Having heard that Bocas was a fast growing holiday destination I was expecting shiny hotels and the beginnings of over-develpment. What I found was much better. Approaching the harbour of Bocas del Toro, the main town on Isla Colon (with the same name as the island group) after a half hour boat ride by very fast water taxi from Almirante on the mainland we got an excellent view of the waterfront which is also the centre of the town. The bars and hotels which front onto the main drag and back onto the water are all built in traditional style, of [View Full Entry]

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Well to be honest I'm not sure exactly where the continental divide lies between South and Central America, maybe not between Colombia and Panama as Panama was once part of Colombia until the early 1900´s in fact. Anyway psychologically it feels as if I have left South America behind and moved onto the second part of the trip; the journey northwards through Central America towards Mexico. Not fancying the trek through Darien- one of the world's great wildernesses and apparently crawling with guerrillas and paramilitaries- even the PanAmerican Highway breaks here so crossing from Colombia to Panama by road is impossible- [View Full Entry]

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Finally made it into the Amazon here in Colombia. I am in Leticia, a small town of about 30000 people on the banks of the world's longest, widest, deepest and most voluminous (?) river. From here its over 6000km to the river's mouth on the Atlantic coast of Brazil! The town is lovely, not beautiful or anything but with a very friendly, laid back atmosphere. The streets are full of scooters, mopeds and motorbikes which is unsurprising as there is nowhere far away enough you can drive to that would require a car and anyway they would have to be brought [View Full Entry]

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Almost 3 months after leaving last time I am back in Bogota (only the third place I have doubled up on after Bariloche and Puerto Madryn in Argentina!). The weather has not improved- it is still cold and rainy but still a lovely city wth friendly people. We have travelled here from Ecuador moving pretty quickly through the south west corner of Colombia but taking enough time to appreciate the incredibly beautiful scenery which is pretty unique I think. From the border which was hassle free we arrived in Ipiales where we didn't stay but before leaving on another bus we [View Full Entry]

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Time to play catch up with the blog again- we've been moving pretty fast through Ecuador (trying to get past the bad weather- unsuccessfully) so here's what I've been up to: After leaving Cuenca we travelled to Riobamba, our original plan had been to get off the bus at Alausi which is where the train to the Nariz del Diablo (Devil's nose- a spectacular trainride through the mountains) calls before setting off for the gorge, however the weather was completely rubbish- overcast and rainy so we skipped Alausi and carried on to Riobamba. Our stay was short but long enough for [View Full Entry]

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Coming to Cuenca, well over 2000m up into the mountains brought a welcome drop in temperature after the heat of the Galapagos and the steaming humidity of Guayaquil. Unfortunately the bad guts I got immediatey after returning from the Galapagos to Guayaquil did not clear up and I got a cracking fever to go with so decided I had better see a doctor. Apparently my pulse sitting up and my pulse lying down were different, which is a bad thing and I got admitted straight to hospital where I sent the following week- and after giving copious amounts of blood for [View Full Entry]

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We have been lucky enough to spend the past couple of nights in the home of a lovely Ecuadorian couple here in Guayaquil- it has made the come-down after leaving the Galapagos easier to bear!! We got the invitation after spending 3 days of our cruise with Yvonne, a Dutch-Ecuadorian who spent many years working on cruise ships around the world. On finding out that we were on the same flight back to Guayaquil she kindly invited us to visit her home and meet her husband and dog. Yvonne and Frowell's house is in a nice suburb of Guayaquil, with shopping [View Full Entry]

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We have spent a week and a half here in the Galapagos- I feel very lucky and privileged to have been able to do so! Before coming here I saw it as a once in a lifetime opportunity, but having spent time here I can't imagine never coming back! The islands and the waters surrouding them are beautiful but the most amazing part is the wildlife- the birds and animals on the islands have no fear of man- I know that's what the Galapagos are famous for but actually experiencing being right next to a sealion or a blue footed booby, [View Full Entry]

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Well this will be my last entry from Peru as tomorrow morning we plan to cross the border to Ecuador- time for a new country and new currency. Mancora where I am know is a small town on the Pacific a couple of hours south of the border. Its steaming hot and humid and pretty quiet as the main surf season runs til the end of Feb and the Peruvians don't hit the beach in any numbers until Easter. The beach is lovely, wide and white and pretty clean with coconut palms scattered around and small fish restaurants at the back. [View Full Entry]

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The Inca trail whet my appetite for the mountains so from Cusco a mammoth bus ride got us here to Huaraz in the Cordillera Blanca (White moutains) so called because of their snowy peaks. Unfortunately the good luck we had with the weather in Cusco hasn't held and the mountains have been swathed in clouds the whole time we've been in Huaraz which is a real shame. Its been raining too although not everyday, at least not every morning... Huaraz is not a pretty town, the old town having been largely destroyed in the huge earthquake of 1970 (7.8 on the [View Full Entry]

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