Blogs from Guayaquil, West, Ecuador, South America - page 8

Exhausting journey to Guayaquil 3rd February 2010 - nearly a year on from the last visit. We made it...! After 25 hours travelling (door to door, Bristol to Guayaquil) and zero sleep for effectively 2 nights, although at least Sofia slept the night before and a little on both planes. Not an enjoyable journey; we all have colds affecting our ears, throats and heads and Vivi and I suffering most from jet-lag but Sofia seems the happiest as she has few clothes on, a big house to run in and 4 year old Jean-Carlo to play with...It´s like she´s never been away. Sofia is clearly a hard-core traveller already who puts her wimpy parents to shame! Now I have to get my trip, accomodation and equipment organised for this weekend in Salinas where I´ll be ... read more

Hola noch mal... fuer alle, die sich ueber den letzten Blog amuesiert haben... hier kommt mal was anderes, wirklich schlechte Nachrichten: ALLES WEG!!!!! Sind vogestern abend AUSGERAUBT worden (dh. der Carina die Tasche runtergerissen)... und wir waren nicht total unvorsichtig, aber wir waren nur 30 sek von der Touristenstrasse entfernt und es ging so schnell und der Henkel der Tasche ist gerissen und weg war er! Keine Chance! Naja, und so fehlen uns jetzt BEIDE Cameras (eh super, das war das erste mal, dass wir ueberhaupt beide mithatten und noch dazu in einer Tasche - und mit ALLEN fotos - also sorry, nix is mehr mit Updates aus Peru!), Maxi´s ganze Geltasche mit Fuehrerschein und Kreditkaten etc. und Carina´s Reisepass! Haben mittlerweile Stunden am Telefon und Internet und am Konsulat verbracht, uns geaergert und die Nerven ... read more

On arrival at our hostel there was some confusion as to our reservation so we ended up having to wait an hour in the lounge area till the owner arrived. Thankfully all was sorted and we were soon shown our beds. Our plan for Guayaquil was to make enquiries about going to the Galapagos Islands. The intention had always been that Sharon and I would go together and explore the islands and then Sharon would do a cruise as I always maintained it was out of my budget to do a cruise. Things quickly changed!! Having slept for awhile Sharon and I got up and decided to head into the centre of Guayaquil. We went around the history museum which was interesting at the beginning however became a bit waring towards the end as it was ... read more

JULY 16. LEAVING GUARANDA. 2500M. SEAT 12F. THIS BUS COULDNT BE ANYMORE HOT AND CROWDED. "I've got lots of pictures in my head...you better not turn off the pro-jec-tor" -SNEAKY SOUND SYSTEM It turns out that finding the right bus to your next location is actually quite easy in this country..all you ned to do is stand in the middle of the bus terminal with your backpack on and a confused look on your face, eventually 20 different bus drivers assistants will approach you yelling their destination. After storing my luggage, I board the bus and sit directly above the under-carriage so I can keep an eye on my backpack. You can never be too careful. Climbing through the mountains outside of Guaranda we hit roadworks...the minutes turn into an hour and in the scorching heat ... read more

Before I 1st came to Sth America I had a vision in my head of mountainous jungles ,the Sth Am we see in all the movies.I saw many desert like mountains ,without even a blade of grass and I saw great jungles but never the 2 together.In Argentina and Chle the have beautiful snowcapped mountains but still not what I had imagined.I crossed the border into Ecuador ,this week ,and almost imediatly it was the Sth Am of my dreams and as I travel further Nth the jungle gets thicker. Well Im getting a bit ahead of myself so Ill backtrack and tell how I got here.I was a bit worried that I might have forgotten all the Spanish Id learned last year but as soon as I got on the LAN flight ,in Sydney, I ... read more