Baños The next day we boarded the public bus to take the very long 6-hour journey south towards Baños, a town renown for their hot springs. Cramped & lethargic from our journey, my first activity for the evening after our arrival was a visit to the public baths for a dip in the skin peeling hot water to relax. The town of Baños (elevation 1800m) sits at the base of the very active Volcano Tungurahua, which had its last major eruption in 2006, forcing the town to evacuate. Hmm! In Australia we get green, yellow & red warning levels to [View Full Entry]

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Amazon River - Rio Napo Our first two day stint on the Amazon was along the Rio Napo about 6-7 hours East of Quito, near the town of Tena. We stayed in a Jungle Lodge (Cotococha Lodge) along the banks of the river and used that as the base to explore the jungle & visit some of the local Quichua families. Our first afternoon was a visit to one of the local families to try ‘chica’, which is a Manioc made from Yucca and left to ferment underground with the help of grated sweet potato for anywhere up to 12 [View Full Entry]

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Quito I had two whole days before the start of my intrepid tour to explore Quito. I stayed at the same hostel that my tour was booked for to save me the hassle of moving location and met up with another couple from my tour who had also arrived early. This being Quito - our first visit was to the ‘Mitad del Mundo’ or the Equator Monument about an hour away from Quito by metro. For whatever reason, a small part of my brain started to function and I was actually able to remember my Spanish lessons, thereby permitting me to [View Full Entry]

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Leaving the US behind, I was soon on my way to Ecuador for the start of my Intrepid Tour and of course, a visit to the Galapagos Islands. This was the start of the final leg of my year long adventure and I couldn’t figure out where all the time had gone - but of course of I still have 3 months left and I wanted to make the most of it. It was on that note that I found myself in the queue at Quito airport waiting to board my plane for the Galapagos Islands the following day. I was [View Full Entry]

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Sorry for my extended absence on the blog front but I have been skipping continents the last few weeks in a frenzied whirlwind of activity. I have just now paused for breath and am now able to provide an account of where in the world I have been and what I have been doing since my last update…….so here goes. Goodbye Costa Rica I spent my last few days in Costa Rica in the town of La Fortuna, not far from my previous stop of Monteverde. I was staying in the Hostel La Fortuna, which according to all the guides was [View Full Entry]

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I now know what it feels like to be inside a blender! As you can imagine - it wasnt a pleasant experience I was up for another long travel day to get to Monteverde. It was on a bus - on a ferry - on a bus - on another bus.....Then quick as a flash, I was dropped off in Monteverde. Monteverde is the complete opposite of Costa Rica's Pacific coastline. Set up in the hills in a cloud forest - it was nowhere near as warm as the coast during the day and cold & windy at night. The [View Full Entry]

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7 hours after leaving Liberia - I eventually got my first glimpse of Montezuma. I had no interest in hitting any of the other beaches along the Nicoya Peninsula, beaches like Playa Tamarindo & Playa del Coco was, according to other travellers, nothing more than condominium cities filled with hordes of shops and were far to ‘gringofied’. I had some hope that Montezuma had not suffered the same fate (too much at least). Getting there was an easy enough process - The only bad thing is the length of time to get there and the numerous changes to reach the final [View Full Entry]

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I start this blog with a very big “Thank You” to all you nice and friendly locals out there that go out of your way to help lost and confused tourists like myself. It makes travelling so much more worthwhile whenever you get an experience like this. I caught the early morning local bus to ‘La Frontera’ (Or the ‘border’). To do this I needed too first catch the bus to the intersection between San Juan del Sur and the town of Rivas, known as ‘La Virgen’. Then according to my guide, I would be able to pick up another [View Full Entry]

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Every day is a good day to go to the beach in San Juan I said goodbye to Isla de Ometepe and set of for some beach action at San Juan del Sur, a beach town near the border between Nicaragua & Costa Rica. After many discussions the previous night with my newfound kayaking buddies, it turned out that we were all planning on going to the same place the next day - so it was perfect timing as far as I was concerned. The next morning we all caught the ferry from Moyalgalpa to the port town of San Jorge. [View Full Entry]

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An island getaway Which island you ask? Isla de Ometepe is an island formed by twin volcanoes rising out of a lake. The lava flows from the two volcanoes Concepción & Maderas created an isthmus between them, forming the island. It lies on Lake Nicaragua south of Granada. I got a shuttle from Granada to the port in San Jorge and from there caught one of ferries to the town of Moyogalpa (1 1/2 hr), one of the two main port towns on the island. In Granada I found an ad for a hostel in the town of Merida - as [View Full Entry]

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