Our last stop in Ecuador was in Vilcabamba, a lovely village to stay before crossing the border to Perú.

I visited the National Park Podocarpus on my own.

The travel to Perú was a thrilling experience. 

Cuenca was our second last destination in Ecuador.

We stayed there for 5 days and had a lot of things to do.

We were looking for a guitar,

hiked in the National Park Cajas above 4000m around lakes

and visited Ingapirca, our first archeological site of the Inkas.

The Andes are a perfect place for hiking and to face new altitudes.

Our last record was in Otavalo on the Cerro Negro, next to the Laguna Mojanda 

where we went up to 4200 meters above sea level.   

Baños de Santa Agua is well known for its hot springs, as being the gateway to the Amazon and for the adrenaline sports.

Anyway, we did not do extreme sports

and had some relaxing days to switch off from our (already) 7 months of travelling. 

Latacunga is famous as starting place for the Quilotoa-Loop.

Walking 3-5 days between ingenious villages is one of the main goals for many travellers in Ecuador.

Actually, this was our plan too, but bad weather conditions changed it. 

We did the Laguna only in a single day and visited artists and two markets in the area. 

We stayed four days in Quito, the capital of Ecuador and visited the Mitad del Mundo, where the equator line was determined. 

Furthermore, we went two days to Mindo, a small subtropical village: 

the perfect place for birding and hiking to waterfalls. 

After a very long travel we finally arrived in Ecuador, the fourth country of our trip through Latin America. 

We stayed in Otavalo for a week,  hiked around between the beautiful mountains of the Andes, visited indigenous families and shopped at several markets. 

The city Otavalo is famous for its big market and the handcrafts which are made by the indigenous people. 

The most interesting thing in Popyán isn't the city.

It is the 4700 meter high volcano which is one of the most active of Colombia.

It was our last stop of this beautiful country and we finished it with a hike in the PNN Puracé.

We visited a completely new biotope with amazing colours but icky smell. 

San Agustín is a place full of myths and mysteries.

An ancient indigenous group lived at this place many years before the empire of the Inca and the conquistadors arrived.

They left over many strange looking sculptures which are craved in volcanic stones of different sizes.

Some are shaped like humans, others are animals or both of them.

There is no written language, no known meanings to the sculptures and nobody knows exactly what they stand for. 

We discovered here, in the South of Colombia, fantastic archeological sites between cane farmland and coffee plantations. 

We already visited the Caribbean coast of Colombia, cloud forest and jungle, climbed up to mountains over 4 000 meter above sea level, visited many cities and experienced other highlights in this huge country. 

During the last 6 months we had never seen a desert. Therefore, it was time to see one. 

We visited the Desierto de la Tatacoa, a two-coloured stone desert in the middle of the country. 

Walking around at a place which can have temperatures over 50•C and watching stars without any light pollution  was a great experience! 

Latin Amerika is full with indigenous tribes.

Some had huge empires and ruled the continent, others are less known but still exist today. 

The Muisca don't exist anymore and the first time we heard of them was in Bogotá.The old indigenous group of the pre-Colombian era is omnipresent in this region.

170km North of Bogotá, in Villa de Leyva, we visited old ruins and a holy lake of the Muisca which lies at 3600m altitude. 

Furthermore, Villa de Leyva is famous for the fossiles in the area, including the near-complete Kronosaurus fossile. 

We also visited Ráquira, a village famous for ceramic art and lastly we shopped on the street market of Villa de Leyva. 

Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, is surrounded by mountains and disappearing in smog at the same time. 

Besides the huge graffitis on the walls and the historical quarter "La Candelaria", the city isn't very pretty.  

We walked in the streets of the historical quarter, went up to the peak of the mountain "Cerro Monserrate" and visited the gold museum. 

Furthermore, we went on daytrips to Zipaquirá, where we visited the big cathedral in a salt mine and to Guatavita, where we walked to the legendary emerald green Laguna. 

It's well known that Colombia is THE country of  drugs, especially for cocaine.

The legendary Pablo Escobar, the King of cocaine, lived in Medellín and made it the capital of smuggling.

We followed his footprints and had an amazing trip with Sebastian in Medellín and in the Comuna 13 which was once one of the most dangerous neighborhoods.

Besides discovering Medellín, we also visited Guatapé, a beautiful village with a 200m high granite monolith, Santa Fé de Antioquia, a lovely old village with colonialism charme and the Parque Arví, a cloud forest, thousand meters higher han Medellín.

The city Santa Marta is one of the oldest cities in Colombia but not very pretty.

Anyway, the streets are full of life! Markets and vendors are everywhere in the city. 

The landscape and nature around Santa Marta are amazing and very interesting. 

Besides the city we went to Minca, the Parque Nacional Natural (PNN) Tayrona and surfing at the Playa Costaño. 

I also met the first local ornithologist in Colombia.

The group "Birding Santa Marta" invited me for a short observation trip to PNN Tayrona.

Finally South America! 

After an early start at 3 am and two flights, we arrived in Cartagena, North Colombia. 

The city looks similar to Panamá City, has some modern places, slums and an old part like Casco Viejo but is much bigger. The center of the city is beautiful and full of life.

It's cool to walk around the streets, discover the alleys and to shop at the local shops. 

Panamá City is huge and has a skyline which Laura and I have never experienced before. The capital has  very modern and old districts which are very rich, but also some very poor districts. 

We spent 12 days in the Panamá City, had a lot to do and explore in the capital.

 Fortunately, I have some friends in Panamá City, Julie and Jeremi, who moved to Panama some months ago and helped us with information and tips. 

El Valle is a very touristic and popular destination for people of Panamá City.

The city has some square trees, a big waterfall, hot springs, Petroglyphs and several mountains to hike. 

Travelling from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific is very easy in Panamá. The country is slim and travelling with the minibuses isn't complicated.  

The last few days we focused us on our surfing skills. We surfed at two different places, Santa Catalina and Playa Venao. Both have perfect conditions for good waves.  

The last destination was in Pedasí, where we enjoyed the beach, discovered the beautiful village with all the colorful buildings and celebrated Christmas with locals on the street of Panamá.