BucklandApplegarth

Puerto Ayora and the Tortoise Sanctuary We arrived on The Galapagos Islands after a very comfortable hour flight from Guayaquil. Completely over excited but not quite as noisy as the 50 school children who we'd shared the flight with we made our way with guide Miguel to our home for the next 8 days - The Treasure of Galapagos catamaran (TOG). The boat was out of this world and more spacious and luxurious than most of the hostels and hotels we'd stayed in to date. After a 3 course lunch on the TOG we headed out to the highlands to look at Giant Tortoises in the wild. I know they're called Giant Galapagos tortoises but I wasn't really prepared for the size of them. They really are huge! It was amazing to see them roaming around ... read more

Goodbye Unaytambo, Hello Salkantay Why is it that all good treks have to start with such an unsociable wake up call? this time it was 5am. I was extremely sad to say goodbye to the Unaytambo hotel in Cusco where we had just spent a wonderfully luxurious 4 days for my birthday. We drove out of Cusco towards Sayllapata where we would start our 4 day trek. After a couple of hours and a stop for some breakfast we were at the start ofthe trail. The donkeys were loaded up with all of the camping gear, food and our personal baggage (thank you Qénte!) whilst we readied ourselves for the off. We were already at 3200m above sea level and during the day we would climb another 1000m to reach our campsite at Soyrococha. Breathing was ... read more

The BucklandApplegarth (or ApplegarthBuckland!) travel blog has arrived! I promise this won´t be a blow by blow account of our every waking second during this 8 month trip, but simply our highlights of the trip with a few photos and maps for friends and family to follow! Enjoy!!... read more