Not really big fans of Riobamba. The high point of an otherwise grim day was opening an e mail refering to the antics in the house of Hubbard! We stayed in the Hotel de Estation in Riobamba. To cut a long story short, a passport, round the world flight tickets, cash card and spending money for the Galapagos were removed from their hiding place in the room - probably by the cleaner. We had to visit 3 police stations, and still got no sense from the police. In the ...

After Cotopaxi we headed to Teña on a 5 hour bus journey, largely on dirt roads to Tena. We were on the edge of the jungle and the heat and humidity were a shock after the incredible cold of the mountains. We again felt fairly safe, the people seemed more interested in us and less interested in exploiting tourists, and it was a much more relaxed place to be. Before we arrived we decided how much a canoe trip would be worth to us, in dollars. We are very je...

One of our goals for this trip was to climb the 2nd highest volcano in Ecuador. We read an account in the AT Magazine last year of a couple who attempted Cotopaxi and then Chimboraza, and we were inspired! We climbed 4 volcanos in total in order to get the necessary acclimatisation for our bid on this peak of 5897m. All the smaller peaks were still worth doing in their own right, with rocky jagged tops and often sharp edges leading to other summits. Before our wo...

At the air port we were greeted by a very enthusiastic black retriever giving all the luggage, arriving from the States a good going over. Who would be smuggling drugs INTO South America? Quito is the capital of Ecuador, but not the largest city. It is on a plateau, in the mountains at 2700m, in quite spectacular surroundings, with volcanos all around including Guagua Pichincha that last erupted around 6 years ago, covering the city in ash. If you are not acclima...

We flew from Merida in the Yucatan to Mexico City, and had a much better stay this time. On one morning the streets were completely empty of the street sellers, and the city felt completely different. We visited the key temple outside the City - Teotihuacan - and I´m pleased to say this was a much better experience than Chichen Izta. The temple is famous for its pyrimads - they are second in size only to the Cheops in Egypt (I believe) AND tourists were able...