Well, the time has flown by since my last blog. I have been settling in to life in Corsica and trying to get used to the long lunchbreaks and long days. I have also developed far too much of a liking for the delicious French pastries that are on offer but at least my 30 minute walk to school helps to burn off the calories. The weather has been very mixed but we have enjoyed some sunshine as well as lots of rain, high winds and a thunderstorm. No snow - yet. I think my French is improving slowly and I [View Full Entry]

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Hello all. Well I am on my travels again but this time with a bit of a difference. I have come to Corisca for four weeks as part of a European exchange programme between Universities and trainee/qualified teachers. I will be observing and teaching in a school in Bastia over the next four weeks as well as participating in a programme of cultural awareness organised by the UFM in Corsica. There are five of us from Derby University and we are staying in two apartments in Bastia in the north of the island. We are about a 30 minute walk from [View Full Entry]

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It was sad to say goodbye to the Galapagos but I can't tell you how happy I am to be back on land and to sleep in a bed where I am not hanging onto the sides so I don't fall out! We enjoyed our final group meal last night at the restaurant Lo Nuestro in Urdesa. I celebrated being able to eat properly again by having Lemon Meringue Pie for dessert and Dad went for three courses! Today we made the most of the sunshine and headed to the promenade Malecon created in 2000. It is still a work in [View Full Entry]

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Since my last blog we have sailed across the equator a few times visiting some more of the islands. Genovesa was an island teeming with birdlife. After a dinghy ride around the cliffs we headed to the Prince Phillips steps (so named after his visit in the 1960's when he slipped and they decided to build the steps in his honour). After a short climb up the steps we were face to face with Nazca boobies, frigate birds, swallow-tailed gulls, mockingbirds and my favourite the red footed boobies. These were gorgeous birds with their bright red feet, blue "eye make-up" and [View Full Entry]

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Wow. Today we entered a different land. It was dark, bleak, desolate and barren yet strangely enticing. Today we visited the island of Santiago and were introduced to walking on Pahoehoe lava. It was amazing, very pretty with different shades and tighter coils which looked like rope (or giant marshmallow twists to me) and got tighter and tighter where the lava must have flowed faster. It was probably over 200 years old. After a morning of exploring we headed to the island of Bartholme and cooled off with a snorkel and saw lots of fishes, coral, sea lions and some penguins! [View Full Entry]

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Well, I have now had four nights at sea. It isn't getting any easier but I am still here and still alive! One kind lady on our trip took pity on me and I am now sleeping in a cabin on the upper deck which I think is definitely helping. Anyway, enough of sailing, let me tell you about the islands.... We have visited Santa Fe and marvelled at the land iguana's, cacti and Galapagos Mocking Birds; been snorkelling and seen sea turtles and lots of colourful fishes. We had a short trip to Santa Plaza and then sailed onto Santa [View Full Entry]

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Now my Dad had persuaded me to do the trip which included the 7 nights on a boat. "We will see much more of the islands and wildlife", "it won't be rough seas at this time of year", "your brother survived and he would have told us if it was really rocky". All these phrases were running through my head as I was gripping the sides of my bed, hanging on for dear life and praying the 4-5 hour roller coaster which I don't remember agreeing to ride, would end. Sick is not the word. Dying was more like it. I [View Full Entry]

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Said goodbye to our tour guide Rodrigo and our driver Washington and caught a flight from Guayaquil to San Cristobel in the Galapagos. I was expecting a tiny plane but we were on a Boeing 737 and Aerogal was a very nice airline to fly with, we even had a sandwich and a drink! It took us only an hour and a half to travel the 600 miles from the Ecuadorian mainland to the islands. Once we arrived we paid the $100 entry fee and showed our $10 visas and met up with our new guide Rafael or Rafa to his [View Full Entry]

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Up at 4.30am! aaah. It was a killer and very hard to eat breakfast which as always was accompanied by eggs at 5am. We got to the train station in Riobamba by 6am to bag a seat inside the carriage by the window. I resisted the temptation to sit on the roof for a number of reasons: 1) It was very cold 2) It had only recently been re-opened due to the deaths of a number of tourists 3) It looked uncomfortable 4) I wasn't allowed. Well my Dad didn't seem too keen so in the end I sat inside on [View Full Entry]

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Today we headed towards the Volcan Chimborazo. I was keeping my fingers crossed that the clouds would disappear by the time we got there so we could enjoy a view of this impressive volcano, which at 6310m is the highest peak in Ecuador. On the way we stopped at a small trains tation to enjoy some Coca tea to help us acclimatise to the high altitude. At the station we were able to watch a vegetable ivory carver at work and parted with yet more money for souvenirs. Dad and I will need a another suitcase to bring back all our [View Full Entry]

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