We had a few days spare so decided to check out The Monkey Hut situated on Lake Apoyo. We’d heard endless fab things from fellow travelers and just couldn’t bear to miss out on this idyllic chill out spot.

Lago de Apoyo is more or less evenly situated 30 minutes from either Managua or Granada. If I remember correctly it’s not too difficult to get to, however it’s better if you arrive with a group to share the taxi from where the bus drops you off. The crater was formed after a volcanic explosion 23000 years ago and reaches depths of 175m. We spent our few days here drinking caprihinas, eating home-made pizza, sunbathing and dive-bombing off the floating jetty. The caprihinas also helped us contemplate and appreciate the amazing feats that nature is capable of.

Furthermore, Lago de Apoyo formulated mine and Lisa’s new found friendship. There’s nothing like turning up to a new place after only knowing each other for a day and there only being a double room left. We laughed for about an hour after asking the owners “Do you have a pet…that’s a monkey?” (you had to be there), and the rest, as they say, is history!

There were two forms of wildlife I was eager to see when I landed in Costa Rica; Sloths and Turtles. Both sightings bought me close to tears.
We’ll start with the turtles. I went to see them laying eggs on the beaches of Costa Rica’s Caribbean Coast. We had to go at night, and were briefed before heading to the beach, no lights and no cameras. The leatherback turtles that we were hoping to get a sighting off would come to the beach in a trance, which could easily be broken if we used white lights. Should this happen, the turtles would panic, and swim back in the sea, whilst still laying their eggs, leaving them to be eaten by fish and birds. We sat silently, and were ushered over to where a turtle was beginning to dig her nest. She had no notion of our presence and went about her business with a sluggish repetitiveness. Funnily enough, the turtle wardens spend most of their time directing turtles to new nesting patches. It seems turtles are rather lazy, and if they see a nest they will go straight to it, sometimes laying over other eggs, sometimes pushing other laying turtles off their nest, to save them the hassle of making their own! As we watched in awe as over 180 eggs plopped satisfyingly from turtle number 1, turtle number 2 tried to take over and we had to beckon it away to start digging its own nest somewhere else. Once our turtle was worn out from laying it began to slowly and methodically cover its babies with sand. The eggs were soft and squishy, like gooey soft boiled eggs, the size of ping pong balls. It was imperative she covered them well, and if she became too tired, the wardens would finish her nest for her, enabling the safety of the hatchlings. Eventually, after about an hour of the process, she turned and headed back to the sea. Watching her edge her way down the sand was mesmerizing, she was so huge I could have ridden her! The group watched in silent awe as she left her tracks in the wet sand and reacquainted herself with the sea. It was such a peaceful, warming experience. Turtles are cool man!

The sloths were a different story all together. Although also slow animals, sloths have a sort of inbuilt inquisitiveness and excitement that I wasn’t expecting. After seeing a video about Baby Sloth Wranglers, I was definite that I was visiting the sloth sanctuary.

I arrived a little late which meant I could only make the short tour, which also made it cheaper. I just wanted to see the baby sloths, and I did! We watched a video on sloths and their environment, and the terrible things that deforestation is doing to their environment. Many sloths are found electrocuted or burnt on the roadside after trying to use electric cables and wires to get across to areas of the forest that have been split up by new highways. Once their hands are burnt they cannot climb anymore which is their whole life, how they eat and survive in the wild. Many sloths at the sloth sanctuary will have to stay forever for this reason, whereas others that may have been previously kept by local families as pets, can be released back into the wild after observation and teaching activities. After the video we got to meet some of the residents, young and old, have a little cuddle and watch them play. If I were to be reincarnated I think I’d be a sloth. I don’t think I can do the whole turtle thing, swimming all those miles every year to lay a shit load of babies that you’re never going to see, and doing it every year for 100 years or more? Sloths are furry and playful and cute, and though I’m not sure how many babies they have, it can’t be that many?! Yeah, I’d be a sloth, plus I might even end up being the variety that looks like Chewbacca from Star Wars. That’d be pretty sick!

I spent a month volunteering at Fundacion Arte del Mundo in the beautiful mountain town of Banos. There is tons to do in and around this region and although I spent most of my time sleeping in and making popcorn, in hindsight I did quite a lot while I was there. Here's a list of some of the fun stuff to do if you're ever in the area.

Banos is an adrenalin junkies dream with zip lining, an active volcano and numerous hikes on offer. Whilst I was there I went white water rafting, something to tick off the bucket list. It was AWESOME! We bundled into the minivan and headed off along the mountain roads. After donning our wetsuits and having a safety briefing we were in the water! 6 to a raft including our instructor we were soon dodging currents, bobbing gently in serene waters and throwing killer paddle high fives. Our only man went overboard in the final stages and with 4 panicky girls on the rescue mission I think he swallowed more freezing river water than he would have liked! But we survived! And by the end I was hooked, I wanted more rapids, more danger and more near death experiences (as long as they were experienced by someone else).
Two very brave boys I know also gave the bridge bungee jump a go...I was happy I just took the photos.

I know, I know, I'm a dickhead traveller. But I'm embracing it! Gap yah, yah? A traveller friend and I had discussed for some time about getting tattoos and when she came to visit me in Banos we bit the bullet. We were recommended to Kokopelli tattoo studio on bar street. I went for the colibri (hummingbird) nazca line after having a bit of a 'moment' when I saw them and having seen my first real life hummingbird in the yard of my volunteer quarters. Check out how badass I am! (So badass I almost cried and it only took 15 minutes).

You can't beat a bit of karaoke to cement new friendships. Karaoke is fairly new to South America and the ecuadorians love sitting in dark bars, confined to their booths singing depressing ballads. We went to karaoke twice and had two very different experiences. The first involved little showmanship from the other contestants and long waits for songs . Our second attempt was a much more successful evening, my recommendation is to find a small bar where there are no booths or tables. You pass the mic along the bar and have your moment in the sun. Although I previously slated the choice of 'depressing ballads' the English choices are pretty slim. My nights warbling wonders included Mariah Carey, Aerosmith, The Police and Toni Braxton. Ace!

For a relaxing morning, afternoon, evening, in fact any time at all! Get yourself to the thermal baths. A natural spring there are a number of pools of varying heats, some of them are bloody hot! Dip from pool to pool and shower off in the revitalizing waterfall! It's meant to be good for your circulation...or something? Whatever it feels great. Next to the baths are some sacred waters and a small shrine which is what brought people to the area all those years ago. Evenings are a great way to relax and unwind and look at the stars but they're busy, there's less chance of getting stuck in a small pool squashed between two red Ecuadorians if you go in the morning. Or maybe that's your thing?

There are tons of waterfalls shooting out of mountain caverns all around Banos, take a bus ride to a neighboring town and you'll see them. A Chiva bus (a brightly painted bus playing reggaeton with flashing disco lights - acceptable at night amongst Ecuadorian teens, a little bit weird for tourists in the middle of the day) can take you out to a number of the falls. We took a rickety cable car out over one, hovering above the devils mouth and then to the double fall which was spectacular. Wear your raincoat! You're gonna get sprayed!

RHINO BUS
I think this is for children? It's about a dollar, has bright lights and speeds round the towns tight bends. It's funny as hell, do it!

FOOD
There are some great places to eat in Banos. A hefty amount of backpackers has seen some lovely places open that have good western food as well as fantastic Ecuadorian classics. Here's my run down of a few of my faves.

• Stray Dog - Slow service but totally worth it. Run by a dedicated American the food here is to die for, great sandwiches and fries that really feel like home. The slow roasted pork is nom nom nom!
• Casa Hood - The staff here are super friendly and they do a brilliant $2 almuerzo. 3 courses of veggie goodness and a fruit shake, total bargain! It's also a nice place to hook up to the wifi and hang out, borrow a book or check out their movie screenings. Not to be confused with Cafe Hood, also a yummy option- get the purée potatoes!
• Cafe Sativa - This chilled out spot opposite Casa Hood has the best spiced coffee, darn it, the best coffee I've ever tasted. Simple dishes (the veggie burgers are ace and I'm not a veggie!) and the beautifully painted murals make it a lovely daytime hangout.

Puyo, a small lazy riverside jungle town and gateway to jungle excursions is a short bus ride from Banos. A few of the volunteers and I went for a weekend. My favorite part of the trip was a visit to Parque Omaere, which can be found in Lonely Planet. The American owner, married to a native Ecuadorian has set up an amazing botanical garden of medicinal plants and flowers as well as examples of indigenous dwellings. Tours in English are educational and fun and can be tailored to fit your time scale and interests. Highly recommended! They say they have the cure to cancer, go see what you think!

SURVIVAL TIP
It's easy to lose a lot of time anywhere when you're travelling (most get lost in the beach towns!) I was lucky enough to have to spend a month in Banos so do as much as you can with whatever time you have. If you can spend a significant chunk of your trip in any one place it's really worthwhile no matter where it is. (Drinking yourself crazy in a beach town probably isn't the best choice though!)

Otavalo market is a shoppers dream. I would definitely recommend organizing your trip to fly out of Quito so that you can hit the markets for all your souvenirs before flying home. I don't have a problem, honest.
Some travellers don't rate it as it does have almost everything most other markets in South America have just over and over again. Personally I don't see what their problem is? Yeah so it's the same old crap?...over and over again?! Ace!
No I joke, in my opinion Otavalo had lots of souvenirs I didn't see else where as well as local items like traditional dress and jewellry. It also gives you the option to find the best of what it is you're looking for within your price range. It doesn't beat the cheap steals of Bolivia but it did have more western styled items that you might be able to use at home, such as blanket and bag designs. I left with a queen sized hand woven bed spread, a table runner, two hand painted wooden spoons, a dream catcher made from cow intestines and rare bird feathers, some paintings and some jewellry. It was fantastic. And let's be honest everyone loves mincing around a market?! It's what holidays are made for right? All the boys say YEEEAAAAHHHHH!!

If you get up early enough the nearby animal market is an absolute must! Ask around for days it's on. We got up around 6am and headed out to find a field full of every farmyard animal you could think of, pigs, cows, llamas, ducklings and sacks of puppies. Literally SACKS of puppies. Sacks of pretty much anything really, woman walking round with handfuls of live chickens and all animals large and small. The basic rundown is each seller stands with their wares and waits for someone to approach them with a price. It's just as much a hang around and chat situation as it is a selling one. If you're big on animal cruelty you probably won't enjoy it but if you can embrace the madness of another culture it's brilliant and well worth the early morning.

SURVIVAL TIP
Haggle hard, get a price in mind and stick to it, if you walk away they'll either call you back or you'll have the afternoon to decide whether to go back and pay the price they're asking AND DON'T BUY A PUPPY!

Finally! We're on a beach! Man had we waited a long time for this. Tyrona, a national park on Colombia's north coast is where the Colombian's go for holidays. A slice of the Caribbean it's seen heavy development, especially in the sleepy village of Taganga on the outskirts of the park.

After a few days adjusting to the heat and munching fresh seafood we headed to the park. We decided to head to the only campsite with kitchen facilities and took some pasta and supplies with us to keep the costs down. We found a place recommended in the bible (Lonely Planet of course!) and Gemma convinced me not to get a mini bus and to walk 4km with 5 liters of water in my rucksack. I almost killed her. Once we'd done that we realised why the mini buses couldn't go any further and took a 30 minute hike up and over huge boulders to get to the beach itself. You can take a horse but with the steep ups and downs I reckon that'd be pretty traumatic too! It was tough but the scenery was great.
Once we'd settled into our hammock and had rum and pasta in our bellies we were planning tomorrows beach action.

Tyrona really is paradise. We stayed in a campsite just back from the beach (£3.50 a hammock) but for a little more (around £8) you can have a beach front hammock on Cabo San Juan. We stayed at Finca don Pedro which had kitchen facilities as well as a restaurant and a great communal atmosphere. A 10 minute walk to the nearest beach and another 30 minute jungle trek to pristine waters suitable for swimming, it was stunning. Logs washed up on the beaches and it was possible to find a secluded stretch of sand somewhere along the way. There are lots of treks to keep you busy within Tyrona as well as wildlife spotting trips but we stayed true to ourselves and spent lazy days on the beach sipping cerveza's.

Cali, the town most backpackers will get to when crossing in from Ecuador gets its name from the Spanish 'caliente' meaning 'hot'. My travel buddy and I were mega excited for scorching heat and a little trip to the zoo. After a stressful border crossing at Ipiales, we wanted something to cheer us up. For anyone interested we'd arranged a full day of travel to get us to the border town before dark. Horror stories of robbings on these borders are rife, especially the Colombian guerrilla ones.. (Now I realise these are all ridiculous as Colombian people are some of the friendliest I've met). We arrived on time at about 5pm and as 6pm drew closer we were nearing the front of the que after about 5 pusher-inners had jumped ahead. "Heeeey, that's how they do it in South America", we mused. A que was forming at another window but we held our ground as the light faded.

There was one woman to go before us when the window closed and the guard fucked off. Brilliant. As she pushed her way to the front of the second que I grabbed Gemma's arm, smiled at the lady and said "We're with you!"
The lady in the second que stuck her arm out and blocked us so the three of us waited patiently.

The guard on duty had a particularly tight uniform bursting at the buttons and Gemma and I were giggling at his resemblance to a member of the YMCA when a gentleman piped up from behind "You think it's funny you can push in because you're westerners?"
Erm I don't think so Mister! In broken Spanish I argued that "Actually we've waited a really long time and loads of people pushed infront of us and were pushing with this non westerner so eeeeeerm no??!!" When Gemma added the brilliant line of "Noone wants to be out after dark!"

Everyone looked a little scared and confused, the guard grabbed our passports, stamped then quickly and told us to go. We ran across the border, were ushered into an unmarked car by a policeman and shit ourselves the whole way to our dirty hotel where we got takeaway pizza and watched horror films before our early morning bus to Cali. The zoo was necessary!

Cali zoo has tons of animals, lots of big scary ones like bears and lions and weird cute ones like meerkats and anteaters along with a ton of animals that I have no idea about. It was cool! They also had nice statues for photo ops, and this amazing 'make monkey facial expressions' mirror board. We spent a good half an hour pushing kids out of the way here.

We weren't sure if these turtle shells were for kids, but seen as they had small ones and then one that was less small we have it a go. Brilliant!

SURVIVAL TIP
Take a packed lunch to the zoo, the food's crap and overpriced.

Many people sidestep Ica and head straight to Huacachina to sandboard and Nazca for the unexplained desert lines. Some come to Ica to volunteer to help restore the city after the devastation of the 2007 earthquake. I however made Ica my base and set off on day trips while contributing to the local economy. The town square was pleasant with winding streets surrounding it and a cheap lunch deal can be found on every corner.

1. SANDBOARDING AT HUACACHINA

The oasis at Huaachina is stunning and I can see why people want to spend a night here. A short cab ride from Ica the magical palms spring out from the desert and for me the place had a 50s nostalgia to it, where vintage screens sirens might come to live out their own Arabian Nights.
The real pull here is the sandboarding and I would recommend opting for a board an buggy package. For a third of the price you can just have the board but the dunes are steep and the real trill comes from ragging it full force. After a few crazy wheel spins and some face first tabogganing we watched the sun set over the dunes and all was calm. Until I screamed like a baby on the drive back!

2. ISLAS BALLESTAS

Las Islas Ballestas are known locally as 'The poor man's Galapagos' but then so are most other islands off the west coast of South America so don't get too excited. The trip consists of a few hours boating where you get up close and personal with penguins, boobies, pelicans and seals. I'd seen many of these animals somewhere more secluded on my trip so it wasn't super exciting but animal lovers and bird watchers especially would live this trip. I did find myself zoning out, imagining myself a crew member on some great expedition to research the mating rituals of sea birds and I felt a smile creep onto my face. Then I zoned back in to a seagull shitting on my right shoulder. Hey ho.

3. THE NAZCA LINES

I did the Nazca lines in a day from Ica. I remember it seeming difficult but it really wasn't, an early bus gave me time to book myself a helicopter ride, see the lines, have some food and catch the bus back before nightfall.
The lines were awesome. The flight is expensive, there's no two ways round it and you can see two of the lines from a viewing tower just off the highway, but its not the same.
Waiting for my flight to fill up I watched the National Geographic video play on a loop getting more and more excited. After a bumpy 20 minutes in the air it was all over, I'd seen them. It was ticked off the bucket list and I felt a sense of accomplishment. I have no answers for you. I doubt the alien connections, it's easy to see how man could make the lines, especially men with great mathematical and scientific minds capable of such wonders as Macchu Piccu and other similar Mayan civilisations. The why is still questionable but I won't ruin it for anyone wanting to go, the spirituality of these civilisations is evident everywhere in South America and for me it shows more of mans strength than it does anything else.

SURVIVAL TIP:
Take some snacks to the airport. I was advised not to eat before the flight due to air sickness but I booked the flight at 9.30am and didn't fly till 2pm so was bloody starving!

The Uyuni Salt Flats Tour is a must do on the Gringo trail and a great way to get from one country to the other without the hassle of border crossing (there's a special border just for the tour, otherwise you have to go way up north to cross).
The 3 day tour has become some what of a blur, I have never seen such diverse scenery in so short a time. Within 3 days we saw countless mountains, lakes and volcanoes speckled with llamas and flocks of flamingoes. It even got a bit boring, "Oh great, another lake", I now cringe at my lack of enthusiasm! We drove through the desert named after Salvador Dali for its likeness to his surreal paintings. We climbed giant rock formations and relaxed out muscles in hot springs. We saw natural gases bubbling out of mud pools from the earths core and felt the strange sensations of altitude sickness after climbing to nearly 5000m in a day. It was awesome! And we had Abba's greatest hits as our soundtrack. Say no more.

We were moving fast and managed to visit the train cemetery on our second day, the place where trains go to die! So that we could get up early to see the sun rise over the Salt Flats. A peaceful if freezing morning we watched the sun dance over the thin layer of water that lay on top of the ice. We moved further onto the flat to take our trick photos and be dazzled by the bleak expanse of blinding white salt.

This tour was a definite highlight, magical scenery, great friends and good food.

SURVIVAL TIP:
It's bloody freezing! Take all the warm clothes you can and some coca leaves to kerb the altitude sickness.

Isla del Sol is located in the southern part of Lake Titicaca, Bolivia. According to Incan mythology it is here that the sun god and the Incan religion was born.
We took a boat across the lake to the island from copacabana and spent a night on the north shore which was quiet and peaceful and full of beach piggies! Aaaaaaah!

There are apparently over 80 ruins on the island, mostly all dating back to Inca times. We got up early on our second day ready to hike to the main tourist attraction and set off with our guide. The views were spectacular and we looked out to the island of the moon, where virgins were sacrificed and to the point in the lake where a lost city is meant to be hidden, rich in Incan gold. We learnt about the mysterious legends of the Inca's, seeing the holes in the rock where the sun and moon were born from and the marks on the earth where they took their first steps. We gazed at the natural rock formations of puma head and frog which all tied together the beautiful story of creation. We sat round the sacrifice table with its 12 seats to mark the months and 4 larger seats pointing north, south, east and west. It was fabulous to learn before we embarked towards Peru and Macchu Picchu.

We then took a boat to the southern part of the island for our last night. Our hostel hung perilously on the cliffs edge and as I stepped out of the shower that morning I was greeted by the great abyss of the lake and the rolling mountains. We went for a walk to meet llamas an had a dinner of freshly caught trout before retiring. Amazing.

My friend Ollie and I opted out of the perilous bus ride and took a 16 seater plane to Rurre flying close to the mountains for fabulous views. After a night in town, drinking cocktails at the aptly named 'Moskito' bar we got up early to board our canoe to camp. We were part of two groups of 5 and found our camp after wading through flooded estuaries barefoot carrying supplies over our heads. I managed to drop our bag of spuds and onions after slipping down a bank of chancho poo (rainforest pigs that resemble disneys Pumba!)

Our 3 days consisted of jungle trails spotting monkeys and creepy critters and learning about the medicinal purposes of plants and trees. Our guide was a wealth of knowledge with a wicked sense of humour. We found trees whose bark could kill or send shaman on flights to meet the Gods as well as leaves to cool insect bites and the leaf cutter and other giant ants that make them necessary.
The obligatory Tarzan swing was executed better by some than others and we were fed extremely well throughout our whole stay.
Unfortunately our midnight jungle walk saw no pumas or jaguars but we all left with a piece of carefully crafted jungle jewellery, be it ring or necklace.

Second to Macchu Picchu my next big must see was the Amazon jungle. Knowing that my cheapest option was to do a trip from Bolivia I set off to the small town of Rurrenbaque for a 3 day jungle tour followed by a 3 day pampas tour. Not actually on the Amazon but linked to its waters Rurrenbaque is located on the Beni River, close to Madidi National Park, gateway to the Bolivian rainforest.

The Pampas tour was somewhat different, less jungle and more wildlife spotting from the safety of your canoe. True it was much easier and tourist ready and the whole experience felt more like being on a tourist conveyor belt but the wealth of wildlife on display couldn't be beat. With Eco-Tourism a current buzz word in these sorts of endeavours it was clear that our guides cared very much about the jungle and it's inhabitants, their home and their neighbours.

Each day was jampacked with activities and we had cayman and monkeys as regular visitors to camp. Our guide Diego took the limelight when piraña fishing as each gringo tried and failed to catch a bite.

Anaconda hunting, swimming with pink dolphins, a football match at sunset and spotting caymans eyes in the night were among the other activities enjoyed by the group. The hot sweaty work of wading through mosquito ridden marshlands in 'the hope' of finding a giant snake wasn't my idea of a great time but seeing such an amazing creature was surely awesome. Animal rights activists should probably look away now!

All in all the jungle tour felt more real and given the time I would have liked to venture deeper into the rainforest to get a real sense of what it's like to live and survive amongst the wildlife. The pampas was more tourist ready but you got to see animals up close and yet still in their natural habitat.

SURVIVAL TIP: Take mosquito repellant and apply it LIBERALLY! I counted 50 bites on my left leg alone and I had 50% DEET!