Justine Shapiro begins her journey in Guayaquil,
Ecador's main port and the largest city in the country. She
embarks on a 9 hour train up into the Andes,
to a small town called Alausi.  Here she discovers
that the locals Indians are on strike in protest at recent
land reforms.
From Alausi Justine heads to Banos, a spa
town which lies on the edge of the Andean foothill and the
Amazon jungle. She bathes in thermal baths, which are heated
by the nearby volcanoes and goes biking and hiking in the Pastaza Valley.
After climbing snow-capped Cotopaxi, the
highest active volcano on earth, Justine stops off in Quito, the capital of Ecuador and a UNESCO World
Heritage Site. From Quito she journeys a few hours north to Otavalo, Ecuador's most famous market town where
you can buy all sorts of crafts made by the local Ottovalo
Indians. Here, 
Justine is invited to eat guinea pig - a great delicacy of Andean cuisine dating back to pre-Inca
times. She also attends the festival of San Juan (Saint
John the Baptist) in the largest hacienda in Ecuador, owned
by the famous Plaza family.
Justine flies into the jungle to spend a few days with the Siecoyan Indian community. During her visit
she treks in the jungle, watches a traditional dance, learns
the art of canoe making and samples a couple
of the local beverages: chicha, made from
yucca and fermented human spit, and Ayhuasca,
a hallucinogenic drink made from the Ayhuasca vine.
 Justine concludes her trip with 6 days in the Galapagos
Islands on board a magnificent sailing boat called
the Angelique. The Galapagos Islands are
renowned as a spectacular wildlife haven and Justine sights
sea lions, penguins, frigate birds, marine iguanas, blue footed
boobies, flamingoes and pelicans. |
