outages that make the city center appear deserted at night. Speaking of power outages: what had been already hinted at in Cuenca and at Cotopaxi has turned out to be a real problem here. During my visit, there were parts of Quito without power for 12 to 14 hours. The ongoing drought means that energy must be managed so sensitively in the country's capital that entire neighborhoods have to go offline for hours. Only hospitals, some government institutions, and better hotels are equipped with emergency power supplies. For tourists, this is certainly annoying and leads to bizarre situations, such as needing to drive to another neighborhood (which is not affected by the shutdown) just to get cash, as the ATMs there are the only ones functioning. For residents, this is a significant problem: restaurants can’t prepare food or can do so only to a very limited extent; small businesses cannot deliver their services; and everything in the affected neighborhoods is reduced to a minimum. I really felt for the people when I tried to pick up my laundry from the laundromat, I needed a total of 3 attempts before the woman could first wash and then dry them. In the end, she returned my laundry half-dry, apologized a thousand times, and did not want to charge me. I paid her anyway, after all, the people can hardly be blamed, and one can only imagine what it means when days go by without income for someone earning a modest living. Sad, but it’s the reality due to the drought. Fortunately, the situation apparently eased somewhat after a few weeks, and the power supply was completely restored. Still, it’s simply unimaginable in our regions: the capital city of the country is almost without power for half the day.

After a few days, another German from Wolfsburg stayed in my hostel room. We started talking and made plans for some activities together. Among other things, we were invited by locals to a salsa club, only to find out that as a Central European, we felt completely out of place in that establishment. The level of dance activity here is just very high, and for the untrained observer, the sight of the movements is simply breathtaking. It seems like everyone here is a dance professional; various couples perform exquisite moves on the dance floor, and numerous judges score their performances. Briefly, I considered trying my hand at dancing too, but under these circumstances, I could only watch and marvel.

In principle, Quito's nightlife district is quite well visited on the weekends and, unlike the Centro Historico, you don't feel like you're in a ghost town. Various bars and clubs line the streets, and the prices here also align with Central European levels.

With some locals, I visited the Mitad del Mundo (the Middle of the World) about 20 kilometers outside the city on one of the next days. For 5 USD, you can visit the place where a French expedition first determined a precise position of the equator in 1736. Well, almost precise, because the exact position of the equator is about 250 meters away from Mitad del Mundo, hence the structure serves more symbolic purposes today. In a large colonial-style park full of souvenir and food stalls (they are serving guinea pig again – this time on a skewer), the approximately 30-meter-high monument stands as the centerpiece of the area. At the top, there’s a globe with a metal ring representing the Earth and the equator, and a yellow line runs through the park in an east-west direction, marking the center of the Earth. Overall, it's pretty unspectacular, but if you're nearby, you should check out the Mitad del Mundo.

After a delicious meal in a local restaurant (also in Ecuador, there is really delicious ceviche, although the preparation is completely different than in Peru, marinaded or sauced and typically served with shrimp or prawns), the second part of the day led us to El Panecillo, the prominent hill on the outskirts of the old town and another landmark of the city. In principle, you can hike up the hill, but since the locals warned us (the path leads through a not-so-safe area and muggings are not uncommon), we opted for the motorized version. Upon reaching the top, numerous shops offer Canelazo (the local hot drink made from cinnamon and sugarcane alcohol) and various other specialties, and you have a good view of the city and the surrounding hills, where the poorer residents of the city settle in the simplest of dwellings. On the hill stands the Virgen de Quito (Virgin of Quito), a statue made of 7,000 aluminum plates, making it one of the world's largest aluminum monuments. Moreover, the Virgin, standing 45 meters tall, is the tallest statue in Ecuador, even surpassing the Christ statue in Rio.

The depiction of the figure is that of the Virgin Mary, but she is adorned with wings. At her feet, she treads upon a serpent, symbolizing the victory of good over evil. The Virgin is also a symbol of Quito's protection, and many residents consider her the city's guardian. Some claim this protection mainly serves the wealthier neighborhoods of Quito, as her gaze is directed to the north (the more prosperous part of the city), while the

The journey through the central highlands of Ecuador from Cuenca to Cotopaxi National Park takes a fast 10 hours (for 360 km) because the bus stopped at every little village to pick up or drop off people. Essentially nothing new in South America, but the frequency of the stops was something new for me.

I actually wanted to stay at the Secret Garden near the national park with a view of the volcano, but after endless back-and-forth over WhatsApp and constantly different and overly high prices, I lost interest in that place and decided to look for another accommodation. Unfortunately, I had already booked a night in Machachi, a small town in the middle of nowhere, to be shuttled to the Secret Garden the next morning. So after the long bus ride, I got dropped off there and after a quick snack, checked out what else was around, only to head back 35 km to Chasqui the next day, as I had found a cozy accommodation there, in the greenery and not far from the entrance of the national park. The really nice thing about South America is that no matter where you are, you just stand by the road and it never takes long for some vehicle to stop and pick you up for a small fee. You can get on and off wherever you like; the bus practically stops everywhere. That has its charm, but it can also be annoying if you finally want to reach your destination and the bus seems to stop every 3 minutes to drop someone off (as perfected on the way there).

Upon arriving at the hostel, I was almost alone again. A girl from Costa Rica had also checked in here, while the rest of the room was empty. Unfortunately, tourism in Ecuador seems to have completely collapsed after all the bad news from the last few months. On the one hand, this is quite pleasant as a guest, but for the people here who live from tourism, it is an absolute catastrophe. One can only hope that this normalizes again quickly or that the government manages to get the problems with the cartels under control somehow.

The accommodation is definitely very cozy and the hosts are super nice and relaxed. There’s even a lookout tower with almost unobstructed views of Cotopaxi. Unfortunately, it was almost completely shrouded in clouds on the day I arrived. But that was no big deal as the trip to this nearly 6,000 m high volcano was to take place the next day. The rest of the day was meant for lounging around, strolling through the area, and settling into the cozy lodge by the fireplace. That’s how I had envisioned it. And since the power was out for practically the entire rest of the day, it was a wonderful way to pass the time. Due to the ongoing drought and the issue with the power supply (Ecuador generates most of its electricity through hydropower), the responsible authority decided to cut off electricity for about 12 hours a day until the end of the month. It’s not a big deal for a few hours, but it can be quite annoying in the long run. The dinner served at the hostel was enjoyed by candlelight and the only two guests chatted about their plans for the next day. In total, it’s nearly 50 km to the foot of the path up to Cotopaxi in the middle of the national park. Since the Costa Rican girl had already been to Cotopaxi but wanted to go back to the park for birdwatching, she offered to share the transportation. A driver I had met the day before was set to provide the entire service, including round-trip transport and entry to the national park for $20 per person. My original plan was to hitchhike to the park entrance and then figure out how to get from there. However, the all-inclusive package for a twenty seemed like quite a fair deal, and I agreed.

At 8 am the next morning, we were picked up by our driver and headed toward the national park. Our bird expert (by the way, wearing a fitting parrot shirt) was dropped off halfway, and I continued my ascent. Already along the way, Cotopaxi offered breathtaking views, and the clouds from the previous day had almost completely cleared. From the window of the car, I could hardly take my eyes off the beautifully shaped volcano, and we stopped a few times to enjoy the view in peace. We were almost the only vehicle on the gravel road, and as we climbed higher, the road conditions became increasingly challenging. Lucy, our driver, and the somewhat older pickup managed this excellently, and after about 1.5 hours, we arrived at the last drivable point of the road at 4,600 m. I grabbed my backpack and set off towards the summit. Already upon exiting, an incredibly strong wind hit my face, and the ascent on the still clearly recognizable path was only possible tightly bundled up with a hood over my head. The first 45 minutes towards the refuge I managed reasonably well; the path wound steeply but was relatively passable up to over 4,800 m. Although I felt the altitude every now and then, it was all within a relaxed framework; the only challenge was the wind. Upon arriving at the refuge (the last hut before the summit), I took a short break before the plan was to push on to the edge of the glacier. Climbing to the summit of Cotopaxi is generally possible, but one should be well prepared, and have experience in mountaineering. Parts of the trail further up are reportedly only navigable with icy climbing and are described as extremely strenuous. In principle, I would be tempted to make such a climb; however, for today, the glacier edge lower down would suffice. At the hut, I met a group of Canadians with a mountain guide, whom I asked about the way to the glacier. According to him, there were two options: one that goes above 5,300 m, which is more of a long route, and the other to just below 5,200 m. I chose the path that rises directly behind the hut with the longer variant, and the mountain guide wished me well with the words “be careful.” So off I went, and shortly after starting my ascent, I realized that the path was extremely steep and challenging. It was basically just a gravel slope up, and a constant march was impossible. I was going up 3 steps and down 2, and the height of about 5,000 m was noticeably taxing my endurance. After about 40 minutes of battling with the mountain and the view upwards, which offered no improvement, I decided to turn back. It was simply too steep, and I wasn’t equipped with the right gear to reach the glacier in a reasonable time. So, it was back down to the refuge. There, I took a short break before taking the shorter way up. The first part was similar to the way to the hut; however, after a short while, the visible path branched off into several forks, and I could only vaguely guess where I should go. Since no other people were walking in this part of the mountain, navigating became pretty tricky. I thought I was on the right track and followed the seemingly visible path until at some point, I could only vaguely guess where I should be moving. The terrain became steeper, and I “climbed” up the slope on all fours, as walking upright was no longer feasible due to the conditions. To make matters worse, rocks appeared to my left with a steep drop behind them. I continued climbing up the edge, but I didn’t feel very comfortable in that terrain. With each upward movement, parts of the ground, stones, and boulders would slide down the slope, then lead directly over the edge to tumble down. Okay, this couldn’t possibly be the right way; in fact, it was no longer any path but rather I was moving through free terrain, and it had become very, very steep. Since there were a few larger boulders just above me, I resolved to climb a little further up to somehow get a somewhat stable foothold and come up with a plan for how to proceed. Unfortunately, that wasn’t a very good idea, as the loose stones and the incline made it hardly possible for me to stabilize myself, and I kept slipping back a few meters down, always with a view of the cliff that would mean an uncontrolled fall. This situation was very uncomfortable, especially since the medium-sized rocks to my left and right, that I wanted to lean on, were partly loose and would tumble down the slope the moment I attempted to grab them. Moving safely on the steep slope was quite stressful and not manageable at all, and what truly worried me was the drop that was not far below me, and I had to concentrate hard not to lose my grip and slide down. Finally, I reached one of the rocks and pulled myself up, maneuvering my body onto the stone. All the loose stones beneath my feet slipped down, the altimeter showed 5,180 m, and it was quite clear that I was off the path and in a section that was no longer simply “walkable.” I took a quick breath and scanned the area. An estimated 200 m below, I saw 3 people on a kind of path, completely off the path I had taken. Okay, that must be the right way to the glacier edge, the lower end of which was now to my right but quite a bit below my position. While it was relatively close to the glacier, the part further down was probably the actual goal for the day. It didn’t matter; the main thing was to somehow safely get back to one of the paths leading back to the refuge. I decided that the most logical goal would be to head towards the path I had seen further down, and to do that while keeping as much distance from the edge as possible. Unfortunately, that wasn’t easily possible, so I let myself slide more or less controlled towards the edge (that was a real adrenaline kick - not in a positive way, as it was truly not controlled at all) and then moved further sideways and somewhat down on the slightly flatter part directly at the cliff. Since the edge didn’t run parallel but sloped down along the ridge of the relief, I had to constantly shift a bit sideways and downwards, which could only be done sitting on my backside or lying down with my feet as brakes. It somehow reminded me of the quality of the braking systems of Bolivian buses. But it worked somehow. Eventually, I reached the part of the slope where I could no longer fall and let myself slide down until I finally arrived back on the flatter part of the slope, allowing me to descend upright. Phew, what a situation; all in all, it wasn’t exactly a pleasant feeling moving along an edge and the terrain being so unpredictable that you didn’t know whether you would slip down 20 centimeters or 2 meters with the next movement.

After all the excitement, I descended the rest of the way down to the parking lot and enjoyed the views of the other three volcanoes in the area, Ruminahui, Sincholagua, and Antisana. We then drove back to the valley and made a stop at Laguna de Limpiopunga, which I peacefully walked around for a hike. During the 2 hours, I enjoyed the wonderful view of Cotopaxi in the best weather conditions. While yesterday everything had been cloudy, only a few scattered clouds clouded the sky today. One could almost call it royal weather, and it’s hard to get tired of such a dreamlike backdrop. For me, Cotopaxi is perhaps the most beautiful volcano I have had the pleasure of enjoying live so far.

Despite the little mishap, it was a really wonderful day, and I fully enjoyed the hike; also, the adrenaline from the ascent of Cotopaxi was slowly leaving my body.

The rest of the day was spent in the accommodation by the fireplace and with another dinner by candlelight, as the power went out again for several hours. Tomorrow, we should head towards Quito, and I was quite curious about the conditions I would find there.

If you research the current situation in Ecuador beforehand, it can indeed deter you from traveling to this relatively small country compared to its neighbors. Not to mention the perspective from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, you hear some wild stories from travelers: drug wars, bus hijackings, so-called no-go areas, and who knows what else. Such information is certainly not inviting. However, I encountered people who had absolutely no problems in Ecuador and expressly recommended the beauty of the country, so it quickly became clear to me that there was no option to skip this piece of earth. The first stop was to be the city of Cuenca, and I must admit that before my trip, I knew nothing or very little about this city. The first time I consciously paid attention to Cuenca was in the far south of Argentina. One of the motorcycle travelers in El Chaltén spoke of his transit through Ecuador and explicitly recommended a visit to the city. It was supposed to be relaxed and very worth seeing – that much I remembered, and now, a few months after this information, I was finally going to experience it. After another night on the bus, a fairly relaxed border crossing, and an uneventful onward journey, I arrived in Cuenca around noon. When you stroll through the bus station upon arrival, the first thing you notice is the number of heavily armed personnel in state service, who apparently secure the public places here. Military or some special police units stand masked around the area, surveying their surroundings. Whether this is necessary or not, I cannot judge, but it definitely has a deterrent effect. It was a stark contrast to Peru, as I had not perceived such heavily armed state servants there at all. After arriving at my room booked through Booking, I checked in and dropped off my things. I didn't know that in the next few days I would be part of a Chinese family, but more on that later. While exploring the city, everything seemed a bit more modern and European than in Peru, at least in terms of the cityscape and architecture. What doesn’t change, however, are the many indigenous people offering various goods for daily needs at the market or on movable stalls, even though their clothing style and appearance differ somewhat from the indigenous people of Peru. One immediately notices the abundance of splendid and unique buildings that shape the city’s landscape – and there seems to be no shortage of churches here either. It definitely gives a relaxed and visually appealing impression – just as the Frenchman reported. The old town of Cuenca seems like an open-air museum: cobblestone streets lead past elegant balconies, charming courtyards, and magnificent colonial buildings. The oversized park-like squares of the city, surrounded by shady trees and historical facades, invite you to linger.

Numerous workshops, galleries, and small shops line the city center, and there is a lively hustle and bustle. Perfect for just sitting down somewhere and observing the surroundings and the people for a while. After the first exploratory tours, I returned to the hostel and got a taste of Chinese family life. The room is rather sparsely furnished and has a comfortable bed. However, the door is just a better wooden board, and through the huge gap under the

Today is a classic city trip, as I know it: get up early and explore the city on foot. The three of us start with an Americano "para llevar" and make our way into the city. We walk through a beautiful park and cross the Rio Tomebamba over the Mariano Moreno bridge. Cuenca's artistic style, which runs through the whole city, is immediately noticeable. The bridge is inscribed with hundreds of names of women who have died in Cuenca in recent years as a result of femicides, and is a reminder of the city's goal of putting an end to this - this confrontation in the morning is quite touching. We continue walking towards the city center and just let ourselves drift without a plan. Again and again we notice the beautifully painted houses or elaborate mosaics on the facades. The most impressive building is probably the Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepción at Parque Calderón, which towers over the city with its three blue and white domes. We find the artistic heart of Cuenca by chance: In the Centro Municipal Artesanal Arts & Crafts there are many small shops that show and sell their handicrafts. From Panama hats to clothing and jewelry, you can find almost everything here. One artist from Cuenca, whose stand we admire, is particularly touching. We ask if we can take pictures of his work and praise his art - he can't stop being happy. My broken Spanish only tells me that he is so happy and thanks God that we came to his shop. He hugs us warmly, wishes us and our family and friends all the happiness in the world and says goodbye with small gifts of his passion: the painted guitars that have characterized his art for over 50 years. With the panels in our luggage, we now discover the local market hall and the Plaza de los Flores. Again and again we meet others from our group, join in and then separate again. We also visit the Museo Pumapungo, which displays many utensils of the indigenous population. Since the museum hardly offers any English translation, we just stroll through and look for objects that we were able to get to know ourselves from the Kichua family. Then we head back to the city center and find a rooftop bar where we enjoy the view of the cathedral. We also stop at a chocolatería, because this evening we are leaving the land of the cocoa bean. On the way back to the hotel we spend (too much) time in the big supermarket: Supermaxi. It is exciting for all of us to see what is available in other countries. The answer: everything and everything in bags. The supermarket is really huge and left nothing to be desired. What was amusing for us here, however, was that almost everything can be bought in bags: garlic paste, coconut oil, milk, olives, nacho cheese, etc. We stock up on snacks in the Supermaxi for the long bus ride that awaits us later. Before that, we go to a restaurant so that we don't just eat out of bags and then meet up with the group at the hotel. After a short taxi ride, we get on the public night bus, which is supposed to take us to Máncora via a few stops and the Ecuadorian-Peruvian border. The bus is actually quite full, but we can adjust our seats easily, the bus is darkened and so we spend the next few hours here until we reach the border. We leave the bus at 1 a.m. with only our valuables and go into the border authority building: At counter 1, I show my passport and get the stamp for leaving Ecuador and at counter 2, one meter to the right, I get the stamp for entering Peru - it takes less than two minutes. The empty bus and our luggage are briefly sniffed by dogs, then we are allowed to continue our journey. To be continued...

Today is the day to check a few things off your bucket list.

First stop: canyoning! Put on your bikini, pack water and a towel and you're ready. In the office we get wetsuits, safety gear, water shoes and helmets and then make ourselves comfortable in the back of the pickup truck to head to the nearby waterfalls. We walk up a small trail next to the waterfalls and then abseil down two waterfalls. We get instructions on where to go and cross the cold waterfall several times. We drop into the water for the last meter and swim a bit to get out of the waterfall again. We walk a bit again to get down the next two waterfalls - this time differently. We slide down the first one, very relaxed and fun. I get a little excited when we get to the second one and are told to jump - 25m down. I cockily sign up to start. Very reckless, but that will continue throughout the day. I am secured again and then stand backwards on a wooden post that is attached to the edge of the cliff. On 3, 2, 1 our guide Andrés releases the brake and I fall about 10m. So I'm hanging there in the middle of a huge waterfall, swinging through the water as it splashes down and being slowly lowered until I have solid ground under my feet again. Only when I release myself from the safety device at the bottom and walk a few meters do I see the beautiful Cascada El Silencio waterfall that I just fell down and I'm a little proud. That also continues throughout the day.

When I arrive at the hotel, I swap the waterfall for a warm shower and take a lunch break with Callie through Baños in search of snacks for the bus ride tomorrow and lunch at the local market. There we find a great deal: 6 empanadas filled with cheese, banana or both for $1. I can also learn a thing or two about how to make them so that I can make some myself at home. We then lie down in the hammocks at the hotel, eat our empanadas and then get changed - in the afternoon we'll be heading up high and down deep again.

Equipped with fleece sweaters and down jackets, we drive to the second action stop of the day: Swing Jump! When we arrive at the bridge, I reconsider my booking: apart from a 50cm deep metal platform that juts out over the bridge, there is no way of knowing what is about to happen. But when will I get the chance to jump off a bridge in the rainforest over a 100m deep ravine for $20? Again, I am the first, as the tour continues straight after that. I put on my safety gear and helmet with doubts and receive my instructions for the jump: jump as if I were standing on the starting block in a swimming pool - easy, then. But the adrenaline level is completely different when I stand on the metal platform and look down into the ravine. What the heck. Again, 3, 2, 1 and off we go. I jump forward into the abyss and am caught by the rope, swinging from left to right a few times as I realize what just happened: I jumped off a bridge. And that was definitely the scariest thing I've ever done.

So we take a 40-minute break in the bus at an altitude of 3,000m for the third activity: paragliding. The weather conditions are perfect and we can start straight away. It's the first time for Emily and Callie too, so I'm sent ahead - thank you. We put on our safety harnesses and helmet again and I'm strapped in for the tandem flight. When we open the parachute we feel a violent jolt backwards and the wind makes the start quite chaotic. But once in the air I only feel one thing: calm. We glide through the air up to an altitude of 3,200m and I get a great overview of the surrounding towns and the area, which is characterized by the cultivation of potatoes, tomatoes, corn and strawberries. The 1,000-cm-high Tungurahua volcano also stands out impressively, surrounded by clouds at the summit. Normally snow surrounds the crater, but due to recent activity of the volcano (nothing happened, don't worry!) the ice and snow have melted. We sail against the wind at around 40 km/h, and up to 60 km/h in the direction of the wind. Of course, there has to be a bit of action here too, so we do a few quick twists and turns, which for me feels like being on a rollercoaster, but here too with a view of the abyss. At the end of the maneuver, it is calm again and I can enjoy the view for a few more minutes before we land.

After Callie and Emily have also dared to try it, we set off again for Baños. On the way there, I saw a few stands on the side of the road selling local strawberries, so we asked our driver to stop at one of the stands. As we are stuck in a traffic jam, we got out of the bus and walked a bit. Instead of a stand on the side of the road, we found ourselves at the local market in Pelileo, where we were the only tourists to be noticed and watched the hustle and bustle, which revolved around fruit, vegetables and empanadas. The three of us shared 2kg of strawberries, the smallest size sold here, which cost us $2 - still bearable.

In Baños I recognize some people I met in the hostel in Quito, others knew Emily or Callie - the world is so small. We arrange to meet up for the evening and then go back to the hotel. Once there, we have a few minutes to process everything that has happened today and how much adrenaline my body must have released today. We get ready for the evening and go to the restaurant as a group, where I have nachos and wraps. We take the first happy hour with us and then we go to a bar before we get to the final destination of the evening. The agency's guides had already made the recommendation in the morning when we were canyoning, so we find ourselves in the club around midnight. First we go to the "Salsoteka", where Alina teaches us a few steps and we dance with some locals. Later we go over to the open courtyard, in the middle there is a fire pit, at the edge the DJ and the bars. There we meet the others we met in the park in the city in the afternoon. The DJ plays a mix of reggaeton and classic party songs that we all know from our clubs at home. At around 3 a.m. we head home and set the alarm for 6:30 a.m. Luckily, we have an eight-hour bus ride ahead of us tomorrow, during which we can catch up on sleep (and write the blog posts).

After a night, we leave Shandia again and take a public bus towards Baños. Since the bridge to cross the Rio Napo is closed, we get off the bus shortly after to walk across the closed bridge on foot and see directly why it is not passable. Without accidents, we then board another bus on the other side of the river and head to Baños. The city is no longer in the Amazon itself but is still surrounded by rainforest and some waterfalls. The city is characterized by tourism; many different shops and agencies offer excursions, some of which we will do tomorrow. To do this, we go to the office of an agency and plan the next day. We walk around the city and have lunch: The lunch menu consists of salad, soup, main course, dessert, and juice, costs $3.50, and tastes great (as usual here). In the afternoon, we explore the first stations in Baños. First, we take a cable car over the Rio Pastaza Gorge and enjoy the view offered here. Back on the bus, we head to Cascada El Pailon; an 80m high waterfall where I get properly wet. I change clothes on the bus and then we drive up a mountain to enjoy a wonderful view of Baños and the surroundings while swinging to capture it all in pictures. Meanwhile, the sun sets, and we witness the whole color spectacle that is offered to us. For dinner, we head to the city and speculate about the adventures that await us tomorrow.

The idea of the jungle noises has already taken root. On our second night it rained heavily until the morning and I started the day well rested. Even though we have to get up earlier today to continue our Jungle Run Club, we have already gained two new members and extended the route - now we know our way around. When we get back, we can sit down at the breakfast table straight away: today we have pancakes with papaya, strawberries and banana. What a start to the day!

Then we have some time to pack our backpacks and put on our swimwear. With sunscreen, towel and insect repellent in our luggage, we take a walk to the lagoon on the Rio Napo. The river is already bigger than the one we saw on the first day and later flows into the Amazon. Water builds up in the lagoon from a small waterfall and we spend half the day there: we slide over the stones with the current into the lagoon, we swing on a rope or jump from a 5m high cliff into the water and just relax. I try a backflip from a smaller 1m high stone and after three attempts I am actually quite successful: I land on my shins, but unfortunately I cannot find a higher stone to practice on. Then we head back on the back of the pick-up truck, where lunch is already waiting for us. Instead of bread with the soup, we eat local salty popcorn - simply fantastic. So the next time we have pea soup at home, we have popcorn. Monika and I are helping with the dishes in the kitchen today; we have been looked after so wonderfully and warmly over the last few days and can now show our gratitude. The sink is also on the edge of the kitchen so we can look into the jungle while we do it. Before we set off for Shandia, we say goodbye to the Kichua family and enjoy the last moments. After a short pickup ride, we hop on our mountain bikes and ride about an hour over gravel paths and asphalt roads to Shandia. There are always large quantities of beans lying on the side of the road, which we will learn more about later. I have already seen large groups of racing cyclists in Quito and am also keeping the Amazon in mind for this, perhaps I will come back again. For the first time, I dare to take my hands off the handlebars every now and then and now I really feel like a bird in the Amazon with the wind in my face and the view of the seemingly endless green. When we arrive in Shandia, we have some free time and after three days in the jungle, we enjoy a warm shower and light in the rooms. Then we start our chocolate workshop, where we can learn more about the traditional production process and even help out. We start with the cocoa fruit and try the "fresh" cocoa beans, which are the kernels of the plant and are covered in a kind of pulp that tastes very similar to mango. In three consecutive fermentation processes that take weeks in total, the cocoa beans separate from the pulp and are then dried in the sun. The collected pulp is used, for example, to make cocoa butter. The beans that we saw earlier on the side of the road are drying cocoa beans. The beans are then roasted in a pan and now we can get to work separating the beans from the shell ourselves. This is comparable to peeling peanuts. The shell can be used for cocoa tea, which I already bought in Quito and which I am still excited about. Of course, we can't resist trying one or two roasted and still lukewarm cocoa beans - cocoa nibs, in other words. The next step is grinding the beans, which we do with a mill attached to the table and turn vigorously until all the cocoa beans are in the bowl as a thick mass. Now we add brown sugar, but it is also possible to use other sweeteners such as honey or white sugar. After roughly mixing, we turn the mass through the mill again. Warm water is now added to the thick mass and we stir with a whisk to create a homogeneous and liquid chocolate. So we already have 100% chocolate and of course we can try it. With a little more water and milk powder (milk does not hold well here unfortunately) we then mix 65% chocolate and are given spoons, strawberries, biscuits and bananas to try our work. We do not learn how the liquid chocolate is then turned into chocolate bars due to a lack of material after the tasting.

After dessert it's time for dinner and we end the evening with games and chocolate martinis.

I can't remember the last time I slept so well and immediately decide to put a music box with jungle sounds on my wish list.

The four of us meet down in the camp, equipped with shorts, tops, insect repellent and hiking boots, for our first "Jungle Run Club", which we have just started today. After a warm-up, we start our run up and down the gravel path and still can't believe where we are. On the way back we even see a beautiful big blue butterfly like something out of a picture book and even spot a toucan up in the treetops. Back in time for breakfast, we talk about the day ahead: a little waterfall canyoning and in the afternoon a flora and fauna walk through the surrounding jungle - a normal Tuesday.

Before we set off, the eldest of the family paints various Kichua symbols on our cheeks using natural red pigments made from plant seeds and explains their meaning to us. For canyoning, all we need is a bikini, a helmet, our wellies and, of course, insect spray. It is incredibly fun to explore the jungle with your hands and feet, climb up small waterfalls and face the odd challenge there. Full of adrenaline and without injuries, we arrive at the camp in time for lunch and then have some time to relax in the sun or the hammocks and listen to the sounds of the jungle or the chickens running around. We slip into our wellies again and explore the rainforest near the camp: We climb trees, learn about medicinal plants and trees, edible and poisonous ones, set traps for birds, snakes and rabbits, mine gold in the stream and in this way gain many more insights into the culture and way of life of the Kichua. The last tree we are shown is home to lots of worms, which we look at in camp. Who hasn't had huge yellow worms folded in a banana leaf in the kitchen? I'll spare you the sight, but cooked, immobile and salted they really don't taste bad at all ("Chontacuru" for those who want to see it). After the small appetizer, we have some time to relax in the hammocks on the terrace and record our impressions in our blogs or on paper. After dinner, we get another glimpse of tomorrow, before the rainforest lives up to its name and the skies open up, there is lightning and thunder. We play another round of cards - "Dumble", highly recommended - and then crawl back into our mosquito-free four-poster beds while the rain patters on the roof.

G Adventures Time! Breakfast at 7:30 a.m., departure at 8 a.m. "sharp". When loading the bus, I am very proud to note that I have one of the least luggage; so either I was pretty good at packing or I forgot something essential - we will see. After a 40-minute drive, we stop at a rest stop to change to a public bus, which picks us up about 20 minutes later and begins the four-hour drive into the jungle to Tena. In summary, the view was one thing: green. At first, near the city, there are still regular forests, but the more the windows fog up and the further we drive into the jungle, the more we see dense rainforest scenarios we know from documentaries. Partially covered with clouds and fog, the Amazon behind the window seems like a large and untouched mystery. It feels surreal to know that I will be spending the next few days and nights here while playing music from Spotify on my headphones on my smartphone.

Passengers keep getting on and off until we finally reach Tena. While we wait for the pick-up trucks that will take us deeper into the jungle, we have a few minutes to stroll through the market and buy fresh strawberries and bananas. Then we load our backpacks onto the pick-up trucks and start the last 30-minute drive to Pimpilala, where we will spend the next two nights.

We arrive at lunchtime and eat lunch together and are greeted by the Kichua family, who let us use their home as a camp. We take our backpacks to our double rooms, where the beds are already equipped with mosquito nets. The rooms do have doors, but instead of windows we "only" have more mosquito nets, the wooden walls are about 4m high and between the walls, and we share a roof with 6 other rooms. One side of the house looks directly into the rainforest and on a large terrace there are numerous hammocks hanging, in which we will certainly spend a minute or two.

Now we set off on our first tour of discovery into the jungle. Dress code: shorts, top, high rubber boots (our "wellies" will accompany us for a few more meters) and insect spray. Already on the way along the gravel road into the jungle we stop several times, during which Rolando shows us some plants and explains their uses. We also saw a black wasp about 10cm long, which made us all shudder, and Rolando pulled some termites out of a tree with his machete. Apparently the termites that live on the ground taste a little better than those found in the trees, but you take what you can get, right? "One termite is not one", so we try several and my conclusion is: nutty. I still wouldn't say I'd like termites on my yogurt, but there's nothing wrong with a little protein snack in the jungle in the afternoon. The tour of discovery of flora and fauna continues, but by the end of the walk we are all in awe. We enjoy a phenomenal view over the Rio Jatunyacu and are captivated by the incredible vastness of the rainforest. It is almost unimaginable and fascinating at the same time how many animals, plants and wonders this patch of earth is home to. Before we return to the camp, we make a detour to a small stream from which Rolando collects clay, conjures up face masks for all of us and even decorates us with ferns, flowers and moss. A sentence that we will hear from Rolando many times: I love my job. The next step is to wash off the mask and reapply the insect spray before we devote ourselves to the evening program later.

The family elder welcomes us into his house and tells us many stories about the Kichua culture in Spanish, Alina translates for us. We talk about shamans, the healing culture and the relationship to modern medicine, about ayahuasca, the "spirit of the jungle", Kichua weddings, rituals, tribal rules and dance and music. Writing all of this down here would not be able to summarize how amazing and inspiring the Kichua culture is and what it means to the people here.

At dinner we all exchange impressions of our first day in the jungle before we all apply a fresh layer of insect spray and crawl under our mosquito nets.

The last day in Quito and therefore still many things to discover!

Of course, my day starts before breakfast at the hostel, so I take my last German protein bar and make my way through the city center and two parks to the meeting point for my day trip. Since there is a referendum today that is mandatory for all Ecuadorians, the streets of Quito are already very busy early on. We set off in a small group by bus to Pululahua, a geobotanical reserve with a great view - beautiful! Next stop: "Middle of the Earth" (fun fact: Quito means exactly that in Kichua). Even though the equator stretches around the whole world, Quito is the highest point and therefore also the place with the lowest gravity, so you can probably jump the highest here (unfortunately I had no reference value to prove or disprove the theory). In addition to the obligatory photo, we also did experiments to "prove" the Coriolis effect (quod erad demonstrandum!). The clouds are gathering as we drive to Quito's Centro Histórico and look at the Basilica, the Presidential Palace and other churches.

After lunch we did a little chocolate tasting and learned a lot that could help me later in Shandia (to be continued on April 24). Here I got confirmation that chocolate with 70-100% cocoa content is healthy and that continues to be my justification for eating dark chocolate. At the end we drank hot chocolate and I was able to eat one of the most delicious brownies I have ever had the pleasure of trying. Following the motto "Support the locals" I bought myself some chocolate tea. The tea is made from the shells of the cocoa beans and is brewed with boiled water - I'll save the tasting for when I get home to think back to my time here.

For our last stop, we chose the most famous viewpoint over Quito - up at the "Virgen del Panecillo". She is considered the protector of Quito and looks down on the north of the city. Dropped off at the hostel, I treated myself to a final shower in the Secret Garden and drank a final glass of wine with the people I met at the hostel before going to my new "family dinner". Even though the new hostel is on the parallel street, I arrived there soaking wet. In Quito, you really experience all seasons in one day. We all got to know each other over Ecuadorian tacos and Alina, our companion from G Adventures, led us through the stops and activities for the next two weeks. After dinner and the first few hours together, all I can say is that I'm really looking forward to the next few weeks and our adventures!

I started my first full day early with a tour to Otavalo - one of the most famous markets for ponchos & leather goods in South America, more on that later. We left rainy Quito and headed towards breakfast, stopping along the way to enjoy a wonderful panorama - including one of Ecuador's most famous volcanoes: Cotopaxi. Ecuador has a total of 55 volcanoes, 18 of which are active. Our first break was in Cayambe overlooking the volcano of the same name. A specialty of the region is the Bizcochos; lightly sweet and crumbly bread, traditionally spread with Dulce de leche and topped with mozzarella, rolled in banana leaves. Even though the combination sounds strange, it was fantastic! I also learned on the journey that Ecuador is known not only for coffee and cocoa exports, but also for roses: Two dozen roses for $2 is a really good price here.

On the way, we also got an impression of the indigenous Quichua clothing before arriving in Otavalo. With the thought that my journey still lasts 4 weeks, I was able to restrain myself from buying souvenirs. On the way back to Quito, we stopped at the lake

Now that the jet lag has been somewhat overcome, the first post is finally here. First question: What is the best way to start a backpacking holiday? That's right, in the airport lounge with a mimosa! Arriving in rainy Quito with a 7-hour time difference, I quickly got to experience South American hospitality: The taxi driver suddenly stops on the busy and chaotic Pan-American Highway and buys fresh local strawberries on the side of the road, which we share during the hour-long drive.

At the hostel I was informed that the area has no electricity every day from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. The energy supply has been quite limited since the political escapades with Mexico and other South American countries in the last few days. This can also be seen in the Centro Histórico, where the shops are closed or the smell of the gas station indicates the alternative generators. I felt very safe walking through the city in the evening and arrived back at the hostel in time for happy hour and family dinner. I immediately met some other travelers and spent the evening on the roof terrace.