Saturday 9th October We arrived back in Quito yesterday and we are staying in the New town for a few days. Hotel Eugenia last night and Cayman Hostel for the next 2 days. It has a great garden and lounge room and the single beds we have become so accustomed too LOL. Brekky is great too.....eggs any way you want them!!! Have travelled up by Teleferico (Cable car) today to get a better view of the city. I cant believe how big Quito is - 50km in length through the valley. We cant see Mt Cotapaxi from here today as it is quite cloudy over the mountain, but we will see it first hand tomorrow as Shane wants to go for a climb. Its 4810 metres to the base camp. Soooo looking forward to THAT! :-) ... read more

Saturday 1st October Our hostel has picked us up from the airport!! We had a feeling they were going to, and there they did. Its a little place in the heart of the Old City and on the oldest street in Quito. Kenya and her Mum Gloria have made us feel really welcome. The hostel rooms actually surround the restaurant downstairs so its pretty noisy. When the TV is on down there, its blaring, and if the music is one its blaring too. Sunday 2nd October The roads in the old city are closed to cars today so its all pedestrians and push bikes. Its so charming. We climbed to the top of the the Basilica this morning. What an amazing view of the city!! It has the tallest church towers in South America, and while ... read more

So we have flown today to Baltra Island in the Galapagos, and from there caught a bus to the ferry, which really only transports you across the river, and then to another bus to Puerto Ayora which is about 50 mins away. This place is gorgeous. It reminds me a little of Inverloch 20 years ago, but with a little more charm. There are lots of nice restaurants and the pier area is nicely decked out and covered with little marine Iguana's! The rocks below are dotted with orange and red crabs called Sally Lightfoot that also run up and down the walls with the Iguana! Our hotel doesnt have a name yet because it isnt finished or approved by the tourism board, but it is really nice, and operates above the Galapagos Deli where they ... read more

Friday 23rd September We are sitting at the airport now awaiting our flight to Guayaquil. We will stay 2 nights there before flying to the Galapagos Islands. We think we have arranged a pretty decent cruise in Galapagos, and the last minute deals enable us to upgrade from tourist grade to a luxury grade catamaran for about the same price. Lets hope so anyway. Lima was the stop over we needed to charge our batteries. We booked a wonderful apartment in Miraflores for 5 days, which of course enabled us to cook every night. We have really missed that, so a good feed of steak and veg, pasta and garlic bread have left us feeling almost normal again. Our apartment also has a private elevator that opens directly on to our front door! We only spent ... read more

Thursday 15th September All aboard Peru Rail to Aguas Calientes! We had both expected this fair weather tourist stop over for the Inca trail to be quite dirty and seedy, and I suppose where the locals live it could be considered just that. Most tourists stay in over priced hostels and hotels and blow in and blow out overnight to do the Inca trail. When we first arrived In Cusco on Sunday night we booked our tickets as a sort of package, so bus return Cusco>Olly, train return from Olly>Aguas, bus to Macchu Picchu and also our accommodation in Aguas on Thursday night at the Golden House Inn. Looked beautiful on the board at the office and the driver was picking us up and taking us there when we arrived in Aguas Calientes. We knew something ... read more