The crossing from Otavalo (Ecuador) to Ipiales (Colombia) went very well; 20 min taxi journey to Ibarra (Ecuador), 3 hour bus ride from Ibarra to Tulcan (Ecuador) then a 5 min taxi ride to the Ecuadorian border. No queues whatsoever so we were stamped out of the country within 5 mins. A short walk then over the bridge where the Colombian flag and sign welcomed us. Again, no queues so we were stamped in and ready to get into a taxi within minutes. This is where it started to go a bit pear shaped. The "legitimate" looking taxi driver was willing [View Full Entry]

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will add blog soon [View Full Entry]

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one of final tourist visits in my favourite latin american country so far of Colombia deep in the south on the border with Ecuador in another apparent no go zone according to many from the Uk and the foreign office too. [View Full Entry]

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For more photos including some of actual people check out Katie´s flickr site: KatiesPhotos Colombia has always been something of an enigma to me. Growing up I believed, as I’m sure most you did too, that it was an inherently dangerous place, like it was usually portrayed within the media or by popular culture. In researching the country before I came I even found one red neck American website, that ranked Colombia equal with Iraq as place you are most likely to die while on holiday. But traveling through Central America a few years ago I meet a lot of [View Full Entry]

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To get our Ecuadorian Visas that will allow us to stay in Ecuador for more than six months, you have to leave the country and file the paperwork in a consulate located in another country. (They prefer that we do this paperwork in the states before we come to Ecuador - The closest US consulate was in San Francisco.) The closest consulate to Quito is in Ipiales, in Southern Colombia. We had heard mixed remarks about the border crossing into Colombia, so were a little nervous. We rode a bus from Quito to Tulcan (in the very north of Ecuador) [View Full Entry]

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First thing was a 'collectivo' - shared minibus taxi - to the border. Then getting an exit stamp from Colombia, before walking through no-man's land to the Ecuador side. Here you pay $200 if you forgot to get your exit stamp, but we were obviously fine so went off and found another collectivo for the few miles to the first Ecuadorian town. When we pulled up in front of the almost deserted bus station we saw the strange sight of a dozen people literally sprinting towards us, all trying to persuade us to travel to Quito (the capital, and given [View Full Entry]

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