I've just had a brilliant (though very tiring) weekend in Cotopaxi National Park. It started with a very early morning on saturday. I left the house at 6am and made my way to the South American Explorers Clubhouse in Quito. After introductions and a run through of the plan for the weekend we set off for Cotapaxi National Park. We arrived at Languna de Limpiopunga (3,800m the highest I'd ever been though not for long!) with the sun shining and blue skies. We set off along the lake towards Ruimiñahui (Central peak, 4,631m). Mark (one of the guides) setted a slow place, due to the altitude, as we meandered through the paramo and then headed up to the top of a grassy ridge. Here we had a rest taking in the views and eating some of ... read more

So I arrived at Quito airport to be greeted by Olga (I'm staying with an ecuadorian family, Olga and Marcelo for 2 weeks). Communication was difficult with my non existent Spanish ( Spanish lessons started the day after - although still struggling I'm definitely not a natural at languages!). On the way to the house I experienced the craziness of the ecuardorian roads - it seems the way to indicate you are changing lanes is to honk your horn and at red lights we were entertained by jugglers and people were trying to sell chewing gum, newspapers,etc. That evening I met Roul another traveller staying at the house. The next couple of days were taken up with spanish lessons and exploring the Mariscal area (very touristy with lots of hostels and cafes). On the friday Roul ... read more

I've just spent a great week in San Francisco seeing all the sights and meeting loads of great people both fellow travellers and locals. So I arrived in San Francisco last Monday afternoon. My hostel was just around the corner from union square and the trams so I had a wonder round that area walking up the first of many hills! The next day I woke up to a glorious weather and set off on a trolley car to pier 33 to catch the boat over to Alcatraz. On the boat over we had great views of the city and both golden and gate and bay bridge. On 'The Rock' I did the audio tour around the cell house learning about the infamous inmates (Al Capone, The Bird Man, etc). Then I went on a tour ... read more