ECUADOR/PERU and the parting shot...

All those people who told me that told me that Guayaquil was a bland city, with nothing to see and best avoided, were clearly talking rubbish. Sure there was someone who knew someone who was robbed at knife-point in broad daylight in the bus station, but there is always someone who knows someone.

I had most of the day to kill before my flight back to Lima, so I headed down to Malecón 2000, a major redevelopment along the banks of the Río Guayas. It is a slick waterfront promenade stretching for 2 1/2kms, heavily policed and a welcome respite to the rest of the steaming chaos that swarms the rest of the city.
I arrived in the morning and seemed to be the only person about save for an army of gardeners and security guards who bid me "Buenos dias" and most of whom managed to restrain themselves from the irritating "Fsssst!" of which they are so fond of using when they see women.
I strolled along past shiny new playgrounds and well equipped outdoor gyms and followed paths that wound through colourful gardens, cooled by sprinklers, over bridges that led across little streams and 'water features' listening to classical music that was being piped out through speakers mounted on lamp posts. All was calm and tranquillity and the slight breeze from across the water was very welcome.
I followed the promenade north to Las Peñas, a pretty barrio of colourful little houses and cobbled streets that wound steeply up to the lighthouse and small church where there is a panoramic view of the rest of the grey, smoggy city.
I pottered about happily for a few hours until it was time to gather myself up and fly back to Lima.

I arrived last night about 4 hours late, thanks to delayed LAN flights, but my Flying Dog Hostel pick-up was still there with my name on a sign. A welcome sight which saved me from battling with the scrum of taxi drivers all keen to take me to Miraflores for 3 times the price.
I slept my last night in a bunk bed (for a while I'd imagine) and awoke today with the best part of a day to kill in Lima. First things first: Manicure and pedicure, of course... For the equivalent of $10 it is hard to resist. So I sat by a window watching Lima rush by listening to lively Andean pipe music while 2 nice ladies clipped, filed, buffed and polished me into something a little more presentable.
Time for a cafe con leche where the friendly waitress promptly stepped on my feet whilst leaning forward to admire the results of my pampering. Hey ho.
I was then pursued by an American man keen to discuss Iraq and what we ought to be doing with "all those muslims." Oh God. I dived for cover in the Markets and picked up a few more souvenirs and now here I am, sitting in an internet cafe and, for the last time, perusing my scribbled note book for raw material that I type up in the form of this blog. Time for another little recap I think.

So, in the second leg of my journey what have I been up to? Well...

I've danced Tango in Buenos Aires, chased goats and drank wine in the North West of Argentina, paraglided over the Andes, stuck my head in an active volcano, been bashed about by the famous winds in Patagonia, wandered dizzily around at crazy altitudes, in Northern Chile and Southern Bolivia, been photographed sitting in my own shoe in the Uyuni Salt Flats, delivered dynamite to the miners of Potosi, mountain biked down 'the world's most dangerous road', visited the floating villages on Lake Titicaca and stayed with a family, tramped through the Amazon, hiked for four days to Machu Picchu, danced at an Ecuadorian wedding won prizes for dancing in a remote jungle town and visited a men's prison in Quito. And more, of course...

Travelling South America is by far more physically challenging than South East Asia. There the heat dictates that you spend much time reflecting on the mysticisms of wats and temples from the comfort of a hammock whilst sipping beer or fruit shakes. The atmosphere is one of inactivity and you could easily spend a week doing very little other than floating around in a big rubber tube. My fellow travellers were a younger lot there too, average age being about 22. Here people seem to be a little older, South America I think attracting a crowd of slightly more adventurous travellers who have flocked here despite the language barrier and endless tales of the dangers.
People are always asking me which country over the last 9 months was my favourite, which is an impossible question of course. I have no idea. India will always be very special as it was my 1st port of call and so totally different from London that I hit the ground running and did not look back. South East Asia was magical, fascinating and heaps of fun, Australia was a welcome island in the midst of my adventures to take a breather, see family, get spoiled and prepare myself for the next jaunt and South America was exciting, exhausting and infinately rewarding. I can't really imagine how the last 9 months could have gone any better and I am a very lucky girl to have seen and experienced so much.

So, with that, I ought to sign off. I am very grateful to people bothering to read this, knowing that people were kept me on it even when I didn't feel like it and it has been invaluable to me as a way of committing things to memory as well as paper.
Over mojitos in Buenos Aires, Posy made me promise that I would not stop there. And so this marks the birth of the sequel: What Katy Did Next (wotktdidnext.blogspot.com)
This is really a writing exercise for me as much as anything else and I can't promise to be even as remotely as interesting as I would be if I was touring the world but London has some noteworthy aspects too and I might just try and jot some of them down.

But for now that's all folks. I look forward to seeing you all very very soon! xxx