thought i´d put a blurb in my blog. yesterday i climbed mt cotopaxi. 19,300 some foot active volcano. one of the highest in the world. it was a very radical experience. probably one of the most physicaly intense experiences of my life. a friend from la hesperia (matt) and i decided to go for it. most people acclimate near the base of the mountain for a few days, but we heard you can do it with out and we didn´t have much time... so we just went. we got rental gear and a guide and headed out. went to the [View Full Entry]

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Da hab ich meine Krankheitsphase hinter mich gelassen und bin auf in den Jungle. Das war leider nicht meine gewuenschte 5-tage-rumpaddeln-fischen-und-richtig-abenteuerlich-zelten-und-so. es war ein wunderbares junglelodge, mit duschen, mit betten und mit koechen und vielen leuten (so 8 pro gruppe). aber es war trotzdem schoen und wir sind nass geworden und haben viele tiere gesehen. obwohls amazonasregenwald war hat es nicht viel geregnet, weil so eine art sommer ist. wir hatten eine lagune in der naehe, haben 2 mal kayak touren gemacht, nachtspaziergang und normale spaziergaenge im matsch [View Full Entry]

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The other night we all had a little bit of a craving for home. We raided the local convenience store and stocked up on microwavable popcorn, chocolate bars, kraft dinner, doritos, lifesavers, granola bars, and nutella. We then proceeded to drag a single-mattress down from upstairs, curled up on it with blankets and pillows, and watched scary movies into the early hours of morning. I mean, you can only eat so much rice!!!!!! [View Full Entry]

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Ola todos! Bienvenue dans le journal de nos zexploits (ou pas) dans les contrees des Incas ( bon, impossible de trouver des accents sur ces claviers, va falloir s y habituer :-) c est partiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii... [View Full Entry]

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Back in Quito, and having been away for 2 weeks, it was time for our first trip to the lavanderia (laundry). Having paid as much as £30 in India to have laundry done in hotels, we decided to venture out to one of the lavanderias we’d seen in town. We had a whole bundle of washing done for $5 and were quite satisfied with the result, so this is definitely the way to get clean clothes in South America. (I know, laundry really isn’t that exciting, but it’s important when you’re travelling - so a small excitement for us!) We were [View Full Entry]

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Hola! Well, my journey from Colombia to Ecuador was a less than fun one. From Popayan to the border was 8 hours - my bus was slightly delayed due to a landslide on the highway in the mountains, but they pushed the largest rock off the cliff and then our bus ploughed through the gravel and kept on trucking. I decided to stop to see a big church in a valley at the border which was beautiful but was a lot of work. I had to take a shared taxi to the border, and my driver drove right on past a [View Full Entry]

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So I am at the end of my first working week here. It got better after the first day,,, dont get me wrong, it is still incredibly boring, but there have been a steady trickle of patients, so while i still have yet to do anything useful at least its something to look at! The doctors are friendly but as bored as me,, its the unlucky rotation to get from guayaquil mainland. But i actually really dont mind, strolling down the hill to sit in a hospital for three or four hours trying to teach people a little english actually isnt [View Full Entry]

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We have entered Ecuador! And here we go for our first extreme experience in this country (more than “Extreme Sommer”): the Volcano Avenue. The Volcano Avenue is a valley (near Quito) surrounded by several active volcanoes. There we would start our tour mountain-biking one of the highest volcanoes of the area: the Cotopaxi volcano, which reaches the very modest altitude of 5,897 m !! We would start from the refuge where snow starts and we would go down to the valley. Imagine that this mountain is so high that despite being on the equator, it has eternal snow on its top. [View Full Entry]

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Hi from Quito again, We just finished our volunteer time at La Hesperia. We really enjoyed the time we spent there, but are excited to move on to new and different things! Such as going to the Galapagos Islands on Monday for three more weeks of volunteering! We heard from some volunteers at La Hesperia who knew people who had volunteered there who said it was absolutely amazing. I´m really excited, but am enjoying the few days we have off from work. At La Hesperia we met another couple from Canada (Kelsey and Matt) who are traveling Ecuador and Peru. They [View Full Entry]

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Hi again Fast and furious since Quito, so here goes. Left Quito and went to Riobamba, which is a small town in the mountains, and amde friends with some Italians who owned a resturnat there. Spent a few days drinking red wine in the afternoons there (my first since England) and having some qiet beers in the evening. Then to Guayaquil, a hot sweaty port city, where i only stayed a night. Then got a bus to a fishing village, Puerto Lopez, further north. Bought some dodgy cakes in the mourning, so by afternoon i needed a ´comfort break´. The bus [View Full Entry]

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