Yes, I know I still haven't written up Ecuador yet, but at least some of this blog can be contemporary I figure, and I have time to kill. I'm in an internet cafe in Bremen waiting. I seem to have done a lot of this in the past few dazs. (Bz the waz, German kezboards have z's where the y's should be and vice-versa so there will be a few z's and y's out of place here and there.) Yesterdaz was the wedding, In Oldenburg, of mz friends Nadine and Manfred whom I met in Australia last zear in the little [View Full Entry]

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Hello all. First of all, apologies for leaving you all in a state of suspense over what happened after the Galápagos. After receiving one concerned message (what about the rest of you?) as to my plight: To reassure you, Jeff, that my blog does have a happy ending: i) I was not eaten by a shark (the white-tipped sharks we did see swam past too quickly to eat me and are anyway apparently vegetarian, or was that the caimans, I don't know...) Either way, I am in one piece. ii) I did meet some tribal type people in the Amazon but [View Full Entry]

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I have a few minutes before my salsa class so here are a few photographic spoilers for the forthcoming mega-blog of the Galápagos. Disfrute... [View Full Entry]

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Cast of climbers Tim (migo) Olo (Sueco) Jonny y Nick (Ingléses) Los guias Pato, Iván y Marco (Nacionales) Not to beat around the bush, prevaricate or in any other way find a way to avoid getting to the point of the message, such that it is, as to do so would serve no particular purpose other than perhaps infuriate the reader, we enjoyed success on Chimborazo in a Hinkesian manner (c.f. Alan Hinkes, British mountaineer extraordinaire). That is to say that we gave it our best shot and we got back safely. The mere matter that we only gained 5400m and [View Full Entry]

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¡Hola! Que bueno! Yes, at 6:15 yesterday morning, just in time for sunrise, I summited my fourth major peak in Ecuador - Volcán Cotopaxi, at a breathtaking 5897m. It was the singularly most physically and mentally demanding activity I have ever undertaken and the others are en acuerdo on this point. Was it worth it? Oh yes. Por que? The feeling of achievement I think more than anything. OK - the sunset and moonrise were stunning. And once the moon had gone, the sky was studded with every star. If I wasn´t so delirious at the time then I perhaps could [View Full Entry]

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(I´m actually in Machachi, about an hour and a half south of Quito at the moment, but that wasn´t on the list). Got back a few hours ago from a successful summit of Iliniza Norte, a new high at 5126 m 16817 ft. No probs, which bodes well for Cotopaxi on Sunday morning. The hut had a gas heater and stoves (and about 12 people) so it wasn´t too cold at night. The windows didn´t open, though, so there was moss growing inside from all the moisture. Slept on and off from about 8:30pm to 5:20 for breakfast. A combination of [View Full Entry]

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¡Hola! I´ve been here in Quito now for three weeks, take a couple of days, and time has flown. I´ve made (and said goodbye to) some great friends and today it is time for more despidos (or summit like that) and hopefully a few au revoirs rather than goodbyes. Yes, it´s my last night in this long, thin valley buzz of a town for tomorrow I head to the hills! So far I´ve only been up north (have had several winters and summers already here, whatwith crossing the equator, and I still haven´t been able to navigate by the sun) but [View Full Entry]

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It´s now 12:30 on Sunday and England have just won an unconvincing 1:0 against Ecuador. It´s possible the bar I was in will be on the Sun website, although I won´t be in any photos. It´s a shame that it wasn´t 2:1 to England, it would have been nice to have some cause for celebration for los Quiteños. England are going to have to play a whole lot better if we are going to beat the Netherlands or Portugal. Still, the streets are yellow and there is a good mood, people are celebrating anyway and the cars are beeping their horns. [View Full Entry]

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It´s coming up to 7pm here and already it´s dark outside. Being on the Ecuator and all that the sun tends to rise and set at pretty much the same time each day. ¿Where to start? It´s been a busy week. Think of my blog "28 hours in Quito" extended to 10 days. That doesn´t quite work, does it. It´s been a busy 10 days I guess would be more temporally consistent. I can´t remember where I left off and at the moment the server is down (hopefully temporarily) so I´ll just give you the highlights. I was up at 3:45 [View Full Entry]

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After spending a wonderful two days in Mindo jumping off 30ft waterfalls and racing down the rapids on a tube under the hot Ecuadorian sun, it´s back to the reality of Quito. Yes, I am sitting in my adopted brother's (Alejandro) room with one of the winners of the Ecuadorian equivalent of Popstars (Television singing contest where the winners form a pop group), watching a TV programme about a man having breast implants to make him look like Pamela Anderson. More mas tarde, T [View Full Entry]

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