My last few days on this side of the Atlantic involved a trip up to Colombia thanks to the Ecuadorian government (who have tightened up visa requirements ridiculously) and my own inability to find a flight before my visa ran out. While I have no issue with an impromtu road-trip, it is annoying having to travel 10 hours just for the sake of a stamp in my (increasing full) passport. Four stamps every time I have to make a border run is a) annoying for me as I'm going to have to get more pages, and b) ridiculous in any airport when the poor official has to spend forever searching through my passport for the latest entry/exit stamp. Having finished work at 8pm, we did an overnight trip up to Tulcan (a particularly cold and depressing ... read more

It is a fact universally acknowledged that every visitor to Ecuador is in want of that perfect cloud-free shot of Cotopaxi. Unfortunately Cotopaxi herself also seems to know this and so, according to every Ecuadorian you ask, hides from tourists. Only nationals it seems are permitted to see her. I initially though this to be another joke at the expense of foreigners cleverly doubling as a get-out-of-jail-free card for tour guides when irate tourists berate him over the fact that their countless photos of their trip to Parque Nacional Cotopaxi are of the black base of a mountain completely shrouded in clouds. Still, we set out on beautifully clear and sunny Sunday at the crack of dawn in order to get a photo of this rather elusive Ecuadorian icon. The most amazing sight of all was ... read more

Having been living next to the National Museum for the past few days we thought we might as well pay it a visit (it being included on our Prague Cards and therefore free making it all the more appealing.) The rather imposing building looming over Wenceslas Square is the largest museum in the Czech Republic, but also featured in the politics of Prague. It was bombed during World War II prompting the removal of many of the best exhibits. The facade was badly damaged by a Soviet machine gun during the Warsaw Pact Intervention in 1968. Perhaps most importantly of all, the steps of the National Museum was where Jan Palach, a twenty-one year old Czech student, burnt himself to death in January 1969 in protest of the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia. The museum itself is ... read more

With London to Prague flights seemingly only leaving early morning for some inexplicable reason, our first day saw us getting up at 2am and making our way to Stansted for a rather relaxed check-in (the early hours of the morning apparently too much for easyjet staff as well as tired passengers.) We arrived in Prague from cloudy and cold England to find the city in the middle of a heat wave. Although I'd checked the weather forecast before we left it was a little dfficult to imagine temperatures of 31 degrees whilst sat in England but, for once, the weather forecaster was correct. Transferred to the hostel which turned out to be an apartment in a gorgeous old building just behind the National Museum. Not wanting to waste the first day (the fact I had had ... read more

Back 'home' to Quito and after a few lazy days recovering from an exhausting week at the beach (that sounds convincing doesn't it!) I decided to be slightly more cultured today and venture into the old town of Quito. I actually braved the bus system to avoid an extortionate taxi fare and was reasonably impressed with my success. Despite being told the bus pretty much went through the Plaza de la Independencia, the closest stop was actually a twenty minute walk away but not to worry. I just hopped off when I realised we were doubling back on ourselves and just followed the tower of the Basilica which is fortunately viewable from quite a distance. Ended up at the Basilica which seemed like a logical place to start. Went inside despite huge signs announcing that no ... read more