The Santa Cruz hike is one of the most popular multi day hikes from the town of Huaraz, which sits at over 3000 m between the Cordillera Blanca and Cordillera Negra mountain ranges. There are over 35 mountains over 6000 m in the area so the scenery surrounding this grimy, busy town is incredible. Huaraz lies 400 km from Lima and we arrived here on a night bus from Lima for $12. Santa Cruz hike takes usually 4 days but can be done in 3 days. It has some of the best views in the Andeas, you will be rewarded with views of turquoise lakes, snowy peaks and incredible views from the highest point on the hike, Punta Union at 4750 m. Santa Cruz hike can be done independently and we met plenty of people who went on it unguided. It’s a very straight forward path with plenty of hikers on it and its clearly outlined on maps.me. We didn’t have our our tents and sleeping bags but you can rent them in town. For the ease of it and the health of my back (I struggle to walk 800 m with my 17 kg…
Ecuador was one of those countries I hadn’t researched much before coming out to South America. I had heard of the Galapagos but not much else and probably did not allocate the time it deserved. I had three weeks in Ecuador and this is some of the things we did. Ecuador lies south of Colombia sharing borders with Peru and Brazil. It’s a pretty small country relative to its neighbours and often gets over looked and doesn’t get the attention it deserves. If you love hiking, beaches, colonial cities and mountains, Ecuador is has it all. From the Amazon jungle to snow capped mountains, surfing beaches and Andean villages, it ticks all the boxes. Ecuador uses the US dollar making it slightly more expensive than neighbouring Peru and Colombia but still its very cheap compared to US or Irish prices. Some of the best value hostels so far have been in Ecuador. I arrived to Ecuador from Colombia via land. This was fairly easy to navigate and took about 5 hours on a bus from the border town of Tulcan to reach the capital of Quito. Quito Quito is the world’s second…
The Galapagos Islands are usually bypassed by backpackers due to the expense of the islands and getting here. A trip to these magical islands usually don’t fit into their budget but it has been a dream of mine to scuba dive here since I got my diving licence six years ago so it was always on my South America bucket list. These volcanic islands were first discovered by Charles Darwin in 1535 and later declared a national park in 1959. Visiting The Galapagos islands is like visiting an alternative universe, it’s an enhanced archipelago of islands formed by volcanic eruption and inhabited by only those who could survive the journey from mainland. It is one of the two places in the world where giant tortoises can be found. The islands are home to some of the worlds rarest and most extraordinary animals such as blue footed boobies, green turtles, marine iguanas, hammerhead sharks , sea lions (the golden retrievers of the Galapagos) and so many more. What I found incredible was the fearlessness of the islands inhabitants. If you have a staring contest with the animals you will lose, and you will also lose a game of…