¡Hola a todos! I am following the sound advice of Mum and so this first blog entry concerning the Galapagos will focus upon creatures of the air. I shall endeavour to include when and where I saw the many protagonists of this piece, along with some of the mind-boggling quantity of information surrounding these marvellous beings served up to we travellers by our all-knowing Galapagean guide, Monica, who spoke flawless English. Even before we steppe aboard ...

¡Hola a todos! After spending a week recuperating from my bout of Salmonella in Baños, I finally felt well enough to pack my bags and take to the road once more. I boarded a bus destined for Quito and settled back to enjoy the view outside my window; one of rolling green hills and steep drops down to the valley floors below. The bus journey passed swiftly, largely on account of the driver, who seemed in a particular rush to be somewhere else. Thankf...

¡Hola a todos! Well, it has finally happened, that all-too-rare occurrence last experienced far too long ago. I write to you all from the same location featured in my blog: for example, the three previous entries were all written from here in Baños, as I spent time recuperating from a nasty illness that has slowly been seeping into my narrative these past few entries, yet none of them were actually about Baños. This is, as I write, a rare and...

¡Hola a todos! My journey continued north then, to Cuenca. At the bus station in Vilcabamba I ran into an Irish couple that Seb and I had met and befriended during our bus ride into Ecuador from Peru. We had gone our separate ways in Vilcabamba, they wanting something a little more central than our mountain-lodge retreat offered. I was glad to see them again and even happier when it transpired that we had chosen the same bus to take us to Cuenca. We settle...

¡Hola a todos! Vilcabamba was a late addition to my travel itinerary: I had originally intended, in my haste to press on north and include Colombia in my final five weeks of travel in South America, to journey directly to Cuenca, Ecuador’s old, charming capital, roughly six hours of bus travel north of Loja. As it was, Seb proved capable of swaying my mind, promising only a couple of days exploring the fabulous local scenery before continuing to Cuenca. I am...