After rather childishly referring to Puno as Poo-no since the whole tankbag theft hoohah, we decided to hot foot toute de suite to Bolivia and what a change. The border crossing at Kasani was our easiest yet, suspiciously so! No bribes, no extra "tax" or payments for ink, even with the Bolivian Aduana guy stamping our forms with great aplomb and a super cheery smile. Everyone was friendly and seemed pleased to see a couple of loco gringos on a rusty old bike. We ...

Our last few days in glorious Ecuador were spent with a Goldsmiths alumna who is now in the percussion section of the Guayaquil Symphony Orchestra. We were shown around the sites of the city by Yemina, including a trip on the orchestra bus to a concert of popular music by Julio Jaramillo and attending a rehearsal for their next concert. All events are free and paid for by the government, how wonderful. Heading east from Guayaquil it is all delta-y and agricultu...

Riding towards Guayaquil to get our flight to the Galápagos saw our first real problem with the AT. Every 3 miles the bike would sigh and roll to a stop. A mystery. OK, so it was over 30 degrees and I know I get weary in hot weather, but we could measure the distance exactly and quite frankly, the old bike should be able to do more than that! With over 100 miles before we reached the airport and the stress levels rising, the bike limped along at under 40mph, wit...

Riding towards Guayaquil to get our flight to the Galapagos saw our first real problem with the AT. Every 3 miles the bike would sigh and roll to a stop. A mystery. OK, so it was over 30 degrees and I know I get weary in hot weather, but we could measure the distance exactly and quite frankly, the old bike should be able to do more than that! With over 100 miles before we reached the airport and the stress levels rising, the bike limped along at under 40mph, with...

I'm not sure how we keep changing temperatures so dramatically! From the relative coolness of Otavalo, looking out onto snow covered volcanic peaks to sweating on a caldera walk, then having to put on extra clothing as we enter cloud forest (and this all in one day), we finally settled near Apuela, being welcomed by ace photographer and birder Doug Edwards and his neighbour Grace. A few wonderful days were spent gleaning as much knowledge as possible from Doug o...