We are currently in Banos, a small town about 200km south of Quito. It reminds me a lot of Moab in Utah, USA, such is the vibe of the place full of young adventurers! We arrived this morning after spending two nights in Latacunga, a place a bit off the beaten track for tourists and thus quite rewarding. We were there for the Mama Negra festival - an annual party celebrating a diversity of cultures including Catholic, pre-Colombian and Indigenous cultures. But really it is an alcohol fueled do where the men dress as women and black themselves up, carrying giant [View Full Entry]

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Disclaimer: This is a lengthy and, could be deemed, slightly dull account of our time in the Jungle including in depth descriptions of the tribe we visited, their history, geographic info on the Amazon region and my insights on Western life in comparison to the Indigenous groups of this area. As such, don´t subject yourself to this if you are not interested in it. I will do a quick overview later on when we have time which will be a shorter and easier on the brain cells. Leaving Quito After 3 weeks, we felt we were ready to leave Quito for [View Full Entry]

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Hola Amigos, Finally a version of our famous appearance on CBS´s ´Let´s make a deal´. The official version is still to be shipped to us but for now you can watch and appreciate my sweaty armpits in a recording made from the live show on camera. It´s pretty good quality too so many thanks to JOanna and Fergus and of course the kids back in Edmonton. The link is : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wqGCs7jRgA If you can´t use this just type in "Lindsay and George: Let´s make a deal". [View Full Entry]

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See attached for some extra photos which didnñt really fit in anywhere. You´ll find samples from Vegas, Quito, Cotopaxi and more... [View Full Entry]

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Cotopaxi sits in Central Ecuador in the Avenue of Volcanoes. It's the highest snow-capped active Volcano in the world, at 5897m. Taking out preparation a bit too seriously, we attended a vulcanology lecture in Quito and were informed that a large volcanic explosion was due on Cotopaxi within the next two years. In fact by 'due', it is 70% likely to be this year. This put us off the idea a little bit as the vulcanologist presenting the lecture was a bit of a doom merchant. The title of the lecture was 'Everyone in Quito will die this year'. Well not [View Full Entry]

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Today is our last day in North America. We are fast approaching 10 days without a walk. Quite frankly we don know what to do with ourselves some days. Well get up with the sole job of enjoying the sun and driving one hundred miles further down the coast (I know that is two jobs by the way) and find ourselves searching for a camp site at six in the evening without having done anything of much note. Im sure something was happening during that time but I really can remember what. Its certainly nice to relax before a very different [View Full Entry]

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Post Vegas we left for Yosemite National Park via LA. We stayed in a Chinese run motel during this transition period, with Taoist dolls on the JVC ghettoblaster (with twin tape decks to enable high speed dubbing, 3D sound and hyperbase function - all of which didn't work) and dead cockroaches under the bed. Our preffered means of accommodation, as you have already seen, is the tent. Sadly, four poles broke on the old Vango in one windy stay at the Grand Canyon meaning we had to find replacements before we could use it again. Apparently, they don't do replcements in [View Full Entry]

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Anyone who has been to Las Vegas will think what they are about to read here is bog standard in the City of Sin. For us, however, it was a bit of a shock to the system. We headed to vegas to break up our 8 hour journey back to LA with our only other goal being to eat as much as we could for our $24, 24-hour buffet ticket at the Tropicana. We did achieve this in some style but the day would be remembered for a different reason. There we are eating away and Lindsay strikes up a conversation [View Full Entry]

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Can you spot the snake? I can guarantee you it IS there somewhere... [View Full Entry]

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After a little canvassing, we've (I've) decided it might be good to go for some 'audience participation' in the blogs. First up is Vegas - We've $10 and its going on roulette. You decide the fate of our fortune: Red or Black? [View Full Entry]

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