colchsfctravel

We took the 7am ferry to Santa Cruz on Saturday morning, and then spent the the afternoon at the Charles Darwin Station to see the Giant Tortoises. We spent a couple of hours touring the area, seeing how the different island tortoises varied, how they are captive bred and of course to see the infamous Lonesome George. You are able to go into the pen, so all of us got photos taken with them.... and Sophie got cornered and chased by one of the very large tortoises!! It was funny. We got very wet on the way back, but the girls just accepted it.... you dont have a tropical climate here for nothing! I think we are getting used to the rain. The evening was spent eating dinner at local food stalls before walking along the ... read more

Back at Casa de Nelly We arrived back at the port this afternoon having spent our week in the wilds. Everyone seems sad to have left and has had a great time (despite a few ear aches, bad throats and the statutory up set tummies). The accomdation was basic but the staff were very supportive and helpful. We had 3 lots of 2 hour work sessions (as in hard physical work digging, hacking and planting) each day though a few very heavy showers shortened some days. By the end of the week we had cleared quite a large area of Mora (otherwise known as blackberry bushes) and planted a lot of local trees instead (banana, guava and poisonous apple - something loved by the local tortoise population). The girls all did a great job of mixing ... read more

We arrived Wednesday evening at 9:50 local time. Hotel is very nice full of Ecudorian character. Breakfast was a traditional Ecudorian of scrambled eggs, bread, jam and coffee / tea. After breakfast we took the trole (tram bus) into the historic centre of Quito. Visited some churches including Basilica (climbed lots of towers to see the views of Quito) then walked via government buildings to Plaza De San Fransisco, the main square. Tried lots of juices and milk shakes in a local cafe such as mora (blackberry), passion fruit and naranjilla. these seemed to go down well. In the afternoon we met up with Alberto who is the head of a local school which has been supported by the College. We took the local bus and spent the afternoon with the staff and pupils (4 to ... read more

Galapogas Trip - before we start Some dates of travel: April 6th 2011 - Meet Middlebrough 4:00am - Taxi to Heathrow - Continental Airlines Flight CO035 to Houston 09:30 - Short stop (no need to collect luguage) and on to Quito April 7th 2011 - Local flight from Quito to San Cristobal April 21st 2011 - Continental Airlines Flight CO654 from Quito to Houston - Continental Airlines Flight CO034 from Houston to Heathrow April 22nd 2011 - London Hreathrow - 6:45am - Taxi Colchester - 10:30am We will amend if anything changes. ... read more