We loved China. The question was – did we love China because it was our first travel experience that had a huge impact on us? Or did we really love China, and Asia in general? Arie, particularly, had always had an inkling to go to South America – and Judy thought, “why not?”

Easter Island is one of those truly special places that charms and fascinates in a way that few places can. From there we headed up to Ecuador… where after several days were saying, “well we can always use our round – the – world ticket and go back to China.”

Naïvely, we thought that one week of Spanish lessons in Quito, Ecuador would give us enough of the lingo to get around. My teacher impatiently asked on my second day : “How many languages do you speak?” To which I responded, “Just one.” She sighed a breath of relief, understanding my inability to comprehend the conjugation of a verb, and we continued much slower.

Little did I know that 5 short months later I would be teaching the conjugation of a verb in English and still didn’t really get it!

As always, Arie had our whole trip planned out, a general way south– and then famously Judy put us on whole new path. At Riobamba in Ecuador we turned around and headed out to the jungle.  We discovered that we loved, and we were in love with the Amazon.  By the same token, soon we were in the Andes and discovered that while the mountains are beautiful they don’t inspire for us the same passion.

Onto Cusco and the Inca Trail – and meeting Felix.  I could say that the rest was history but it wasn’t quite like that. 

We escaped from the mountains to the jungle where we crossed into Northern Bolivia, where we didn’t see another gringo for weeks. Back to the altiplano and Peru, where we met up with Felix again. 10 days with him and our time was running out. At breakneck speed we headed across Bolivia,  into Paraguay and then Brazil.

I had a UK Work Visa and was planning to set up there while mum when home. Instead, I followed my heart back to Cusco. My life changed forever...

I was to go back to Ecuador again... but like Chile became the country south of Peru, Ecuador was to the North and my perception of it changed forever because of my "Peruvian" views.

Encounters in the Equadorian Amazon

The Chatta Serial - travelling down the Rio Napo to Peru

Part One – Stranded in the Peruvian Amazon
Part Two – Oil Barge Downriver

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