Having decided to stay for 10 days in the galapagos, I devoted 4 of those to learning to dive, with a very gorgeous diving instructor - James, and his flirtatious little side kick - Christian. The four days were pretty standard, some theory, some practical under water, and lots of giggles, mostly involving the guys attempting to throw me off the boat (usually unsuccessfully). When it all ended I was $400 less well off with a padi open water diving qualification which meant of course that I wanted to go diving some more. Throughout the holiday I had been hearing about [View Full Entry]

---

---

Steve and I decided to take a trip to Isla Isabela to see Siera Negra; the worlds 2nd largest crater, a live volvano (Volcan Chico) and do some decent snorkeling. [View Full Entry]

---

---

The night before coming to the Galapagos I stopped of in Guayaquil and there I met a lovely girl from Brighton called Jenny, who helped me sort my ticket and was also coming to the Galapagos the following day. As I passed on the mass of information that scott gave me, she ended up staying in the same hostel, and same room over here, along with 2 of her friends; Charlie from wales, and Kristina from Norway. Anyway, we all went on a day tour upto the highlands on santa Cruz to see the lava tunnels, more giant turtles and a [View Full Entry]

---

---

Today was a pretty lazy day including a mass of internet action and blogging. But I did find time to make it to Las Grietas, a huge split in the rocks with a pool between them - sadly not so filled with fish, but very beautiful all the same. It took 20 mins to walk there, across a very vaguely sign posted rock path, which i managed to get lost on route home hehe. On the way I went past some interesting salt lakes, and managed to spot a heron (I think). Anyway, once there it was very scenic, snorkeling was [View Full Entry]

---

---

So finally in the galapagos and rediculously excited to be here! As you can image my journey here had some kind of drama as always, and in true Polly Thompson style, I think I did well to get out of this one! Having slept all the way on the plane, I arrived to 35 degrees C of slightly dull looking island (Balta) very bleary eyed and was promptly asked to cough up the (expected) $100 park entrance fee. Because I knew about this prior to arrive I did make an attempt to withdraw cash from the airport with no luck, so [View Full Entry]

---

---

THe whole reason for going on such a mission to Huancabamba was to go to see a shaman in the mountains. I wanted to have my future told, where as scott wanted to curse his best friend just for a laugh (dont ask, i didnt get it either!). But when we arrived it was at the beginning of this 2 day holiday which meant most places were closed, and if they were open it was at the most random times. We also discovered that the banks were closed, which we later found out didnt make much difference as we couldnt take [View Full Entry]

---

---

So far the majority of my adventures have been in transit between places and getting to Huancabamba was no exception! Firstly Scott and I took a combi from Chacapoyas to Bagua grande which took about 6 hours on a pretty bumpy mountain road, stopping every so often due to the clapped out Toyota on it way out. We didnt quite figure out what was wrong with it but the excelleration def wasnt working as we crawled along at roughly 10mph. Once finally in Bagua Grande we then had to find another combi to take us to Jaen where we planned to [View Full Entry]

---

---

After having a few lazy days in Chachapoyas, Scott and I decided to make use of our time more constructively and arranged to go on a second trek for the week (despite getting a huge blister from Kuelap). So we decided to go and see the debatable, worlds third largest waterfall; Gojta. The trek wasnt too bad this time, 2 hours there and 2 hours back, with lots of up and downs whilst walking around the mountains. As we got closer the landscape changed to jungle-like surrounds, with beutiful wild orchids, vines, and windy foot paths, it was very mystical. When [View Full Entry]

---

---

We only stayed on night in Celedin in transit to Tingo, which takes 9 hours over the mountains on pretty sketchy roads. Celedin was a pleasant town, quite quet and not much to see in the evenings. The bus route to Tingo though provided the most beautiful panaroamic views of the mountains, it really made the 9hour trip worth it. When we arrived in Tingo, we found one hostal, two restaurants and roughgly ten houses, it was a pretty small village, situated right on the river. The next day we got up at 6am to have a cold shower, before setting [View Full Entry]

---

---

Cajamarca is another quite large town, set in the mountains and full of life. Steve from Washington DC, and Scott from Bosten both came with me to Cajamarca, and we stayed in a pretty cool hostel with a balcony over the plaza de Amaz. The first day we arrived roughly 6am and decided not to waste the day so firstly went to see the local hot springs - Los Banos del Inca. The springs were quite impressive, the actual springs you couldnt swin in because they were 70 degrees C - hot stuff! But we could swim in the pool which [View Full Entry]

---

---