Blogs from North, Ecuador, South America

Dog-sittting down on the farm My friend Cheryl works part of each year in the US. Her caretakers, Samuel and Lucia, do all the farm work and feed the dogs while she’s gone. She gave me an open invitation to stay at the farm in exchange for giving her doggies some loving. So, during February, my birthday month, I used the old farmhouse as a writer’s retreat. It was time to dust off the draft of my novel (stuck in the bottom drawer for over two years!) and move on to the first edit! Cheryl’s farm is located about an hour and a half northwest of Quito in a subtropical interandean valley. It’s at the end of a rutted dirt road, 10 minutes drive from the tiny town of Santa Elena and 20 minutes from the ... read more

Part of my aclimatization in Quito was to visit some museums (musea -- someone help me with my Latin?), so quick blog here with photos of Casa Del Alabado, Museo de La Ciudad, y Museo Camillo Egas, all easy walking in Centro Historical. Also all churches have some sort of history/museum as well, getting good sense of history and "paleo-hydrology." Marvelous! Note photos are OK in museums here without flash.... read more

Hola my Cherubs. Finally arrived in Quito capital of Ecuador after a long old journey going up north to Bogota in Columbia and then down south again to Quito, a total journey time of 7 .5 hours, Direct flights to decrease the carbon footprint do not seem to be on the agenda! Anyway was totally exhausted after the previous days delays and fell asleep in my room and missed the group briefing – so that was a good start! We are 12 people all from the UK and very different , there are electrical engineers, a barrister, civil servants, a voluntary organisational manager and more, most retired, only 3 of us still working- quite an interesting bunch. Ecuador is the smallest of the South American countries but very compact , the guide books say you can ... read more

Hi Everybody! When we thought this amazing trip couldn't get any better, it did. We have decided that Ecuador is our favorite of the Andean countries visited on this trip. The people are friendly and helpful. The country accepts U.S. currency, requires no visa, and uses 110 voltage. All of these little things made our life easy. Quito is located in a large valley surrounded by volcanoes. The weather is temperate year round. The temperature hasn't dropped below 40 degrees F in fifty years. Most people do not have heat or air conditioning in their homes. We weren't sure what to expect since this is Ecuador's summer season. The mornings have been cool (50's) and afternoons warmer (high 60's to low 70's.) The natives tell us that you can experience all four seasons every day in ... read more

Road miles to date 22,190 With a few days to spare on Colombia's northern coast we packed up our gear and headed East to Santa Marta. Three hours of riding around the city looking for a room to stay revealed that we should have headed the advice to give the place a miss. Overheated and dishevelled we jacked in the search entirely and rode ten minutes up the coast to the small fishing village of Taganga. With no shortage of backpacking visitors, Taganga was thriving with small palapa restaurants and bars overlooking a working beach that was chockablock with fishing and diving vessels. The search for a room continued and just as we were about to cave into the enthusiastic sale of a mothball scented, cat infested room by two policeman and one hotel owner our ... read more