Started the day bright and early with a visit to Akureyrí. Stopped for gorgeous photos over the town and lake (see panorama) before continuing onto the town itself. Akureyrí is the fourth biggest city of Iceland and the only metropolis outside Greater Reykjavík. The ”Capital of the North”, as it is often called, is the administration and service centre of Northern Iceland. Although only around 15.000 people live here, it offers an infrastructure that probably cannot be found in a City in Central Europe of similar size. It's truly unbelievable that a town that size can even be termed a city let alone be a major district capital!!! First we visited the town's botanical garden, founded by a Danish woman in 1912. It sounds crazy after seeing nothing but green all week but it was so ... read more

Up bright and early to pay a morning visit to Dettifoss in Jökulsárgljúfur National Park, Europe’s most powerful waterfall with an estimated 110,000 gallons of water passing over the falls every second which tumbles down the huge gorge of the Jokulsa-a-Fjollum river, the longest in Iceland. If I wasn't awake before, the spray was certainly enough to wake me up if not drown me! We first visited the slightly smaller waterfall of Selfoss before continuing the walk up to have a picnic lunch by Dettifoss. Dettifoss is 144 feet (44 m) high and 330 feet (100 m) wide. In my personal opinion I actually found Sellfoss far prettier, although admittedly less impressive. Being near drowned every time you attempt to get anywhere near the actual falls is slightly offputting although the force is undeniably impressive! Another ... read more

We started the day with what, for me was to be one of the highlights of the trip, a trip to Ingólfshöfði aka Puffin Island. Despite being threatened that the puffins had already flown we were assured that the majority had not yet done so and we were guarenteed to see them. The word 'guarantee' should have put us on our guards to begin with but no matter. We piled onto our tractor pulled cart (standing room only) for a very wet and bumpy ride over the flloded black sand beaches towards Puffin Island. Admittedly it was actually very fun despite the constant banging of camaras on the sides and getting soaked every time the tractor changed direction. We arrived and were faced with the uphill slog on sand to reach the top of the cliffs ... read more

Less than a week after returning from sunny Ecuador I'm heading to a place significantly colder - Iceland. Although it was certainly cold (our first couple of days anyway) I can't agree with the naming of the country at all as I had to wait until we say actual icebergs before I had seen any ice at all. Still, had a late night arrival in Reykjavik followed the next day by an early morning start to our tour stopping first at Thingvellir. Thingvellir National Park, or 'Parliament Plains', is the site of the first Icleandic Parliament in 930 and the parliament created at that first meeting continued until 1789. The Law Council met every summer there as well as becoming a meeting place for traders. More interestingly (seeing as there are no remaining buildings to show ... read more

Decided to finally see Guayaquil as last year as we ever saw was the airport and bus terminal. Despite the countless warnings of Guayaquil being very dangerous there has been a massive movement in the last few years to improve both the safety and the image of Guayaquil. The areas that would be of any interest to tourists at least have been smartened up a lot and on Las Peñas there seems to be a constant police presence (more to yell at people who walk up the wrong side of the barrier than anything else!) First stop was a park, ostensibly to see the Cathedral but in reality to see the land iguanas that call Guayaquil home. I think it has to be the only city in the world with land iguanas randomly living in the ... read more