The best of...Bolivia

Why Bolivia is my favourite country in South America?

First of all, must be its splendid landscape and nature. On top of all, my favourite place in Bolivia and the whole S.A is the trip of Salar de Uyuni. If you have read my entries and seen my pictures, you know how beautiful there is.

My second favourite is the energetic city, La Paz. After it, Potosi ranks number three in my heart with its unforgettable history and graceful buildings.

Besides, the living standard in Bolivia is not as expensive as other countries in S.A., a room or a bed costs around 4 to 5 USD. I can eat a very good meal with only 7 USD, which usually costs double or more in HK.

Therefore, unlike in other countries in S.A. where I always went to cheap local restaurants or cooked in hostel. I always dined out in Bolivia.

For example, in such a high class restaurant in La Paz, I ate a set dinner with buffet salad bar. And it only costed 50Bolivianos(7USD).

La Paz is a very modern city, with the highest concentration of rich people. There are restaurants of all kinds, like Thai, Japanese, Korean or Cuban food etc. My favourite restaurant is the Korean restaurant which I encountered accidentally when I applied for the Brazilian visa.

Bibi bop was always my choice.

Besides the Korean restaurant, the Lobo restaurant near my hostel is my second favourite. It served the largest hamburger I had ever eaten and the best hot chocolate.

All over Bolivia, I always looked for juice cart on the street. And I usually went to every local market in every city to look for fresh smoothie or fruit salad.

This fantastic fruit salad costed less than 1USD.

Tea time in a modern cafe in La Paz.

Besides, I am always fascinated with places where I can find the colourfulness of people's lives. Unlike Argentinans or Chileans who look exactly the same as Europeans. Indigenous bolivians who do not give up their traditional clothing give me a better idea of the traditional culture and history of Bolivia.

The indigenous woman with her baby on Isla del Sol.

Even in La Paz, such a modern city, I could see men with suits and ties were criss-crossing with indigenous people who wore their high hats and colourful dresses.

Sometimes I was surprised to see such an advertisment in Bolivia.

The best of ......Peru

Usually, all the tourists mainly go to the southern Peru, like the Nazca line and Machu Picchu, but I found Northern Peru is the less touristic and more authentic than the south. And most of my favourite are in Northern.

Definitely, my No.1 is the jewel-like mineral lakes and perfect snow-capped snow mountains of the Santa Cruz trekking in Huaraz. The experiences were really unforgettable.

But when I talked with many travellers who have been to Peru, I found many of them don't even know the name of Huaraz. It may be a pity to them, but due to this reason, the place is less touristic and so only lucky ones who can be able to enjoy the scenic view of the wonderful Andean.

Before I went back to Peru for the second time, my No.2 is Trujillo and the ruin, Huaca de la Luna. Trujillo has the most beautiful plaza I have ever seen in Peru and Huaca de la Luna is a vivid and living ruin which impressed me a lot.

However, when I came back to Peru to take the flight and was able to visit Arequipa and the Santa Catalina Convent, I found my ranking had been changed. I has fallen in love with the elegant city Arequipa and its Santa Catalina made me even didn't want to leave Peru. I would love to stay there for a week, enjoying the elegant blue, charming orange and peru white corridors and architectures without feeling tired.

The best of...Ecuador

Though Ecuador is such a small country (272,045sqm, one of the smallest in South America), I spent 70days here. Thanks for the reasons of studying espanol, I could explored many parts of the country.

Ecuador's landscape is very diverse, from the Amazon jungle in the East (the Oriente), Andes in the central trough (the Sierra) and the coast in the west (the Costa). In addition, the Galapagos Island, where Charles Darwin was inspired and then gave birth to the theory of evoluation.

As I have already planned to go to the jungle in Peru, and there are so many beaches in Hong Kong (though they are different), so I didn't explore the Oriente and Costa of Ecuador. For Galapagos, orginally, I planned to go there, but after calculating the budget and after told by other backpackers that,'With the same amount of money you spend in Galapagos, you can live half year in India!' So I decided not to go, though everybody who had gone that said the 1000 to 1500USD spent(for around 5 to 8days) was totally worthwhile.

Therefore, I just concentrated exploring the central highlands where I were fascinated by the high mountains and the concentrations of indigenous people.

Among all those places I have visted, my No. 1 is Chimborazo where I had a wonderful encounter with the world No. 1 peak.

No. 2 is Quilotoa where the beauty of the emerald blue and green crater lake I can never forget. Besides, the dense concentration of the beautiful dressed indigenous people and the little indigenous girl who saved us from the risk of dog bite are also unforgettable.

As it is hard to choose, so there are 2 No.3, they are Cuenca and Mandango Peak in Vilcabamba. The impressive old colonial architectures in Cuenca really made me feel like I was walking on the street in 16th century. And the dangerous Mandango Peak which made my legs shake a lot can never be erased from my memory.

Besides impressive mountains and cities, the food in Ecuador is also not bad, sometimes even very good. When I first arrived Ecuador, I didn't expect that rice is their main food.

So every time in the lunch or dinner set, there must be rice with chicken, beef of pork. And just like European culture, Ecuadorean lunch or dinner set must have three course, 1st Soup, 2nd Rice and 3rd Juice and sometimes with desserts also. Usually, it only costs 1.3USD to 2.5USD, which is really a bargain and delicious.

Among all those restaurants I have tried in Ecuador, my favourite is still the cooking of my home stay family in Quito. Nelly is really a good chef, among the 21 days I lived there, the lunch sets had never been repeated! And every day was a really big meal for me, sometimes rice, sometimes noodles. When later Mel,a vegetarian arrived, Nelly's cooking was more fantastic, she could turn every vegetable into an incredibly delicious meal.

My home stay mother, Nelly and her splendid cooking.

Though I loved eating in local restaurant in Ecuador, sometimes I really encountered bad food, like the tasteless beef in Cayambe, hard rice in Ibarra and rubber like chicken in Banos. But everytime I still grateful for the bad food, because if there was no bad taste, how could I enjoy and feel that I was lucky to have other delicious food.

For accomondation, Ecuador is really cheap to living in. My costs of living (dorm or private or shared room) ranges from 4USD to 10USD. Of course, there are many high ranked hostels, but to me, a budget traveller, the price is really good (even though it is still more expensive than in the hostels in China). And the quality is not bad, for the cheapest hostal I had lived in was in Banos, where I have my own toilet and I could take hot shower(usually it is a very important criteria).

My first home stay in Quito.

And the most expensive one is in Vilcabamba, I chose it because I arrived at night and the cheap dorm was full at the moment. But the quality of this room is really 'luxury' to me, where I have a big bathroom with hot water and I also had my own hammock at the front of my room. The hostal also has a big and beautiful garden, and I could get lots of travel information(including maps of trekking) from the discussion board and the owner (a french).

What a relaxing life!


However, my favourite accomondation is still my home stay in Macro family in Otavalo, where I had a big, pretty and comfortable room. And I also had the real feeling of being included as a member of the family.

My home stay in Marco's family.