19th October 2008 - Puerto Ayora
Our early start brought the usual pre-airport panics. Oh no, it’s nearly 7am already – where did you put the sun cream – have you packed the food for the flight – hurry up with breakfast. As usual, we needn’t have worried. Our taxi ride to Quito airport was uneventful [...]

Tomorrow morning we are flying to the Galapagos Islands.  This will realise a long held dream for me to visit these isolated islands where so many creatures have speciated over thousands of years.
I can remember as a boy watching David Attenborough describing in his breathless manner the ways in which various plants, shore fish, reptiles [...]

We crossed the Equator on Sunday.  I had been looking forward to the moment for a long time, ever since it occurred to me on some wistful afternoon at work in Otley that for the first time in our lives, we would be crossing the line on land.

Shortly after posting the entry about being disappointed with our first impressions of Ecuador, Jana and I went out to explore the town of Otavalo and had a great time.
We took a taxi from Hostel La Luna, our rather isolated digs, into town to check out alternative accommodation and find something to eat.  The bar/restaurant [...]

Crossing the border from Ipales (Colombia) to Tulcan (Ecuador) was nice and straightforward.  We travelled through most of the day and a relentless rainstorm to arrive in Ipales before nightfall in order to get a glimpse of Las Lajas, a well know Gothic style sanctuary which looks beautiful in all the pictures we have seen.
Because [...]