The beginning of the end; Ecuador and Colombia

 

We are hurtling towards the end, less than 1000 short kilometres lie between us and the Caribbean sea. In the time since my last blog post (they are admittedly losing a little bit of steam) we have passed through the tiny country of Ecuador and through much of Colombia to Manizales, just South of Medellin.

'Wild camping' or 'stealth camping' are phrases that we heard for the first time on this trip. They refer, in an overly-dramatic manner, to camping where no-one can see you. Countless times over the last ten months we have discretely dived over fences and hurriedly launched bags into forests when all is clear. Now we have all but abandoned these shady behavours in favour of our own branch of 'domestic camping'. Essentially we try to locate a house with nice family and maybe a good view and ask if we can stay there.

The result has been that over the last two months we have stayed with police, firemen and the army; we have stayed on chicken farms, livestock farms and even cock fighting farms; we have stayed on coffee plantations, organic farms, a 24 hours car wash (didn't have many options that night) and our most prized of stays was in a 300 year old hacienda.

We arrived in Ecuador amidst driving rain that rarely subsided in our 22 short days in the country. We chose the jungle route, taking us on a relaxing (ish) journey through 'the orient' of Ecuador. The first thing you notice when heading into Ecuador from Peru is that its clean. For around 5 months we have been travelling through Bolivia and Peru, where toilet etiquette denotes – go wherever you want, whenever you want. You learn to keep a watchful eye out for the results, as well the mounds of nappies (diapers) that for no apparent reason group together like incredibly foul-smelling charity shops.

Not only have the piles of litter on the outskirts of every town vanished but the road signs have also changed. Peruvian signs depressingly urge fathers not to abandon their families whereas Ecuadorian signs stick to an environmental theme, declaring 'trees are the lungs of the earth' and other such wisdom. All in all life was now a little cleaner, quieter and easier with the rain not even bothering us too much until Anna decided she had trench foot.

 

 After reaching the equator (which I thought would be a much more momentous occasion than it actually was) we soon made it to Colombia, the final country that we will be visiting in South America.

Colombia is quite possibly the greatest place on earth. Each day brings new landscapes and slightly altered climates that transform the stalls lining the road from overflowing with pineapples one day, then mangoes and then an abundance of unknown and (mostly) delicious new fruits. Each region offers up its own particular cuisine and, after a lengthy return to vegetarianism in the questionably clean countries of Bolivia and Peru Anna has even succumbed to some fat pork ribs. In Colombia we have passed through the jungle, across the expanses of flat, hot plains dedicated to farming sugar cane, then up into the rolling hills of which coffee plants occupy every available inch.

Every day we are gifted food, water and coffee by this unbelievably generous and friendly people.

And so, just a little further to go....