We came to Santiago because we were aiming to get from Ecuador to Argentina as quickly as possible, and a flight to Chile followed by a bus to Mendoza seemed to get us to the right place in a reasonable short period of time (actually the one thing I wished I'd known before coming here is how difficult / indirect / expensive flights in South America are. Intra country seems to be fine, but between country and the fun and cost begin. Anyway, I digress. We had no ...

We've been travelling now for 6 weeks so we both thought we needed a break and decided to head to the beach. Originally we wanted to go to Cartagena in Colombia on the Carribean coast. Every single traveller we've met has raved about Colombia and 35 degrees in the Caribbean sounded fab. Unfortunately it was Colombia's factory fortnight so even though the 3 flights there from Quito didn't put us off, there were no rooms available at the inn. So we decided to try...

Ecuador is the second smallest country in South America but it is one of the most diverse. It splits into four distinct environments; the Andes, the Coast, the Galapagos and the Jungle. We spent 5 nights in the Amazon along the Rio Napo in the Yasuni National Park at Napo Wildlife Centre. It was A-MAHY-ZING. To get there you have to travel 4 hours from Coca, the nearest town, 2 in motorised canoe, and 2 in a dugout canoe. To save some money, and to fit in a side...

New Year is a big deal in Ecuador, and they take the celebrations seriously. That was one of the reasons we had planned to be here to see in 2012. But I don't think we expected to be in Cotapaxi national park, playing Mexican train dominoes, burning a smurf called Colin while 4 Ecuadorians played the guitar and sang along, and celebrating with a bus full of Japanese climbers. But it did make for a memorable experience… Here they personify the New Year and crea...

Mi nombre es Jennifer. Me gusta chocolate. A mi no me gusta pollo. Mi esposo gustas futbol mucho. 20 hours of Spanish school and right now, without my notes in front of me, that is about all I can remember. I rule at Spanish adjective hangman, provided the words are only sourced from my list of adjectives which includes hot, cold, slow, fast and bitter, none of which have yet come up in wider conversation. However in 20 hours of Spanish school my teacher did...