After a 6 hour bus that actually took 9 hours we arrived in Atacames on the north coast of Ecuador, our first experience in the northern hemisphere on this trip. It is a very busy town full of holiday goers, not foreigners though mainly just vacating ecuadorian families. We decided to settle in Sua, a small fishing village 6kms down the beach and make the walk to Atacames for the sun during the day. We soon realised that we had to wait another 12 hours to get back because of the tides! I finally got to have my first swim for the holiday and Nadia finally felt the need to purchase a bikini. It was nice weather but not what we expected for being on the equator.
After 3 nights of swimming,fruity cocktails and seafood( Mum I worked out I was having on average 22 prawns a day and for only $4) we headed back to Quito. This time it really did take only 6 hours, go figure. With only one day to kill we decided to make the short journey to Mitad Del Mundo and take some touristy shots of us standing either side of the equator. It was pretty fun but you probably had to be there. Jonno went high kick crazy from south to north!
The next day we hopped a plane to Colombia, first Bogota then Cartagena. When we stepped off the plane the heat and humidity hit us like opening an oven door and the mission to find a hotel with our packs that are ever increasing in weight was a chore to say the least. Especially in new cowboy boots that still need a lot of breaking in.
Cartagena was nice, like the gold coast and we couldn´t even move in any direction without being offered goods and services. From cocaine to tours to emerald jewels to massages. After a while (about 2 minutes) we had had enough of the constant barrage and decided we would go north to Santa Marta and come back to Cartagena to end our trip. Santa Marta is 200kms from Cartagena and the home of famosa colombian goalkeeper ´the spider´
We went to the neighbouring village of Taranga and got a hotel right on the water. The views were stunning and we finally took some time out to swim, relax and read. Nadia started to get some colour on her white pins and has a nice sunburn hand print on her back thanks to a cheeky local.
We spent a few days there in the 36 degree heat and loved it. Today we head to the local national park which is supposed to be incredible, apparently you walk from beach to beach and just rent hammocks in the night. We can´t wait. We will write again when we get back to Cartagena in a few days.
