On my departure from Ecuador, the country was plunged into chaos. The President, Rafael Correa was physically attacked and trapped in a hospital for several hours on Thursday by Ecuadorian police until the military leadership came out on his side and army troops rescued him in a blaze of gunfire. It is not sure whether the attack was an organised coup attempt or whether it was a protest against spending cuts by the police which spiraled out of control. Eithe...

In my backpack I have two books. One is a guidebook for Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. The other is a leather-bound notebook I bought in Madrid airport to write stories, record email addresses, make grocery lists and generally doodle. Neither are recreational reading materials. I made the decision to use hostel book exchanges and to abuse the kindness of other travellers to accumulate my novels. My plan has spectacularly backfired. As a consequence I have now r...

The month of August has been a month of contrasts for me.The first part of the month was spent in San Francisco de Quito, the beautiful Pichincha city of Ecuador and the world´s second highest captial after Bolivia´s La Paz. It was here that I crashed a wedding. Not perhaps in the style of Vince Vaughan or Owen Wilson, as I actually managed to secure an official invite before proceedings kicked off, but a crash in that I knew no-one at the wedding wit...

On Friday I leave for Quito in Ecuador. And I am worried about the Penis Fish. The Penis Fish first came to my attention in May on Platform 4 in Sepilok, surrounded by semi-wild Orang-Utans, whilst having a discussion with a Dutch volunteer, Eline. The conversation began with my imminent journey to South America and she proceeded to tell me a story about a guy bathing in the Amazon river who decided to take a pee. The conversation ended with me clutching my cr...

"O God, thy sea is so great, and my boat is so small" There are three men who spring to my mind presently, all very different in background, but each of whom has acknowledged in their lives the importance of boats in this world. Their insights have taken on great significance for me due to my recent experiences here in Borneo. The first man is John Rhodes Sturdy, movie writer of the early 20th century; the second is the existentialist philospher, Jean-P...