Firstly, a belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my readers (see photo 1). A notable thing about my stay in Córdoba was something difficult to represent in a photograph; the temporary absence of police. One day at 17:00, the police went on strike. The local villains said “We couldn't possibly take advantage of this unfortunate situation; oh well, perhaps just this once.” There then followed a night of looting and vandalism. The fireworks I thought I heard in the evening turned out to be gunshots in the district adjoining the one the hostel was in. Evidently all the hostels were phoning each other to tell their guests not to go out in the evening. I was unaware of this and blissfully wandered back to the hostel after the start of the strike, ... read more

Well, here I am home again. It was really lovely to see my family again. I am still taking up the reins of old friendships, acquaintances, and interests. What have I learnt this time; I'm not sure. Nice to know that I have survived and enjoyed a second six months travelling by myself; the experience enriched by the various people that I met along the way. Must make more effort learning Spanish before I go back and while travelling; but I have said that before. I'm not sure why I travel but feel that I want to do it again. Perhaps you should just do what feels right, enjoy the experience and not spend too much time analyzing it. Bueno, aquí estoy de nuevo en mi casa. Fue muy bonito ver a mi familia de nuevo. ... read more

Cusco and the nearby area had many examples of settlements built on mountain tops (see first photo). The Incas were very adept at shaping stones so that walls would stand and resist movement even without mortar between the stones. They managed this even with very large stones (see photo 2). The person in the photograph was someone I employed to stand next to large structures to give a sence of scale. I did briefly contemplate buying a llama (see photo 3) as a companion for my dog but when the colourfully dressed saleslady told me about the transportation costs, and that one of her llama-speaking relative would have to accompany it as a translator I demurred. I suspected that this was an attempt at immigration into Britain by a little known loophole and that once in ... read more

Mancora marked my reaquaintance with motor-rickshaws (see first photo) which I had last seen over forty years ago in India. India is more prosperous than when I was there and I wondered where they would have sent their surplus-to-requirements taxis that did not accord with their new image. The beach boasted schools where you could learn to surf, and also a variation where the board was pulled along with a kite. The sign advertising Kiteshitting (see second photo) presumably meant that the kite pulled the board so fast that you shit yourself. I did not avail myself of the opportunity! I have found that time spent in South America is time spent completely free of constipation-related anxieties. The pelicans here are so reluctant to get wet that several of them have clubbed together and hired a ... read more

Quito (see first photo) was another high altitude city partly surrounded by mountains and volcanoes. One of the nearby volcanoes covered the city in ash in 2006. I also visited the nearby Pululahua volcano (see second photo) which last errupted about 20,000 years ago at 3:30 in the afternoon. The floor of the crater, which is 5km wide, has since partly filled with soil and there are now farms inside the crater. What at first looks like a part of the rear of the crater to the left and centre in the photograph is actually a smaller volcano that pushed up in the centre of the crater. The Museum of the Equator is a museum with the equator actually running through the centre of it. Using a moveable sink (see third picture) they demonstrated that water ... read more