From Coca it is a 2 hour power boat ride up the Napo river (a main Amazon tributary) and a further 2 hour canoe ride up Anangu Creek (paddling done by staff of course) to get to the Napo Wildlife Centre. It is remote. It is owned and run by the Anangu Kichwa tribe and so all the money goes back into the local community. I guess that helps justify the hefty price tag! The hotel is beautiful, and considering all the materials were brought to the site via canoe, no...

After spending the day hanging around a very decent mall with the wealthy of Quito, it was time to pack up and head to the jungle. Whilst waiting for the overnight bus (yup, we shunned flying in favour of, well, see below) we learned that Quito is a dry city on Sundays. Apparently most of the police are given the day off and so to try and keep things calm the sale of alcohol is banned. Genius. And so to the bus. No sign of the spacious luxury coaches so famed i...

Back on dry land and ridiculous altitude in Quito yesterday, time for a day trip to the market in Otavalo. Not for us an organised tour, no we hit the local bus service for the 2 USD, 2 hour journey. Bargain and they even put the English subtitles on the movie - Journey 2 - The Mysterious Island. Highly recommended! Otavalo has 4 markets, the two of touristic interest are the livestock and the artisan products. What can I say about the livestock market? Cows, s...

Last day in the Galapagos, or rather last morning as our flight back to Quito was mid morning. However this did not stop the tour - we had a pre-breakfast trip to North Seymour Island to see nesting birds. We were on land by 6am!! Highlight was finally seeing the Frigate Bird with its dramatically inflated throat (see main pic) - a mating ritual to impress the females. Birds? Chicks? Thus came to an end our Galapagos adventure. Beyond the things I have describe...

Second to last day! This blog hasn't been as brief as planned. The morning saw a stroll along the coast and a snorkelling session in James Bay, Santiago Island. Sights on the walk included sea lions, fur seals, marine iguanas, several bird species and interesting lava rock formations. The highlight of the snorkelling session was coming back alive. There was a strong current, poor visibility and rocks everywhere. Not fun. In the afternoon we moved to the beautif...