Suzanne here... We didn't plan to come to Guayaquil. I'd heard damning reports about the place, merely a necessary stop before the Galapagos. But after much soul-searching, we're not going to the Galapagos. I know, I know. It's practically obligitory when you visit Ecuador, right? Well, not for us. One reason is that we know the place is over-visited. This is a concern partly as we don't really want to be crammed together with hundreds of other people. But also because we are very aware that this level of mass tourism is damaging all that makes the place special. Plus it's incredibly expensive, and our budget has been hit hard as it is. The main reason for going is the wildlife. But none of the wildlife excited us as much as the animals and birds we ... read more

Suzanne here... It was a long flight to Quito. Mainly because the cheapest flight involved flying right over Ecuador and all the way to Panama. Doubly annoying as we've wanted to go to Panama for ages, but there was no time to leave the airport. We did however get a glimpse of Panama City and the Panama Canal from the air. About 12 hours after setting off, we finally landed at 9pm. Usually we are really stubborn about getting the bus. But even we realised that was a bit daft landing in a brand new county, with a bit of a reputation, in the dark, after many hours of travelling. Our B&B offered to pick us up for $10. I tell you, landing at night to see a smiling face and a board with your name ... read more

Suzanne here... Every Tur bus we've seen has been new and fancy looking, so I was looking forward to our journey. Disappointingly our Tur Bus was old and dirty. Bah. Still not the the worst bus we saw though. About halfway into our journey we passed the blackened shell of an Expresso Norte bus. A fireman was still hosing down the smoldering luggage compartment. Looks like the poor passengers lost everything. Our only issue was the kid behind us. Bored out of his brain, he would not sit still. He phoned his mum twice just for something to do (I imagine she was thrilled). Towards the end he began to 'sing'. Or more accurately drone on in a toneless monotonous voice. We thought he'd soon lose interest, but no. His dad put in his headphones and ... read more

Suzanne here... The bus arrived in La Serena 1.5 hours late. Not usually a big deal, but we'd booked an apartment and given an arrival time of 2pm, and it was that already. There were no taxi's (perhaps as the Confederations Cup Final between Chile and Germany was on). Nor could I find free wi-fi anywhere to let them know. We found the bus stop and after a bit of a wait a bus came along and took us to within 10 minutes walk of the apartment. We were just under an hour late. The security chap had to phone the guy (who had given up waiting for us) to come back. All rather embarrassing. Still, the apartment was fabulous. Modern and with a great sea view. We quickly settled in and then went out to ... read more

Suzanne here... The journey to San Pedro de Atacama was fine. As it got light we could appreciate the amazing scenery. The border crossing at Paso de Jama was closed when we arrived, which was a bit of a worry. But after a two hour wait they opened it up. Such a relief as we didn't fancy turning back. It took the best part of an hour to pass through both border controls, but in the end we were on our way. We arrived a couple of hours late, but we were just delighted it had all worked out. Because of the uncertainty we had not booked a hotel. Luckily the bus station had wi-fi so we did a bit of research and headed off to find our prefered option. It was a bit expensive at ... read more