most memorable and magical moments

A summary of the most memorable moments of my adventure through South America (in no particular order of importance, simply memories that stand out)

Hitch hiking through Ecuador with a Colombian drug dealer called Juan Pablo

My next stop on my journey was Quito, in Ecuador. A brief stopover in the city, then I split up from my happy family. Elle was heading off to Panama, and Mike and the two Dutch girls, Carolien and Inge, we’re heading to Colombia. I joined up with some others that I’d met along the way, and we heading to the little surf town of Mompiche in Ecuador. I’m not even going to bother describing in detail my bad luck on this trip, because I feel like it’s becoming a theme, but of course, the bus broke down, we had to stay in a dodgy town called Esmeralda’s for a night of extreme sweating and no ventilation, but we made it to Mompiche, and it was great to be back in the sunshine with sandy toes.

Edd (French), Marissa (American) and little Sammy (Aussie) are all super enthusiastic surfers. So we spent the first day going on adventures to find amazing surf spots on beaches covered in the softest black sand I’ve ever seen in my life. Mompiche isn’t filled with travelers and holiday makers in the same way as all the other places I’ve been. It’s a quiet little town where nobody bothers you or tries to sell you things. You’re left at your own device to buy fresh fruit, eat fresh fish, and relax. Tranquilo.

Months back, when Sam and I were still traveling together, we made a memorable stay at the Loki hostel in Salta in Argentina. For the week we were there, we had formed a group of friends who we giggles with for days on end and drank infamous amounts of Loki “Blood Bombs”. My favorite person of the bunch we were hanging out with, was a British girl called Hayley because we just got along childishly well. Her and I always promised we would meet up again at some point on our journeys, and finally the time had come. She came and found me in Mompiche. Instantly, we hit it off as of before, laughing until our ribs ached, laughing at nothing, laughing at everything. Together we are a ridiculous pair. We shouldn’t travel together. People look at us funny because we are in hysterics non stop. We make impulsive decisions. We are carefree. We are two silly blonde girls far away from home.

Sammy in Mompiche

Giant Iguana we passed while hitchhiking through Ecuador

my life on my back

When she arrived, her and I went for lunch. During lunch we started toying with the idea of heading back down to Mancora in Peru for a couple of days of fun and silliness together before I was to fly back to Buenos Aires in Argentina and before she headed on to Colonbia. By the end of that lunch, we’d found a lift with a man named Juan Pablo, his dog Jax, and his driver (whose name is unknown). They were going to take us half way down Ecuador. We packed up our bags and set off with these strangers who conveniently just happened to be going in our direction.

We probably shouldn’t have been so impulsive about hitchhiking with this guy. During the trip which seemed to take way longer than planned, we stopped to take photos of a giant paper mâché iguana, we took a detour through a beach town called Canoa (just so we could have a look) and Juan Pablo even kindly (creepily) offered to give Hayley a foot massage.

K: Juan Pablo, what do you do for a living

JP: importing and exporting

K: Oh cool, of whaaaaat?

JP: consumer goods

K: not drugs though right

*awkward silence*

JP: drugs are bad

We made it alive to Manta (it took 4 hours), then hopped on a bus to Guayacil (3 more hours), slept in the Guayacil bus station (for 7 hours), then caught a morning bus to Manocora (9 more hours including border control). And then we were home in Mancora…