STILL IN QUITO TRYING TO WITHDRAW ALL THE MONEY ..... I haven't made it to the Galapagos Islands yet, but I'm hanging in there. The banks in Quito are very South American in their attitude. Although I'm supposed to be able to draw up to $5,000 daily from my account, there is a daily withdrawal limit which the banks here have placed on the type of Visa card that I have, which is $200 per day. I only found this out after walking from one bank branch to another over a period of days. The ATM's aren't very well maintained here and are often on the blink. If you then stand in line with the locals for 45 minutes, the tellers will then tell you to go out and try again. When that doesn't work and ... read more

I've just completed another of my life-long ambitions - to walk the Camino del Inca, the ancient stone paved road up through the Andes mountains to the Lost City of the Incas and it feels so good to have finally achieved this dream! ... on Wednesday, we left Casa Azul at 6.30am, weighed down with assorted duffle bags, tents, sleeping bags, mattresses, backpacks and daypacks and walked down the many stairs to where our transort awaited us. On the way out of Cusco we stopped to pick up Andrea, the other member of our private trek, and then collect our two porters and Jesus our cook. Perhaps 'Chef' would be a better title for him, because of the great meals he managed to create for us on two tiny gas stoves, often under trying circumstances. We ... read more

Finally, my spoken spanish is slowly improving - with the help of my daily 2 hour lessons and copious homework. Although I often suffer from brain fatigue and smoke curling out of my ears, it’s really enjoyable and both my grammar and conversational teachers are very good. Our lessons are often on the rooftop patio overlooking the stunning view of Cusco below and the Andes Mountains surrounding us. I chose this school over all the others because of their ethics. It was founded by a successful Dutch businessman who decided that he wanted to do something meaningful with his life. After wandering around South America he ended up here in Cusco, where he found that a huge number of women are bringing up their families single-handedly and with very little money, because either their husbands have ... read more

IT IS POSSIBLE, especially if one travels from Madrid to Lima, Peru, via Sao Paulo Airport in Brazil and then straight onto the Lima connection! I arrived here in Cusco on Tuesday at 1pm and my companions since then have been a virulent cold and an altitude headache! The getting here was something else as well! I left the Hostel in Madrid at 7am in the morning (still dark and very cold at that time of the day). Found my way through the maze of the Madrid Underground System with two changes of trains, then took the Airport train connection, after which I had to take another bus to the new (and uncompleted) Terminal 4 where my flight was leaving from. Got there by 8am and it's huge!!! and this is only one terminal. Lord knows ... read more

I travelled by bus to Seville, a journey of 3 interesting hours. The countryside seen from the bus is often more interesting than from the train. Finding my way from the Bus Station through the maze of detours was a major hassle. What normally takes 15mins walking to the hostel, took me 1 ½ hours! Granted most of the walking was through a truly beautiful park and then through the maze of the lovely old historic section, but once on the other side, one comes across the road works and detours and chaos. Even my Spanish-speaking skills didn’t help me here. No-one seemed to know where the hostel was and I just walked round and round in circles. Eventually I was close enough that a local knew the name of the street I was looking for ... read more