A 5.30 taxi followed by 2 planes, a bus, a ferry, another bus and then a 2 hour speed boat ride (actually only 1 and a half hours as it really was a SPEED boat) and we arrive in Isabella Island. Exactly how you would imagine a south Pacific island - tranquil, sunny, white sand beaches, casual lifestyle, and then you see flamingos, hundreds upon hundreds of marine iguanas, grey feathered pelicans and you realize you are a lot further north than Tonga, Fiji or Samoa. Galalpagos Islands. Having not been at sea level for quite some time and not near any coastline, the obvious thing to do when you arrive is to head for the water. A beautiful 22 degrees, very refreshing and with company, not the 2 legged local kid kind but the local ... read more

A two hour bus ride from Quito to Otavalo does not sound like much of a problem after the numerous and lengthy bus rides in Bolivia. How mistaken I was, with no Kwells (motion sick tablets) for 2 hours on pressurised brakes racing every corner, bus, truck, tricycle, or anything that moved. I felt worse for wear on arrival at Otavalo. However we quickly found a great hostel at US$7 pp/pn overlooking the market. The hostel directed us to a great lunch spot - 3 courses for $2 and quickly I am back on track again. Otavalo is well known for its craft / indigenous market, so we are happy to have a room with a bird´s eye view. By early morning we can hear the clacking of metal as the stores are being erected, the ... read more

Flew out of Sucre with a far more reliable airline. Thus we only arrived 2 hours late back in La Paz for our final couple of days in Bolivia. We decided on a mountain bike ride down the world's most dangerous road. (the guys who named it as such have never been to a fire call with a couple of the guys on my shift driving). The death toll has been horrendous over the years but ONLY 3 tourists have been killed on bike rides in the last 10 years - I like those odds. The danger is diminished these days because a new 2 lane paved road has been built to handle motorised traffic, leaving only bikes and some foolhardy drivers to use the unpaved road. 65 klms, almost all downhill from 4700 mtrs to ... read more

We took the DIRECT bus from Uyuni to Potosi, which meant only about 12 stops to pick up extra passengers plus 1 flat tyre. We stopped for lunch at 1 interesting village which for me was a quintessential Bolivian village- adobe houses, heavy indiginous population clad in traditional garb, folkloric music wafting out the windows, a creek winding through mist encrusted mountains, a young fellow tending to his herd of llama, and the finishing touch, a half dozen bowler hatted local ladies squatting by the side of the road carrying out their ablutions- nice way to spoil the ambience gals. Arrived in Potosi, a mining town at 4000 metres (can't wait to get back to sea level) which was once fabulously rich but these days not so overtly affluent. The mining influence is obvious on the ... read more

We spent the last couple of days around Lake Titicaca. We arrived at a town called Copacabana where music and passion are rarely the fashion in the Bolivian version (actually its Brazilian namesake took its name from this Bolivian version). The town is a ramshackle tourist town on the edge of Lake Titicaca the highest navigable lake in the world. The town is interesting enough but we preferred Isla Del Sol (Scott Kelly if you read this a quick translation please) one and a half hours by boat away. Sensational, blue water, plummeting cliffs, the odd Llama, friendlier locals, abondoned villages etc. I have'nt been to Turkey yet, but that's how I would imagine its mediterranean coast. Penny crawled through two boulders that legend says will bring a life of happiness and good luck. She then ... read more