Depression Warning: The authors have both been delecting a delicious novel by the fair hand of Jane Austin and wish to excuse their poor trifling efforts to entertain and apologise for any change in the nature of the script and novel word use. They pray that it will cease to be by the next instalment.   We took a bus from Cuenca to Loja, which was completely uneventful, so we shall say no more. In Loja we both hit a depression (of mind and weather) that...

The Railway Children We left our hideous hotel in the hideous town and hauled our tired selves and heavy bags to the decrepit train station, where we planned to ride from Riobamba to Alausí. This trip involves going down the Devil’s Nose, “a series of exhilarating switchbacks down deep descents where roof riding is encouraged”, according to Lonely Planet. We put our bags in the luggage carriage and clambered up onto the carriage roof...

Humans are such dirty things We left Quito in a hurry due to the granja´s mistake in the bill and hailed a taxi from outside the hotel. The taxi driver was a lovely man, who spoke nice slow Spanish but unfortunately thought we were German. A dreadful mistake to make and one which will be remedied by the purchase of Union Jack Flag patches. It was amazing to see how many people (locals) in Quito had jumpers, hats, jackets, T-shirts etc. with the Union Jack ...

Adios Kulaks!Panama City Airport Madness Having spent the day in the AC loveliness of Albrook mall with our bags in storage, we headed off the Panama City airport on the bus. During the journey it became dark, and the bus was so full of kulaks they were standing in the aisle. We were sitting at the back with our maxi bags. How were we going to get off? We prayed that by the time we got to the airport, the bus would have emptied so we would be able to get off with...

Panama City Hospedaje Casco Viejo We arrived in Panama City at a very large bus station and took a taxi to a pre-booked hostel. The taxi went through some very rough looking areas and we sat in the back hoping that the driver would not slow and certainly not stop. We stayed in an area called Casco Antiguo, a peninsula with some old grand looking buildings. At Hospedaje Casco Viejo we had to get beds in a dorm as the rest of the rooms were full. In the shower...