Short but sweet: a three day road trip along the Icefields Parkway

At the end of September I took the shortest but sweetest road trip through the Canadian Rockies along the Icefields Parkway. I’m not really one for driving much but this road has easily made its way to the top of my ‘Favourite Roads to Drive’ list. The route is surrounded by soaring  snowy peaks, terrific glaciers and brilliant blue lakes – what more could you ask for from a Canadian road trip? All of this amazing scenery was enhanced by the colourful, autumn leaves getting ready to fall.

My friend Jess and I started roughly planning our road trip back in July but until September it felt more like a daydream than a reality. We hired a rental car and set off after work late on Sunday night with the plan of driving to Kamloops (four hours east of Whistler). We only had the first night’s accommodation booked and packed sleeping bags and blankets with the intention of sleeping in the car at least one night to keep spending down.

Driving my first automatic was great. We were given a Ford Escape as a free upgrade which meant we would have more than enough space for sleeping and the heated seats were a dream.

Day one: Jasper, Medicine and Maligne Lakes

Our trip along the Icefields Parkway started in Jasper. The town itself is rustic and traditional-looking with the train line running beside the main streets. We had a quick, healthy lunch in the Patricia Street Deli before heading out to Maligne Canyon. (By this time it was already early afternoon as we had lost an hour due to the time zone changing as we crossed into Alberta.)

Our first stop as we drove through the canyon was Medicine Lake. Even with the dark clouds looming overhead, it was still a spectacular sight. It was extremely shallow with parts of the riverbed poking through creating a strange, marbled grey-blue colouring. On one side of the lake huge grey stone slabs burst out of the ground; on the other, a sad troop of dead trees stood burnt and bare from a past forest fire. This immense view was an unexpected highlight of the trip for me and is often over looked in favour of it’s sister Maligne Lake.

While Maligne Lake is beautiful, it wasn’t the best weather or time of day to view it in all its glory. The distance snow-capped Rockies at the far side of the lake draw your eye immediately. The shimmering, dark water is enchanting and on a good day you sit for pondering life for hours.

By this point in the day, we sadly realised we wouldn’t have time to visit the popular Miette Hot Springs so drove back to town for warm supper before looking for a place to park and sleep for the night. Opting to reduce the hours of driving the next day, we parked by the trailhead of Wilcox Park and settled down for our first night in the car.

Day two: Wilcox Pass, Peyto Lake and Banff town (briefly)

We awoke to frozen condensation on the inside of the car windows. Despite all my preparations, I spent most of the night shivering in my sleeping bag, trying to keep my nose from falling off my face from lack of blood. At 7am the sun was still hiding behind the mountains so we went back to sleep for another hour.

By 8am we were greeted by a cold, cloudless, blue sky and decided to get going while the weather was on our side. Parking next the trailhead had turned out to be a great plan as the parking spaces were quickly starting to fill. I had researched hikes that take you to a viewpoint for the Athabasca Glacier, a free way to see it and hopefully a less crowded option. The Wilcox Pass seemed to be the best choice (I got my information from 10hikes.com). It’s a scenic route taking you up through an bank of trees opposite the glacier and then up a ridge to the pass.

There was a lot more snow than we had expected but it was still passable in good hiking boots. Starting early also meant we had the 360° views almost entirely to ourselves and the snowy pillows and clouds which had formed during the morning seemed to go on forever.

Getting back to the car around midday, we had our packed lunches and headed off down the Icefields Parkway to Peyto Lake. This lake was one of my ‘must-see’ destinations. Having seen all my friends stop off there on longer road trips, I knew from their pictures it would be unmissable.

When we pulled into the car park it was bustling; naively I hadn’t realised the lake would be such a tourist hot spot. At the main platform it was awful with people battling to the get the perfect shot of themselves in front of the iconic aqua lake. This is just the kind of situation I hate being in – it feels like such an unnatural way of appreciating nature. Thankfully I had done my research so we detoured to the ‘Upper Viewpoint’ (thanks again 10hikes.com). Here we had a peaceful and uninterrupted view of the awesome lake, mountains with a dusting of snow and endless evergreen forest. It was hard to believe a few hundred metres away crowds were squabbling for space while we had our own private area. It’s the kind of view you dream of seeing and even now it’s hard to believe I was really standing on that rock with the wind whipping around my head.

After deciding against another night in the cold car, we drove on the Banff town centre in search of cheap, last minute accommodation. We soon realised this isn’t something Banff offers. After checking a couple of hotels and ringing around the local hostels, the only place we could find that had a half-reasonable price was back the way we had just come, in Lake Louise. So we grabbed a quick bite in the surprisingly commercial town centre (a bit disappointing in my mind – who needs multiple shopping malls in a mountain town?) before heading there to enjoy a well-deserved shower and good sleep in a warm bed.

Day three: Lake Louise, the Plain of Six Glaciers and Johnston Canyon

We were raring and ready to go on the final day of our road trip. Being in Lake Louise had its benefits as it was the next stop on our list. We got a good spot at the car park even though we didn’t arrive until after 9:30am. Thankfully the lake itself wasn’t too busy with tourists evenly spread around the bank. There were plenty of spots to pose for photos and even with clouds covering every inch of the sky, the lake still had its characteristic turquoise colouring.

10hikes.com came in handy one more time with its suggestion of the Plain of Six Glaciers hike. This was undoubtedly the pinnacle of the trip for me. I’ve never seen so many snowy glaciers in such a rugged setting, even in Patagonia.

I hiked hard and fast up the narrow snow-covered ridge to the furthest point of the trail and quickly put my coat back on for the exhilarating bum-slide adventure on the way down (no one else seemed mad enough to attempt this technique).

The wind was wild up there and it was nearly impossible to a good shot to prove you’d made it all the way to the top.

 

Annoyingly the nearby Moraine Lake car park was still full after we had finished visiting Lake Louise so we has to pass on this popular attraction. It will certainly be somewhere to go back for from what I’ve heard and seen online. This meant we had time for one last stop before leaving the Icefields Parkway.

We drove to Johnston Canyon and ventured up to the smaller of the two main waterfalls. It was just a short walk from the car park along a narrow, man-made platform system. Thankfully is wasn’t crowded so we didn’t have to overtake too many times. Although it was a short stop-off, it was still an amazing canyon to see and worth a full tour next time around.

Before we knew it, we were on our way back to Whistler, which is saying a lot as it was 10 hours of driving. In three days we covered hundreds of miles (I forgot to check for the final count…) and saw some of the world’s most amazing and breathtaking landscapes. As always, more time would have been great, but I see this adventure as more of an introduction to the Canadian Rockies than the final chapter.

If you have any questions about the road trip, feel free to drop me a message in the comments below.

My dos and don’ts for hiking the world famous ‘W’ trek in Torres del Paine

Torres del Paine is undoubtedly the most famous national park for hiking in Patagonia and probably the whole of South America. Don’t feel embarrassed if you’ve never heard of it, I hadn’t before I started researching for this trip. What I didn’t know is that Torres del Paine is probably one of the most expensive national parks in South America, if not the most expensive. It’s not just the entry fees and transport, but you also have to decide between camping or staying in refugios (kind of like mountain lodges with dorm rooms). Food is expensive too unless you’re willing to carry five days worth of meals on your back for the whole trip. With all these different things to think about as well as route variations – you can go east-west or west-east and you can spend four or five days hiking – there’s a lot of preparation and planning that needs to go into doing this trek, even at the very start of the season in October.

I’m going share my experience of the ‘W’ from preparation to advice, including my favourite parts of the hike and some adventures along the way. As a spoiler now I’ll let you know it didn’t all go to plan but I did manage the whole route without getting lost once. However this blog could not be more aptly named for this post as throughout the five days hiking I lost more things than I think I have lost in my whole trip!

So, here are my dos and don’ts for successfully hiking the ‘W’ in Torres del Paine:

Do book your refugios or camping spots more than two weeks in advance. I only started booking 10 days in advance and this caused me a few issues. The companies that own all the accommodation, Vertice and Fantastico Sur, can be very slow to respond to emails so it’s best to give them as much time as possible.

Don’t pay extra at the refugios for bedding (or other equipment unless you only need it for one night). You can rent a sleeping bag in Puerto Natales, the closest town to the park, for $3,000 pesos a day (£3.60). It might add weight to your bag but it saves a fair amount of money. The same goes for tents, hiking poles and any other equipment you might need.

Do the route in four days instead of five. Most guides will tell you that the route takes five days and should go left to right. But unless you are extremely unfit, have a serious injury or have time to waste, then it wont take you five days. Save yourself one night of accommodation and do it in four. The park map has estimates for the time it takes to do the route so this can help with planning your stops.

Don’t pack more things than you need. Before you reach the park you should know if you are eating in the refugios or bringing your own food. The same goes for clothes, you’ll know how many days of hiking clothes you need. Any thing extra in your bag just adds weight to your pack and more weight means less fun. It also means more things to lose. Also, keep any miscellaneous items in bags within your pack as it’s easy to drop things along the way without noticing (headphones, padlocks etc…).

Do bring your passport. The refugios and campsites will ask to see and take a photocopy of your passport and travel card for tax purposes so make sure you bring it with you. Put it in a safe part of your pack, inside a zip-lock bag if you have one. Also you can get a free passport stamp at the ranger office when you pay your park entry fees and as there’s not much for free here, take it when you can.

Don’t arrive in Puerto Natales on the weekend. This small town is ghostly most of the time but especially during the weekends. If you arrive during the week you can visit the offices for Vertice and Fantastico Sur to complete your accommodation bookings or ask any questions in person. The supermarket also gets very empty on a Sunday so the selection of snacks is very low.

Do go to the Erratic Rock briefing in town before the hike. A hostel and hiking rental shop called Erratic Rock in Puerto Natales give free briefings daily at 3pm in their hostel. These guys are experts and they gave me loads of great advice. They’ll answer all your questions. So highly recommend this!

Don’t lose your bus ticket before you’ve even left the town. This is just one for me probably but if you’re buying a bus ticket to Torres del Paine in advance from your hostel (recommended) then don’t lose it. Or panic and think you’ve lost it, run all the way back to hostel when it was in your bag all along. Put it in a safe place that you’ll remember (not inside your passport).

Do make friends with the people on your route. On your first night, find out who is going in the same direction through the park as you and which campsites or refugios they are staying at. You’ll see them everyday for the next four or five so it’s much nicer if you get to know them.

Don’t forget to pack a day bag. There will be at least three times when you can drop off your big bag at a refugio or ranger lodge and hike with a smaller pack for the day. I forgot to pack a smaller bag so I had to carry my packed lunch in a plastic bag. Hiking hands free is much easier and I was already carrying a huge water bottle around with me. One lady even asked me if I was hiking because I seemed so relaxed with my equipment (none of the gear but some idea).

Don’t go crazy and eat a whole box of powdered potatoes if your reservations don’t work out. Because I arrived in Puerto Natales on a Sunday and didn’t managed to finalise my booking with Vertice – their refugios weren’t aware of my reservations. This meant on my second night of accommodation, where I had intended to have dinner, there wasn’t enough food for me. So instead of acting rationally, I bought a box of powered potatoes with a packet of cheese and salami from the mini market and ate the whole box as their only ‘hot’ option.

Do set off early on your Frances Valley day. Depending on what route your doing this could be your second or third day, but whatever direction, it will be a long day. For most people the views of the Frances valley and from the Britanico viewpoint (in the middle of the W-shape) are the best. If you set off early then you’ll have plenty of time to enjoy the views and rather than rushing to make it to you next camp before sunset.

Don’t miss any opportunity to climb up to the Torres base. I know that regrets are futile when you’re travelling but I regret not going up to the Torres base twice. It’s meant to be the hardest part of the whole route to hike but it’s also the hardest part to see clearly as it’s notorious for changeable weather. If you have time, go up twice to see the Torres because you never know when it will be clear enough to see the mountain tops. We rested when we arrived to the camp, ready to go up the next morning but in the morning there was a snow storm and we couldn’t see much more than an outline. Annoyingly it completely cleared up in the afternoon as we were leaving the park.

Do wear hiking boots. This sounds like obvious advice but I did actually see two people hiking up to the Torres in the snow with slipper-style pumps on. Just crazy.

Don’t fall into the mud. At some points the route is very muddy and boggy, especially if you take the Chilenos shortcut. I managed to get a little stuck in middle of a bog and while jumping with my big bag, fell flat into the mud. Thankfully I had my coat and water-cover on my bag otherwise I would have been very wet and muddy. Also don’t try to dry your muddy alpaca gloves by the fire and burn them so that you have to throw them away.

Do make time to really enjoy in the views and take as many pictures as possible. While you’re hiking to a schedule and you want to have enough time to get to all the sights each day, make sure you leave time to just sit and enjoy the views. There’s no point paying all that money to rush around the park and not enjoy the amazing landscape. Even if you don’t need the break physically, you’ll appreciate the time just to relax and stop as often as you like to take as many pictures as you want.

Pucón and Bariloche: the Patagonia hiking adventure begins

This is the start of my Patagonia hiking adventure. Until this point I’ve felt like an authentic backpacker travelling around South America: getting an impression of the local culture, tasting the traditional food and learning about the history of each country. For the next month in Patagonia I feel like my trip will be more of a hiking adventure than a cultural one. Patagonia is very highly influenced by European settlers and in the ‘Lake District’ (where I am now) I feel like I’m staying in alpine resort – they cost almost as much too.

To continue a logical path for my trip, I’m travelling through Patagonia from north to south, exploring both the Chilean and Argentinean sides. Three weeks isn’t a ton of time to spend here and thankfully I’ve managed to find some competitively priced flights as days can be lost here catching buses between destinations. Still, I’ll be missing out a lot of really nice places to visit and go hiking. The best way to see Patagonia, I think, is to hire a car. It’s not cheap but you have the freedom to see a lot more of the area than you do if you are constricted to public transport. Hopefully at some point in the future I’ll be able to come back to do just that. But for now, I’ll just be doing a highlights of Patagonia or you could call it a best bits trip.

Pucón: luxury hot springs and solo hiking

Pucón was the first stop on my Patagonia adventure and, despite the difficulty of getting a bus ticket there before the Chilean Independence Day holiday, it was worth the wait. It’s a small to medium sized mountain town in the north of the Lake District which sits by the Villarrica lake and the spectacular snowcapped Villarrica volcano. The Lake District area in Patagonia is nothing like the Lake District of Cumbria in England. The rugged mountainous and volcanic countryside covered with a blanket of snow is so peaceful and natural; it looks like it aught to be taken from a remote ski holiday catalogue. People do come to ski and snowboard in Patagonia but much of the quality snow is back country skiing and a very difficult level.

One of the main attractions for adventure-seekers in Pucón is climbing the Villarrica volcano. But once again penalised by the national holiday, the hike wasn’t taking place during the two days while I was in town (just my luck). This was mostly a safety precaution to ensure drunk guides weren’t taking people up an active and potentially dangerous volcano but it was disappointing all the same.

On my first day, after a 12 hour night bus, I decided I would take the day to relax in the luxury hot springs situated an hour from the town. I know I’ve been to a lot of different hot springs on this trip but I’d been assured by the hostel staff that these were really worth it and I was keen to do something with the half day.

The Termas Geometricas are the nicest hot springs I have ever seen or could even imagine. The trip costed £37 (entry and transport included) and although this is a hefty price tag, especially for a backpacker budget, I am so glad it did it. The beautiful setting of the hot springs is a mountain crevice surrounded by a misty forest with lot of different waterfalls. There are 20 man-made steaming pools heated between 35 and 43 degrees centigrade, lined with slate tiles and cute little changing huts. There is also a cosy, modern lodge with an open fire and restaurant where I got a quick cheese and ham toastie. We had three hours to relax here and I made the most of this time by trying out five of the pools. I had planned to try out more but I got talking with a girl from the hostel and so ended up just relaxing.

After a lot of discussion with other travellers at the hostel the night before, I set off the next day to visit El Cañi Reserve and hike the trail. This would be my first solo hiking adventure and I was quite nervous of getting lost or being attacked by a puma. The park ranger at the entrance gave me a map and explained the route. Unfortunately it would be too cloudy to go up to the mirador (viewpoint) but I could go the rest of the way.

It’s meant to be a three to four hike to the top and it was certainly a steep walk for the first two hours. I was going slow and steady but listening to a travel podcast the whole way up (The World Wanderers – highly recommended) made time pass without me noticing. The views were good on the way up but I had a feeling without the clouds they would have been much more impressive.

After about two and a half hours I reached the snow and from this point on it was hard to tell where I was going or where I had come from. The white has a magical way of making everything else disappear; each of the trees looked so similar and I wasn’t even sure if I was walking uphill or down anymore. At three hours I saw my first other hiker, a 60-something American I later found out was called Kevin. He was on his way back from the furtherest point and told me there wasn’t far to go. It was kind of nice to know I wasn’t entirely alone – just in case I did get lost.

I continued to follow the path to the frozen lake and up to the bottom of the mirador where the footprints ended. By this point fog was setting in and I decided it wasn’t worth hanging about. I quickly ate the empanada I had brought in my backpack for lunch and started the return journey.

Not paying close attention to where I was walking, I managed to stumble onto a side trail at one point. It wasn’t until my boot fell through the snow leaving me with one leg buried to the hip and the other bent crouching above the snow that I realised I had gone the wrong way. Luckily this has happened a couple of times snowing before so I wasn’t scared, I just knew it would be wise to climb out of the whole as soon as possible.

Back on the main trail, I started to speed up my decent as it was starting to rain and I didn’t want to get stuck at the top of the mountain if the weather turned. Once I lost the snow, I started jogging my way down through the mud, now very damp and slippy. I caught up with Kevin and walked the rest of the way back with him. We were even lucky enough to catch a return bus after only 10 minutes of waiting. In total it took me six hours: four up and two down, so I was quite happy with that. The walk was challenging and peaceful – a great introduction to Patagonia.

This tree is as old as the dinosaurs and only survives in the snow

Bariloche: a waterfall, chocolate and hiking El Parque Municipal Llao Llao

My next day was spent catching two buses across to San Carlos de Bariloche in the Argentinean Lake District. Bariloche is a well-known stop on the Patagonia traveller route and a great starting place to hike from. It’s a medium sized city and loses some of the alpine charm in its bustling centre but I stayed in a wooden lodge-style hostel (41 Below) so it still felt outdoorsy and relaxing. In fact without realising it I had selected a vegan hostel. I don’t particularly believe in the idea of being a vegan but it was nice to stay somewhere that was at least trying to be eco-friendly and the other travellers were really friendly.

On my first day I joined a group from the hostel doing a short walk to some waterfalls nearby. This gave me a chance to experience the local buses system that uses contactless ‘sube’ cards which are very similar to Oyster cards in London. The walk wasn’t challenging but it was nice to chat to some new people and enjoy the countryside.

I spent the next day trying out the famous Bariloche chocolate in Rupa Nui, a chocolate shop version of Harrods. It had a very nice cafe which served delicious raspberry hot chocolates and they let me sit there for a few hours typing away to update this blog. This doesn’t sound like much for a whole day’s work but with the quality of the WiFi in Patagonia and a fair amount of travel planning to do, it took up most of my day.

Finally a full day of hiking came after this. I asked around the hostel about nice hikes and decided that the route in El Parque Municipal Llao Llao (pronounced like Jao Jao) would be a good circuit that is well-signposted and had the added bonus of no park fees. Well lucky it was well-signposted because I brought the wrong map and had no clue where I was going. I took a picture of the map in the window of the closed tourist office and used this as my guide for the whole route.

To be honest I’m not sure how long the route was in total and I wasn’t walking very fast, but it took me about five hours. It was a shame I’d forgotten to take lunch because there were loads of great picnic spots. Instead I ate the rest of my packet of biscuits and thought of the sandwich I would get from the bakery once back in town.

I started by walking through the forest to a clearing with some Arrayan trees which were sandy yellow colour that waved and wound in strange directions. These are special in Argentina and you can see why because they are quite unusual. After this the path continues on to the beach of the lake with a number of different viewpoints. The beautiful snowcapped mountains surrounding the lakes have a real sense of calm and the route for this hike brought you close to lots of the different peaks.

Towards the end of the circuit, the path leads off steeply to climb the Cerrito Llao Llao. It’s not a difficult path to climb and I was surprised that it was so quiet (I only saw two ladies on the hill) because the views were truly spectacular. You could see a long way across the Nahuel Huapl National Park and little islands were dotted across the lake like a sprinkling of floating trees. The green of the surrounding forests against the dark blue of the lake and the white of the snowy mountains was mesmerising and I’m not sure there is a better view of the area. Even without the sunshine, I couldn’t have imagined a more perfect sight.

From Bariloche I’m skipping out a chunk of Patagonia to fly to El Calafate and visit the world famous Los Glaciares National Park. Expect ice, ice and more ice for the next post!

Understated Arequipa and great Colca Canyon

My whistle-stop tour of Peru continued with Arequipa and Colca Canyon in the south of the country.

Arequipa

Often overlooked by Cusco, Arequipa is a world heritage city and Peru’s second largest. There is some stunning European-style architecture (especially the arched main square and cathedral) and even more impressive surrounding views of snow capped volcanoes and mountain ranges. I only had one full day to spend in the city before starting the standard backpacker Colca Canyon trek, so I tried to pack as much as possible into my one day – despite only having four hours sleep because of bus delays the night before.

The day didn’t begin so well with me losing my walking tour group within 15 minutes of starting the tour. I was pretty miffed by this after I had made it clear to the guide I was popping to the bathroom quickly and I spent the next hour or so wandering aimlessly around the city. This actually turned out to be quite a good thing though because it meant I got my bearings of the city quite quickly.

With this “free time” in the morning that I had set aside for the walking tour, I went to the main local market and it was huge! They have everything you could possibly want there: all types of meat, fruit, vegetables, spices, everything. My favourite was the juice isle though, you can request any combination of juice (I had pineapple, orange and strawberry – amazing). Although South America has an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables, they’re not often used in restaurants and local cooking so I welcomed this boost of vitamins and minerals.

After drinking this in the main square – another beautiful, palm treed plaza – I visited the cathedral. It’s 10 soles for the tour (plus tips) and includes a guided tour of the main cathedral, museum and an opportunity to see the view from the roof of the cathedral across to the famous Misti volcano.

This was a really impressive church, one of the best I’ve seen in Peru and the tour guide was extremely clear and informative – I almost felt glad I’d lost the walking tour after this. As the only English-speaking member of the group, she translated each part of the tour and explained a lot of the religious meanings for me. A special part of the tour was seeing the famous organ which has over 1,000 pipes and is the only one of it’s kind in the whole of South America (in fact only 10 were ever made).

Next I went for a lunch at a place made for me, the Pasta Canteen. They serve affordable, yummy, fresh pasta where you can choose the type, sauce and toppings – definitely recommend.

In the afternoon my enthusiasm and energy levels were really beginning to deteriorate. By chance I stumbled across the Museo Santuarios Andinos and having read about it in my Lonely Planet guidebook decided I would visit this before heading back to the hostel for a well-earned nap. And I’m so glad I did. It is famous because the museum holds the refrigerated body of Juanita or the Lady of the Mountain who is one of the best preserved sacrifices ever discovered – she still has hair, flesh, muscles and blood. (Sadly no pictures are allowed but I’m not sure I want a dead body on here anyway.) It was really interesting learning about the history and ritual of the Inca human sacrifice – the honour of being selected and their journey from selection age, around four years old. This museum is 20 soles (plus tips) and in my opinion better than going to the monasteries for 50 soles – but as I didn’t want to pay that much I can honestly say.

I would have liked to spend an extra day in Arequipa but I ran out of time, as always. It’s an interesting and beautiful city, perhaps the prettiest in all of Peru, and anyone who skips it on their trip is truly missing out.

Colca Canyon

For my trip to Colca Canyon, the world’s second deepest canyon which is also double the depth of the Grand Canyon in America, I booked a trip through my hostel. I was sceptical after my experience in Huacachina but everyone in the hostel spoke highly of the tour and I decided it would be much easier than finding a tour myself without any recommendations. I’ll say upfront that our guide wasn’t very good – he didn’t add anything to the trip at all – but the tour in general was good value – decent transport, food and accommodation.

The day starts at 3am with a long drive to Chivay. After my lack of sleep the night before this was quite difficult for me and I actually picked up a mild illness because of this. But I didn’t have time to be ill so I just carried on anyway. First we went to the Cruz del Condor to see the world famous condors – with a wingspan of up to 3 metres. Annoyingly we had to get there early because of protests on the roads which meant we didn’t get to see very many. I struggled to get many pictures but just as we got back onto the minibus lots came out and were flying over head – and annoyingly we weren’t allowed to get out again and see them.

Next we went to the start of the trek, an impressive 3,100 metres high. I was part of a large group of 16 young travellers which definitely compensated for the lack of guide. The first part of the trek was a three hour, steep descent into the canyon (down to 2,100 metres). But what really made it all worth it was the amazing views – the pictures speak for themselves but the brilliant blue sky against the rugged golden canyon is one of the best natural sights of my trip so far. After a short lunch, we walked along the other side of the canyon for a further three hours before reaching our lodgings for the night (very basic but good enough). At this point it was interesting to see the contrast between the dry side we had descended and the lush, green side we were now walking along (this is because of the melting glaciers creating a source of water). We also saw some impressive Inca terraces here which added to the natural beauty of the place.

The next day started at 4am with a very steep, zigzagging three hour trek out of the canyon, beginning in the dark with flashlights. I was feeling even more ill at this point and without help or encouragement from the guide decided I would walk at my own pace – even if it meant I was 40 minutes behind the rest of the group (there were lots of other groups so it wasn’t as if I was walking on my own anyway). This was hard work and the altitude and illness combined to make me feel pretty weak but I was determined to continue. I stopped to take some pictures along the way and absorb the picturesque sunrise. The last 20 minutes were very hard, mostly because I had no clue how close I was to the top – I could no longer tell how long I’d been walking and the path was so similar the whole way I felt as though I was in a trance climbing to the top. When I finally reached the top I was very sweaty and tired but pleased with myself for enjoying the scenery and not giving up or even taking many breaks for the whole three hours.

After a breakfast at the top of the hill, we were taken to some nearby hot springs. After the great hot springs in Baños I was excited for my second experience, and my legs definitely needed it. They were a lot more rustic than the previous ones but quickly filled with other tourists who had also finished the trek. I probably preferred seeing the locals in Baños enjoy the springs but it was still a great experience.

On the way back to Arequipa, we stopped off to see some llamas and alpacas grazing along the roadside. I actually think I was wearing my new alpaca jumper at this point which probably wasn’t very sensitive – no wonder a llama tried to spit at me. We also saw the Ampato mountain where Juanita’s body was found which added an extra something to the trip for me.

All in all, I had a great time in the south of Peru. So many tourists come to Peru just to see Manchu Picchu but hopefully I’ve shown that there is so much more to see. I have been to Machu Picchu and Cusco before with my squash team and family nearly nine years ago. They are both amazing place and well worth seeing but definitely not the only stars of the show.

Ecuador part three: Baños, Cuenca and my first night bus

I’m not sure how I managed to visit so many different places in Ecuador in just two weeks. Quito, Quilotoa, Mindo, Cotopaxi, Baños and Cuenca. It’s not a large country in terms of land mass but the Andean mountains and volcanoes do slow you down. Maybe it’s because there’s more of a well-travelled route in Ecuador so the tourism is more established – I kept meeting the same groups of people in different hostels in every town and city. But I’m still on track with my plans and although I would have liked to spend more time in Ecuador and there were more places I could have to seen, by the end I was definitely excited to move onto Peru.

Baños

One of my final stops in Ecuador was the highly touristy mountain town of Baños. If I thought Mindo was touristy then I was in for a surprise. Baños de Agua Santa is named after the natural volcanic hot springs which are occur in the town and surrounding areas. Today it serves as a tourist hub for high adrenaline activities such as white water rafting, canyoning, mountain biking, bridge jumping (like bungee jumping except you jump with a rope instead) and quad biking.

I arrived in Baños in the early evening – it was dark and just starting to rain. Without a map downloaded on my phone or an address for my hostel (great forward planning here) I joined another backpacker in the search for their hostel to take advantage of their WiFi. Baños at night is not a very nice place to be, not because of safety but because the streets are lit up with flashing signs and cheap takeaways. It’s commercial almost to the point of tacky and the authenticity that Mindo has is completely washed away here.

I had managed to book a hostel on the outskirts of town which meant I had a bit of a walk with my big bags. When I finally arrive I was gutted to find out the WiFi didn’t work in this hostel either. How was I supposed to make any future plans without the internet for research or booking? The free dinner at the hostel nearly made up for it and the quick laundry was good but I did start to crack up a little. Still feeling positive though, I went to bed early thinking everything would be better in the morning. Unfortunately I was wrong after being woken up at 1am by a cat sleeping on top of me. As you’ll know if you read the last blog post, animals are not my thing and despite living with cats in London for the last year, I do not want a semi-stray cat on top of me in the middle of the night, especially because I haven’t had a rabies inoculation. More cracking up happened as I desperately ushered the cat out of the dorm without touching it (clapping loudly is the best method). There was no way I was risking the same thing happening again so I climbed into the empty top bunk and fell asleep soon after the trauma had faded from my thought.

The next morning I got up early and decided I would not stay the second night in that hostel, despite having already paid for it. I spent most of the morning in an Internet cafe catching up with family and friends, and uploading my blog.

Baños: The Swing

In the afternoon I wanted to go to The Swing or La Casa del Arbol (The Treehouse). This was the main reason I had wanted to come to Baños but I didn’t know much about it other than the pictures I’d seen online. At the hostel I asked if you could walk there and they gave me directions and showed my a vague route on a cartoon map. I invited two of the volunteers at the hostel to join me, which to my bad luck they accepted (I didn’t really know them and they were kind of strange) and after collecting some snacks, we set off up the mountain-side in search of The Swing.

The track was more of a muddy path and once again I was walking slowly, although this time due to the steepness instead of altitude. The hostel guys stopped for a break after about an hour and I continued on, assuming they would catch up with me. I reached a fork in the road about ten minutes after this and spent a while considering where to go. I decided we still needed to be higher so chose the steeper path that looked to continue climbing up the mountain-side. Even now I don’t know if this was the right choice.

After about 20 minutes more, I realised the guys were not going to rejoin me and I was on my own. I adopted a small stick as my new companion and marched on up the muddy hill. I realised I was now walking though a farm with lots of poly tunnels. Doubts were starting to creep in as I had been walking for over two hours and seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. I hadn’t seen another person for about an hour and there weren’t any signs. I even had to walk past a cow that was on the path and I was much braver than with the cat the night before and slipped passed without too much fuss.

Soon after this I picked up a bigger stick and realised I was definitely lost when the path suddenly stopped. So I turned back around and headed back to a small side path I had seen a minute earlier – this way I didn’t have to pass the cow just yet. I clambered up the tree-lined path with the help of my stick and appeared at the top of the farm. Here I spotted a more extreme swing than the one I was looking for where you had a harness and were strapped in. Being the only tourist here, I asked a girl playing football with my broken Spanish and Google maps as my aid where I needed to go.

With renewed energy and directions, I set off excited to be close and no longer completely lost. Luckily at this point I met two Argentineans and a dog (I named him Fluffy) who were also looking for The Swing. So we joined together and with their Spanish and my enthusiasm we navigated our way to the top in just 30 minutes more. It might not have been the easiest way to get there but it was a real adventure.

Finally at the top after over three hours hiking, sweating and so glad I bought snacks, I quickly joined the queue and resolved that I would be taking the bus down (it’s only $1 anyway). Although I had to wait about half an hour for my turn on the swing I didn’t mind because it was exciting and funny watching everyone else take their turn. The man who was pushing the swing on the line I had joined (there are two swings either side of the tree) was a charismatic, hippy kind of guy with lilac dreadlocks and bare feet and he seemed to enjoy scaring the people he was pushing.

First he pushes you five or six times very high, then taps your feet and sets you spinning while you swing. He tells you to spread your arms for pictures and then before you know it your turn is over. The adrenaline makes it go by in a flash but it was a great feeling of freedom as you swing out into a canyon, like you’re at the end of the world. Thankfully the Argentineans took some pictures for me also so I have some great snaps.

Baños:Hot Springs

On the way back on the bus, I decided to go straight to the hot springs, La Piscinas de la Virgen, as they were near my hostel. Everyone has to wear a little cap in the baths which makes the whole thing more of an event than just swimming. I got there around 7pm so had to pay $3 – a dollar extra for the evening session – and the place was filled with locals – I had obviously chosen a popular time to go.

They have four pools or baths. The first downstairs by the entrance is the super hot one, heated naturally by the volcano to 42°C. I spent most of my time in here – you’re only supposed to spend five minutes at a time but I spent about 20 minutes. It felt like when you run a bath that’s a bit too hot but it never seems to cool down. I hopped in and off the side every time I got a little to hot but because you can’t guarantee hot showers in South America I revelled in the heat.

They also have a cold pool which I didn’t try, and two warm pools. One of the warm pools is very shallow and you almost lie down in it and the other is a good height for standing in or sitting on the ledge.

I really enjoyed visiting the baths and although they aren’t unique to Ecuador, they are famous for them so it was really nice to experience them and it was just what I needed after the three hour walk to The Swing. Also the backdrop of the mountains and the big waterfall made it feel more authentic than other attractions in the town.

When I got back to the hostel I packed up and moved to a different hostel in the centre of town. Luckily I got a dorm room to myself so it was quiet and relaxed, and most importantly cat free! I had the best dinner in a nearby Italian: chicken, ham and beef lasagne with garlic bread (I didn’t have any lunch though). There was even a Peruvian band playing pipes and drums in the restaurant too.

The next day I had planned to move to Cuenca but I decided to take a day out to plan the next stages of my trip, getting to Peru and what I would do there and where I would stay. It was nice to just spent a bit of extra time there, even though it was touristy, just to relax and get my bearings. The next day I caught the early direct bus and got to Cuenca in the late afternoon.

Cuenca and my first night bus

When I arrived in Cuenca, after speaking to the staff in the hostel I soon discovered that a lot of my research the day before wasn’t necessary anymore because I could take a direct night bus to Peru from there instead of going to another town first. It would also take me to Máncora instead of Piura which was a better place for me to stop off in Peru too.

I arrived in Cuenca on a Saturday evening and on Sunday nearly everything except the churches were closed. I spoke to some of the other travellers in the hostel and met a really nice Canadian called Justine who was also planning to go to Máncora and so I decided instead of waiting another day, I would travel with her to Peru. It was my first night bus and so I was glad to have some company – I’ve heard this is where most travellers get robbed so I had avoided catching them until this point.

Justine gave me a little tour of closed Cuenca and it’s churches, and then we spent most of the afternoon relaxing in the hostel. Our hostel, The Bauhouse, had Netflix and comfy sofas which is the first proper lounge I’ve encountered travelling so far. It also had great WiFi so I’d recommend staying here if you’re passing through.

The anticipation for the night bus has been building all day and in reality it really wasn’t too bad. I had downloaded a few episodes of The O.C. season 1 and slept a few hours before we reached the border. Immigration was reasonably painless, we only waited about an hour which was quite good as it can be up to seven but luckily we were one of the first coaches to reach the border.

I was quite tired when we got back onto the bus and fell into a deep sleep, hugging my valuables for all they were worth. Lucky Justine wasn’t sleeping so deeply because I would have slept right passed our stop. We reached Máncora earlier than we had expected and ended up on the side of the road in a small dusty town with our bags, no local currency, surrounded by tuk-tuks at 4am! We had only booked the hostel for the next evening, expecting to arrive in the day so weren’t sure what to do. The cash machine gave me two 100 soles notes (not helpful) so we used our dollars to get a tuk-tuk to our beachside hostel, hoping it had 24-hour reception.

We were lucky that a couple from our bus were also staying in the same hostel and were doing the same. When we reached the hostel, it really was a beach hut in the middle of nowhere (except for other hostels). Dogs awoke the sleeping owner and after checking in, we were told that the only beds available then were hammocks with mosquito nets. With no other options we put our luggage into the sheltered area and wrapped up for a chilly few hours in the hammock (lucky I’d already slept in one in the jungle in Venezuela).

All in all, although we hadn’t planned to arrive at 4am with no money and no plan, my first night bus went pretty well. I didn’t lose any possessions, I slept well and I had great company. And the reward, a few days chilling out at the beach in Máncora before getting extremely sunburnt and catching a 23 hour night bus to Lima on my own.

Spoiler: the next bus was fine too (it had fully reclining seats, dinner and breakfast and individual TV screens with English subtitles on the movies) but I didn’t sleep as well because of the sunburn which is still painful nearly a week on.

Life lesson: ALWAYS wear suncream.